Too Many Large Fries : Today’s Children Need to Get Moving

Aren’t kids lucky? They’re on the move from morning till night, burning up calories almost as fast as they consume them. For them, fitness is probably as distant a concern as retirement planning or mortgage amortization.

Adults who remember the active, carefree days of their own youth as an endless period of bike riding, roller-skating, tree-climbing and kick ball may be surprised to hear that childhood has changed, and not for the better when it comes to fitness.

Today’s children are all too likely to spend their free time locked up at home while their parents work, their bikes and skateboards confined to the garage. And when they are permitted to visit friends or engage in group activities, they probably get there not under their own power, but in somebody’s family wagon.

Meanwhile, the food they eat tends to be right out of the ‘50s when it comes to fat content, even though it may be packaged in a convenient microwaveable container. And they often eat it while sitting in front of the television, watching reruns or playing video games--lots of exercise for the wrist and thumb, but not much for the rest of the body.

The combination is adding up to excess pounds and lower physical fitness scores. Many families have an ever-growing fitness gap, say local fitness and nutrition experts, as parents spend more time exercising and children spend less.

The results are worrisome:

* More than a third--38%--of fourth-grade boys tested in a Michigan study were found to be overweight, and 51% of them were “over fat,” with an abnormally high percentage of body fat. The girls’ numbers were better, but not by much: 25% were overweight, and 41% were over fat.

* The incidence of childhood obesity--defined as 20% or more over average weight--has increased 40% in the last 20 years, with more than 11 million American children now considered obese.

* A Tennessee heart study found that one-third of children tested were obese, and half had abnormally high cholesterol levels.

* Fewer than 30% of Orange County ninth-graders passed a standardized physical fitness test given in 1989 as part of the California Assessment Program, while 22% of seventh-graders and 17% of fifth-graders met minimum standards for sit-ups, pull-ups, running and stretching. Statewide scores were marginally worse: 26% for ninth-graders, 20% for seventh-graders and 16% for fifth-graders.

* Nationally, a study conducted last year by the Amateur Athletic Union found that children over age 11 have increased body weights--for high school boys, it’s 14 pounds more on the average--and a significant decline in heart and lung endurance. Today’s average teen-ager needs 10% more time to run a mile than his or her counterpart a decade ago.

The future that those numbers portend is even more disturbing. “If an infant is fat, there’s a 14% chance of a plump adulthood,” says Molly O’Hanlon, a dietitian and occupational therapist who administers Shapedown, a program for overweight 6- to 12-year-olds at Saddleback Memorial Medical Center in Laguna Hills. As children get older, the chances of adult obesity increase dramatically: 41% for a 7-year-old, and 70% for a 12-year-old.

“Children who have high cholesterol today will be the heart attack victims of tomorrow,” says Leslie Eckerling of Tustin, a dietitian and mother of four.

Ten-year-old John Cullings of Laguna Beach, a recent Shapedown graduate, admits to watching television “about six hours a day” before he started the program. “Now I only watch a half-hour a week,” he says. “I couldn’t give up ‘The Simpsons.’ ”

John lost 14 pounds in two months on the program, bringing his weight down to 143. “I didn’t get much exercise before,” he says. “I played games at school and stuff, but that was only 40 minutes at a time. I played baseball, but I was out in left field, so I didn’t get to do much. Now I play first base, so I move around a lot more.” He now exercises for a full hour every day.

Along with his parents--Shapedown requires the whole family to participate in classes--John learned about nutrition. He learned to “just say no” to the doughnuts his coach brought to baseball games, and eat fresh fruit and vegetables instead. Now, says John’s mother, Diane, the whole team breaks for vegetables and nonfat dip after the third inning of every game.

The average weight loss for kids in the Shapedown program is four pounds over 10 weeks, O’Hanlon says. “That’s incredible for kids, because they’re growing so fast. The parents usually lose weight too.”

At Childrens Hospital of Orange County, the Weight Busters program also requires parents to participate. But Donna Evans, a dietitian who oversees the program for 8- to 14-year-olds, says: “We don’t necessarily see these children come in with overweight parents. That tends to suggest that it’s not necessarily family history. Genetics does play a role, but with a lot of the children we see, that’s not a factor.”

Children must be at least 10% overweight to enroll, but Evans says most are 20% or more overweight. The program serves older children as well, on an individual basis. Physician referrals are required.

“The health and fitness craze has hit a lot of adults, but it hasn’t filtered down to kids,” Eckerling says.

Even if it did, Evans says, the methods that work for adults are inappropriate for children. “Kids aren’t apt to go to the gym and work out. They need social play.”

The experts recommend that families spend as much time as possible being physically active together, whether it’s taking a walk after supper, going for hikes or bike rides on weekends, or working out to an exercise video instead of watching TV in the evenings.

Children in supervised day-care programs do get exercise, Evans says. But latchkey kids don’t have the same opportunity. “Most of the kids we see are the ones who are just going home after school.”

One consequence of households without full-time homemakers is that “parents aren’t spending as much time cooking, so the kinds of foods that are quick to prepare--or pick up somewhere--tend to also be higher in fat and calories,” Evans says.

Children left at home alone make their own decisions about what to eat, and the foods they choose are often poor nutritional values, the experts say.

The typical school lunch is also to blame, Eckerling says. “Most schools serve way too much cheese, too many fried foods. In some school districts, they’ve tried salad bars, and those have gone over fabulously well.”

Eckerling also volunteers as a physical education instructor at her children’s elementary school. “They only have P.E. twice a week, and they usually don’t have a trained P.E. instructor. I get a hard time because I make these kids run. But they have to get their heart rate up for at least 30 minutes in order to get any benefit. When I started, the teachers would have the kids out there bouncing a ball on a parachute. The ball was getting a lot of exercise, but the kids weren’t.”