How To Fight Teen Obesity

New York's mandatory menu-labeling initiative has had little effect on New Yorker's calorie intake. One New York doctor thinks it's a good beginning, however. Dr. Eric Braverman, MD thinks it will begin to make a difference, but only after many more supports are in place.

" Calorie counting and labeling nutritionally is not working yet because people have their mind made up how they're going to eat. They've already decided how their going to eat," said Braverman.

" Labels and calorie counting are not working for teens yet. You almost need like a skull and crossbones like they did for cigarettes, warning this can kill you. It's fat, there's sugar, there's junk food, it doesn't work because people have already made up their minds, their habits of how they're going to eat.

" And they're not ready to think about eating healthy when they're at restaurants and other locations. But it may work over time; like water dripping on a stone, it eventually breaks through.

" More importantly we at home can set the standard. The standard is have an incredible breakfast for your kids. Have a rainbow of vegetables like carrots and green beans, wax beans, and cucumbers, have a rainbow of fruits and grapes and strawberries, bananas, blackberries.

" Get into the habit of buying fish oil. Eggs are loaded with extra nutrients. Get yourself fresh juices and spices that are fresh that are loaded with anti-oxidants. So there are a lot of things you can do at home that set the stage for eating right, including throwing cinnamon into your yoghurt. That's an exciting way to combine foods, cinnamon on a banana, rosemary and basil in soups. There are many ways to eat healthy, always thinking spice, color, high-nutrient density, low calorie, low white sugar, low white pasta, low white bread.

" People will eventually let the labels sink in.

" Chew foods. We don't use our teeth. Everyone gets in this lazy habit of gulping. Chewing is a key thing for kids to learn early on.

" Children will eat vegetables, celery, of course carrots, an apple. But the key is a spice rack. Salt and pepper is done. Every restaurant table in America needs a spice rack and different ones. Turmeric in one spice rack; rosemary and basil in another; little coriander balls that kids like, and teenagers think are tasty, and caraway seeds.

" You have to develop an appetite for a new palette in your child and then it will expand into teen years.

" Teenagers have a lot of bad habits, and sometimes have no time for breakfast, but you can get them up early, that will force them to go to bed sooner. You can have a little bag lunch with an apple, some celery, some grapes which are sweet so their sugar addiction can go to grapes and other sweet types of foods, blackberries, things of that sort.

" You can get them into taking coconut drinks to lunch.

" Dinner you can send them to the best restaurants, you can order in really high quality, herbal steaks, herbal chicken with mushrooms and basil and rosemary. Think low sodium and high nutrients.

" So you have to eat that way to change your children, children really model and teenagers still model on their adults.

" They have an epidemic of obesity, they've become addicted to sugar, and junk food, their hormones are high, they need to be able to calm themselves down with food fast, so clearly there's a sort of psychological component of eating quickly, and going on the run and being high on hormones and doing everything fast.

" Another is that it's calming, carbohydrates and salt, and gravies, and heavy foods calm the nervous system down, when you're getting shot up with your own, natural steroids, everyone's estrogen is going sky high, everyone's testosterone is going sky high. So there are a lot of factors but you have to start early and keep trying to bend a young tree toward the right way.
Are the offerings at fast food places getting better?

" There are more salads in fast food places than there used to be. Certainly there are lower fat menu selections, fast food restaurants are trying to make certain alternatives available, and you can emphasize the salads.

" Another thing to do is do a body scan on teenagers. We do body scans on teenagers and when they see their body fat as big around the hips, it affects them. Just because they're thin, doesn't mean you're not flabby.

" Fatty and greasy and fried foods and junk foods will make you flabby even if you're thin. So a lot of people are thin-obese and they don't even realize they're thin-obese.

" Weight doesn't tell you if you're overweight, per se, because a lot of people are low muscle mass, high fat content, just like the food they've been eating over the years. That's what happens to you. You live on high fat foods? You become fat.

" A change in behavior comes from the brain, education, constant multi-sensory exposures, television talking about obesity killing you, parents talking about it, schools talking about it, restaurants having information, fast food places having information, spices on the table, vegetables in the house, fruits in the house, whole grains in the house, spices at school, a little spice rack at school in the locker, whatever it is.

" You can change behavior thru multiple techniques, exercise, hiring a trainer. Exercise overcomes a multitude of eating sins so you can eat mediocre but if you exercise incredibly you'll be in good shape.

" You can't do enough exercise. For a teenager, you have to run them, teach them a lot of different sports, aerobic, teach them swimming, because swimming is a life sport, tennis is a life sport.

" A trampoline is fabulous. Trampolines build bone density. Kids from age 2 to literally 15 enjoy those small trampolines. I mean you can have a catch on trampolines, you can talk about life with your kids while on a trampoline. They are fantastic. It's a simple way to exercise, communicate, talk.

" I am an optimist that we will prevail if we continue to change our culture and lifestyles.
" Remove the lead and cadmium and toxic metals from our air.

Remove the mercury from fish. Clean up our environment. Continue to make our tables better. Make our restaurants smoke-free. Continue to inform people what they're getting at the restaurant, what they're getting at the food store. Have the parents change. Change exercise patterns. Eventually we'll be a fit nation again."

Dr. Braverman has written two books on these subjects:
"Younger (thinner) You Diet" and "Younger You", a New York Times Bestseller.