extreme weight loss methods

nearly 16 million children in the us haveinconsistent access to enough nutritious food. the american heart association recommendshigh-school aged children eat 3 servings of vegetables a day. in tennessee only 13% willachieve that goal. nearly one in five adolescents skips breakfast. disordered eating is our standard of livingin america.

extreme weight loss methods, one in 3 children in tennessee drinks twoor more sodas every day. one in three children is also obese or overweight. i see obesity as one of the most visible formsof malnutrition that we have today. babies who are breastfed exclusively for 6months experience fewer and less severe infections,

and see improved cognitive development. in tennessee, only 4% of babies will be breastfedexclusively to 6 months – the lowest rate in the us. we are setting our children up to not be ashealthy as they could potentially be. by age 15-18 months, the most common vegetableeaten by children in america is french fries. what is standing between us and a healthyrelationship to food? one responsibility we have as parents is toprovide our children with healthy nourishing food; food that will help them grow and develop.but what happens when children don’t get enough healthy food? and how do we know whatis healthy to begin with? in this episode

of children’s health crisis, we’ll lookat our relationship to food and examine why we eat what we eat and how that affects thehealth of our children. stay tuned. the day is just getting started at moorelandheights elementary, part of knox county schools in tennessee. food is important for schools, just like handinga kid a book or giving them a bus ride to school providing them a meal is a criticalpiece in the education and personal development of the student. district- wide director of school nutrition,jon dickl, wants kids to start their day right. breakfast is probably the greatest area forgrowth and the greatest area of need.

my primary role is to support the educationprocess. my product that i produce is not the food that i serve, it’s the studentsthat they become and the adults they will become. breakfast at this school is unique. it’sserved in the classroom; not the cafeteria and it’s free for every single student. we are in a really unique situation in timewhere we have students that come to us that are nutritionally deficient on the other handwe have students on the other end of the spectrum that are suffering with childhood overweightor obesity. so school is for some of our students a sole-source or close to sole source of nutrientdense food.

we are very careful in how we craft our menu.our breakfast menu usually has a minimum of three protein contributions a week, the offeringsof whole grains and the necessary requirement requirements of the fiber from that. the freshfruits and vegetables provides a more healthy body, than simply filling up on a carbohydrate. research shows children without reliable accessto food perform worse on math problems and are more likely to have to repeat a gradelevel. when breakfast is offered, fewer children will be late or absent from school. we hear research and we know statistics andthe data about how important it is the children get to eat every morning, but just to getto come in to the building every morning and

know in my heart that my kids have eaten isjust a great relief. i don't worry about them and i don't think you can research that. the american diet has really deterioratedover the last several decades. we have come to a place now where people are eating a lotof processed foods are not eating as many fresh fruits and vegetables we're not eatingas many homemade foods and because of this people are consuming significant amounts ofsugar of fat and of sodium. the forces that drive what we eat are actuallypretty straightforward. i think we eat what we can afford; we eat things that we can geteasily and we eat things that taste good and in our environment, unfortunately, the affordabletasty easily accessible foods are often not

the ones that are good for us. the foundations of what we eat and why areshaped by food behaviors set in infancy and early childhood. for experts, the early yearsare the most important. even babies first food sets the tone for the rest of life. breast milk is a living fluid. it's geneticallydesigned for the baby from whom its mother came from. so it's not just fats and proteinsand sugars, it really is about the immune boosting qualities. there are many benefits to breastfeeding.in the short term, breastfed babies have fewer infections and gastrointestinal problems.long term, research suggests breastfed babies

have less risk of asthma, obesity and certaintypes of cancer. but the benefits don’t stop there. breast-fed babies know that they are gettingfull after they have consumed a certain amount of fat in the milk. and we know that the longerthe baby stays on the breast of the higher the fat intake is. the same is not true forbottle feeding - bottle feeding even breast milk might not happen the same way and formulais homogenized so the fat is mixed through the out throughout the entire feeding. when babies are able to regulate their ownfeeding time and time again when we aren't watching clocks and stopping them when wereally watch their cues to let them know that

they are in charge of their own food; thatreally does have a lifelong lasting effects of being able to understand what it meansto be hungry. and what it means to be satisfied without being overly full i think that's aproblem that a lot of us have even as adults we should be eating when we are hungry andnot eating just because culturally it's acceptable to do so. according to the 2013 breastfeeding reportcard, 60% of mom’s in tennessee will ever try to breastfeed their baby. by 3 months,18% of babies will be breastfed exclusively. the american academy of pediatrics recommends6 months of exclusive breastfeeding. only 4% of tennessee babies will meet that goal,the lowest percentage in the us.

