If you're concerned about your child's weight, you should be. Obesity rates continue to climb, and a child's sedentary lifestyle can spell trouble down the road. To combat this future problem, parents need to take charge now. The Health Plan for Overweight Children provides an innovative approach to improving your child's life by shifting the focus from a child's weight to his or her health. To help you achieve this worthy goal, Dr. Melissa Langone incorporates the unique strategies of her HAVE FUN plan, which include: Healthy foods Activity Vitamins and minerals End emotional eating Family as support U as a role model No weighing Dr. Langone shows you how to make better nutritional choices for your children by helping you learn how to read food labels, choose vitamin supplements, and create the proper portion sizes. She also includes helpful tips on how to promote physical activity for those children who enjoy music, art, and video games instead of sports. In addition, Langone addresses the challenges faced by single parents and two-parent working families, as well as the unique issues of emotional eaters. Help secure your child's future health with this invaluable guide!

Children's health has made tremendous strides over the past century. In general, life expectancy has increased by more than thirty years since 1900 and much of this improvement is due to the reduction of infant and early childhood mortality. Given this trajectory toward a healthier childhood, we begin the 21st-century with a shocking developmentâ€"an epidemic of obesity in children and youth. The increased number of obese children throughout the U.S. during the past 25 years has led policymakers to rank it as one of the most critical public health threats of the 21st-century. Preventing Childhood Obesity provides a broad-based examination of the nature, extent, and consequences of obesity in U.S. children and youth, including the social, environmental, medical, and dietary factors responsible for its increased prevalence. The book also offers a prevention-oriented action plan that identifies the most promising array of short-term and longer-term interventions, as well as recommendations for the roles and responsibilities of numerous stakeholders in various sectors of society to reduce its future occurrence. Preventing Childhood Obesity explores the underlying causes of this serious health problem and the actions needed to initiate, support, and sustain the societal and lifestyle changes that can reverse the trend among our children and youth.

The Roundtable on Obesity Solutions of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine held a workshop in Washington, DC, on April 6, 2017, titled The Challenge of Treating Obesity and Overweight: A Workshop. The discussions covered treatments for obesity, overweight, and severe obesity in adults and children; emerging treatment opportunities; the development of a workforce for obesity treatments; payment and policy considerations; and promising paths to move forward. This publication summarizes the presentations and discussions from the workshop.

The prevalence of childhood obesity is so high in the United States that it may reduce the life expectancy of today's generation of children. While parents and other adult caregivers play a fundamental role in teaching children about healthy behaviors, even the most positive efforts can be undermined by local environments that are poorly suited to supporting healthy behaviors. For example, many communities lack ready sources of healthy food choices, such as supermarkets and grocery stores. Or they may not provide safe places for children to walk or play. In such communities, even the most motivated child or adolescent may find it difficult to act in healthy ways. Local governments-with jurisdiction over many aspects of land use, food marketing, community planning, transportation, health and nutrition programs, and other community issues-are ideally positioned to promote behaviors that will help children and adolescents reach and maintain healthy weights. Local Government Actions to Prevent Childhood Obesity presents a number of recommendations that touch on the vital role of government actions on all levels-federal, state, and local-in childhood obesity prevention. The book offers healthy eating and physical activity strategies for local governments to consider, making it an excellent resource for mayors, managers, commissioners, council members, county board members, and administrators.

Research-based evidence informs this guide to understanding—and combating—childhood obesity. Addressing medical, emotional, and psychological factors, the sensible and tested guidelines help parents create balanced meals, encourage physical activity, and partner with pediatricians, family, schools, and child-care providers in their fight against obesity. A section on setbacks and detours addresses such challenges as sneaking food, snacking and grazing, and eating during the holidays. Self-assessment questionnaires, worksheets, and parent tips discuss age-specific obesity issues ranging from the prenatal period to age 21.

Promotes the recognition, treatment, and prevention of conditions of overweight and obesity in the United States.