Parents Beware: Your Lifestyle Choices Are Making Your Kids Fat—Here's the Solution

Are we condemning our children to shorter, unhealthier lives than any previous generation?

In this explosive episode of the 2% Solution, we tackle the shocking rise in childhood obesity and its catastrophic consequences. Brace yourself for jaw-dropping statistics that paint a grim picture. 

We delve into the devastating health risks, such as type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular diseases, and reveal the staggering economic toll on our healthcare systems. The episode also highlights the glaring disparities among ethnic groups, driving home the urgent need for drastic change to secure a healthier future for our kids.

Parents, it's time to face the truth: we are the frontline warriors in this battle against childhood obesity. This episode doesn't just outline the problem—it calls you to action. 

Tune in for this fiery discussion and take the first bold step towards a healthier, more vibrant future for the next generation.

Resources

• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
• American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP)
• Canadian Obesity Network (CON)
• Obesity Canada
• National Institutes of Health (NIH)
• Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC)
• Healthy Children (AAP)
• Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada
• World Health Organization (WHO)
• Let's Move!

Chapters

• 0:08 Facing the Childhood Obesity Crisis
• 12:02 Promoting Healthy Habits for Kids
• 23:55 Leading by Example

Transcript

Dai Manuel: 0:08

Hey there, 2% Collective Warriors, welcome back to another episode of the 2% Solution. I'm your host, diamond Well, and today we're diving headfirst into a topic growing faster than my love for kale smoothies childhood obesity. It seems almost like an oxymoron to have the two words childhood and obesity Seems almost like an oxymoron to have the two words childhood and obesity in the same sentence, let alone giving context to one another. I'm someone that's grown up as an obese teenager. It's a sensitive topic for myself, something that I empathize a great deal with. But also I'm seeing some trends and I think we're all seeing them, but whether we're taking note of them, that's something completely different, but it's something that's important and I want to give a whole episode to this topic. So today we're going to talk about childhood obesity. We're going to talk about some of these issues and some of the ideas of where it starts, but also where it can end, or at least start to make some changes, because you know this issue, it is expanding and it's not slowing down anytime soon. We're going to dig into some eye-popping statistics that you may not be aware of, swap some personal stories and tackle strategies to fight this problem head-on. So buckle up, because it's time to get raw and real.

Dai Manuel: 1:32

First, let's zoom out and confront the harsh truth. A recent study published in Nature exposed the alarming rise in childhood obesity rates globally. The numbers aren't just staggering, they're, without you know damn right catastrophic. Over 340 million children and adolescents aged 5 to 17 were overweight or obese in 2016. And this trend is accelerating faster than a viral TikTok challenge. Let that sink in. 340 million children, that's nearly the entire population of the United States of America. This isn't just about kids carrying a little extra weight. This is a full-blown health crisis that demands immediate action, because if we stay on this path, by 2035, obesity rates, including childhood obesity, are predicted to skyrocket. I mean, I think that's an understatement. The World Obesity Federation estimates that if we don't change course, the global prevalence of obesity could hit a jaw-dropping 1 billion people by as early as 2030. I think that's five years from now, with a significant portion being children and adolescents. This isn't just a stat, it's a ticking time bomb. The economic impact alone is mind-blowing, with obesity-related healthcare costs expected to exceed trillions of dollars annually. We have to face the facts we're failing our kids. Every screen time binge, every fast food meal, every skipped workout contributes to a future where our children will face unprecedented health challenges. The time for polite conversation and rhetoric is over. We need a revolution in how we reproach nutrition, exercise and overall health, or we'll face a future where obesity is the normal, not the exception.

