Description

Join Emerald Yeh to learn how parents can help their overweigh children and be aware if their children are becoming overweight.

Transcript

Female Speaker: Couple of your blood test were little abnormal. Female Speaker: Cindy is 16 years old and 36 pounds overweight. She gained much a bit this summer. Cindy: I wasn't even eating food at all I was eating chips and sodas. Dr. Nancy Torres: No regular food. Cindy: No. Dr. Nancy Torres: Why is that? Cindy: Because my mom wasn't home, she lived in Mexico. So and I missed her. Female Speaker: Doctors like Nancy Torres at Kaiser say it's important to treat a child's weight problem psychologically as well as medically. Dr. Nancy Torres: They come in with issues of low self esteem feeling depressed I mean that's how they relate to they're being overweight and obese. Female Speaker: Some doctors avoid the words overweight and obese when talking to their young patients, instead they talk about the goal of getting to a healthy weight. Dr. Rick Baker: Much easier for them to feel comfortable with making change if they look at it from a healthy standpoint as suppose to something that sounds bad. Dr. Nancy Torres: Your weight has gone down one pound, so that's very good. Female Speaker: Dr. Torres sees 100 of patients, but can't count on two hands, the number who has successfully lost weight long-term. Dr. Nancy Torres: It's usually the adolescent patient because they have decided to take the responsibility; they've decided they want to change those behaviors. Cindy: Walking every morning 30 minutes. Dr. Nancy Torres: Good. Cindy: I'm trying out, staying away from soda and juice and drinking 36 ounce of water each day. Dr. Nancy Torres: I think you are doing great. Female Speaker: These days the medical profession is making their shift to prevent as well as treat health and obesity. Kaiser pediatricians routinely do body mass index or BMI calculations on all of their patients to assess their risk of being overweight. Dr. Nancy Torres: Just put your feet back and look straight ahead, just like a little soldier boy there we go. Female Speaker: Doctors measure the children's height and weight to calculate their BMI, which is a measurement of body fat. Parents can easily get their children's BMI by doing a web search for children BMI calculator and then plugging in their child height, weight, gender, and age. Dr. Rick Baker: It's a way of addressing the issue with a number and it's easy to understand the number, when people say what's your vision, you have a number. So they have that number it allows a frame of reference for making a discussion. Dr. Nancy Torres: We look at the body mass index and it's 16. Female Speaker: He's doing great, yeah. Female Speaker: For children and teens with very high BMIs and at risk of diabetes, Kaiser offers an 8 week program called "High Five" which provides kids with tools and incentives to make lifestyle changes. Male Speaker: This week I'm working on eat more vegetables, and limit sugar drinks and don't skip any meals. Female Speaker: Many children show improvements in their cholesterol levels, blood pressure, and insulin resistance after 8 weeks. Female Speaker: What else can I have? Female Speaker: Like the U C Davis Program, Kaiser requires parents to participate in the weekly class and the kids like that. Male Speaker: Because then I feel I like the way I have walls on my shoulders, when they help me out, it feels like the pressure is lifting off. Female Speaker: Spencer's father makes it a priority to come even though he travels for his job. Patrick Poling: I've done a few red eyes and few other things in order to make sure here on Mondays and prior to that it's just so that he knows that it's not just him by himself, we are not driving by and dropping him off, and well this is, it is sure worth it's, -- now we are all in this together. Female Speaker: Going to put my stethoscope right there and we are going give you arm you a little hug. Female Speaker: The statistical odds of getting diabetes are cruelest to ethnic minorities, especially the Hispanics and African Americans, half their kindergarten are today are expected to get diabetes. For Native Americans, the chances are even higher, while these groups are more genetically prone to diabetes and obesity, the American diet and life style make things worse. Male Speaker: Genetics loads the gun, but environment pulls the trigger.