VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — It's back-to-school time! That means back-to-school discussions on lunches, snacking - a perfect time to talk about making healthier choices.
I met up with Laurie Thenedy, a registered dietitian in Virginia Beach, for help on having that conversation with your kids.
"Ultimately, we now have access to a lot of high-calorie, low-nutrition foods like cookies, soda, sweetened beverages and teas, pastries, doughnuts, things like that, that might fill your child up temporarily but aren't offering them nutrition that will help them grow and thrive," Thenedy said.
Thenedy, owner of Nutrition Renewed, has a private practice specializing in heart health. She says we need to be mindful when having discussions on childhood obesity.
"As ironic as it might seem, I would actually not make it about weight," she said. "I would make it more about helping your child understand what foods are going help them grow, what foods might help fill them up. So instead of saying, 'you can't have chips anymore because of your size,' it might be better to say, 'what fruits do you want to try?'"
She added that abrupt changes about snacks might backfire.
"At least from what research suggests, the more that we restrict foods from a child, the more they may become obsessed with them or feel inclined to overeat them when they are accessible," Thenedy said.
She suggests making gradual changes rather than abruptly changing your child's snacking options.
"If you stop buying the sugary cereals, their fruit rollups, mini muffins or pastries, they're going to be pretty mad," she said.
She encourages parents to take a little time to do some label reading.
"So added sugar is one of those things that are found in a lot of what we call hyper-processed foods, things like pastries or sodas and dessert items can impact a child's health and weight," she said.
One area in particular she said she believes parents need to focus on is sodas. She recommends gaining awareness of other healthier options.
"So there's a wide variety of brands, but seltzer can be a perfect substitute for soda, especially if kids like the bubble, they like the fizz and these come in a lot of fun flavors," she said.
Thenedy says this may challenging, but parents need to try to keep this in mind. She says leading by example could help your child be more accepting of healthier snacking choices.
"Modeling it for yourself as an adult too, showing them how they can eat things that are going to taste good [can help]," Thenedy said. "We know from studies that parents who are physically active, engage in regular activity, their kids are also more likely to do the same. So even though it's hard for us to make changes, we're busy, we're tired, but making that [change] can have a long-lasting effect on our kids."
She provided two points for parents to focus on in addressing childhood obesity: "I would say the two main takeaways would just be making sure they're active every day, and then the second would be cutting back on sugar-sweetened beverages," she said.
Thenedy said if giving up soda is a tough sell with the kids, try smaller sizes. Some soft drinks come in minis and she said believes small steps like that can put you and your children on a healthier path.
For more information on Thenedy's nutrition practice, click here.
