An important step in understanding your child's health is checking if they have excess weight. That's because excess weight—overweight or obesity—can impact their overall health.
What is Obesity?
• Obesity is a complex disease affected by multiple factors that include not only genetics and lifestyle choices, but also several factors in our broader society that contribute as well.
Why is it a chronic disease?
• Obesity is a chronic disease because it affects multiple organ systems in your body. It also interferes with how we feel hunger, fullness and process energy. Childhood obesity leads to adult obesity in most cases if not treated, which can in turn lead to other chronic diseases, such as diabetes, high blood pressure, sleep apnea, and fatty liver disease to name a few.
What can we do to prevent it?
• At Young Pediatrics, part of our mission is to prevent disease through proactive management for all kids. We will start providing guidance on nutrition and activity at your infant’s wellness visits and continue this through the college years!
• At every wellness visit, we will discuss healthy lifestyles and appropriate nutrition, screen time, sleep, and exercise for your children. Each of these impacts how our body processes energy and can contribute to excess weight gain if not unhealthy habits form.
• Ask us about 5-2-1-0 and check out healthchildren.org, choosemyplate.gov, Heart.org, and Healthy Eating for Pediatrics for more information on healthy nutrition.
Can we treat obesity in kids? Should we?
• Yes and Yes! New data show that treating obesity in teens is both safe and effective. We can decrease both their risk of adult obesity and complications caused by it.
• Obesity in children and teens also contributes significantly to poor self-esteem, poor body image, bullying, and often to anxiety and/or depression as well.
What do I do if I want to learn more?
• Dr Young manages our Nutrition Clinics and his happy to sit with you and your teen/pre-teen and discuss options that will best suit your family. Call to schedule an initial nutrition visit to learn more.
• During these visits, we will discuss nutrition and lifestyle in a safe and positive manner, review family history, assess for any co-occurring symptoms or complications related to obesity, and plan out SMART goals to help your child/teen achieve success in gaining control over their habits.
• We may also discuss treatment options in addition to IHBLT (intensive health behavior and lifestyle management). There are multiple options for treatment, and no one option is right for everyone. These are personalized visits dedicated to your child and family so that we might work together to find a plan that fits their goals and needs.
• AAP Parent site, healthchildren.org explains obesity: https://www.healthychildren.or...
• Treatment of Obesity: https://www.healthychildren.or...
• New AAP Recommendations on Treatment of Obesity: https://www.healthychildren.or...