With America's reliance on video games and television for entertainment, children are being brought up much too attached to the comforts of their own home, say the founders of the Children's Fitness Clinic, a new program for overweight children at the University Medical Center.
The Center's main goal is not only to encourage healthier eating habits and more physical exercise, but also to elevate self-image and self-esteem.
"The general idea is to promote healthier lifestyles for kids," Clinic Nutritionist Erika Zeff said.
Starting in September, Virginia's first fitness clinic team opened its doors to overweight children of all ages for thorough medical evaluations. However, in order to qualify for the program, a child had to be in or above the 85th percentile in both height and weight.
At the initial visit, the clinic's nutritionist, exercise physiologist and doctor search for health issues that impair physical activity and set goals for the child's improvement.
This is followed by a six-month program of family group sessions, held once a week for eight weeks for nearby commuters, and then every other week.
"It's kind of a support system. At the same time, they have an individual follow-up," Zeff said. "There [has been] a lot of interest."
Patients include children from all over Virginia and one from West Virginia. Because of increasing demand, more clinic time is being scheduled.
While patients' weight loss provides evidence of the program's progress, it is not necessarily the overall goal, Zeff said. Instead, she explained, it is aimed at motivating at-risk children to be more active.
Weight loss "is very important, but it's also important to recognize the success of meeting [the children's] goals," Zeff said. "Hopefully after six months these kinds of changes will become habits and something they will continue."
While there are no similar programs in the area, childhood obesity is becoming a serious concern. Creating weight-loss programs just for children "is something that's becoming more and more common among hospitals," Zeff said.
-- Compiled by Carling Boyles
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