THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, June 11, 1996 TAG: 9606110057
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PAT DOOLEY, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 231 lines
THEY ARE KIDS who, given the choice, would likely spend their free time sprawled on a couch, eyes fixed on the television. Or seated in front of a computer for long, solitary games and a little snack - potato chips, a chocolate bar, maybe a can of soda.
Instead, every Monday and Thursday night, they get onto treadmills, exercise bicycles and stair-steppers at Gymstrada in Virginia Beach. They are part of a program designed especially for kids like them - overweight kids who get out of breath running around a track, who endure the taunt of ``whale'' floating from a giggling group of classmates.
Some are here because their parents encouraged them. Most admit they've started to like the way exercise makes them look and feel.
``This gives me something to do, something to look forward to,'' says 12-year-old Christina Coburn of Virginia Beach. ``I'm looking forward to losing weight. It gives me hope.''
Studies show that these children aren't alone.
In the United States, 22 percent of adolescents are overweight, reports the National Center for Health Statistics. That's double the percentage reported in 1976.
Some health experts call it an epidemic, citing such sedentary lures as snacking, computers and television. They also point to societal factors such as single parenthood, dual-income families, a de-emphasis on physical education in schools and a fear of letting children roam outdoors unsupervised. Genetics, too, can play a role.
``Being overweight is not just one thing,'' says Michael Corrie, an exercise physiologist who designed the 8-month-old program at Gymstrada at Mount Trashmore.
``If it was just eating, our problem would be simple. But it's so many different things. It's how their parents were raised. It's how their parents are used to cooking food,'' says Corrie. ``It's changes in our society, moving toward computers and more sedentary lifestyles. It's psychological problems. .
Gymstrada's is one of few programs in Hampton Roads to help overweight children shape up and eat healthfully, using both fitness and nutritional analysis.
Most health clubs exclude children younger than 13 or 14. Community programs and some clubs focus on exercise, while some nutritional programs provide guidance in eating.
At Gymstrada, children are weighed, and monitored for heart rate and blood pressure. They learn about their eating habits, as well as nutrition and exercise; and they participate in a variety of activities from basketball to weight-training for an hour twice a week.
``We like to keep them interested,'' says Corrie, 25. ``They get bored with some of the weights, but that's important. So we'll do some weights, then we'll play basketball or racquetball. They like to play on the trampoline, and it's great exercise.''
Dr. Elizabeth Smith, a radiologist from Chesapeake, searched for months for a comprehensive program to help daughter Lucy Brandon, 11.
Smith heard about Gymstrada through Kirsten Fletcher, a registered dietitian at Children's Hospital of The King's Daughters in Norfolk. Together, mother and daughter explored healthy eating in an eight-week hospital program that Fletcher coordinates for parents and their overweight kids.
About four months ago, Lucy enrolled at Gymstrada. In the last year, she's lost about 5 pounds, but the goal, her mother says, ``is to keep moving.''
Lucy does. She loves the trampoline, but also plays racquetball and basketball, walks and trains with weights.
``I eat right and I exercise more,'' she says, twirling a strand of long blond hair. ``I used to eat a lot of fattening food.''
She still likes drive-though fare - combo meals, six-piece chicken dinners, shakes. But now she knows ``they have a lot more calories.''
Her parents limit snacking - ``we don't keep chips and things,'' says Smith - and television to after 6 p.m. for Lucy and brother Jonathan, 16. ``I'd rather have them outside,'' Smith says.
Health experts support that philosophy, and say today's youth are less active than generations before them.
``The main problem with obesity in this country is not diet; it's exercise,'' says David P. Swain, director of the Wellness Institute and Research Center at Norfolk's Old Dominion University.
``In 1900, the average American ate more food than the average American eats today, but was less obese . . . They didn't have cars, they didn't have remote controls. They were more active,'' says Swain.
The trend toward being overweight in today's young people ``mirrors a similar increase in adults,'' says Mary Ann Hill, a spokesman for the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports. One in three adults is obese - at least 30 percent above ideal weight.
Studies show that exercise among girls in the U.S. drops dramatically around age 14, Hill says. Among boys, activity declines sharply around age 16.
Most adults are sedentary, Hill says. A quarter don't exercise enough to enhance health, while another 40 percent are ``irregularly active.''
``They're putting themselves at risk for a number of diseases,'' including heart disease, diabetes, colon cancer - some of which may have their roots in childhood, Hill says.
Although it can be difficult to measure and track obesity in growing children, the figures have risen ``dramatically'' in the last 20 years, says Richard P. Troiano, an epidemiologist at the National Center for Health Statistics. The center's studies of overweight children began in the 1960s.
Troiano says kid don't seem to be eating more. Rather, he faults cultural and technological changes - latchkey children tuning into the tube, people feeling less comfortable in their neighborhoods and convenience products such as dishwashers and garage-door openers - for Americans' added girth.
``We have eliminated a lot of ways to move,'' he says, and, inadvertently, taught our children to conserve their bodies' energy.
``We've got to show kids it can be fun to be active, that it's not just a hassle to move,'' says Troiano.
Seven-year-old Carroll Wade of Virginia Beach has grown to love movement in her two months in the Gymstrada program.
``My mom told me about it,'' says Carroll, a first-grader at Norfolk Academy. Initially, she was afraid, then ``I came here, and I really liked it.''
Carroll has a sluggish thyroid, which causes fatigue and weight gain, says her mother, Lucy Wade. ``She's always been overweight.''
Because of her age, Carroll's doctor prescribed diet and exercise, not medication. ``She'd come home from school or whatever, and just want to collapse in front of the TV or sit in front of her computer and not be active,'' Lucy Wade says. ``This winter, I just had 'em disconnect my cable - I told her the TV was broken.''
