As dissatisfied as many parents are with the way their toddlers (or even older kids) eat, the thought of changing strategies can be daunting. I’d go so far as to say it might even be paralizing. Here are the 6 steps you need to implement in order to achieve the change you desire. Remember, success comes when you adopt the Habits Approach — or catch the habitude! Eating isn’t really about nutrition, it’s about shaping behaviors. 1. Recognize that what you’re doing works—at least in some way. Yes, the way you and your kids interact around food may not be moving your kids towards new foods or a healthier diet…but it does something positive for you. The quesion is, what? For most parents, the answer is straightforward: …
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Healthy Snacks for Kids: Bars vs Cookies
In the spirit of Eat This, Not That!, I’ve done a series of posts over the years pitting foods against each other. But rather than assess the nutrition, I compare how different foods influence habits. Here I discuss bars and cookies. source: yacobchuk1 /depositphotos.comFrom a Habits Perspective, if a bar seems like a cookie, then it is a cookie. And so… If you wouldn’t give your kids cookies every day, then don’t give them bars every day. And if you give your kids a bar one day, don’t give them cookies that same day. Think of this as the if-it-quacks-like-a-duck argument. This is especially true when toddlers are just learning to eat right. From a habits perspective, bars and cookies are …
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The Hunger-Induced Meltdown: Is It Real?
Few things strike as much fear into parents as the hunger-induced meltdown. Many parents solve the problem by preempting meldowns by carting a boatload of snacks around. I should know. I used to do it too. Teaching kids to snack on demand is a bad lifelong habit to have. Researchers have concluced that some kids eat up to 10 times per day and that snacking is frequently no longer associated with hunger. What’s more, there is no way to tell if your child’s meltdown is really related to hunger. Doling out snacks in that scenario just rewards bad behavior. Here’s a post from the archives that explains why you can never know if your child’s meltdown really is due to hunger and one way you could respond. —————————————- …
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Teaching Toddlers to LIKE Veggies: The Most Important Public Health Challenge of Our Time
The New York Times has published two articles lately that that highlight the importance of preventing obesity before it takes hold. The first article: Contestants on “The Biggest Loser” ended up with slower metabolisms after losing weight than they had before losing weight. And, their metabolisms never rebounded. The result? participants regained 70{7920e18cf5186565893a18d1f69fa52bf2806dc683a7bfcea51d671d2f7d8125} of their lost weight. The second article: The problem is not willpower. It’s neuroscience. Your brain figures out your body set point, based on genes and life experience, and then works hard to keep you at that weight. Obese people who exercise, eat enough vegetables and don’t smoke are no more likely to die young than normal-weight people with the same habits. Source: kondratya /depositphotos.com 1) There may be no more important …
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Community Intervention To Improve Health Does Just That Without Changing Obesity
Population health strategies to prevent and reduce obesity have been the focus of much talk in the public health field, but hard evidence that this is in fact possible remain rather sparse (with a few notable exceptions). Now, a paper by Ellina Lylviak and colleagues from the University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada, published in BMC Public Health, describes the 3 year results from a community intervention called the Healthy Alberta Communities Study (HACS). The researchers looked at data from a multi-level intervention to create environments supportive of healthier dietary and physical activity behaviours within four diverse communities in Alberta (Bonnyville, St. Paul, Norwood and Medicine Hat), between 2006-2009. Over the duration of the intervention, Community Coordinators built relationships with local stakeholders and worked with them to identify environmental …
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Can Yoga Help You Lose Weight?
