The kids are NOT alright: By 2050, 50% will be overweight or obese

What do you want for your kids?

I’m guessing you’re hoping they stay happy and healthy and grow into well-rounded adults who are kind, compassionate and live a fulfilling life.

All well and good.

Except our youngest generation is not doing so great.

Levels of anxiety continue to escalate along with growing levels of overweight and obesity, meaning they will struggle more psychologically and emotionally, and be at risk of more chronic disease including type two diabetes, heart disease, musculoskeletal problems, cancer, and shorter lives.

The latest major international study to come out of Australia has indicated that by 2050, 50% of young people aged 5 to 24 years will be overweight or obese.

This is not about fat shaming.
This is not the fault of the kids or their parents.

The growing problem of childhood obesity.

If you’ve noticed children are getting bigger and more appear to be overweight, you’re right.

In 1985, 9.6% of boys and 10.6% of girls were overweight with a further 1.6 and 1.7% obese.

Today, one in four Australian children and adolescents are living with overweight or obesity (18.3% overweight, 8.1% obese).

This number is expected to double again in the next 15 years.

This is a societal health crisis.

To know that Australia has had a National Obesity Strategy in place for three years with little progress being made, is a national disgrace.

Public health slogans encouraging us to eat more fruit and veggies have been running for decades. Sadly, with little effect.

We know it’s important to eat healthily but we don’t, and there’s a multitude of reasons why.

Obstacles to healthier eating include:

• When you have financial pressures, meaning you seek to buy cheaper foods that are often lower in nutritional value but higher in calories.
• When you have what are called obesogenic environments. Here access to healthy food is limited with the only options available being the usual cluster of Fast-Food Chains. Have you noticed how these all congregate together, meaning you can choose a different fast-food option every night of the week.
• When you have powerful commercial interests manufacturing ultra-processed food products using cheap ingredients. Their marketing is extremely alluring and of course the products taste yummy and drive the desire to eat more. Not only that because they can be consumed so easily (little chewing is required, just open wide and swallow), so the normal satiety signal leptin doesn’t exert its effect. This means only a short time after your last burger and chips, those hunger pangs are starting to rise again.
• When you have time pressures. When both parents work and come home exhausted to a chorus of “What’s for dinner?”  the temptation to take the easy and quick route to grab a pizza or fried chicken is strong. You know the kids will eat it. You know it’s a cheap feed, then everyone is happy.
• When you have kids and young people less invested in sports or games outside, leading more sedentary lives in front of a screen. Or parental concerns for their children’s safety if allowed to venture outside. Marshmallow kids are less active, tend to snack more and eat more than their active outdoors counterparts.

So, we know why we don’t always make the healthy choices to cook from scratch and ensure our kids take healthy food for lunch.

I can’t tell you how many lunch boxes came home untouched with the excuse of, “I was too busy playing to eat my lunch”, or “I don’t like tuna”, or “Tommy shared his chips with me.”

What can help?

There is no single strategy that will bring about the necessary changes. It’s going to require a massive shift in mindset and develop a raft of different measures that collectively will help.

1. Let’s get serious about understanding what healthy food looks like. There’s a mountain of misinformation and conflicting information out there. Let’s get back to basics.
2. Let’s get serious about making healthy foods accessible to all, especially those living in lower socio-economic neighbourhoods that typically have fewer healthy food options readily available. This is where community collectives can put on social events where everyone is invited to come together to share a healthy meal.
3. Let’s educate our kids about what healthy food is, and get them involved so they get the chance to try different foods, learn how to grow it, learn how to cook or prepare it. Schools to provide healthy lunches again. Schools to grow different foods on site that the students are involved in caring for. Even the fussiest of kids is more likely to try something different if all their friends are doing so.
4. Let’s model healthy eating ourselves. Our kids aren’t going to take us seriously if they see us scoffing donuts and burgers while telling them to eat more carrots and broccoli.
5. Let’s demand (loudly) that the governments and decision makers get off their bottoms and stand up to the powerful lobby groups that want us all to eat their processed goop. After all, the manufacturers have invested heavily in ‘mouthful’ crunch and taste.
6. Let’s get our kids and young people OUTSIDE more!
7. Swap screen time for family time. Encourage outdoors play every day and turn off all screens an hour before bed. All screens, including mobile phones, need to be outside the bedroom. Better sleep encourages better appetite regulation and reduces the urge to snack.
8. Help your children find their legs. It’s become commonplace for our kids to be driven everywhere. Encouraging them to walk, ride a bike or participate in outdoor chores keeps them moving and less sedentary.
9. Get help if needed. If you’re not sure if your child is at a healthy weight, ask your GP, get a referral to a dietician or nutritionist if needed and support your child’s journey towards a healthy weight.
10. Good food tastes delicious and nourishes us fully. By making every meal an opportunity to eat a wide variety of fresh foods in a rainbow of colours, you’re setting your child on a path to a healthy life for the future.

Encouraging more outside play encourages children to want to stay more active into adulthood. Children encouraged to play outside more tend to maintain a lower body mass index compared to their more sedentary counterparts.

Being outside stimulates a better mood and strengthens the immune system.

One study in 2006 found that for every minute a child spends outside on average each day, they are approximately 1% less likely to be obese.

Our kids don’t need to be young athletes. Simply getting them to spend more time outside will help them to feel less stressed, be more resilient and teaches them more about the natural world. Plus, they’re less likely to be just sitting, and they’re not being exposed to as much online advertising for soft drink and junk food.

Let’s make the move to keep our kids, happy, healthy and well, starting with encouraging a healthy diet that focuses on including more fresh fruit and vegetables, more whole grains, lean protein, seeds and nuts, legumes, some dairy and water.

Fussy eaters can be encouraged to make #onesmallchange, maybe substituting a soft drink for water with a slice of apple or cucumber, or substituting a cookie for some cheese and crackers or veggie sticks.

Let’s make childhood overweight and obesity a thing of the past.

Are you with me on this?