Dai Manuel: 3:41

Some of the most startling stats and info and I want to share these more so to sound the alarm, so to speak, but also just to give you some ideas as what is actually happening in the world, and particularly here in Canada, let alone North America Prevalence in Canada, let alone North America Prevalence in Canada. According to Stats Canada, approximately 30% of Canadian children and youth aged 5 to 17 were overweight or obese in 2017. Now, since the pandemic, I know those numbers have increased, but there's not a lot of audited statistics or data out there at this moment, but I think it's safe to say the number has gone up. Number two rapid increase. Similar to global trends, childhood obesity rates in Canada have nearly tripled over the past few decades. In the late seventies, about 5% of Canadian children were obese, compared to around 13 to 15% in recent years. That's crazy, crazy, right. We're talking about like literally three X'd in as little as one person's lifetime Health risks. The Canadian Obesity Network notes that obese children in Canada face a higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes, with over 20% of new diabetes cases in children being type 2. There's also an economic burden. Public Health Agency of Canada estimates that childhood obesity costs the Canadian health care system approximately $2 billion annually in direct health expenses, including hospitalizations and treatments.

Dai Manuel: 5:18

5. Shorten Lifespan. Research from the Canadian Medical Association Journal suggests that rising rates of obesity may lead to a shorter lifespan for today's children compared to their parents, due to obesity-related health issues. Do you understand the significance of that? We're basically saying the kids of this generation may not live as long as the generations of their parents and even their grandparents, as the generations of their parents and even their grandparents. All this is just mind-boggling, considering we are in the most advanced day and age our species has ever seen scientifically, the breakthroughs that we see happening daily. It's remarkable what we're able to cure and yet we seem to have a big honking problem pardon the pun with this obesity issue, and our kids may not live as long or thrive as long we don't do something about it Now.

Dai Manuel: 6:14

There's also a mental health impact. Studies have shown that obese children in Canada are 25% more likely to suffer from mental health issues such as depression and anxiety, compared to the peers with a healthy weight. Number seven cardiovascular risk the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada reports that obese children are more likely to have high blood pressure and high cholesterol, which are significant risk factors for cardiovascular diseases. And number eight disparities Obesity rates in Canada are also higher among certain ethnic groups, with Indigenous children and those from lower socioeconomic backgrounds experiencing higher rates of obesity. This points some fingers to some governmental agencies that need to step it up.

Dai Manuel: 6:56

Now we need to also apply the pressure. That's where our votes and tax dollars and lobbying comes into play. You know, if we just want to sit around and say, yeah, that's a good idea, someone should do something about that, and we're not want to sit around and say, yeah, that's a good idea, someone should do something about that, and we're not willing to step up and do something ourselves, well, how's the change going to do? We've got to change the narrative for our kids. It's time to stop making excuses and start making changes. For every fast food meal swapped for a nutritious one, every screen time hour replaced with physical activity, and every positive health choice we model for our children, we're taking a step toward reversing this crisis.

Dai Manuel: 7:36

The future of our children's health depends on our actions today. So this all begets the question why are kids getting getting fatter? And I don't like using the word fatter, it is an f word in my books, in my house that we say fluffier, uh, so so why are kids getting fluffier? You know, why are kids packing on the pounds? There's a few culprits at action. I'm going to share four that I I see and this is both anecdotal but also been documented, uh, scientifically.

Dai Manuel: 8:09

Number one is sedentary lifestyles, which is pretty straightforward. I think that's fairly common sense. You know, with the rise of technology, especially what we experienced through the pandemic, kids are glued to screens more than ever. According to the world health organization, children should have at least one hour of screen time per day, at least when they say at least. I thought it was kind of funny when they said that, but they're suggesting that, just based on the way things work in our societies, an hour a day is to be expected. But the issue lies because many more are clocking in enough hours to binge watch an entire season of cartoons, quite literally in a single day. It's quite an imbalance and this leads to greater inactivity and excess calorie consumption which isn't being burned off, and so the weight's got to go somewhere. Those calories got to go somewhere and so they get stored on as excess weight, and this leads to all sorts of other lifestyle complications.