Just how much data is there to support the notion that yoga can affect body weight? This is the topic of a systematic review by Romy Lauche and colleagues, published in Preventive Medicine. The researchers look at data from randomized controlled trials on yoga for weight-related outcomes in over 2000 individuals from the general population or with overweight or obesity. Overall, there was no discernible effects of yoga on weight, body mass index, body fat percentage or waist circumference. At best, there appeared to be marginal effects on waist/hip ratios in healthy adults and a close to 1 unit reduction in BMI in studies with overweight/obese participants. However, these findings were not robust against selection bias nor could the authors rule out publication bias. Thus it …
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Skinny Kids Eat More Candy
A common assumption is that kids with obesity consume more high-caloric foods – which of course includes confectionary items like chocolate and non-chocolate sweets. Now, a study by Constantin Gasser and colleagues from Melbourne, Australia, in a paper published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, present a systematic review and meta-analysis of confectionary consumption and overweight in kids. The researchers identified 19 studies fort their systematic review, 11 of which (?177,260 participants) were included in the meta-analysis. Overall, odds of excess weight of kids in the highest category of sweets consumption was about 20{7920e18cf5186565893a18d1f69fa52bf2806dc683a7bfcea51d671d2f7d8125} less than in the reference category. This inverse association was true for both chocolate and nonchocolate confectioneries. Furthermore, in the longitudinal studies and the randomised controlled trial included in the …
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Bariatric Surgery In The Elderly
While the often impressive benefits of bariatric surgery on health and quality of life in younger patients with severe obesity are well documented, the safety and benefits of bariatric surgery in older patients remains largely unclear. Now, a systematic review by my colleague Alexandra Chow from the University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada, published in Obesity Surgery looks at outcomes in patients older than 65 years of age. The review includes data from 8 studies (1835 patients) of roux-en-Y gastric bypass surgery, all of which were case series. Overall mean excess weight loss was about 70{7920e18cf5186565893a18d1f69fa52bf2806dc683a7bfcea51d671d2f7d8125}, which is only marginally less than generally seen in younger patients with this procedure. Mean 30-day mortality was 0.14 {7920e18cf5186565893a18d1f69fa52bf2806dc683a7bfcea51d671d2f7d8125} with a post-operative complication rate of around 20{7920e18cf5186565893a18d1f69fa52bf2806dc683a7bfcea51d671d2f7d8125}, with wound infections being …
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Liraglutide Alters Brain Activity Related to Highly Desirable Food Cues
Liraglutide, a GLP-1 analogue now available for the treatment of obesity (as Saxenda) in North America, works by reducing appetite and increasing satiety, thus making it easier to lose weight and keep it off (with continuing treatment). Now, a study by Olivia Farr and colleagues, in a paper published in Diabetologia not only present data showing the presence of GLP-1 receptors in human cortex, hypothalamus and medulla, but also provide functional evidence for altered brain response to food cues. After documenting the presence of GLP-1 receptor in human brains using immunohistochemistry, the researchers conducted a randomised controlled placebo-controlled, double-blind, crossover trial in 18 individuals with type 2 diabetes who were treated with placebo and liraglutide for a total of 17 days each (0.6 mg for 7 days, 1.2 mg for 7 …
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Welcome To The International Congress on Obesity, Vancouver 2016
This weekend sees the start of the XIII International Congress on Obesity (ICO), hosted by the World Obesity Federation in partnership with the Canadian Obesity Network (CON) in Vancouver, Canada. As this year’s Congress President, together with World Obesity Federation President Dr. Walmir Coutinho, it will be our pleasure to welcome delegates from around the world to what I am certain will be a most exciting and memorable event in one of the world’s most beautiful and livable cities. The program committee, under the excellent leadership of Dr. Paul Trayhurn, has assembled a broad and stimulating program featuring the latest in obesity research ranging from basic science to prevention and management. I can also attest to the fact that the committed staff both at the …
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How To Interpret Studies On Screen Time And Eating Behaviour
Much of the research on the contribution of screen time, sedentariness, food consumption and other factors comes from cross-sectional or longitudinal studies, where researchers essentially describe correlations and statistical “effect sizes”. To be at all meaningful, analyses in such studies need to be adjusted for known (or at least likely) confounders (or at least the confounders that happen to available). No matter how you turn and wind the data, such studies by definition cannot prove causality or (even less likely) predict the outcome of actual intervention studies. Nevertheless, such studies can be helpful in generating hypotheses. Thus, for example, I read with interest the recent paper by Lei Shang and colleagues from the University of Laval, Quebec, Canada, published in Preventive Medicine Reports. The researchers …
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Let’s Put The Obesity-Is-A-Disease Debate to Rest
Having just completed a tour de force, first as President of the International Congress on Obesity in Vancouver and then as an invited plenary speaker at the Scientific Meeting of the German Diabetes Society in Berlin, I have had ample opportunities to discuss how best we can make better progress in obesity prevention and treatment. Amongst the many experts I spoke to virtually no one believes we will make any progress whatsoever, as long as the notion persists among the public and decision makers, that obesity is simply a lifestyle choice and that its impact on health are overstated. Thus, I would like to draw your attention to a timely article by Scott Kahan and Tracy Zvenyach, published in Current Obesity Reports on current policies and their …