Better to teach your large teens what to eat than encouraging them to diet

A study of 314 teen/parent pairs compared the parents' opinion of their child's weight status with what food-related habits they pursued. Parents who thought their kids were overweight were no more likely to follow healthful habits (such as stocking the house with healthful foods and snacks, limiting supplies of soda and junk foods, serving family meals, and limiting TV time during meals—all proven strategies for changing behavior— than parents who thought their kids were a normal weight were. Unfortunately they were more likely to encourage their child to diet, and kids (especially girls) who were encouraged to diet by their parent were more likely to still be overweight at a five-year followup than kids who had not been encouraged to. Full story: Pediatrics

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