weight loss and your friends and family

How much of a responsibility do you have in encouraging/faciliting a loved one or friends weight control issues? A very sensitive subject matter to approach with someone special in your life. We all understand how weight issues and the co-morbidities can kill people, yet we find ourselves still "nururing" our loved ones with food sources.

Think of Christmas, birthday celebrations and other holidays/occasions when we bake cookies, cook an abundance of high-caloric food sources and provide these to our loved ones...some or many of whom may have significant weight issues.

It is awkward to approach a loved one and suggest weight control initiatives. We know that the affected person knows he/she is overweight so we are pointing out soemthing that they already know and are senstive about. However, to remain silent and not try to intervene and help is akin to watching a loved one about ready to be hit by a train and not yelling for them to get out of the way.

The first step is for YOU to be a role model. If you have a weight control issue, start working on that problem rigjht now. By you showing the control and initiative, your loved ones may feel compelled to follow suit. You may not only be saving yourswlf, you will be allowing your loved ones to also be healthier and happier,

Role Models

The comment on yesterday's subject matter was basically how, as parents, can we pull back the high-caloric food sources we raised our children with. Moreover, as all of their friends were getting the state of the art video games, we succumbed to that pressure only to find our children in front of these games snacking on chips, drinking sodas, and NOT being outside exercising.

This is a very difficult issue because children do not feel the potential health ramifications of their weight problems. As adults, we do feel threatened physically by weight issues and that is a strong motivation for us to forego high-caloric sources.

First and foremost, being a good role model for your children is important. If your children see you making healthier choices and avoiding the high-caloric snack foods perhaps they will feel compelled to follow suit. Also, perhaps they are unaware of all of the health ramifications of weight problems so a family meeting to have this as part of the discussion may be helpful. Lastly, incentivizing them with non-caloric rewards for successsful weight loss efforts is unfortunately the most powerful motivator for children.