A registered dietitian told her about Gymstrada. ``I'd been trying to find something, some kind of program like this,'' she says.
Carroll, cupping her moist, rosy face during an exercise break, says: ``I like to do these things.''
Lucy Wade says her daughter has lost about 4 pounds, and toned up.
Carroll says attending the program makes her ``happy.''
Emotions and overweight often are intertwined.
``I had been a fat child,'' says Dr. Katharine Kersey, chairman for the department of child study and special education at Norfolk's Old Dominion University. ``A lot of attention was called to the fact that I was fat, and I just hated it.''
So she sneaked cookies and other sweets; eating was nearly an obsession.
``I think a fat child is already miserable because other children let him know he's fat,'' she says. ``He needs to be loved. Let him know that he doesn't need to be changed to be loved.''
Otherwise, children may develop unhealthy relationships with food - attaching guilt to eating, Kersey says.
Christina Coburn, a sixth-grader at Independence Middle School, says her family's support has boosted her self-esteem and success. ``I've always been chunky,'' she says, delicately rolling and unrolling a pink terry towel in her lap during a break at Gymstrada.
Christina is fond of salt-and-vinegar potato chips, hamburgers, fries - and television. She also has a new love of racquetball, basketball and the trampoline.
Her mother encouraged Christina to enroll.
``My mom says I've gained more muscle,'' she says. ``I feel better, but people still joke me.
``They call me things like `Free Willy' . . . and whale.
``They're jealous, maybe,'' she says, brown eyes beaming. ``Because I'm beautiful.''
She tries to eat healthfully. ``I learned that I ate mostly fat,'' Christina says. ``Now, I'll have a small bag of chips, or eat some and save some for later.'' She drinks low-fat milk.``I don't want to gain,'' she says.
Overweight children do not necessarily become overweight adults. The risk is higher for older children, says epidemiologist Troiano.
Young children often outgrow extra pounds, so health experts don't recommend diets. Instead, they suggest building lifelong habits of activity and healthful eating.
``Childhood should be spent playing and thinking about other things, and not having to worry about (weight loss),'' says Old Dominion's Kersey. Strict diets can lead to ``hang-ups'' about food, even to eating disorders.
Young children instinctively know when to stop eating - and what to eat, Kersey says.
Rewarding good behavior with sweets - the brownie after the peas, for example - exaggerates food's importance, she adds.
Instead, set examples by eating healthfully and exercising.
Karen King of Virginia Beach has done just that.
Her 12-year-old son, George Brown, suffers from sleep apnea, a medical condition in which breathing stops periodically during sleep.
``It's like a life-or-death thing,'' King says. ``He's actually overweight for his age. In order for him to get the oxygen to his brain, he has to come down about 20 pounds.''
At home, family members do step-aerobics three days a week. They also attend a health club, but George is too young to join. A dietitian recommended Gymstrada.
``We count on it every Monday and Thursday,'' King says. ``I wish he could do it more during the week. It's like, we put it on our schedule.''
The family, too, is more aware of calories and fat, King says. ``We eat differently - no red meat. We eat chicken and fish. We watch the milk, pastas.
``Everything he's gone over is really helping us,'' says King.
An otherwise typical kid, George answers most questions with a simple ``yes'' or ``no,'' and a shy smile. Clad in dark gray cotton pants and long-sleeved shirt, he hangs back, behind his mom.
George says he feels more energetic, though. He plays basketball and racquetball and looks forward to swimming in summer.
But would he exercise if it weren't a mandate?
``No,'' he says, ``I wouldn't.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photos by BETH BERGMAN\THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
George Waverly Brown IV, Christina Coburn and Michael Corrie, left
to right, work out on the exercise equipment at Gymstrada. The
children are part of a special fitness program there.
WHAT PARENTS AND CHILDREN CAN DO
Children of all age, sex and race groups are gaining weight in
the United States, reports the National Center for Health
Statistics.
About 22 percent of adolescents are overweight. The federal
government has set 15 percent as its goal for the year 2000.``We're
not moving in the right direction,'' says Mary Ann Hill, a spokesman
for the President's Council on Physical Fitness.
Here are some things parents and children can do to reverse the
trend:
Encourage, don't criticize. Help kids feel good about themselves.
Don't treat fat children differently.
Make nutritious foods available. Try vegetables, fruit salad,
low-fat dips.
Eat together as a family. Structure and reliability help teach
healthful eating and build the parent-child relationship.
Start the day with breakfast. Filling your ``empty tank''
sharpens physical and mental performance.
Get moving. Add activities to your daily routine. Walk, climb
stairs, wash the car by hand.
Get fit with family and friends. Having exercise buddies is fun
and motivating. Join physical activities at work or school.
Work up a sweat. Vigorous workouts help pump the heart, provide
energy and create a healthy look.
Snack smart. Choose treats from various food groups - apples,
celery sticks, low-fat milk, graham crackers.
Balance food choices. Your body needs variety for peak
performance. Select foods from the Food Guide Pyramid. Eat more
grains and vegetables.
Foods are neither ``good'' nor ``bad.'' You don't have to give up
hamburgers and fries. Strive for a healthful - and low-fat -
balance.
Sources: The President's Council on Physical Fitness; the
National Center for Health Statistics; Tufts University Diet and
Nutrition Letter; and a 1995 Gallup survey conducted for the
President's Council, the American Dietetic Association and the
International Food Information Council.
KEYWORDS: OVERWEIGHT CHILDREN OBESITY by CNB