Fighting Child Obesity Starts at Home

Most children are on the fast track to diabetes and high blood pressure. In fact, doctors believe that children under 10 may be the first American generation to live shorter lives than their parents. One Mid-South woman is doing all she can to stop childhood obesity in its tracks.

With the fall leaves crunching beneath her busy feet, Samantha Swann is on her daily stroll. Beside her is Leah Swann, her 12 year old daughter. Together, the two are battling the bulge.

Leah Swann says "a couple of years ago, people teased me about my weight and said I was fat and needed to lose weight."

The words stung, and stuck with Leah like unwanted fat. Unfortunately, her friends were not the only ones talking.

Samantha Swann says "when Leah was 8, I took her in for a physical and it was a fairly young doctor, she sat down with me and she told me, your daughter is overweight because of you. It made me cry."

For Samantha, she was reliving the nightmare of her own youth. As a fifth grade student, she weighed in at 180 pounds.

"It was choices that I made. I was left at home a lot so I ate whenever I was home. No one was there to tell me 'no you can't have this' or 'you shouldn't eat that.' I just ate," says Samantha. Her face became full, and so did her girlish figure. "Very tough, very tough, and that's why I didn't want her to go through the same thing that I had to go through. I didn't want any of my children to be overweight or unhealthy."

Leah didn't want that for herself. The pressure was already piling on from friends and doctors.

"So I said to my mom, can you take me to weight watchers?" Leah asked.

Krista Digiacomo is serving up healthy suggestions for children, like Leah. It's one of the newest classes at the Germantown Weight Watchers location; Weight Watchers for kids.

"I was especially excited when I knew they had a youth group because then I knew other kids her age would be there, and be able to help her," Samantha says.

Every week when Leah shows up, she has to weigh in, tracking any progress. She proudly says "I've lost 4 pounds in 3 weeks, and that's a lot of weight."

Every ounce of encouragement helps Leah on her path to the perfect weight. The casual class is a chance to share ideas and experiences with other kids her age.

Leah says "to get some ideas from everybody else, like ok, you did this and you lost more weight than I did, so maybe I should do that."

Doctor John Hill, a long time Memphis pediatrician, says these group settings are beneficial to children headed down the wrong path.

"You want to do it with children who already have a BMI [body mass index] above the 85th percentile for their age, which is designated as overweight. Especially the ones in the 95th percentile or above, which is the definition of obesity," Hill says.

For a year, he calculated body mass indexes in his patients, and more than half of them were in the obese range. The prevalence of obesity in children 6 to 11 years old more than doubled in the last 20 years, according to the Centers for Disease Control. The obesity rate among kids ages 12 to 19 more than tripled.

Hill says "the strongest message I can say is, if their that overweight, they are headed for big problems such as diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, later in life."

All are grim situations these children hope to avoid. So they talk alternatives, self control, and temptation. More important than all the talk, is doing. Hill says the main ingredient in the childhood obesity fight are the adults. "Parents cook the food, parents buy the food, so obviously parents bear most of the responsibility."

Samantha Swann plays the part and realizes her role. Krista fears not all parents are as aware.

"I think we need to start focusing on the fact that we need to be positive role models for our children, especially when it comes to health and nutrition because they do look up to us," says Digiacomo.

Lucky for this mother, she and her daughter see eye to eye.

Samantha says "I'm so glad she's done it at a young age, and she's able to say, I'm going to make my own choices and I'm going to make the best ones."

Leah says "I'm definitely lighter, I'm more energetic, and I'm happier, and I get better grades."

She says her food choices keep her more alert and awake. The discipline has spilled over into her studies, making it much easier to stay focused and driven.

"This is a life changing experience, I have to do this," Leah says. So far, so good for Leah. Her mother says "I wish that when I was her age, I had that option to at least say, I can go to a meeting, I can weigh in, be with other kids my age, instead I kind of struggled alone."

Not any more, if Krista Digiacomo has anything to do with it. But she can't do it alone.

"Now I'm hoping the parents and doctors offices will step up also so we can take care of this situation," says Digiacomo.

With a helping of Krista, a dash of self control, and a pinch of cooperation from parents, Leah is hoping to rewrite her future, as a member