Information supplied by Waukesha Memorial Hospital

Food, glorious food. Barbecued chicken. Fresh-sliced oranges. Mom's mouth-watering Sunday dinners.

Frozen pizzas. Microwavable snacks. Bags of cheese curls just a rip away. It's a blessing and a curse, this instant-food world we live in.

While as a society and as individuals we've distanced ourselves from the production of food, we've also drifted from sound nutrition. Stack a fast-food drive-through next to starting from scratch with chicken, broccoli and wild rice at 5 p.m. after a hectic day at the office and, well "Welcome to McDonald's."

Good eating habits pay off tremendous physical and psychological benefits. Plus, eating habits good or bad––get passed from generation to generation, currently leaving in their wake an unprecedented number of overweight youngsters. In this article, we'll focus not on the micro picture––grams of fat, nutrition labels, etc.––but the macro one. How can we get ourselves and our children on the road to sound nutrition, lifelong healthy eating habits, and stable, average body weights?

Youngest first: getting children on the right track

Food habits and preferences evolve during childhood. To get your children on a healthy, lifetime track, take a hard look at your own eating habits, suggests John Kelly, MD, a family practitioner in Oconomowoc. "Eating habits are influenced by how much time we're willing to devote to buying, preparing and eating food," he notes.

Kelly suggests involving school-aged children in meal planning, grocery shopping, and meal preparation. "Help the younger ones understand the big picture, that some foods are natural, others are processed.

Later, help them decipher Nutrition Facts panels and ingredient lists on food packages," he says. Also, encourage children to pack their own school lunches, guiding them toward more nutritious food choices. (Set a good nutritional example when you make your own lunch.)

Breakfast remains the most important meal. Studies show that children who eat breakfast are more alert, energetic and creative, and they perform better in school than children who skip the meal. Children also need snacks. Stock your refrigerator with quick, healthy ones, especially fruits and vegetables (the original "fast food"). "Keeping a bowl of fresh fruit on the kitchen counter or a bag of ready-to-eat vegetables in the refrigerator really can make a difference in forming habits," says Kelly.

Fast food: OK in moderation

In popularity and in portion size, the fast food meal––famous for its high-fat, high-sodium punch––has grown tremendously since the concept's introduction. Today, french fries account for about one-fourth of a typical American's vegetable intake. While it's a slippery nutritional slope, the allure of the hands-off meal will remain. Taking notice are supermarkets, who are increasingly offering an alternative through prepared foods. "Prepared supermarket food may take a little more time, but it can easily be balanced with a stop in the produce section to get a bag of baby carrots, prepared salad or piece of fruit," says Margaret Pfeiffer, MS, RD, CD. Fast food need not to be cut out of a diet completely. One study, paid for by McDonald's but conducted independently, found that patients with high cholesterol were able to eat fast food occasionally and still follow a low-fat, cholesterol-reducing regimen as long as they balanced fat in their meal for the rest of the day. "The key is moderation," says Pfeiffer.

Growing by extremes

Men and women, old and young––we're growing to extremes. Literally. More than half of U.S. adults report being over-weight, according to a recent national survey by the Centers for Disease Control. Here in Wisconsin, which consistently has one of the highest rates of adult obesity in the nation, 33 percent of us are obese. Among children and adolescents, 20 percent are obese and many more are overweight.

(Obesity is defined for adults as being 20 percent or more above ideal body weight; for children, obesity can be defined as having a body mass index greater than the 95th percentile for children of the same age and gender.)

Appearance aside, our expanding collective girth goes hand-in-hand with a decline in nutrition, a rise in weight-related health risks for all ages, and a negative ripple effect for children. Compared to average-weight children, obese children tend to perform worse at school, follow unbalanced diets and become sick more often. Eighty percent of children who are obese between the ages of 10 and 13 will go on to become obese adults.

Adults pay for the extra pounds in compromised health and shorter lives. Obesity alone is a risk factor in half of the leading causes of death in the United States––heart disease, stroke, type II diabetes and atherosclerosis. Other weight-related conditions include gallstones, osteoarthritis and, for women, endometrial cancer.

Even children pay the price in their health. In fact, obesity is considered the number one nutritional disease. Malnourishment––defined as not getting adequate vitamins, minerals and nutrients––is also a concern and often shadows high intake of low-nutrition foods. Not only do youngsters face the antecedent of adult diseases, they have a more immediate increased risk of hyperlipidemia, high blood pressure, and abnormal glucose tolerance levels.

The best reasons not to diet . . .

Did you know that the number one cause of gaining weight is dieting? A recent Gallop poll bears this out: 40 percent of people on high-protein diets regained all of their lost weight, compared with 15 percent of those who followed a standard, low-fat plan.

Health experts say that while culture, weather, genetics and behavior all play into our weight (see sidebar), 75 percent of our weight problem remains modifiable. And the best way to modify your weight is to modify your diet––forever.

Taking control of your weight often dovetails with taking care of yourself nutritionally. For example, people who eat five, as opposed to two or less, daily servings of fruits and vegetables reduce their risk of certain cancers by 50 percent.

"Do yourself a favor and make lasting changes, " says Pfeiffer. "For many of us, that means substituting vegetables and fruits for high-fat, high-sugar snacks. Not only will the pounds melt off, but you'll also boost your health and well being in the process."

Information supplied by Waukesha Memorial Hospital.

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