Tips to Keep Your Kids at Healthy Weights

With hectic schedules and people being pulled in so many directions, it may seem difficult to keep your family’s diet healthy, but here are some things parents can do to promote healthy eating habits in their children.

Thomas McDonagh, MD, pediatrician at Huntington Hospital, said these are some of the biggest obstacles to maintaining a healthy lifestyle for kids:

• Safety concerns leading to decreased outdoor physical activity
• Prevalence of electronic devices
• Reliance on fast food and eating out
• School physical education programs providing fewer hours of activity each week than in the past.

“Children who get adequate sleep, don’t have a television in their bedroom and frequently have dinner with their family are scientifically shown to have a healthier weight,” Dr. McDonagh said.

An acronym that Dr. McDonagh suggests families keep in mind for healthier weight loss is 5210. It stands for five servings of fruits and vegetables every day; no more than two hours of screen time each day; at least one hour of physical activity each day and no sugar-filled beverages.

“Another thing parents can do is to encourage their children to eat only when they’re hungry and not to feel as if they have to ‘clean their plates’,” Dr. McDonagh said.

To help a child understand if they really are hungry, encourage them to eat slowly and have them wait 10 to 15 minutes after they’ve finished a portion to see if they really want seconds, Dr. McDonagh advises.

Dr. McDonagh is the medical director of the Clark Gillies Healthier Tomorrows program, which is a weight-management program put together by the Huntington YMCA and Huntington Hospital and supported by the Clark Gillies Foundation.

For more information about weight management for children, click here.