Parents play an important role in the fight against obesity. They shape their children’s behavior by direct influence, predisposing psychological variables or by controlling the child’s environment. In the fight against obesity, it is key that parents are involved.
Obesity rates have tripled in the past few decades and childhood obesity is global epidemic. In our practice, we see the effects the epidemic is having on children living in the city’s poorest neighborhoods like like Brownsville, East Flatbush and Bedford-Stuyvesant. Two out of every three children are overweight here, nearly three times the national average. The higher rates are caused by a combination of genetics and an environment where too many calories are consumed, children do not have enough opportunities to exercise and sedentary behavior is commonplace. Continue reading →