HELPING CHILDREN LOSE WEIGHT

HELPING CHILDREN LOSE WEIGHT

By Lawrence Wilson, MD

Poor nutrition, lack of rest and stress from other sources are major factors in children’s weight problems. Children of ten eat foods that are not correct for their metabolic type or body type. Let us discuss these factors and how to correct them in more detail.

REST AND SLEEP

Lately medical research confirms the connection between a lack of adequate rest and sleep, and weight gain. This actually occurs in both children and adults. One study indicated that even one more hour of sleep helped teens lose significant weight.

I began with this factor as it is implicated in much more than weight gain. Adequate rest helps with ADHD, autism, learning problems, infections and much more. So a simple and effective “treatment” for overweight in children and adults is to sleep more hours each and every night.

Most children need 10 or more hours of sleep. Earlier, I wrote that 8 hours was sufficient. However, now I am aware that this is not enough by any means. It requires 10 or more solid hours of sleep to repair and regenerate the body in this time period. There are complex reasons for this, which I will explain a little below.

Why So Much Sleep And Rest For Children and Young Adults? The main reason may seem odd. It is that the planet we are living on is changing at a fast rate and in order to process and assimilate the impact upon us, we need more sleep.

On a more technical level, the vibration or frequency of planet earth is rising fast. This has been confirmed by others. Here suffice it to say that as the planet changes, we must keep up, so to speak. We are directly affected by the energies and frequencies or the planet herself. As a result, more rest is required. Otherwise, we see more illness and even death among those who will not or decide not to keep up.

The use of drugs for over a million children, just in the United States, is due in part to this fact. These children need much more rest than they are getting. Too many parents just leave their children in their rooms at night and go to sleep. The children stay up on the computer, telephone or just reading website and more, and do not get the sleep they need.

Also, many children are urged to be active by their parents when the better advice is the opposite. This is hard for parents who want their children to succeed at school and in sports. However, this is really silly, today. The sports, in particular, are not essential for most children’s development and wears them out even more. They need quiet time each day after school, or better yet, home school them as they will learn much faster with many fewer distractions and dangers. Also, they are more likely to learn more truth at home in many cases.

DIET AND WEIGHT

This is another no-brainer, as they say. Most children eat terribly. I mean this very sincerely. The food is horrible and the quantities of “junk” food excessive. None is best, but a little may be acceptable if the rest of the diet is well-controlled.

Children will often lose all the extra weight if the food is carefully prepared at home and consists of about 50% vegetables of all kinds, lightly steamed and some salad if desired. Fruit is harmful for most children, as are sweets and all refined carbohydrates. These include white flour, white rice for the most part, flour tortillas and all products made with these foods.

Once again, this is not a costly or time-consuming “cure” for obesity. It is common sense, of which there is little in most children’s diets. Even intelligent parents often let their children eat what they want for fear of causing a rebellion at home, or just because they are too tire to prepare meals. This is horrible for children, who need examples and who need discipline. That is the difference between a child and an adult. Children do not have the self-discipline, often until they are in their 30s or 40s, to eat correctly on their own. So it is the job of parents, school cafeterias and other food outlets to help children decide on healthy meal choices.

MEALS FOR CHILDREN

Breakfast: This is a very important meal for most children. Do not skip it for lack of time or even if the child is not hungry. Try to have something. Skipping meals causes weight gain in most cases.

Instead of sugared cereals, donuts or soda pop, feed children eggs, preferably soft-boiled, poached or scrambled. Fried eggs or hard-boiled are harder to digest.

Also excellent are butter, goat or cow’s dairy products, preferably organically grown. Some whole-grain cereals are okay, especially with butter or cream on them. Also excellent are raw or toasted nuts and nut butters. The nut butter is much easier to digest. Peanut butter is not bad, but can be moldy. We prefer almond butter, preferably toasted or raw. One can have meat for breakfast. Simple meals are best with only one or two foods. Avoid complex and spicy foods if possible unless the child will not eat simple food. Several soft-boiled eggs or scrambled eggs, all alone, is excellent, for example. Add a little toast or corn chips if needed. However, wheat is a weight-gain food so less is better.

Lunches. Vegetables and meats should be the basis for lunch and supper. All vegetables are fine. The best are often roots due to their superior nutrition. Most are sweet, which helps with children. Rutabagas, turnips and others are acquired tastes, so introduce them slowly with some steamed carrots mixed in, for example.

