Tackling Childhood Obesity: A Focus on Prevention

Addressing The Root Causes Of Childhood Obesity | This episode is sponsored by Beekeepers Naturals and BLUblox

Our children are unfortunately being born into a toxic food environment. Currently, a third of American kids are overweight or obese and in addition to rising rates of childhood obesity, we are also seeing a significant increase in type 2 diabetes in children. Overweight children not only face unfair stigma and judgment, but they are also more prone to battling weight issues in adulthood. Yet, food manufacturers continue to produce and peddle junk to our children that we loosely call food. The good news is that you have control over what foods you bring into your home and the type of modeling you provide for your children when it comes to what to eat.

In this episode, Dr. Hyman sits down with Dr. Elizabeth Boham to discuss the Functional Medicine approach to combating childhood obesity and they share patient cases they have treated related to childhood obesity. 

Elizabeth Boham is a physician and nutritionist who practices functional medicine at The UltraWellness Center in Lenox, MA. Through her practice and lecturing she has helped thousands of people achieve their goals of optimum health and wellness. She witnesses the power of nutrition every day in her practice and is committed to training other physicians to utilize nutrition in healing. Dr. Boham has contributed to many articles and wrote the latest chapter on Obesity for the Rankel Textbook of Family Medicine. She is part of the faculty of the Institute for Functional Medicine and has been featured on the Dr. Oz show and in a variety of publications and media including Huffington Post, The Chalkboard Magazine, and Experience Life. Her DVD Breast Wellness: Tools to Prevent and Heal from Breast Cancer explores the functional medicine approach to keeping your breasts and whole body well.

This episode is sponsored by Beekeepers Naturals and BLUblox.

Beekeepers Naturals is offering Doctor’s Farmacy listeners 15% off your first order. ​Go to beekeepersnaturals.com/hyman or use code HYMAN ​at checkout to claim this deal. 

Right now BLUblox is offering Doctor’s Farmacy listeners 20% off. Just go to blublox.com/hyman and use code HYMAN20. BLUblox also offers free and fast shipping globally.

In this conversation, Dr. Hyman and Dr. Boham discuss:

• Optimal birth weight

• Should we feed children “kids food”?

• Why prevention is so important when it comes to childhood obesity

• Food marketing aimed at children

• BMI measurements for childhood obesity

• The danger of sugar-sweetened beverages, including juices, sports drinks, and soda

• The benefits of breastfeeding

• The recommended amount of screen time per age bracket

• The link between sleep and weight gain

• Making your home a safe zone for your children

Additional Resources

5 Ways To Raise Healthy Eaters

https://drhyman.com/blog/2016/08/18/5-ways-to-raise-healthy-eaters/

Raising Healthy Eaters - Part I

https://drhyman.com/blog/2012/11/20/raising-healthy-eaters-part-i/

Fed Up movie

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ceRFvhlcsiY

How Food Marketing Is Making Us Sick and Fat

https://drhyman.com/blog/2018/10/30/podcast-ep25/

How To Improve School Lunches, Grades, And Behavior At No Extra Cost

https://drhyman.com/blog/2020/04/27/podcast-ep107/

Food Fix

foodfixbook.com