When I was a kid (a chubby one at that), summertime was when I normally lost a few pounds through increased daily activities—riding my bike to the public beach, swimming and goofing around all day, then riding my bike home for dinner. Even though my lunch money was typically spent on ice cream sandwiches and soft-serve, the amount of time I spent being active during the day was enough to enable me to slim down before September.
Today, however, thanks to open kitchen pantries and too much TV time (not to mention cheese fries, as the New York Times suggested this week), many kindergarten and elementary school children—at critical points in their lives for optimizing body weight—are actually packing on pounds during summer vacation.
In a 2007 study, researchers at Ohio State and Indiana universities analyzed the body fat of more than 5,000 kindergarten and first graders in schools across the country. Body mass index (BMI) measures were taken for these children throughout the academic year. From these data, the researchers compared BMI changes over the nine-month school year versus with changes during the three-month summer vacation.
The results? During summer vacation, the average BMI increased more than twice as fast as during the school year.
Summer has turned into a vacation from healthy eating, and children are getting plenty of “screen time” but not enough playtime to compensate for warm weather faves such as ice cream and lemonade. They also have a tendency to snack more due to the irregular meal patterns that often occur during summer break.
School may be out, but now is the time to enroll your child in the summer session of healthy eating. Here’s what you can do.
- Keep kids on an eating and snacking schedule: Breakfast, lunch, dinner, and two snacks. This helps them feel signs of hunger and stops mindless munching between meals. Make the kitchen off-limits unless it’s time for a meal or a planned snack. (This one is good advice for everyone in the family to follow!)
- Plan family vacations that focus on physical activity rather than just relaxation. Consider an active getaway with lots of swimming, cycling, or hiking.
- Enroll your children in organized sports camps for swimming, soccer, or tennis. Most community centers offer some type of youth sports programs.
- Limit “screen time” to no more than one to two hours a day—that includes both the computer and TV.
- Make summer’s perfect produce the centerpiece of your meals. Visit a farmers market with your children and prepare meals together using fresh, wholesome ingredients. Better yet, designate a section of your yard as a place where your child can plant his or her own vegetables. Then let your child harvest the veggies and help decide how to eat them.
- Limit calorie-rich juices, sodas, and other liquids. To keep kids hydrated in the heat, give them plenty of water and help them avoid sugary beverages that have no effect on satiety.
(PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES)
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Comments (10)
Studies have shown (I encourage readers to look for themselves as well) that adipose tissue (or fat cells) develop from embryonic development to about the age of twenty, ceasing in correspondence to puberty. After that, the number of fat cells stays relatively the same throughout life. About 10 percent of cells are regenerated, but the overall number stays the same. If a drastic amount of weight is gained, the cells will divide again. In conclusion, it is important to encourage children to be active, play outside and eat good foods. It will affect their health for the rest of their lives!
Dear Suzanne Wolverton,
WHAT??? I would like a translation of whatever you just said because the only part that really made sense in correlation to the paragraph was that last part about eating right and staying active. I think you just wanted to sound really smart – good for you : )
The National Alliance for Hispanic Health has a terrific summer program for kids in four cities called the Health and Environment Action Network (HEAN) Summer Camp. Check out HEANaction.org for information on HEAN or hispanichealth.org for info on this organization.
Dear Vanessa,
Before attacking someone, why not ask them to explain it differently. I believe, Suzanne is saying, the amount of fat cells that a person ends up with is mostly related to the amount of fat cells a person gains up until they are 20 yrs old and then it evens out. That is why it is sooo crucial to not allow children to gain so many fat cells… Also, someone correct me if I am wrong, even if you lose weight, you NEVER lose the fat cells, they just shrink, and they are with you for life…
Eating fat does not actually cause us to gain fat or become fat. In fact low fat and high carb diets cause the body to generate fat more readily – and this is related closely to insulin within our bodies.
Suzanne, and Teresa – you are correct. I am not a Dr., but I have taken numerous biomedical courses in my younger days and am now studying to be a certified whole health coach. My latest studies from reputable evidence-based books, data and materials state exactly this. In general, we do not lose fat cells, but they can shrink.
I have been pouring through tons of books, articles, research for months now. And it is quite clear and proven that among many other things, an important concept to try and follow as part of maintaining overall good health is to limit high-glycemic foods (sugars, starches, many grains, etc.) as it spikes your insulin. Moderation is key, and try and include more Omega-3 fats as well (e.g. purified high quality fish oils).
Dave
the funny thing is, as they get into middle school and high school they’ll gain a ton of weight during the school year. Being a senior in high school, I know from experience that the only thing a lot of schools serve is fast food like pizza, popcorn chicken, fries, and smoothies everyday. So i usually LOSE weight during the summer because i eat things around the house, rather than fast food.
Good point. Highly processed foods, as well as high carbs and sugars are more affordable for schools, many of which are only set up to re-heat foods and not actually make anything themselves. There are more and more good choices becoming available, but in general it is like you say – pizza, dries, chicken nuggets, etc. We need to be eating real whole foods and this is quite difficult for schools to achieve. I am sure there are many angles to the story. Some schools are providing meals at a price to folks who would not be able to afford a meal otherwise. But the ’system’ is set up to make it cheap and easy right now to feed our children food that is known and proven by science to be unhealthy. it is quite sad.
Dave
If the fat cells stay even if you lose all the weight, does that mean the you’ll gain weight more easily when you get older and start living a more sedentary life? Or if a woman becomes pregnant and gains weight, will it make it harder for her to lose those lbs afterwards?
If someone could elaborate further on the whole fat cells thing I would be very interested.
Thank you
Caroline
Hi! I stumbled on your post here while searching through Google. I’ll browse around the rest of your site – looks like you have a pretty good blog going on here. Thanks again.
Cheers,
Jason
Hey there! I came across your blog (and this post) through Google and gave it a read. Thanks for sharing and I’ll be sure to swing in again in the future.
Cheers,
Jason