NUTRITION
Eating Right from an Early Age Center for Healthy Eating and Activity Research teaches lifestyle lessons for healthy living
KICK’N CHICKEN PITAS
Serves: 4 This light and healthy lunch packs a powerful protein punch.
WHEN IT COMES TO SETTING UP CHILDREN for nutritional success, it’s never too early to start introducing healthy foods into their diet. The best way to do this is to role model food and fitness behaviors from a young age. That’s the focus of the Center for Healthy Eating and Activity Research (CHEAR), a joint program between Rady Children’s and UC San Diego, “dedicated to developing and providing
make it kid-friendly, incorporating games and other fun elements,” she continues. “The kids really enjoy being in a group with other kids that are like them. It’s a place where they don’t feel the stigma of having obesity and they don’t have to worry about people teasing them. They don’t want to focus on their weight. They want to see other kids dealing with the same thing and having fun.” While Dr. Rhee says CHEAR’s
INGREDIENTS
n 2 cups shredded romaine lettuce n 1 cup seedless grapes, halved n 1 cup cooked chicken breast, chopped or shredded n 1/3 cup crispy chow mein noodles n 1/3 cup shredded carrots n 2 tablespoons sliced green onions n 4 tablespoons light Asian salad dressing n 2 whole wheat pita pockets, halved INSTRUCTIONS 1. Combine romaine lettuce, grapes, chicken, chow mein noodles, carrots and green onions in a medium bowl. Mix well with a large spoon. 2. Add dressing. Mix until ingredients are coated. 3. Spoon about 1 cup of mixture into each pita pocket half. Serve.
evidence-based treatments for San Diego families who struggle with weight and eating, including binge eating, overeating, and obesity.” Offering free and low-cost clinical studies in La Jolla and San Marcos, CHEAR enrolls children ages 8 through 12 and a caregiver in 20-week sessions to encourage lifestyle changes that will lead to healthy, long-term outcomes. The success of the program comes from the dual focus on children and their parents, explains Kyung “Kay” Rhee, MD, medical director of the Medical Behavioral Unit at Rady Children’s and interim chief
focus is not on weight loss, that’s often an outcome of teaching healthy eating and active living. “We try not to put too much pressure on the weight- loss component,” she says. “Even though a lot of the kids are in the 90th percentile or above for BMI, the most recent American Academy of Pediatrics guidelines don’t provide a specific weight loss recommendation because kids are still growing. Instead, what we say is that it’s not as much about weight loss as it is about developing healthy lifestyles and healthy behaviors now.”
We frame the program around the fact that if they can maintain weight and not gain. THAT’S A WIN. –KYUNG “KAY” RHEE, MD ‘‘
Starting healthy habits early means kids are more likely to continue those behaviors into adulthood, Dr. Rhee notes. “We frame the program around the fact that if they can maintain weight and not gain,” she says. “That’s a win.” CHEAR is implementing innovative ways to grow the program and make it more accessible to people who need it. This includes lowering the introductory age to 5—to get kids’ taste buds used to healthy foods earlier—and tailoring sessions to the cultural needs of San Diego’s diverse communities. “We are at a point now where we want to get this education out to as many people as possible in a way that can make the greatest impact,” Dr. Rhee says. For more information, visit chear.ucsd.edu .
of the division of adolescent and young adult medicine. Dr. Rhee is also a professor of clinical pediatrics at UC San Diego School of Medicine and CHEAR’s medical director. Parents and kids attend sessions together but are separated into their respective groups for tailored learning. “With the parents, we talk about behavior strategies to get kids to eat healthier and try new foods, as well as use these behavior strategies to change their environment, decrease temptations and change their home in a way that doesn’t promote constant eating,” Rhee says. “We also teach ways to get the whole family to be more active: not having so much screen time, getting out of the house and doing non-sedentary activities in daily living, like taking the stairs instead of the elevator.” The goals are the same with kids, but the methods are different. “We teach the kids the same things, but we
SUMMER 2023 HEALTHY KIDS MAGAZINE 13
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