Dai Manuel: 9:13

Now number two is poor dietary habits fast food, sugary drinks, processed snacks and, as an episode in season one, I talked about ultra processed foods and the impact it's having globally, not only on various health agencies, but just on our bottom line as far as our waste and our pocketbooks are concerned. But this has all become household staples, literally. Fast food, sugary drinks, processed snacks it's just regular, normalized household stuff we find in our fridges and in our cupboards. It's the availability of cheap, high calorie, low nutrient foods. It's like basically handing kids a one-way ticket to weight gain central, again, being mindful and aware of what's actually in the foods that we're eating. This points the finger again to education, and maybe we got to change the way that we package foods. Again, I'm going to leave that for another episode, because that's just a whole nother can of worms.

Dai Manuel: 10:06

Now number three lack of physical activity. Schools are cutting back on physical education. They're not adding more, they're cutting back, and after school activities are often more about thumb workouts yeah, video games than actual sweat sessions. Kids need at least 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity daily, but most aren't getting them. Number four is the influence of parents. Here's a tough pill to swallow. Parents play a massive role in their children's health habits. When we prioritize convenience over nutrition and screen time over physical activity, our kids are going to follow our suit, right, they're going to follow us. They're going to do what we're doing. So when we prioritize certain things over our own health and well-being, what is that saying to our kids? It's saying, hey, it's okay if you do this too. Now let's talk about some consequences.

Dai Manuel: 11:06

Childhood obesity isn't just about carrying extra weight. It brings a host of severe health issues which I hinted to earlier. That study from Nature points out that obese children are at a higher risk of type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, but even mental health issues like depression and anxiety. Specifically, the study highlights that obese children are four times more likely to develop type 2 diabetes and have a 25% higher risk of developing cardiovascular diseases compared to their peers that have a healthier weight. Additionally, they are 30% more likely to experience those mental health issues like depression and anxiety. These kids are also more likely to become obese. Mental health issues like depression, anxiety. These kids are also more likely to become obese adults, leading to a lifetime of health challenges. This is a cycle that needs to be broken, and it starts with us the parents, the teachers, the mentors, the coaches, the leaders in the community.

Dai Manuel: 12:02

Let's address a critical issue though the mixed messages we, as parents, might be sending to our kids. When we spend our free time shuttling kids to activities but neglect our health, we indirectly tell them it's okay to put ourselves last, while being supportive is absolutely fantastic. As a parent, it's crucial to model healthy behaviors, because neuroscience has shown us that we learn predominantly through two methods through mentorship and modeling. Kids learn by watching us. They see us opting for fast food at a convenience or skipping workouts because we're too busy. They'll likely pick up these habits too. According to the American Psychological Association, children of parents who prioritize their health and well-being are more likely to develop healthy habits themselves. Bonus Hello, that's great. Specifically, research shows that children of parents who engage in regular physical activity are 75% more likely to be active, and those who see their parents eating healthy meals are 50% more likely to adopt similar eating habits. It's all about balance or, as we like to say, harmony, Showing them that taking care of ourselves is just as important as taking care of them.

Dai Manuel: 13:18

So some of you may know or recall that I was an obese teenager, started putting on the LBs around nine and got to my largest just before I hit age 15. I was definitely rocking the double chin, but also a wardrobe that was mainly consisting of elastic waistbands, and you might remember the old parachute pants right, or I'd wear really huge jeans, you know, and shorts forget about it. I didn't want people to see my legs, you know. I really dealt with a lot of low self-esteem and self-conscious awareness and I remember my parents saying you know, houston, we have a problem. Of course, they didn't say it like that, it's not like my parents work for NASA or anything but they were eager to help me find a solution because they saw me hurting. They knew I was in pain and as parents, we never want to see our kids like that. But at the end of the day, it had to get to a place where I wanted to make a change and I think that's an important thing to know.

Dai Manuel: 14:24

We can be supportive for the people in our lives that are struggling with their weight, that are trying to make health and wellbeing changes, but they just are struggling at getting traction, being consistent, and, as a result, there's a lot of internal conflict happening for those individuals. I can speak from my own experience. Every day you're kicking yourself, you're thinking, geez, why am I such a failure? Why can't I do this? I try, I try and I try and nothing's working.

