Program for overweight 8- to 12-year-olds and their families launches in 11 B.C. cities
Credit to Author: Susan Lazaruk| Date: Sun, 26 Jan 2020 22:45:07 +0000
Families are being offered a chance to learn about healthful eating and physical activity in a free 10-week course being offered in 11 cities across B.C.
It’s designed for families with children aged eight to 12 who are “off the healthy weight trajectory,” said Dr. Tom Warshawski, a Kelowna pediatrician who chairs the Childhood Obesity Foundation.
Although the program is intended to help prevent children from growing into overweight adults, who are more prone to cardiovascular and other diseases, it’s not about identifying children as overweight.
“We never talk about the numbers, we never talk about that,” he said, adding it is because of sensitivities around body or weight shaming.
The program identifies those who qualify by body mass index, which measures height-weight ratio. For adults, a BMI between 25 and 30 is considered overweight, and above that obese. To qualify, child participants should be in the top 85th percentile in his or her age group, he said.
He said about one-in-three children or youth are on the unhealthy weight trajectory, although the rate of childhood obesity is around 10 per cent, according to Statistics Canada 2017 figures.
Dr. Tom Warshawski, a Kelowna pediatrician, is chair of the Childhood Obesity Foundation, which is offering a free program to families with a child on an unhealthy weight trajectory.
Warshawski said it’s important to change children’s unhealthy lifestyles because “if the trajectory continues into adulthood, they would become overweight or obese, and with that comes adverse healthy outcomes,” he said. “It’s to prevent a kid from getting on unhealthy weight trajectory.”
The program, called Generation Health, involves the child and his parents and siblings, and covers healthy eating, physical activity, parenting practices and mental health. The family will also be asked to assess screen time and sleep patterns.
“It’s a family, it’s a package deal,” said Warshawski. “The family has to embrace healthy eating and physical activity and everyone benefits.”
The program started in the fall and is rolling out to 11 cities in February or later, including Vancouver, Burnaby, Surrey, Coquitlam, Victoria, Campbell River, Chilliwack, Kelowna, Penticton, Terrace and Prince George.
Child participants in the Childhood Obesity Foundation’s Generation Health program, a free 10-week program that instructs families how to eat healthfully and encourages physical activity to combat unhealthy weight.
It includes classes, an online component and group activities. It will offer tips on how to prepare quick, healthy meals, positive parenting techniques, indoor and outdoor games, positive body image and positive mental health.
The Childhood Obesity Foundation, a charity founded in 2006, developed the program in partnership with the province and the University of Victoria. It is funded by the province.
Formerly called the Family Health Living Program, the foundation said of the 88 eligible children who registered (from 79 families), two-thirds completed the program and there was a high average weekly attendance of 84 per cent.
For details or to register, go to generationhealth.ca.