A radical new campaign with a novel twist has been launched to battle the number one growing health epidemic among American youngsters - childhood obesity.

“Join the Fight to Help Kids Eat Right” is an innovative, uniquely comprehensive approach to fighting childhood obesity that attacks for the first time, both the physical and emotional causes of the problem.

“It’s not always just what our kids are eating,” says C.T. O’Donnell II, president and CEO of the national children’s crisis charity KidsPeace, which helps youngsters overcome depression, eating disorders, personal traumas and other emotional crises. “Sometimes, it’s what’s eating our kids. We will never win this battle until we help kids eat right and also solve the emotional roots of overeating.”

Watching What Goes into the Mouths of Babes . . . and What Comes Out

To this end, KidsPeace, the nation’s top doctors, child psychiatrists, child development experts and consumer concept group Mass Connections, have launched a national call to action for families to eat more healthy, home-cooked meals together. A recent national study by KidsPeace and Boys and Girls Clubs of America revealed that 51 percent of U.S. parents say their children don’t eat “nearly enough” nutritious foods, yet nearly four in 10 eat a home-cooked meal with their kids less than once per day. “Food itself is not always the problem,” says Carolyn Nakken, president of Mass Connections. “We all need to join the fight to help kids eat right by preparing healthy meals, eating as a family, and working through the stresses that can lead kids to overeat.”

What goes into kids’ mouths is as important as what comes out of them: Parents can use family meals to find out and help solve the day-to-day challenges their kids are going through personally, at school, or in the family, that may be leading to depression, emotional stress and eating disorders. Work it out with your kids before they reach for the cookie jar for comfort.

A Nationwide Prevention Campaign

Parents can’t act unless they have good information. Free information on healthy eating for kids, tips for spotting eating disorders and free problem-solving resources are being made available to millions of parents and children via expert brochures created by KidsPeace, distributed through food retail markets nationwide and the Internet sites www.kidspeace.org (for adults), www.familymonth.net (for families) and www.TeenCentral.net (for kids). The year-long campaign was launched during National Family Month (Mother’s Day through Father’s Day), a congressionally recognized celebration created by KidsPeace to build a nation of confident kids and stronger, healthier families.

A New National Tool for Kids

KidsPeace and top national children’s experts Dr. Alvin Poussaint of Harvard Medical School, and Dr. Lewis Lipsitt of Brown University, have created a unique, problem-solving Web site www.TeenCentral.net that allows older kids and teens to identify and work out the problems of growing up with the support of clinical supervisors and peers around the country or around the world. Whether the problem is depression, an eating disorder, family problems, stress over school or even the U.S.-Iraq war, kids can find help - free and anonymously - addressing the underlying emotional stresses that can lead to overeating and other behavioral problems.

Top Docs and Child Advocates Back Effort

The campaign, with its stress on healthy eating, increased family communication, increased physical activity and emotional problem-solving for children, is supported by some of the top child experts and doctors in the country.

"The campaign is important because it not only helps kids to eat healthily but also gives them tools to overcome the underlying emotional reasons that can lead to overeating - a two-sided approach you don't normally read about in the newspapers," says Dr. Poussaint, who serves as national director of the KidsPeace Lee Salk Center for Research.

"This campaign is a step forward in the fight against the widespread appearance of childhood obesity and a blow against the erosion of family time together,” says Lipsitt, a national director of the KidsPeace Lee Salk Center for Research. “By encouraging Americans to eat healthier meals together and take the time to get more deeply involved in childrens’ lives, we can work toward a nation of happier - and healthier - kids and families," says Dr. Lipsitt, also a national director of the KidsPeace Lee Salk Center for Research.

“If America wants to make sure our kids are eating right and feeling right, what better way than for us to prepare the meal ourselves and use that time to help kids problem-solve the hot-topic issues in their lives?” says KidsPeace national spokesperson, producer and television personality Leeza Gibbons. “It’s a simple way to ensure good food and good food for thought.” Ms. Gibbons, who recently founded The Leeza Gibbons Memory Foundation to help caregivers and people with Alzheimer’s Disease, also noted that research suggests high cholesterol levels may be linked to later problems such as Alzheimer’s.

“Kids need every bit of guidance we can give them, and healthy food for the body and dinner table dialogue is an empowering combination,” says national children’s safety and self esteem icon and Hollywood celebrity, Retro Bill. “Both body and spirit need to be properly nourished to be healthy.”

“America has more diets and more diet advice than any nation on earth, but we and our kids keep getting bigger and bigger,” says KidsPeace president o’Donnell. “If we’re to win this battle, we have to fight it over the dining room table as well as on the battlefields of our children’s day-to-day lives.”

For more information on helping kids learn about healthy eating and emotional well-being, visit www.kidspeace.org (for parents), www.familymonth.net (for families or www.TeenCentral.net (for kids).
 

Courtesy of ARA Content