Take the chub out of childhood.
That's the message McKinney dietitian Keeley Drotz has for this country in her book, "The Poisoning of Our Children: Fighting the Obesity Epidemic in America," to be released Friday.
Obesity's youth wave is well documented, but health care advances and responsive strategies aren't stopping it, Drotz says. After years of seeing the wave firsthand in her clients' families, she decided to write about it.
"What we're doing to our kids is essentially poisoning them," she said. "Children are born with their hunger and fullness cues, and as we raise them, we don't seem to pay attention to those. By not teaching them how to pay attention, we're poisoning their mindset."
America is widely known as the world's "fattest country," so it shouldn't be a surprise that label attaches onto its youngest generation, more and more every year. Childhood obesity has tripled in the U.S. over the past 30 years, with the number of obese children ages 6 to 11 increasing from 7 percent in 1980 to 20 percent by 2008, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) figures.
A similar increase is true for adolescents ages 12 to 19, and together, more than one-third of U.S. children and adolescents were overweight or obese in 2008, the National Center for Health Statistics reported. Health institutes have defined overweight as "having excess body weight for a particular height from fat, muscle, bone, water or a combination of these factors," and obesity simply as "having excess body fat."
Drotz has seen plenty of both in her work as a registered dietitian, which she began a decade ago in Washington. Most of her days were spent counseling families with overweight or obese children 5 years old and younger.
She broke off into private practice and teamed up with Dr. Don Russell, a physician as concerned as her about the epidemic and author of her book's foreword. Drotz began the book six years ago, the process drawn out by the birth of her two daughters and a move to McKinney.
"I was saying the same things over and over again to these families," said Drotz, who also began writing for HealthCastle.com and her own nutrition blog. "I thought about how I can reach more families at one time, rather than having each of them come to me for answers."
Her book's focus is on prevention, practical tools parents need for raising healthy children from the start. It provides evidence health professionals need when working with such families.
Advice that begins, literally, from the start.
"Breastfeeding is a huge aspect that's often overlooked in prevention of obesity," said Drotz, who devoted an entire chapter to mothers-to-be. "The more and longer you breastfeed your child, the more you reduce their risk of developing obesity in subsequent years."
Drotz spent her early career with Women, Infants and Children (WIC), a public health program for low-income pregnant women and children under age 5. She learned breastfed babies regulate their intake, whereas bottle-fed babies are often forced to drink all eight ounces of a bottle even when they're full ounces before.
Such overeating habits carry into childhood, she said.
And they join a lifestyle that compounds the problem. Though the book touches on nutrition, Drotz's specialization, most pages talk of detrimental American family habits.
"The number one thing I see with families is being too busy," she said. "We just do not have time to feed our kids correctly, to be physically active, to make healthy lunches."
Her answer: make time. Whether that means cutting back at work or reducing endless weeknight activities, kids' health should be the priority. "We will make time for what we value," she said.
Otherwise, loved ones could be in harm's way sooner rather than later. Obese youth often develop high cholesterol and high blood pressure, increasing their risk for heart disease; in a population-based sample of 5 to 17 year olds, 70 percent of obese youth had at least one such risk factor, reported a recent "Journal of Pediatrics" article.
They're more likely to have pre-diabetes and to develop bone and joint problems and sleep apnea, according to CDC reports. And the reason, what Drotz emphasizes in her book, is obesity carries over into adulthood.
"A lot of people have no idea how serious it is that their child's overweight," she said. "Parents just laugh about it like it's cute; they don't realize children who are overweight, even as young as 2 years old, are much more likely to be so as adults. It doesn't just go away."
Drotz practices her preaching with her own kids, 7-year-old Nevaya and 3-year-old Adelyn, whom she said receive consistent praise for their health. As someone who fought her weight growing up and had friends and family who battled eating disorders, Drotz knows all sides of the challenge.
Her book teaches kids unaware of healthy eating habits how to avoid alternatives just as harmful as overeating. Again, the theme is prevention, not response.
"The issue is not just obesity, but the chronic disease that comes with it," she said. "Ten year olds shouldn't be at risk for heart disease."
Time to act is now, and Drotz hopes her book sparks action. It will be available on Amazon.com, as an eBook and for the Kindle.
Drotz knows it needs to be as accessible as obesity is prevalent in America.
"These kids just keep getting larger and larger," she said. "This book is about changing your lifestyle so your kids can be healthy not just now, but 20 years from now."
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