Meats that are healthful and natural are superb for children. Natural chicken or turkey sausage and turkey bacon are also fine if they have no pig products in them at all. Be careful with sausage as pig intestines are often used as casing or wrapping for the sausage. Products from pigs often contain parasites, even if cooked. I know this is contrary to what many believe, but beware and preferably avoid all pig products.

Instead of pastries, shakes, burgers and fries, offer meat sandwiches on whole-grain breads, chefs salads, meat soups on cold days, steamed vegetables, and nuts or nut butter on toast or blue or yellow organic corn chips. Raw carrots are also fine for snacks, as are frozen peas, nuts or seeds.

Supper. Have less bread, pasta, fruit, ice cream and potatoes. Always have several cooked vegetables or a vegetable soup, and a protein food such as meat, poultry, a little small fish once a week perhaps, cheese or yogurt. Yogurt should be organic if possible. This is better than a glass of milk, which is an alternative.

Again, keep meals very simple and non-spicy if possible. Use simple toppings such as almond butter or peanut butter sauce made by adding a little water to nut butter. A little tomato sauce is okay, but tomato, potato, eggplant and all peppers are nightshades and are less recommended.

Instead of soda pop and other sweet drinks, try lemon in water, non-caffeinated teas or very diluted fruit juices. Most juices provide much, much more sugar than is best for children. Water, of course, is also fine. Drink spring or distilled water, preferably.

NUTRITIONAL BALANCING PROGRAMS

Many children have complex deficiencies, toxic conditions and severe metabolic imbalances. Simply eating well and taking a multivitamin will not correct these imbalances. Many children benefit greatly from a scientifically-designed nutrition program aimed at correcting deeper nutritional imbalances. These programs are based on a properly performed and properly interpreted hair tissue mineral analysis.

Several years of taking supplements and eating correctly may be required. However, the rewards are great, including better school performance, beautiful skin, improved athletic ability, fewer colds and much more.

Children often require few supplements. These can be ground up, mixed with food or blended in a drink if one does not swallow pills. Most children respond quickly and do extremely well on nutritional balancing programs. These programs can help a lot with weight loss, especially if the practitioner will modify the programs in accordance with our newer instructions. These are in other articles on this website, and specifically discussed in an article entitled, Program Modifications.

Here are some of the basic ways in which children can be helped to lose weight utilizing nutritional balancing science.

FAST OXIDATION AND WEIGHT

All babies and many children, up until the age of 10 to 12, are what we call fast oxidizers. This is not a hard and fast rule, however, as some children slow down early in life, as early as three or even earlier if they are terribly stressed at home.

Fast oxidation, however, does not mean they are necessarily thin. In fact, fast oxidizers, especially when they eat incorrectly, easily gain weight on diets high in carbohydrates.

Their bodies need good quality fats or oils with each meal. These include eggs, meats with fat on it, nuts, nut butters, goat or cow dairy products, especially organically grown, and the oils of olive and coconut. Other oils are fine in moderation, but have been processed in most cases, so they are not as good. Fats can often safely be eaten in an uncooked state, which is excellent, as cooking damages them to some degree.

Most children will not tend to gain extra weight on these foods if they avoid most starches and sweets. However, if fast oxidizing children do not eat enough of these fats and oils, they will have very strong cravings for sugars and starches. This is an important cause of weight gain in some children. You can read more about this pattern of fast metabolism by clicking here.

SLOW OXIDATION AND WEIGHT LOSS IN CHILDREN

However, today we see fewer and fewer fast oxidizers, even among children. Some children become mineral-depleted by age 5 or 6 and their metabolism slows down at a young age.

Children with a sluggish metabolic rate, whom we call slow oxidizers, generally have low blood sugar due to weak adrenal glands. They are drawn to sugars, in particular, to temporarily raise their blood sugar levels and give them extra energy. However, this is a short-term boost that leads to more cravings for sweets several hours later.

These children need adequate protein in their diets, preferably with each meal. With both fast and slow oxidizers, several small meals during the day can also reduce cravings for starches and sweets.

Slow oxidizers are also considered yin in Chinese medicine. This means expanded and cold. They are made much worse by eating sugary yin food of any kind, including fruit juices and other sweets.

