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Wednesday, August 15th, 2007

Emily Halevy | CWK Producer

Each year millions of Americans try to improve their health and appearance by going on a diet -- at a cost of $40 billion dollars a year. Some of those dieters are kids, but often their efforts to lose weight produce exactly the opposite result.

Kelly Steed, 17, wanted to get in shape for the summer, so she went on The South Beach Diet.

“For the first phase, which is 14 days I think, you eat hardly any carbs and hardly any sugar, and no dairy products or anything like that,” says Kelly.

According to a new study from Canada, 13 percent of young girls are on a diet to lose weight, and many of them end up gaining weight. Experts say the problem is two-fold.

“When a young person diets on their own and they’re not sure how to balance their food plan, they may broadly cut out a whole food group and not realize that they are cutting out essential nutrients, essential energy,” says Page Love, registered dietician.

The second problem, says Love, is that too often, they starve themselves all day long.
 
“And we’re so hungry because of the energy void that we’ve built all day that the potential for overeating or the potential for binge eating is much greater,” says Love.

Experts say that especially for kids, diets often fail and can be unhealthy.

“Children are growing.  You don’t want to inhibit their diet so much that it interferes with their ability to grow normally and grow healthfully.  So imposing crazy diets on them and real strict diets where they are not allowed to have any of the things that they normally would like to have, that’s obviously unhealthy for them, too,” says Dr. Lonny Horowitz, M.D.

What works best, Horowitz says, is healthy eating and regular exercise.

Kelly lost 15 pounds on her diet, but gained half of it back. She says cutting back on carbohydrates isn’t enough by itself. Low-carb diets have an added risk for teenage girls: the high protein intake can cause a loss of bone density over time, potentially increasing the risk of osteoporosis as women age.

“I think that it’s everything combined. You have to work out and eat healthy and just all of it,” Kelly says.

Tips for Parents

• A typical diet helps people lose an average of 6 percent of their weight (typically 10 to 15 pounds). But most people put it all back on after five years.  (MSNBC)
• You can teach your child to eat healthier. A study of preadolescent children found that those who attended a behaviorally-oriented nutrition education program and were taught to follow a diet low in saturated fat and dietary cholesterol adopted significantly better dietary habits over several years compared to their peers who received only general nutritional information.  (NIH)
• You can raise a child to enjoy healthy eating and to be selective about food choices. Habits developed in childhood will hopefully last throughout their lives. With the right guidance and nutrition education, children learn to prefer healthy foods such as carrots and raisins or cereal as snacks. (NIH)
• A healthy diet helps children grow and learn. It also helps prevent obesity and weight-related diseases, such as diabetes. The following guidelines will help you give your child a nutritious diet:  (NIH)
• Offer five servings of fruits and vegetables a day
• Choose healthy sources of protein, such as lean meat, nuts and eggs
• Serve whole-grain breads and cereals because they are high in fiber
• Broil, grill or steam foods instead of frying them
• Limit fast food and junk food
• Offer water and milk instead of sugary fruit drinks and sodas

References

• MSNBC
• National Institutes of Health (NIH)

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