An overweight child often has more than excess pounds to bear, they’re often taunted by peers and can suffer health problems, now and later. Dr. Doria Aguilar, pediatrician with Palmetto General Hospital, answers the common questions asked by parents.

Overweight kids can experience body aches, joint pain and have a greater risk of high blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol and heart disease. They can also have emotional problems, including self-esteem issues, depression and anxiety about food, activities or even going out in public.

Dr. Doria Aguilar is a Miami Lakes USA pediatrician with Palmetto General Hospital. Her passion for the issue is fueled by her own experience as an overweight teenager. She has since lost about 100 pounds and has kept it off for five years. Now she works to educate kids and their parents about living a healthy lifestyle.

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MEND (Mind, Nutrition, Exercise…Do it!) is an organisation dedicated to reducing global obesity and over-weight children; providing support for families that want to make a change to their lifestyle.

“We are a social enterprise, working with local, regional, national and international partners to achieve our shared vision of fitter, healthier and happier families.”

MEND aims to achieve a happier and healthier world by:
•    Developing effective and research-based obesity prevention and treatment programmes, training and resources
•    Working alongside partners from the private, public, voluntary and academic sectors to make our services available at a community level on the widest possible scale
•    Training people who come into contact with overweight and obese children so they can provide families with the best possible support
•    Building one of the largest bodies of evidence worldwide on child obesity prevention and treatment

“Our mission is to enable a significant, measurable and sustainable reduction in global childhood and family overweight and obesity levels.”

MEND have developed a programme that can be attended by families in order to learn about leading a healthier and active lifestyle. The fun course has been developed for families with children aged 7-13 whose weight is above the healthy range for their age and height.

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The NHS gets into full stride for the New Year with the launch of ‘Change4Life’, an advertising campaign which aims to improve children’s diets and increase levels of activity to tackle rising obesity.

The campaign aims to reverse the forecast that by 2050 up to 90 percent of today’s children will be overweight or obese, targeting young families to make a change to their lifestyle, ‘Eat well, Move more, Live longer’. The campaign launched on ITV on Saturday 3rd January saw colourful, plasticine figures represent modern day life and the pitfalls that today’s society is susceptible to.

The drive towards greater health awareness has been launched to inform of the dangers that the modern lifestyle can implement on the body, especially within young children.

Change4Life is a lifestyle revolution involving thousands of local organisations and charities, including Cancer Research, British Heart Foundation, Tesco and Asda; gaining support and working with the community to transform the lives of everyone.

Health Secretary Alan Johnson said:

“Obesity is the biggest public health challenge the country faces. If we don’t take action now we will condemn our children to reduced life expectancy.”

“That’s why we are aiming to create a lifestyle revolution that will help families to eat well, move more and live longer. We can’t start a revolution on our own – we need everyone from grassroots community clubs to multinational companies to join us.”

We’ve all heard of Fat Camps and Boot Camps, right…? Hoards of overweight teenagers running around a field, carrying a rucksack full of bricks, whilst being barked at by an ex Royal Marine…? Sound familiar?

Well surprisingly there are people out there who believe this method of managed weightloss isn’t the most effective way of treating children and teenagers for obesity.

Professor Paul Gately is an expert in obesity and weight management. He has successfully set up and managed more than 10 Weight Management Programmes and Camps for children suffering with obesity. The man himself states it is his “life mission to design, develop and deliver the most successful weight loss programmes for children anywhere in the world.“

100% People interview Professor Gately to find out exactly what Weight Management Programmes are and how they can help obese and overweight children to not only lose weight but learn to live active and healthy lifestyles thereafter. (more…)

The thought of children watching their weight would by many, be considered as completely absurd. Children shouldn’t be expected to count calories and worry about putting on an extra pound or two. But the sad truth is that the childhood obesity rate is rising, and without proper guidance and education these children are putting their state of their health at an enormous risk.

Approximately 27% of children in the UK are now overweight or obese. It has been found that if a child’s parent is overweight then the child is more likely to also be overweight, due to lifestyle and nutrition choices.

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Bullying can affect anyone… from Superstar Justin Timberlake to Joe Bloggs down the road. Even the beautiful Kate Winslet has spoken of her time at school and how she was teased by kids due to her weight, the actress says she was called “Blubber” by her class mates.

School is a tough place, especially if you feel slightly different amongst the other children. Being over weight, too short, too tall, having the wrong hair colour, even having the wrong shoes can all contribute to a child suffering at the hands of a cowardly bully.

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