Foods sweetened with fruit juices are slightly better for children than those made with refined sugar, but not much. Help your children to avoid all sweetened foods.

TOXIC METALS, TOXIC CHEMICALS AND NUTRIENT DEFICIENCIES AND WEIGHT LOSS

Toxic Minerals. Toxic metals can definitely contribute to weight problems in children. So many mechanisms come into play I will name only a few.

1. Thyroid Problems. Minerals such as fluorides, chlorides, iodine deficiency and many other depress or interfere with the activity of the thyroid gland. This is an important source of weight gain, especially in older children.

2. Pituitary Problems. Fuorides, chlorine gas formed when white flour is baked, and many of the other toxic metals interfere more with the activity of the pituitary gland. This is an indirect way to affect the thyroid and adrenal glands and is another important cause of obesity in children and especially adults.

3. Stimulants Burn Out The Glands. Mercury and other toxic metals stimulate the thyroid for a while. This may seem to be fine, but eventually it causes dissolution of the body as it damages all organs and systems. This can give rise to hundreds of problems, including weight gain.

Toxic metals and chemicals are harmful in hundreds of ways that we cannot go into because such a paper would be too long. Suffice it to say that the less of these one exposes one’s children to, the better by far.

Toxic Chemicals. Many food additives contain substances to enhance apetite. This causes people to eat more of a food, and is powerful reason for weight gain in children. These chemicals include but are not limited to colors, flavors, preservatives and other classes of food addtivites.

Of course, food additives can also interfere with thyroid and pituitary gland activity. They can also interfere with cell transport, so that the body accumulates toxins in the cells and weight loss is impaired for this reason.

Still others affect the DNA and protein synthesis, harming the body’s ability to defend itself against all sorts of illnesses. This, too, can contribute to weight gain in children. Let me explain this in more detail.

When the body is attacked by germs of any kind, it must defend itself by removing the offending organisms or bad tissue as fast as possible. If the body is weakened by toxic chemicals or toxic metals, or by nutrient deficiencies, it cannot respond fast enough. As a result, the infection stays in the body. This weakens the body further. As this process continues, toxic material builds up that causes weight to be retained, often to dilute toxic organisms. This causes a pasty look in many children today. It will go away as children eat better and become healthier. If your child has this pasty look, it could be anemia, but it also could just be toxin accumulation in your dear young one.

Nutrient Deficiencies. These, of course, contribute to impaired thyroid and adrenal activity, impaired transport of nutrients and toxins in and out of the cells, and much more. Nutrient deficiencies also cause people to overeat in the attempt to nourish themselves. All this and much more can cause weight gain. It is not necessary to elaborate further, as we have made our point.

SPECIFIC NUTRIENTS AND WEIGHT GAIN

Minerals. Manganese, zinc, chromium and others are absolutely needed for sugar metabolism. When deficient, which is almost always the case, the insulin mechanism and proper sugar metabolism are severely compromised. Thus the child craves sweets or starches. In a few cases, the appetite goes away and the reverse problem occurs, namely anorexia.

These problems often begin while the child is still inside its mother’s womb, sad to say. The mother’s are severely deficient in these elements, so the children are born quite deficient, although the baby is able to take some nutrients from the mother. This is why child-bearing is such a critical process that deserves much more nutritional attention than it is given in most all cases.

Vitamins. B-complex vitamins, vitamins A, C, E, K and others as well are also vital for the metabolism of sugars and other foods. Thus deficiencies of vitamins, as well as of minerals, can cause obesity most easily.

Need For Supplements. Most of the world’s soil is deficient in minerals. Refining of food just makes this problem all the more serious. Thus, supplements are required if children are to be healthy.

I will state this clearly once again. The idea that a child, who is eating “normal” healthy food can get all his or her nutrients from it is incorrect. Children need supplementation as much or more as do adults. It will make quite a difference. Children do not need extensive supplements in many cases. However, they will benefit tremendously from a multiple vitamin and mineral supplement.

Many also require digestive help, although this is hard to give because these supplements tend to taste bitter. An excellent supplement that has been given to all people for centuries is called Swedish bitters. Bitter items assist the digestion in many instances.

Excellent supplements that can safely be used by most children are kelp, or dulse if the child objects to the taste of kelp. These are rich sources of trace minerals. Kelp also contains substances that bind toxic metals and help remove radiation from the body. Introduce kelp slowly to allow children to get used to the taste. Switching to sea salt also adds minerals to the diet.