how we respond; how our body will know ifwe are hungry or full that starts as we are a developing fetus, because that set pointthat thermostat that lives in your brain and your brain architecture is being developedas the fetus develops its then further developed in infancy, and its reinforced or not. soif you are overfed as an infant, you set your thermostat at a higher level. that means thatyou will continue to eat regardless of whether that is necessary to feed your body and yourown growth that's the opposite of what we consider to be functionally good. now, asyou are developing, likewise, if you move into the age of the 3 to 5. your body, yourbrain your intestines your muscles your bones, everything is being laid down like the foundationsof a house. you've got to build a strong foundation

if you want to build your first and your secondor third story on top. as infants become toddlers, they move on tosolid foods. in america, that often means graduating to the kids menu. once babies are weaned and start having solidfood. those first few months i think parents are pretty careful. but i feel like somethinghappens at age 2 where suddenly it seems a good idea to take your child to mcdonald'sfor a happy meal. parents seem to want to give their child more of these foods thatare just part of our culture, and that's when you need to be really careful. we are a family of five: mom and dad, threekids; both parents working. we go to church

every week, twice a week sometimes, but youknow your typical family that you would find in nashville or anywhere. sherrica proctor and her family consideredthemselves health conscious. but like many families, they were busy. i was working anywhere from 55 to 60 hoursweek so it is whatever i could pop in the microwave and pop out onto the table for thechildren. and if it was easier for me to stop at the local fast food chain i would. the proctors aren’t alone. fast and convenientfoods have become the norm for families across america.

as our society has changed and the role ofwomen has changed and most families now have two working parents. we really are relianton foods that are fast and foods that are easier to get on the dinner table.after a career with the epa, john patrick has returned to his roots. he is testing asustainable model of agriculture on a small farm near nashville, tennessee. for john,what we eat is determined by what we plant. i would say in the 1920s. there was a subtleshift in the way that we farm, and that's when subsidies began, after 1970, things havechanged dramatically. that is when the usda started pushing more and more subsidies goingout to large farms and directed towards commodities by earl butts, who was the agricultural secretaryat the time, and his famous words are, “get

big or get out.”as a result, commodity crops in the us did “get big.” production of corn, soy, wheat,cotton and rice ballooned in the united states. it pushed us towards a surplus of certaincommodity crops. corn was the number one, followed closely by soy because they usuallythey go into rotation. so that changed, what are we going to do with all this food thatwe are growing and where's it going to go? in the case of corn, one use was high fructosecorn syrup. with it, food manufacturers could sweeten their products at a fraction of theprice of sugar. it’s in the corn syrup, it’s in the fruitdrinks, it’s in the ice cream it’s in the baked goods; it's prevalent.

today, conservative estimates say all americansover the age of two consume an average of 132 calories from high fructose corn syrupevery day. last year, 95.4 million acres of corn were planted in the us, with around 4million of those acres destined for high fructose corn syrup. to put that in perspective, thetop 34 vegetables planted in the us measure a combined 1.7 million acres. of all of the crop land in the us 60% of itis planted in grains, 2% of it is planted in fruits and vegetables. that doesn't matchthe dietary suggestion by the usda. if you look at myplate. it's pretty much split upinto little 25% quarters where you have grains, meat, fruits and vegetables and then a littledish over here of dairy. so grains over here’s

25% and we have fruits and vegetables whichmake up almost 50% so we have 60% grain going to 25% and 2% going to 50%. that's way outof balance, shouldn't we be growing more fruits and vegetables, shouldn't we be incentivizingthose farms to be more diverse. i see obesity as one of the most visible formsof malnutrition that we have today. while we are consuming excess numbers of caloriesthe nutrients per calorie are so low that we are not actually getting what we need togrow healthy. so we are malnourished as we are overweight. the question is are we to blame for the foodswe eat or is it our environment that has conditioned us to consume.

