The other day while visiting with my girlfriend, I noticed that her 11 year old, Susana, had lost weight. I told her how proud I was of her accomplishment.
I did not know much about Susana's situation until she told me that her doctor recommended dieting and exercising, because she had high blood pressure and high cholesterol.
It was surprising but unfortunately that she is not an isolated case. According to the US Department of Health and Human Services Mexican-American children/teens are more likely to be overweight and to be prone to illnesses such as diabetes vs non-Hispanic children/teens of the same age.
While living in Mexico, about 25 years ago, I remember women in the rural areas often believed that a fat baby was a healthy baby. Back then, I thought it was kind of funny, but now that I see the statistics of our overweight population, I wonder if the belief of a fat baby is a healthy baby is still ingrained in the Mexican-American culture. Don't get me wrong, I am not saying this is the only reason as to why Mexican-Americans might be overweight. There are several factors that influence the growing numbers of overweight children in the Latino communities. Among those factors include a lack of exercising, unhealthy eating habits and socio-economic status.
However, it is always interesting to think how much of this belief plays a part of the decision making of what to eat and do. So the question I ask is would mothers who think chubby children are healthy be more reluctant to make drastic changes in their lifestyle, than those who do not think the same way? I must admit it was not easy for me to stop eating tortillas until my heart's content and to get up at 5am to go running, but I had a motivator. My mother suffered from diabetes. So even as a young child I was aware of the importance of a good diet and a good exercise routine.
Susana is lucky. She found out at a young age of the importance of eating well and exercising regularly. She gave me some tips and even recommended the book she often used as a reference. "Gordito-Doesn't-Mean-Healthy" by Claudia Gonzalez and Lourdes Alaniz. This best part of the book, she said, is that it includes a Food Pyramid diagram that includes foods like tortillas, jicama, mango, etc. Therefore, it was easier to incorporate into her daily lifestyle.
I recommend this book for those Latina mothers and any mothers who are looking to prevent obesity in their children. For more information about the book check it out at Amazon
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