Dai Manuel: 14:52

And that victim mentality feels very safe. It gives us a reason, an excuse, some meaning to why things may be going our way and we latch onto it. I know I did. Things may be going our way and we latch onto it. I know I did. But when we eventually get to a place where we recognize that holding onto those old ideas and beliefs are no longer propelling us forward In fact, they were holding us back the whole time but we become very aware that it's that thinking, that mindset, if you will, that belief system that's causing us this stalling effect or this two steps forward, 10 steps backward feeling and the best thing that we can do to start seeing that through and the thing that I found worked best for me seeing this work for thousands of the people that I've helped with making changes we started making small, manageable changes.

Dai Manuel: 15:45

Some of the things I did was like swapping out a lot of my beloved sugary snacks because, man, I like sugar for healthier alternatives. And, as well, I started sneaking in fun physical activities into my regular routine, like cycling, right, like I love biking. So to me it wasn't even exercise, it wasn't working out, it was just getting out and doing something that I love. And I made sure I had my Sony Walkman. Yeah, I know I'm totally dating myself. Some of you are doing the math now and you're like, oh, my gosh, that's gotta be pretty old then if he used the Sony Walkman back then. And I sure did, and I sure am.

Dai Manuel: 16:16

And, uh, I remember having a cassette in there. And, yes, uh, for those of you that are too young to know what a cassette is, go Google it, I'm going to get into it. But, um, a cassette tape. And, uh, I remember I would have on one side of that cassette, uh, tragically hit the up to here album, and on the other side I had stone temple pilots and, uh, one of their albums.

Dai Manuel: 16:38

And, um, I knew that when I didn't go for a bike ride. This is after I got to a certain level of conditioning and I wanted to challenge myself, going out longer and longer rides. I remember I said, okay, well, I'll go till the end of one album and then when it ends, I know I got to turn around and go home, so it ended up being 90 minute rides. You know it was a 45 minute tape cassette on both sides and uh, or, or when you would listen on slow play, uh, anyways, I'm not getting into the technology or it's not as great as we are now, I'll tell you that. But for those that know the plight of the old cassette tape, yeah, I was really good at getting a lot out of my tapes and I just remember making those bike rides fun. I got to listen to some great tunes, get outside, and I always came back feeling better than I was before I started my ride.

Dai Manuel: 17:25

And that's when I really started putting two and two together, realizing that my mental health was directly influenced, and very much in a positive way, as soon as I would do something physical, something intentional, that would get my heart rate elevated, bring on a little sweat, and I call this moving with intention. Now, as much as I started doing that, as well as I started educating myself and my family about nutrition because, let's face it, we were clueless. We think that we were eating well, but when you start looking at the food and some of those ingredients that sneak into our foods, we start to realize there's a lot of things working against us. So, over time, not only did I lose the weight whereas I like to say release the weight because I didn't ever want it coming back I wanted to say bye-bye weight, because you know, when we lose things, we always want to find it again, don't we? I did not want to find my weight again. I wanted to say bye-bye. So I released that sucker and I also gained a boatload of confidence in the process.

Dai Manuel: 18:25

I went from couch potato to participating in sports, most of them individual sports, because, to be honest, I found it challenging to get into team sports and that was more just where I was at that time. I was used to either being picked last or never being picked. So I kind of had a negative relationship with that, with team sports, and as such I gravitated to a lot of individual sports like golf and rock climbing and martial arts and cycling and all sorts of stuff, and then eventually into CrossFit as well and all sorts of stuff and then eventually into CrossFit as well. And yeah, anyways, one of the biggest things of going through all these changes, it allowed me to also become a mentor for others, especially now as being a father of young adult children and lots of young nieces and nephews, but also lots of clients with lots of kids. It's wonderful being able to mentor those other parents to support their children with thriving in the home, because that's where it all starts. So, yeah, my transformation, I'm going to say it. I think it was incredible, because for me it was.

Dai Manuel: 19:26

But a lot of us can experience these big changes and it all starts with small, seemingly insignificant steps. So if I can do it, trust me, I know you can too, and so can your kids. Now, I know this has been a roundabout way and I've talked about the problem, shared some anecdotes and stories about how people have overcome these with some small, very seemingly doable things. But why don't we talk a little bit about solutions to deal with this growing problem? Here's some actionable strategies. You take what you want of this, but I think you'll agree that with these four things, and if we can get better at doing these four things, I see childhood obesity making a huge turnaround.