people think that they are eating becausethey've chosen to eat, but i think that the research is just so clear that our environmentmakes a huge difference in what we end up eating. typically, when you're around food; you eatmore. and what we've seen over the past couple of decades is an increase in our surroundingof food. you're constantly reminded that you're hungry and your constantly reminded that somethinglooks good. and so, you know, you eat first with your eyes, and then your nose, and thelast place you eat is with your mouth. highly processed – calorie rich foods arenot only abundant, they are also the most heavily marketed foods.

the food and beverage industry spends $1.6billion every year in marketing directly targeted to children and adolescents. the productsthat are advertised the most often to kids and teens are sugary cereals, fast food, candy,and sugary drinks. i don't think there is a big economic incentive to advertise healthyfruits and vegetables to kids. on television alone children see about 13food at every day and teensy over 16 ads a day. now you don't even have to be sittingin front of a screen to get the ads kids are getting ads on their iphone's their eye padsphysically, where ever they are. even marketing at the grocery store directlytargets children. think about the middle of a supermarket aisle.the highest sugar cereals and the ones with

the biggest cartoon characters are alwaysgoing to be eye-level with the child that’s in the shopping cart. manufacturers realizethat in order to sometimes quiet a child, you'll say okay fine, that's what we’llbuy. but human biology is also compelling us towardscertain foods. we preferentially move towards foods thatare high in fat and sugar high in salt. we’re not thinking about it, we just move in thatway. and it's because we used to live in more of a feast or famine condition and you couldnot predict it and so if you scanned the horizon, which is what you're doing with your eyesall the time. we preferentially go to the high-fat, high sugar, high salt. that way,were we to happen upon a time of famine, we

would survive. in this environment, wherethat is no longer an advantage but it becomes a disadvantage, this is a great challengefor us. all of this means that in order to navigatethe current food environment, you have to have your guard up. but not everyone has thesame level of defense. in tennessee, one in four children is food insecure. when you’re food insecure that means you'renot getting enough calories and you're not eating nutritiously. second harvest food bank of middle tennesseeis a part of the food system that often goes under the radar.

it’s usually by the third week of the monththat we start receiving calls from individuals. and so they need something to supplement thatthrough the end of the month. there are individuals that are really struggling. they have jobs,they’re underemployed, they may have unusual expenses such as high utility bills. so thenthey have to make decisions. do i pay my utility bill? or do i put food on my table? in the past, food banks like second harvesthave relied on non perishable processed foods to fill bellies. food banks traditionally, we would just takewhatever came to us and we will always take those donations. now though we've startedlooking at the type of food that we’re distributing,

what type of food we were giving out to people. food insecurity is often concentrated andpeople living in areas with high food insecurity can have trouble finding fresh fruits andvegetables. where i live is an older part of nashville,the closest place to get something to eat is pretty much a strip of fast food restaurants.there’s one grocery store and i'll be honest, i’m not really that all that comfortablegoing there. so that's frustrating. its going to take me 35 minutes to go to a grocery storeor anywhere that has fresh produce. for people to truly have choice so that theycan make healthy choices that means that the food offerings need to be accessible affordableand acceptable. those three elements are very

important. vanderbilt university is researching whatit takes for families to improve their diet and overall health. we focused in two of the most under resourcedcommunity areas that is in south nashville and in north east nashville. these are verydiverse communities and they serve many different types of people, but many of them deal withthe issue of food insecurity. focusing on families with children age 3 to5, the grow trial is banking that if interventions can work in food insecure areas, they canwork anywhere. we give very simple advice. a good skill isstart with the outskirts of any type of grocery

store that is where you're going to see fruitsand vegetables that's where you'll see the things that are closest to how nature intendedthem to be start on the outside and then be intentional as we walk down the middle ofthose isles; what your buying and why are your buying it. families participating in the grow trial meetfor 12 weeks with a trained counselor. together, they will learn cooking skills, how to createa balanced diet, and how to read a food nutrition label. when you read a label. rather than understandingthe entire label, we will teach with tools look at just sugar and fiber content. so lessthan 10 for sugar more than five for fiber

just remember two numbers. the trial also includes lessons on parenting,how to manage screen time and encourage things like getting enough sleep and enough physicalactivity. a lot of what we do is about being intentionalabout how we make our choices and interact with our environment to feed our bodies. it'shealthier to slow down when you eat if you can actually extends your eating time so about20 minutes than your body can give you cues to let you know when you're full, should youstop eating or you still hungry, should you keep eating. you override the automaticityby being intentional, and it's doable, but it is not the default of how we currentlyinteract with our environment.

