DALLAS – As toddlers begin eating grown-up food, they may also develop grown-up eating habits, like too much junk food and too few vegetables, warn doctors.
Within the childhood obesity outbreak is an increasing number of overweight 2-year-olds, according to pediatrics experts. In an effort to address the problem, the American Heart Association is offering this advice to parents: Children ages 2 and older should eat mostly fruits and vegetables, whole grains, low-fat and nonfat dairy products, beans, fish and lean meat.
“These guidelines are not that different from what you as a parent should be following,” said Lona Sandon, a dietitian and assistant professor at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. “Kids will follow the example of their parents if the example is there.”
The new recommendations for infants, children and adolescents revise the heart association’s 1982 statement. Since then, more and more children have been falling into the overweight or obese category. The updated guidelines also recommend children 2 and older get an hour of exercise a day.
Dr. Barbara Dennison, who helped draw up the guidelines and is associate professor of clinical pediatrics at Columbia University, said that 10 percent of 2-year-olds are overweight.
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