Helping Prevent Obesity in Adolescents
May 30th, 2009
I found this journal article which I believe speaks for itself and which lists five ways to help prevent obesity and eating disorders in adolescents. Mind you, I agree with most of this AND I believe that family dynamics play an exceedingly important role in this population!
Preventing Obesity and Eating Disorders in Adolescents: What Can Health Care Providers Do? by Diane Neumark-Sztainer, Journal of Adolescent Health, (March, 2009).
This article describes five research-based recommendations for health care providers to help prevent both obesity and eating disorders among adolescents that they see within clinical, school, or other settings. The recommendations are based primarily upon findings from Project EAT, a large, population-based study of eating and weight-related issues in adolescents.
Recommendations include the following:
- discourage unhealthy dieting; instead encourage and support the use of eating and physical activity behaviors that can be maintained on an ongoing basis;
- promote a positive body image;
- encourage more frequent, and more enjoyable, family meals;
- Encourage families to talk less about weight and do more at home to facilitate healthy eating and physical activity; and
- assume that overweight teens have experienced weight mistreatment and address this issue with teens and their families. These recommendations stress the importance of helping adolescents and their families focus less on weight and more on sustained behavioral change.”
The problem is that a good portion of the families of adolescents are obese as well. The families are relying on fast food, processed foods, and high fat, high sugar foods, the foods that are fast and easy. The foods that are the easiest to use to medicate.
The whole family beginning with Mom and Dad needs to be re-educated about proper eating. of course, this is easier said than done. I do feel we are making strides nationally with all of the articles on food, bad food, good food, celebrity eating disorders,etc. I think all of us need to keep talking and talking. I look at this work as seed planting — if we all keep planting little seeds, the numbers of those of us who are truly conscious will grow and grow and eventually reach everyone. Just keep talking and planting!! :o)
One more very interesting thing i noticed about this journal article is this is one of the first times (or few times) I’ve seen obesity spoken of in the same breathe as eating disorders which are most commonly anorexia and bulimia. I hope that at some point obesity is included as a clinical eating disorder rather than begin thought of as just a medical condition. If someone is too too thin, they are automatically thought of as eating disordered. I someone is too too heavy, the other side of the equation, why don’t they have an eating disorder when they are using food in the same way that the anorexic or bulimic uses or doesn’t use food? As a way of coping with stress in their lives!
Back to seed planting!
Have a wonderful weekend — all of you!