once the classes are complete, participantswill routinely check back in and can call a counselor when they have questions. thegrow trial will last three years and involve 600 families. with the grow vanderbilt program it taughtus that eat what you feel is comfortable but just create some habits and know what’shealthy. taking the time to read a label in the store can be a little tedious when youhave three kids but if you have them involved it's an excellent educational tool. i wantthem to understand what they are eating. it's not about being the perfect nutritionist atall it's all about just making better choices for you and your family.

parents can only take their children so far.eventually, children have increasing control on the food they eat. the motivations forfood behaviors become complicated as children reach adolescence. the social pressures on kids today is entirelydifferent than when i was a kid. what i'm seeing the most of is this pressure to beperfect. now perfect entails a lot of different things including athleticism, grades, performingon a stage etc but what seems to be the underlying trend is body image. kids as soon as theylearn how to read, write, talk, move around the world they become aware of their masson this planet. so what i'm seeing a lot of that this pointis these kids are trying to control food,

control their relationship with food, tryto dominate their body in an effort to be quote-unquote perfect. we live in an environment with very mixedmessages when it comes to food on the one hand we are targeted by the industry, especiallychildren and adolescents to eat high calorie and energy dense foods that contribute toweight gain at the same time, what we see from the fashion industry from the diet industryare messages that really communicate that an individual needs to be thin in order toachieve success in our culture. research shows bullying based on weight isthe most common form of bullying in the school setting, but it also happens at home.

children are vulnerable to weight stigma evenfrom parents and siblings and the consequences of this are very devastating for childrenweight based bullying leads to things like depression and anxiety, low self-esteem, poorbody image even suicidal thoughts and behaviors , and it also leads to things like engagingin very extreme weight loss methods, engaging in binge eating or eating more food or avoidingthings like physical activity often because physical activity settings are where thesechildren get teased the most. when left unchecked, negative behaviors candevelop into mental illnesses such as eating disorders.there are spikes in trends of eating disorder onset. a lot of spikes we’ll see aroundmiddle school and high school. that seems

to be a really vulnerable population. beforean eating disorder really can be diagnosed the child is usually engaged in several yearsof disordered eating eating disorders are on the rise, especiallyamong males. there are a lot of myths about eating disorders.a huge myth is that it's a girl problem. another big myth around eating disorders is that youhave to be overweight or underweight to have an eating disorder and that’s simply nottrue. it's not about weight; it's not about the food; it’s about your relationship withyour weight and your food. it's supposed to be pleasurable to eat. whatfood is not supposed to do is trigger any positive or negative feelings about our selfor our place in this world.

we really need to messages that empower childrenand families to be healthy regardless of what their body size is. but the second step isthat we need to create an environment that makes it easy for families to be healthy. for someone who is really looking for theopportunity to make some small changes the dinner table is a great place to start. familymeals in every study they come out looking like a positive thing. it sounds simple butits actually a lot of work, but i think it's an investment that is worth it. i used to feel like the school food environmentmimicked culture. and i think today the school food environment, we are affecting cultureby what we are serving. it goes beyond just

feeding kids. it's creating a better lifefor our students. beyond their time that they spend in school. everyone should have access to enough nutritiousfood and understand what the body needs to grow and develop. in our current food environment,it is not always easy to know what is healthy. but reclaiming food as a source of nutritionand sustenance, listening to our bodies and allowing hunger and satisfaction cues to drivethe way we eat; will help us find balance. and eating a greater variety of foods, willpoint us in a direction of better health. please join me in learning more about thechildren’s health crisis in tennessee and what you can do about it by tuning into nptand by going online to wnpt.org/childrenshealth.

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