Dai Manuel: 20:12

Number one healthy eating habits. Let's talk about getting those kiddos munching on the good stuff. Encourage your little champs to gobble up more fruits, veggies, whole grains, lean proteins. These foods are like rocket fuel for their growth and their development. And let's not limit those sugary drinks and snacks. They're the villains in our superhero story. We want to limit those. The American Academy of Pediatrics has some killer resources on family nutrition, offering guidelines and tips, creating balanced meals. And, trust me, your kids will thank you when you're. You know. Well, let's just say this your kids are going to thank you when they're not bouncing off the walls from a sugar and you're going to thank me too.

Dai Manuel: 20:56

Now, number two is physical activity. You know, one thing is work on those healthy eating habits, but we want to really focus on how are they moving? Because kids, we know they need at least 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity every single day to keep those little bodies fit and healthy. But why not make it fun? Dance parties, bike rides but why not make it fun? Dance parties, bike rides and sports are all fantastic ways to get them moving. Think tag hiking, hide-and-go-seek, even a game of who can clean their room the fastest. Believe me, it actually works with my kids that they eventually catch on. But you can get away with it a few times, I'll tell you that. But physical activity helps build strong bones and muscles, improves cardiovascular health and boosts mood and, who knows, you might discover you've got a future Olympian on your hands. Right Cleaning room for time Three, two, one go, all right.

Dai Manuel: 21:42

Number three education and awareness. Teach your kids about the importance of a balanced diet and regular exercise. I mean, it's one thing to talk and show, but why not educate so they understand why? Why is this so important for them and what's in it for them if they can implement some of this knowledge that they're gaining into internalized wisdom that they can take with them for the rest of their lives? What do you think that would be like? Schools and community programs can be your secret weapon here. Offering structured lessons on nutrition, health, fitness, interactive workshops, cooking classes, physical education programs can make learning about health super engaging. Think of it as sneaking veggies into their favorite dish. Learning disguised as fun Because you know education. I know it's not always fun for our kids, but I think it can be made to be fun, especially when they buy in themselves and they're there because they want to be there. So don't be afraid to have the conversation, to dialogue, to open up why this is great for them, but also why is it great for you?

Dai Manuel: 22:51

All right, supportive environment. Create an environment at home where healthy choices are the easy choices. Stock your pantry and fridge with nutritious options like fresh fruits and veggies, whole grain products, lean protein sources. Lead by example. Kids are little sponges. They soak up everything they see, they hear, so if they catch you munching on a salad or hitting the gym, they'll be more likely to follow suit. Involve the whole family in the meal planning and prep and make physical activity a regular part of your routine. It's like building a fortress of healthy habits, but you got to build it one brick at a time.

Dai Manuel: 23:29

All right, that's it for today's episode on Childhood Abuse. Remember, we can change this narrative for our kids, but it has to start with us. By prioritizing our health and fitness, we set the best possible example for our children. They need to see us making healthy choices, staying active and caring for our bodies. Imagine the ripple effect if we all started today.

Dai Manuel: 23:55

Picture your kids seeing you go for a morning run, choosing a salad over a fast food entree or taking a few minutes to stretch and breathe these small actions speak volumes. They tell our kids this is how we care for ourselves. This is how we live healthy, happy lives. So let's commit to being the change we want to see in our children. Let's show them that health and fitness are priorities not just for them, but the whole family. Let's inspire them with our actions, not just our words. If you enjoyed this episode, share with a friend or family member who might find it helpful, and don't forget to follow us on social media and leave a review if you love the podcast, because your feedback and stories are what keep this community strong and thriving. Stay strong, stay focused and keep pushing your limits. Together, we can create a healthier future for our kids and for ourselves. I'm Diamond Well, and you've been listening to the 2% Solution. Let's keep thriving together and I'll see you next time.