We all wish that the clothes were shrinking! It seems like every year, as we get older, the holiday weight gain increases and the added weight becomes tougher and tougher to get rid of as the years go by. When it comes to eating, I wish I was a kid again…I think.

I was over a relative's house for a Christmas dinner this year and there were two boys there, one around ten years old and the other around twelve. I hadn't seen these two in a year. They both grew taller during the last year, but I was a little surprised to see how "chubby" they both got. One was bigger than the other also, but both were definitely gaining weight around their midsection. They looked like forty year old men in little bodies! Sadly, they were just in bad physical shape and yet so young. In the past, I wouldn't have thought anything about it other than the fact that they were getting fat.

However, the last five months have brought changes for me…good changes. I had a routine physical (after many years) as I am just over 40 now. Following this, I had to make changes, and fast. But I educated myself and learned a lot about proper nutrition. And I mean "proper nutrition"…not "dieting". There's a huge difference. I learned that my major problem was insulin resistance and attacked it accordingly. In short, I got drastic, positive results.

As I was learning about my own health situation I also learned that kids today are becoming more insulin resistant and pre-diabetic at much younger ages than even 10 years ago. This all leads to more weight gain, obesity, high blood pressure and diabetes…for young kids! The number of prescriptions for type II diabetes drugs taken by children ages 5 - 19 years doubled between 2002 and 2005, according to an analysis by one of the nation's largest pharmacy benefit management companies. The increase in the use of the diabetes drugs was most pronounced in children 10-14 years, rising 106% during the study period.

Kids today are showing physical signs that were rare for kids 15 or 20 years ago. BAD NEWS! This means that the potential for serious cardiovascular disease at very young ages will be next for these upcoming adults. The medical community is calling this an epidemic and is warning of huge increases of cardiovascular diseases at much younger ages than in past decades.

As I sat there and noticed what those two boys ate throughout the day, I could see that they could already be, to some degree, becoming insulin resistant based on what I saw them eating all day and what they looked like. They were downing regular sodas, all kinds of white bread, didn't really eat any vegetables and ate a ton of sweet snacks. And from what I remember, that's basically how they eat anyway. And they were now showing the signs, even at ten or twelve years old, of weight gain and obesity caused by poor eating habits. Actually, obesity is now one of the most common, if not the most common, diagnosed childhood ailment in the United States. Many kids today eat a lot, but poorly, and don't get nearly the amount of physical activity that they should be getting.

The good thing is that this obesity and weight gain problem can be fixed. Insulin resistance can many times be lessened or reversed…especially in kids. The thing is, kids can't do this themselves. They don't understand the necessary relationships between the type of foods that are eaten and how the body responds (blood sugar and insulin) to those foods. This responsibility falls on parents.

We, as parents, should learn as much as we can about foods, nutrition, exercise, blood sugar, insulin and high blood pressure. This benefits us and our children. As we learn how to start burning fat, losing weight and improving our overall health, we should be able to transfer that knowledge to our kids and watch their health and well being improve also.

So try to find some books and information on proper nutrition (not fad diets! They don't work!) and how to get your body in the fat burning mode instead of the fat storage mode. This is key. To do this, you need to know what kinds of foods to eat and when to eat them. You have to truly understand how the foods you eat affect your glucose and insulin levels. Your kids can benefit from anything that you learn.

In a future article, insulin resistance will be discussed as well as ways to greatly lessen it and stop it. Insulin resistance…these two little words are actually huge…and you should learn as much as you can about them.