Dr. Phil's Show Today Was a "Shout Out" to Overweight Parents

The show was about overweight kids, seriously overweight kids - but as far as I could tell, the problem was actually parents who were either "fat" in body or "fat" in the manner in which they stocked their kitchen and fed their kids.  If you are overweight and have a child, the liklihood is that the child will be overweight; if you and your spouse are overweight, the liklihood is doubled.  Does it really surprise you?

We bring to the "raising of our kids" our own issues - be they food issues or abuse issues or other disfunctional issues.  They can feature prominently in the mental and physical health script of your kids.  And because your kids are probably moving less than you did as a child (thanks to the internet/video gaming/TV) - they are at even higher risk for developing "fat habits and/or a fat body" - and even sooner than you did.  As a parent, you need to offer your kids something that maybe you didn't have - the motivation to change your behaviors so you help them.  That means you have to use them as your excuse to eat better, to exercise and to take them on that journey with you as the team leader.  You cannot help an obese child if you continue to model the very behaviors you want them to abandon.

Fat Families Thin Families, my book, was my attempt to take my own personal life's experience and my 20 years of being a health care professional and lifestyle coach, and create a manual you could use - almost as a family lifestyle bible - with easy to follow guidelines for the whole family.  Because I believe the only way to clean up childhood obesity - is by families working together - with all members involved.  Let's stop the denial...let's stop the excuses...let's stop the tragedy of obesity and become whole families...mostly let's do right by our kids...by starting a new health script for the whole family.