Causes of Childhood Obesity

7 Surprising Reasons Your Child Is Gaining Weight

You’re not alone if your kid struggles to slim down. Find out what’s behind the extra pounds—and what you can do about it
By Emily G. W. Chau fitbie
 

They Buy School Lunch

Mystery meat isn’t the only cause for concern in school cafeterias. University of Michigan researchers looked at more than a thousand sixth graders and found that those who regularly ate school lunch were nearly 30% more likely to be obese than those who brown-bagged it. “Kids who buy lunch are not being supervised, so instead of spending their money on an apple and skim milk, they could be buying chips and soda, even against parental advisement,” says Garcia. It doesn’t help that typical school fare includes chicken nuggets, tater tots—even Domino’s pizza. (The pizza chain has a Pizza Smart Slice Program that serves up its “healthier” whole wheat, reduced-sodium pie in the lunch room. Unfortunately, a slice with cheese still packs 300 calories.)

Luckily, help is on the way: The USDA is updating its school lunch guidelines for the first time in 15 years. Proposals include limiting the number of calories per meal, providing only 1% or fat-free milk, and offering a broader variety of fruits and veggies. Once the rules are in place, schools must meet these standards or forfeit government reimbursement for meals.

Until then, pack a lunch for your kid whenever you can. “It’s a pain to make a lunch every day, but even if you do for 3 out of 5 days, you have a little more control over what your kids are eating,” says Tara DelloIacono-Thies, RD, a nutritionist for CLIF Bar & Company’s CLIF Kid’s line. “Plus, they’ll see what a balanced lunch looks like and will perhaps make those same healthy choices on the days they buy lunch at school.”

We can teach our kids the rules of healthy eating, but they impart a lot of knowledge back at us. Check out these 21 big lessons from little kids.
More From fitbie
Keywords:
Related Content