Making your holiday eating ho-ho-healthy
Making your holiday eating ho-ho-healthy
Many parents are trying to figure out how to have a healthier holiday without depriving their kids of Christmas cookies, potato latkes and other treats. About a third of American kids are overweight or obese, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates.
Jill Houk, 41, a chef in Chicago, said she is worried her 10-year-old will regain some of the 10 pounds he recently lost. She said her son loves food and tends to overeat unless she's watching him.
Studies show Americans gain about a pound between Thanksgiving and New Year's; people who are overweight or obese are at risk of gaining five pounds, said Dr. Susan Z. Yanovski, an obesity expert at the National Institutes of Health. She said the weight gain is slight, but it accumulates over time.
While there is little research on children and holiday pounds, an Ohio State University study found that young children are prone to gain more weight in the summer than the school year when there is more time to snack and zone out in front of the television.
Likewise, during the winter holidays many children are "indulging in their favorite foods and sitting around with nothing to do," said Dr. Joanna Dolgoff, a pediatrician and author of the forthcoming "Red Light, Green Light, Eat Right: The Food Solution That Lets Kids Be Kids."
Dr. Goutham Rao, clinical director of the Weight Management and Wellness Center at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, said some of his patients gain five to seven pounds. They see the holidays as a time to unwind and treat themselves.
Some aren't even thinking about their weight, said Dolgoff, promising to get back on track when school starts.
"If they say, 'I'm going to start in the new year,' they have given themselves free rein to eat anything and everything in sight," she said. "That's unfortunate. They wind up gaining more."
Children face a greater challenge when it comes to holiday eating than adults, said experts. They have less impulse control — they see tempting sweets and want them without thinking of the consequences, said Rao. Many are unsure which items are healthy and what an appropriate portion size is.
For teens like Shelby Wurst, 15, of York, Neb., the challenge is eating in moderation. She has lost 60 pounds since Sept. 1 at Wellspring Academy of the Carolinas, a weight loss boarding school.
She said her family prepares fattening foods for the holidays; she herself has always been the pastry chef, and everyone looks forward to her creations. She knows Christmas break will be hard — at Halloween, she says, she cheated on her diet and didn't do enough walking.
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- Posted on December 11, 2009
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Here's a thought, exercise and you companies instead of using that processed crap you call sugar use natural pure cane sugar which is healthier and sweeter than the processed crap!!!
no i think since it's a holiday i don't think we should try to eat healthier because that's the time people bake special food for the holidays:)
OK, true parents don't look at heath, they look at their budget more. But Christmas and the holidays aren't about losing weight. Your supposed to watch all the holiday movies and not care about anything. You should be like, oh my gosh I can't have too many cookies this year. Now when you say healthy i know you don't mean broccoli or anything, but don't take away one the best holidays for kids because you think its not healthy.
During the holiday, people eat more than usual and children eat more than adult. They are not good at controlling themselves. People eat Christmas cookies during the winter break and lots of other things. People say that they are going to have diet in new year, and they don't start right away. Parents really need to take care of children's food habits and also their owns, too.
I think that parents should watch their childrens' eating habits. Parents should also make their kids exercise one hour a day every day. Kids should only be allowed one cookie or more every once in a while.
I think its one day! Who cares how much you eat or what it is. Its a special day and as long as you dont eat like that every day your okay. Christmas is a time for celebration, thanks, and feast. So enjoy it. Dont be paranoid all day.
I think we should not eat healthy on christmas. Just because of the fact is christmas only comes around once a year. If you dont eat fatty foods everyday then of course so what if you eat sweets or whatever on Christmas. So I really dont agree with this story at all.
i dont think we should make it healthy food because thease r the only holydays that we get to eat alotof food.i think they r crazy.but thats my theory not everybodies dont blame me 4 my actions u r the people who decide we celebrate thanks giving by eating alot of food.plise healthy food dosnt always have stuff in it to fill u up it ether that or i like eating alot of food.people maby think i am stupid but i have my oppinions on food and me.
happy thanksgiving,
jesus avalos:)
I am thinking, how you can eat ho ho ho Healthy? By eating cookies for lunch, I think that kids should eat some good delicious cookies.
I agree that most childern are unwinding and pigging out then their parents want to get mad while they're probably just sitting back and doing the same thing during the christmas break.