Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, February 17, 1991                   TAG: 9102140279
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: E-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Jane See White
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

LACK OF EXERCISE SERVES TO FEED A VICIOUS CYCLE

One culprit is television, of course. And let's not even talk about Nintendo.

"By the time they graduate from high school, kids on the average watch 15,000 hours of TV. They spend 13,000 hours in the classroom," nutritionist Ellyn Satter notes in her book, "How to Get Your Kid to Eat . . . But Not Too Much."

Studies confirm that fat kids spend more time watching television than thinner kids do.

"The connection may be inactivity, increased reminders to eat [from commercials], or a depressing effect on basal metabolic rate from the hypnotic effect of the TV," Satter writes.

Another problem is that there's a vicious cycle at work: Many overweight youngsters avoid sports because they're not fast enough or they're clumsy, and other kids tease them. The result is that they get even less exercise.

Limiting the use of the television and electronic games in your home could help. So could offering to enroll your child in gymnastics or swimming classes or other organized sports.

But Joseph McVoy, director of the eating disorders program at St. Albans Psychiatric Hospital in Radford, says its even more important to encourage backyard and neighborhood play. He also recommends that parents organize regular family play like bike rides, hikes or kickball games.

McVoy warns against enrolling overweight children in special classes for fat kids.

"Anything that stigmatizes them or segregates them is just going to make the problem worse," he says.

But Julie Lusk, director of Lewis-Gale's new Shapedown program for overweight kids ages 8 to 18, disagrees. Shapedown, designed by the medical school of the University of California at San Francisco, is a 12-week program designed to teach young people and their parents good eating habits, nutrition and more. It includes sessions with an exercise physiologist.

"I don't think segregating kids into a program like this stigmatizes them," Lusk said. "It shows them they're not alone, and it gives them a support group."