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Home › Articles › Health › Hope for Overweight Teens

Hope for Overweight Teens

Putting an End to Childhood Obesity

By Kendeyl Johansen

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  • Bagel pizza made with reduced-fat shredded cheeses and turkey pepperoni

    • Bonnell's hospital offers two programs for overweight families: LESTER (Let's Eat Smart Then Exercise Right) for children ages 6 to 11 and THINK (Teaching Healthy habits and Improving Nutrition Knowledge) for parents and their children ages 12 to 18.

    Fight For Fitness
    active girl Losing weight and choosing a healthy lifestyle are difficult for teens who may feel defeated by obesity so early in life. But 16-year-old Kari Vik battled her weight and won. Kari walked, rode her bike and cut down on junk food consumption to drop from a size 14 to a size 7. She offers advice for parents who want to help their overweight kids: "Walk and exercise with them. Try to help them eat right. Give the support they need and tell them daily [that] they are doing good." She says she wants schools to teach the risks of being overweight in health classes and offer teenagers more healthy foods. She'd also like longer gym periods and exercise classes such as aerobics.

    There are several ways parents can help teens slim down. Crystel Riggs of Clemson, South Carolina has taught her overweight daughter about fat grams, calories and serving sizes, and she helps her daughter maintain a healthy diet. Roiniotis encourages her 11-year-old to exercise and eat healthy foods, resulting in weight loss by munching on carrots with low-calorie dressing, drinking peach iced-tea and participating in camp sports.

    The changes shouldn't only happen in the home; parents can help fight childhood obesity by encouraging schools to offer a variety of physical activities, healthy food choices and weight intervention programs such as "New Moves." Experts suggest parents lobby the local Parent-Teacher Association or pick up the phone and ask what the school is doing to help overweight kids. Also, they say, check with local health care organizations to find healthy lifestyle programs tailored to children.


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