Three simple steps to protect your child's health - and his waistline

Parents looking to protect the health and wellness (especially the waistlines) of their children should stick to the strategies that can help strengthen families overall: Eat together as a family, get enough sleep and limit the TV time. Those three simple strategies can do much to stave off obesity, one of the fastest growing threats to childhood health, according to new research. The study, scheduled to be published in the March issue of Pediatrics magazine, found that four-year-olds who regularly ate dinner with the family, got enough sleep and watched less than two hours of TV a day were 40 percent less likely to be obese than young children who did not. Obesity is also a major driver of increased health care costs.

The researchers examined the association of childhood obesity among preschool-aged children with three household routines: eating the evening meal as a family more than five times per week, obtaining at least 10 hours of sleep per night, and watching less than two hours per day of television on weekdays. Eighteen percent of the children studied were determined to be obese. Among 4-year-old children whose households practiced all three routines, the rate of obesity was 14.3 percent. In contrast, researchers found almost one in four of the children (24.5 percent) living in households without any of the routines were obese. Obesity can lead to serious health problems in children, ranging from diabetes to hypertension.

"The routines were protective even among groups that typically have a high risk for obesity. This is important because it suggests that there's a potential for these routines to be useful targets for obesity prevention in all children," Sarah Anderson, assistant professor of epidemiology at Ohio State University and lead author of the study, said in a statement. Anderson and coauthor Robert Whitaker, professor of public health and pediatrics at Temple University, urged parents not to be discouraged or overwhelmed by the idea of implementing all three routines at once: Children's health can benefit from any one of the routines, though the protections against obesity appear strongest when children can engage in all three. For example, families can shoot for eating together three times a week if five times a week is too difficult to manage.

The release of the study coincided with an announcement by U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama that she wants to erase the epidemic of childhood obesity within a generation. Mrs. Obama launched her "Let's Move," campaign on Tuesday. It's key points include educating parents and communities about smart food choices, dramatically reduce the junk food available at schools and encouraging more physical activity.

Worried that you can't fit all three strategies in your family's routine? Here are some suggestions:

Create new nighttime routines for your child that can shave off the television time: have him or her pick out clothes for the next day, set out breakfast bowls, do gentle, yoga-like stretches that prepare her for sleep, read a picture book (or a chapter for older kids) in bed before falling asleep.
Find things to substitute for television. Try family game night. Read together with your kids. Go for a walk.
Take advantage of the pre-cut salads and "convenience" foods in grocery stores that make it easier to prepare and serve dinner at home. These foods can cost more, but you may find yourself eating out less if they help you eat well at home.

What other suggestions do you have?

Photo Credit: Tobyotter