Sep 8, 2009 12:41 pm US/Eastern
Go! New York: Combating Childhood Obesity
By CBS 2's Dr. Max Gomez
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
Nearly one in five U.S. teens is now obese. In Tuesday's Go! New York Report, CBS 2's Dr. Max Gomez has some important advice on what your kids should be eating for lunch and snacks.
Jaydun and Hunter Fly are a couple of pretty active boys, so they're burning plenty of calories. But that doesn't mean their parents don't have to watch what the boys eat.
What's a parent to do when all kids want to do is eat unhealthy food? A good first step, says Dr. Gomez, is to teach kids how to read labels.
"The first thing I look at is how many calories it has, and how many portions are in what you're getting," said Dr. Stephen Turner of Long Island College Hospital.
Because the calorie count is per serving, and a package may contain several servings. So eating the whole package can pack on the calories. Which is why the '100 Calorie Packs' can be handy, treats that don't get out of hand.
"The next thing that I look at is the amount of fat in it, because I don't want to go over the amount of recommended fat. Fat is very calorically dense," said Dr. Turner.
Finally, says Dr. Gomez, there's the sugar content. Even some healthy sounding foods, like yogurt, can hide a lot of sugar and calories when there's sweetened fruit in it.
Speaking of sugar: a 12 ounce can of soda has about 150 calories, and fruit juice is no better. It's basically sugar water with the same number of calories as soda.
Dr. Gomez recommends giving kids fruit, or crunchy vegetables for snacks.
The trick to eating healthy is to keep it reasonable. Try giving kids something healthy, like fruit or celery with peanut butter, and then give them a small chocolate bar as a treat or reward.
(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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