I've had many people, over the years, ask me why I'm so passionate about health & fitness and fighting Childhood Obesity, so I figured I'd tell you all in one post...
I was a fat kid. I was the kid who was picked on because of my weight. It's funny to look back on it because I was so into fitness growing up - I LOVED me some Jane Fonda and Mouseercise and my "Get In Shape Girl"! I was into fitness and sports, I did move, I didn't sit in front of the TV, we didn't have video games, etc - so how was I so overweight?
For my family, it was about food.
I come from a short and round family, from both my parents. Obesity runs rampant on both sides. My family is one of the most supportive and loving family I've ever met (not being biased, they truly are!). We celebrate our family...with food. While it's not the healthiest food, I could never imagine a family holiday without baked beans, deviled eggs, mayo based potato salad, etc.
Growing up, we'd have the standard snacks in our house (sugary fruit snacks, highly processed granola bars, chips, soda, etc). We'd have the standard dinner, which usually consisted of a ground beef based meal (my dad was, and still is, a Meat & Potato kinda guy!) with veggies from a can (tons of sodium) and maybe some buttered bread. We celebrated our days at dinner time with comfort food, like most families.
But the one thing I didn't learn from my family, from no fault of their own, was portion control and how to stop eating when I was full. Although I don't remember it ever being pushed on me, we didn't have a lot of money, so you finished what was on your plate, possibly with seconds, because that food cost money. There was never much talk about eating till you were full, eating when you were bored, eating healthy, etc. This resulted in a Fat Kari.
I remember my parents always had Kudo's bars (granola bars covered in chocolate) in the house, and I remember sneaking 2-3 Kudo's bars into my room to eat every day. I realize now that I was snacking because I was bored.
Luckily, my Mom and I enrolled into Jenny Craig during the summer between 5th & 6th grade. 5th grade was especially hard for me. I was constantly teased about my weight, never really made any solid friends, had gum spit in my hair, had a girl cut my hair in the back during school, etc. At the time, I don't think I fully realized why my Mom enrolled me into Jenny Craig - I just remember her saying, "Hey, lets lose weight together this summer!" And so we did! I will forever be grateful for my Mom realizing that I was suffering as an obese child and thankful for her taking the steps she needed to to help her child. Love you Mom!
Unfortunately, for my Mom, her weight didn't stay off like mine did. Both my parents have been yo-yo dieters my entire life. Luckily, they were both able to get Gastric Bypass surgery because their weight was affecting their health. And, although I recognize the daily struggle they still have with food, they've been able to maintain their weight loss (within reason) for almost 6 years now! YAY Mom & Dad!
Because of the challenges I faced as a child, I have vowed never to let my children face those same challenges. We don't stock our cupboards with fattening, highly processed, full of sugar foods. In fact, my best friend famously commented "Josh and Kari NEVER have food in the house!" Not true. We have food, but we have what we need to maintain and some healthy snacks for snacking like Whole Raw Almonds, Fruit (there's ALWAYS fruit in my house), low fat string cheese, etc. We're also really big on portion control (although my husband is still big on a Big Dinner!) and eating for fuel, not for fun!
This is turning out to be a difficult lesson for our 5 year old who's starting to want to snack because she's bored. We simply tell her that it's not healthy to continuously snack and that we eat meals to fuel our bodies. We're also establishing an importance of fitness with her. Not a day goes by where she doesn't see one of us working out in our home gym (aka garage). We make sure we include her in our workouts (here's a video my husband took of her working out to ChaLEAN Extreme http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fF7-Kj0YNdM) and we try to make sure she understands the importance of fitness and healthy eating.
For me, I struggle with my food, and weight issues, on a daily basis. I've recognized that this is something that I will probably struggle with for most of my life, like some of you. In our house, its not about depriving yourself of the food you love or enjoy. It's about recognizing that a little bit goes a long way - we still enjoy our steak and potatoes, just on a smaller scale!
Fitness and eating healthy doesn't have to be difficult. Making changes in your diet and fitness routine shouldn't be something you fear, or something you feel will stop the Earth's rotation and make the Earth rotate in the opposite direction. Yes, a little dramatic, but for some people, when they're faced with making these changes, that's what it feels like! It's the little steps you make that make the biggest change:
1) Stop eating out! Eat dinner, as a family, at the dinner table, with no interruptions. No TV, no radio, even turn the ringer to the phone off if that's what you need. You should be fully engaged in your family and the food that you're putting into your mouth. Enjoy your food, enjoy your family, and talk!!! Talk to each other about your days, talk about your fitness and what forms of exercise you did that day, talk about your food choices and be supportive of one another.
2) Eat as natural as possible. Try to not eat from a box. Yes, my husband is a HUGE fan of Hamburger Helper, but it comes from a box and is choc-full of preservatives so I've nixed all Hamburger Helper from our house. If the meal comes from a box, you won't get it in my house! No boxed mashed potatoes! If the earth grew it, you know it's healthy!
3) Cook with your Kids! Get them in the kitchen with you and help them learn how to cook. How does the saying go: "If you give a man a fish, he'll have a meal. If you teach him how to fish he'll never go hungry" (or something like that, don't quote me here, people, LOL!) Point is, teach them what goes into their food, teach them how to cook and not rely on fast food for their meals, teach them what's healthy. You are their future. Trust me, I know that sometimes it's easier to have them out of the kitchen and not in your way when you're cooking, but this is SOOOOO important. They are GOING to learn about food choices. Don't you want them to learn them from you?
4) Move your body! Fitness is just as important as healthy eating. Get your family moving! Take a walk after dinner - which is a great way to help with digestion, and to help you avoid after dinner snacks. Go outside and play with your kids! If you normally play "Madden" on your gaming system, put it away and play football with your kids outside. Toss a baseball around. Fly a kite. Trust me, they'll appreciate you playing with them outside much more than you playing a video game with them.
5) Don't sweat the small stuff. We all have slip ups, it's inevitable. Stop obsessing, and start over. If you have a too big of a meal, or an extra snack, or a large Caramel Iced Blended with whip cream from The Coffee Bean (who, me???), don't beat yourself up over it. Just hop back on the wagon, and maybe exercise a little more that day. I've seen all too often someone who fell off the "wagon" for a meal, or a day, or a week, who then feels like it's all over, throws their hands in the air and quits - or freaks out saying "Now I have to start all over again!" Stop! No you don't, just pick back up where you left off! Another thing, if you fall off the "wagon" on Tuesday, DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT wait till the following Monday to hop back on! No excuses, just results!
To wrap up - I was an obese child. My mission in life is to never allow another child go through what I went through. I recognize that this change needs to start at the parents level.
As American's we need to retrain how we think in regards to our food and retrain our minds. We need to step away from the computer/Twitter/Facebook and TV/American Idol/Lost and start moving our bodies, otherwise we're setting ourselves, and our children's future, up for an epic fail.
I'll leave you with a quote from the Surgeon General Regina Benjamin, MD, MBA VADM, USPHS:
"Our nation stands at a crossroads. Today’s epidemic of overweight and obesity threatens the historic progress we made in increasing Americans’ quality and years of healthy life..." “...This future is unacceptable. I ask you to join me in combating this crisis.”
Reversing Childhood Obesity starts with YOU.
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