FOOD ALLERGIES

Weight gain is a common symptom of food allergies. The most common allergic foods include wheat and commercial cow’s milk products. These foods are very hybridized today. This means they have been greatly altered so they are much less healthful than the original product 100 years ago. We recommend all children avoid these foods, although some butter is fine. Organic cows dairy is also better for most children. Goat milk products are also much better, especially for young children.

For substitutes, we do not recommend soy milk because soy contains thyroid inhibitors and enzyme inhibitors. Often it is also sweetened, which is not helpful. Almond milk is also better.

Spelt is a close relative to wheat and is best avoided by most children, although it is better than wheat. Other whole grains in moderation are fine for most children. Some children, however, are sensitive to all gluten-containing food. In this case, they must avoid all the gluten grains, such as oats, rye and barley as well as wheat.

WHY SOME CHILDREN OVEREAT

Any of the following can cause a child to overeat:

1) Children who eat vitamin and mineral-deficient food may overeat because they are not nutritionally satisfied.

2) Exhausted children may get a temporary energy boost from food, especially salty, spicy food or caffeinated drinks. Often the boost is just temporary stimulation.

3) Some overeat because they have a distorted sense of taste due to zinc deficiency, or due to living on sweet, spicy or salty junk foods. These may artificially stimulate the appetite and upset the delicate mechanism that tells one when one is satiated.

4) Some children eat all day or eat too much in a frantic effort to maintain an adequate blood sugar level.

5) Many children have chronic intestinal yeast infections. Yeasts require carbohydrates to grow. If they are not fed, they begin to die which causes anxiety and other symptoms. One may crave food not for oneself, but to maintain the yeast in the intestines.

6) Some children eat out of nervousness or to allay anxiety or fears.

7) Eating in front of the television or computer, for example, can cause one to eat out of boredome or just unconscious over-eating.

8) Eating may be an escape from stress and tension, such as not feeling loved. This is common today when parents are too busy or too tired to spend enough time with their children.

CHANGING CHILDREN’S DIETS

Correcting children’s diets can be done with patience and persistence. Parents will need to experiment and must explain the benefits of better diets to children. These include having more energy, improved sports performance, better skin or getting better grades in school.

Of critical importance is that parents set a good example. Avoid tempting children with sweets or rewarding children with sweets and junk food when they are good. Be consistent and practice what you preach faithfully. If you must cheat, do it when the child is not around.

One must love one’s children enough to prepare meals at home and persist in the effort. Also, as a parent one must insist children eat good meals at home instead of eating out, eating on the run and other terrible habits that are almost universal today.

No one is perfect and one cannot control a child’s diet when away from home. This is just one reason why meals you prepare at home are essential today. In addition, however, one can teach children to make good food decisions wherever they are.

Avoid, as much as possible, embarrassing or forcing children to eat a certain way, as this usually causes resentment and more problems. Making it fun and including children in the process of shopping, meal planning and food preparation are most helpful. Most children enjoy helping in the kitchen and it is excellent quality time to share with a child, from very young to teenagers.

EXERCISE AND WEIGHT LOSS

This article would be incomplete without mentioning that children need some exercise. Sitting in front of a computer all afternoon after sitting in a classroom is not optimal. Some exercise is helpful for all children.

Having said this, most older children are exhausted and getting them involved with sports on a daily basis is too much. They may lose some weight, but can become extremely stressed due to fatigue or burnout of the adrenal glands. This is a very common issue today. Therefore, be careful with sports teams and other organized exercise where your child will be pushed and prodded when, in fact, he or she really needs more rest and gentle walking instead.

CONCLUSION

Improving children’s diets and eating habits can be extremely helpful to control excessive weight gain in children as well as adults, of course. Getting much more sleep is another factor that has been shown to greatly assist children with weight loss. Fully 11 hours of sleep per night may be needed in some cases.

In fact, dietary and lifestyle improvement in the form of more sleep, and some exercise, are often all that is needed to help children lose weight or develop at a normal weight.

When this is not sufficient and for extra benefits of many kinds, a nutritional balancing program based on hair mineral testing will usually correct deeper biochemical imbalances connected with obesity, as well as correct many other imbalances from which so many children suffer.

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