Fat Families Thin Families

by guest blogger, Amy Hendel

When I named my book Fat Families Thin Families I thought I’d get a lot of flack. I expected people to say something like, “How dare you put the word fat in the title? I can’t buy a book with that word on the cover!” Or I expected, “How dare you use fat and thin on a book cover? Everyone says that professionals are not supposed to use those terms. Isn’t it supposed to be about health??” So I had all my responses ready:

1. Fat and thin don’t just refer to your body weight – they refer to habits taking place particularly on the home front – and if you’re engaged in habits that encourage excessive weight gain – then trust me, you’re not engaged in healthy habits.
2. I’m trying to wake parents up to the crisis going on in families; adults and children are overweight and obese and a controversial title will at least get your attention. Then we can work on the problem – no more finger pointing necessary if you agree there’s a serious problem
3. I’m trying to wake you up to the fact that clearly an overweight child is a reflection of horrible health habits going on in the home. But skinny children who have a metabolic edge so that weight wise their horrible health habits don’t manifest – may have plaque clogging their arteries or the beginning risk factors for hypertension or diabetes type 2 – so fat and thin children and adults can both be terribly unhealthy and at risk.

Instead I found myself at my first book signing with hundreds of people saying, “It’s about time.” Not exactly what I was expecting and definitely a hopeful situation. So assuming that the title does resonate with you, every family can benefit from my team approach to a more organized family lifestyle.

Parents are not naturally gifted with nutrition expertise. They do the best they can do and base a lot of the habits they establish in the home from their own childhood orientation. Kids see the behavior you model and they’ll do what you do not what you say. So if you feel you are a family in crisis, or one that just needs to get a better grip on nutrition and physical activity, the first step is to PLAN.

Designate a night where the family weighs in on menu plans for the following week. That includes what they want for dinner, lunches and snacks and of course breakfast choices. Take votes and make sure that you have two back up easy-to-prepare and store entrees; maybe tuna salad and turkey this week, in case the planned entrée falls flat for some. Those two back up foods mean you can’t be asked to cook other things for unhappy “campers.” So you set a tone of commitment to meal choices and the importance of these votes.

Let each child choose one or two processed food snacks that are already pre-portioned so that you don’t have dozens of treats in your pantry for the week. Fruit, veggies, string cheese, peanut butter and nuts, healthy cereals and fat free yogurts should be “snacks of choice” and a couple of times a week the kids get their “decadent snacks.” They’ll learn that treats should be predominantly from healthier, tasty choices but there is still a place in their weekly eating for occasional less healthy treats that they love.

Realize that involving your family in the planning and shopping can provide an endless opportunity for nutrition and math (label reading) lessons AND taste testing, which helps kids explore new foods in a fun way. It may seem tough initially to implement, but I’ve worked with hundreds of families and this PLAN phase brings families together and helps mom shave hours off of weekly shopping and cooking and, I might add, arguing.

My other 3 Ps…

• Prepare
• Portion
• Play

…all work hand in hand to encourage families to shift habits slowly to what I call “healthy habits for life.” You have nothing to lose and everything to gain if you decide to captain your family and shift the home environment from encouraging weight gain and health issues to supporting a healthy quality of life. Invest in your children by investing time in a lifestyle shift. The whole family will come out as winners.