Last week, I posted a link to another blog, “Slash Your Child’s Risk of Obesity by 40% Without Diet or Exercise.” I asked your thoughts.  Now, I’ll share mine.

I really like the post’s simple approach to a bigger goal, that totally makes it easier for many families to implement.  Rather than focusing on weight loss in a child, which is important, let’s focus on overall family health, which I believe this article is inferring. Those simple changes like consistent sleep schedules, less screen time and family meals are the basic constructs of a healthy, organized home.  Unfortunately, there are many families who never began in the early years with these structures.

How can preschoolers function if their sleep cycle is very scattered?  Any parent with a very exhausted child already knows how crucial sleep is to his or her own sanity. Yes, the back-to-basics message is a good one.

This is where the blog post falls flat on its gluteus maximus:

First of all, obesity is a symptom of a much larger problem and revolves around the child (or adult) not getting enough exercise and/or not getting the proper nutrition. Period. We definitely need to review what the family is doing, how mom and dad are modeling their behaviors, how much sleep everyone is getting, what’s being served for meals and whether TV or computer time is too long.

The blog post is misleading. Looking at the research link, preschool-aged children were solely addressed in the study.  The title of the blog post could be misconstrued if someone didn’t read far enough.  We all know circumstances are very different from a 3-year-old to a 7-year-old and beyond.

The blog post mentions that we don’t need to be talking about sports leagues or packing lunches or chocolate milk restriction because there are simpler solutions.  Well, with preschoolers packing lunches is a moot point if they don’t go to daycare or to a sitter’s all day.  If they are away from home, then whatever they are eating certainly matters.  Packing a lunch is easy and under a parent’s control all the time.  So, why not talk about it? Why not focus on as many healthy habits early on as possible?  I’ll tell you why, because people are afraid to tell others they need to make significant changes. Somebody might whine or complain. Many people refuse to eat more fruits and vegetables…and they are the adults!!

The article downplays eating vegetables.  Huh?! That should be the number one change in terms of nutrition, especially if you consider that 93% of American kids only eat the recommended 3 servings of vegetables per day.  And then when you look at chronic disease being at an all-time high (1 out of 2 men will get cancer; 1 out of 3 women will get cancer; 80,000,000 Americans have cardiovascular disease; by age 12, 70% of our kids will have the beginning stages of hardening of the arteries), these problems are heavily linked to nutrition as is obesity. So we are afraid to talk about eating because somebody might feel guilty or get angry if you tell them that the food they are eating can either kill or heal them? Too bad!

“Americans don’t have vitamin deficiencies, they have whole-food deficiencies.” -Dr. Delia Garcia, Radiation Oncologist, St. Louis

Why are vegetables so important?  If you want to clean up your insides, then you need to eat those green leafies and the wide array of other colors every day to get the naturally occurring phytochemicals to clean out your body of those byproducts of living (that just happen naturally and cause disease if left to accumulate), improve your immune system, stave off chronic inflammation and diseases like cancer and protect your DNA. In fact, you need at least 7-13 servings of fresh, raw fruits and vegetables daily and more if you are active.

So, don’t you think fruits and veggies need to be emphasized?  Your kids may be young now, but do you want to reduce their risk of cancer and cardiovascular disease as much as possible for the future?

Downplaying the importance of a basic necessity like eating fruits and vegetables does no service to helping families be fit and healthy. I understand that for very young kids, they are not going to eat well all the time, so as a parent or caregiver your job is not to give up.  It might take 13 tries before a child even thinks of touching a food to his/her lips.  Your job is also to show them by your good example that we need to eat plants.  So, be healthy yourself.

And be patient, that’s why we’re given 18 years, right?  Simply have other options on hand so that you can offer a substitute vegetable when your little angel turns his nose up at the carrot stick.  Offer a little reward.  They won’t need rewards for the rest of their lives whenever they eat well; however, it does encourage them to eat well and you want to encourage good habits after all.  I’ve done this successfully with all three of my children as a single parent, so there are no reasons why you can’t even if you’re kids are teenagers.

Are you and your family getting 15 fruits and vegetables consistently every day? Click on this link and learn how to bridge the gap.

So, there you have it. I had to plug the fruits and vegetables because the lack of those and inactivity are major contributors of chronic disease and obesity. Overall, the blog post I’m reviewing gets a C-, but totally falls short when it fails to emphasize the most important changes any family can make to fight obesity: eating more fresh produce and exercising.