- Kids Heart Health
- Overweight children
- Heart disease and overweight children
- Children's cholesterol testing
- Heart Healthy Tips
Why Sign up for Nutrition E-Newsletter?
Give The Gift of Love – Be Good to Your Child’s Heart
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) remains American's No.1 killer, claiming more lives than the rest of major causes of death, according to the American Heart Association. CVD include high blood pressure, coronary heart disease (heart attack and angina), congestive heart failure, stroke, and congenital heart defects. Coronary heart disease alone is the single largest killer of Americans. The disease affects women too accounting for 1 in 5 deaths
Your children are probably looking forward to receiving a box full of Valentine’s Day cards from their school friends this month. Instead of giving candy bars with your cards, keep it healthy this year and show up to the classroom with sliced fruit or tangerines as the treat. Kids are constantly bombarded with high-sugar and/or high-fat snacks. In fact, it is estimated that Americans consume close to 160 lbs of added sugar per year. Picture sitting in front of 16 ten pound sacks of sugar! This added sugar comes in the form of candy, sweetened juice, soda, sport drinks, donuts, breakfast bars, and many breakfast cereals.
Being an overweight child can be frustrating not only because it may be harder to physically keep up with classmates, but also emotionally challenging because kids can be mean by saying negative comments. The other negative impact can be long-term damage to your child’s heart. As adults we are already aware of high cholesterol and high blood pressure. These two conditions can lead to heart attacks and strokes.
There has been ongoing debate in the pediatric world on how to best manage the clinical symptoms of obese children. A 2008 study conducted by Dr. Raghuveer and colleagues at the University of Missouri Kansas City School of Medicine examined plaque build-up in the neck arteries of 70 obese children aged 6 to 19. Using an ultrasound device the researchers discovered that these young subjects had as much plaque in their neck arteries as middle-aged adults. This study has certainly opened up more discussion on treating high-risk children with drug therapy. In fact the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute recommends that children and adolescents who have demonstrated risk factors, such as obesity, should have their cholesterol tested by their doctor (to read more click here).
Even if drug therapy is utilized in specific cases or becomes the norm for many obese children, it is evident that behavioral therapy is needed. Educating people on what to eat is the first step, however it will take more than that as health educators in all fields know that knowledge doesn’t equal behavior change. Specifically, there needs to be more research on ways to address barriers to adopting a healthy lifestyle.
If you do have an overweight child, ask your pediatrician to track your child’s BMI (body mass index) and order a lipid panel test. This can tell you about your child’s cholesterol level and you will want to know about LDLs, HDLs, and triglycerides. LDLs are the bad cholesterol and the LDL number should be Low; 120 mg/dL or less is ideal. The HDL or Healthy cholesterol should be high; 45 mg/dL or more. Triglycerides are a type of fat found in your blood and should be less than 150 mg/dL.
Diet, exercise, and weight loss can improve these numbers. Specifically, fiber may help reduce LDLs and exercise can improve HDL. Also, read food labels and purchase items low in saturated fat; saturated fat gets converted into cholesterol in our body.
Here are some heart healthy food tips and fitness suggestions:
Increase Fiber Intake
- Serve oatmeal for breakfast and switch over to 100% whole wheat bread
- Add beans to soups or offer as a side dish
- Place sliced fruit and veggies on the table for your child
- Offer fresh fruit smoothies using low-fat yogurt
Clean Out Your Pantry
- Remove high-fat and high-sugar foods such as potato chips, crackers, donuts, breakfast bars, cereals that are really high in sugar
- Offer cups of water (add a lemon to flavor it) in place of sodas or sports drinks (the kids may whine at first but stick to it)
- Offer air-popped popcorn for after school snacks (popcorn can be a chocking hazard so avoid offering to young children)
Decrease Saturated Fat Intake
- Offer lowfat mozzarella or Swiss cheese
- Serve fish and chicken breast more often than red meat
- Stir fry and bake your meals instead of deep frying
- Serve vegetarian meals and skip the meat; your child can get plenty of protein from 1% milk, non-fat yogurt, beans, peanut butter, and tofu.
- Use spray dressings vs. traditional Thousand Island or Blue Cheese salad dressing
Increase Intake of Healthy Fats - Monounsaturated and Polyunsaturated fats
- Cook with olive, safflower, or canola oil (use small amounts as oils are high in calories)
- Offer 2 tablespoons of cashews on top of yogurt; all nuts have healthy fat in them. (nuts can be a choking hazard so avoid offering to young children or children with nut allergies)
- Seeds can be another great source for healthy oils. You can add ground flax seeds into a fruit smoothie or a on top of their favorite cereal or salad.
- Add avocado slices to a salad
Daily Movement – Get Your Heart Rate Up
- Get the dance music on and dance with your child
- Turn off the computer games and play basketball with your child
- Go for a walk with your child
- Sign your child up for swimming or gymnastics at the local recreation department
- Prioritize your day so that movement happens – mark it down on the calendar as a reminder
Cook at Home
- Look up healthy recipes on-line or get a cookbook from the library; have the kids help
- Plan home-cooked meals (can be as simple as pasta with steamed broccoli) and limit fast food. A cheese burger, fries, and a drink can contain up to 1500 calories – your child may only need 1600 calories in one day.
- Use small plates and bowls and skip on second helpings; if the family is still hungry, offer sliced fruit such as apples or bananas.
You may have many reasons why you or your child can’t start to exercise or change your dietary habits.
This is your first heart exercise: Look at your day, look at your life. If you are feeling overloaded, see how you can simplify. Many things don’t have to be done today or this week. It is OK if the dishes aren’t done tonight. Get active with your kids. Other “to do’s” on your list may need to wait until another time. Choose one or two health goals this month - make them small and simple. Even walking for 15 minutes with your daughter this week is a huge start. Small changes lead to big changes. This will show you and your children what a big heart you have!
The American Heart Association reminds us to be good to our heart by declaring February Heart Health Month. Go to www.Americanheart.org or www.Americanstroke.org for more information.
Written on February 2009
Last updated: July 2009
Quick Links
Family Nutrition News
Read our recent articles
Daily Tips Calendar
Print and post fun daily tips.
Interactive Nutrition Tools
Free meal planner, BMI, and more!
Family Nutrition Blog
The latest news facts and tips.
Printable Healthy Living Tips
Fun and easy tips - for the whole family.
Kids Fun Links
Explorers - Kids’ Page
Kids monthly healthy tips
Back to Main Nutrition Articles Page
