In this episode of The Lab, DadLabs looks at one of the most important health issues affecting kids, childhood obesity. We talk with an expert who tells us statistics about how many children are obese and how diseases not normally seen until adulthood are not seen in childhood. What can parents do to make their kids more healthy? Learn about BMI, what non healthy foods shouldn't be in the house, and how to encourage physical activity such as sports. If you've got thoughts about kids health and healthy living in your family, share them with us at DadLabs.com or drop a comment on this video. DadLabs. Ep. 676 is brought to you in conjunction with Man of the House.

Daddy Clay: Cute baby fat or childhood obesity? Telling the difference, today in The Lab.
Daddy Brad: Today's episode is brought to you in partnership with Man of the House.
Daddy Clay: It seems like every day there's a new headline out there screaming that obesity is rampant in this country and it's increasingly affecting our kids.
Daddy Brad: Yeah, but what does that mean on the ground? How do you know if your kid's obese or just husky? And is the threat really serious? What can we do about it as parents?
Daddy Clay: And to get some answers, we went to the Michael and Susan Dell Center for Healthy Living at the University of Texas.
Deanna Hoelscher: Approximately one out of every five children is obese. One of the things we're finding is these chronic disease and conditions that you used to not see until adulthood are manifesting in childhood. We're facing the first generation to have a shorter life span than their parents, which is scary. There's a lot of emphasis now on what they call the toxic environment. Examples of that are
It used to be that when you went clothes shopping, you didn't necessarily see candy bars when you checked out. It used to be that you couldn't bring food into classrooms or into certain areas. Even when you're using the TV now, you would have to get up to change channels, now you can do everything with the remote control. There's several web sites that you can go in and you can measure your child for height and weight and plug those in. And they come out with a value called the body mass index or the BMI. And the BMI is linked back to criteria saying whether the child is overweight or obese or a healthy weight. There's several concrete steps that parents can take to prevent their child from becoming overweight. One of the first things you can do is to make your house a safe zone. So, what I mean by that is, make it safe from unhealthy goods. So don't bring sodas in to the house. Don't bring a lot of snacks into the house. If they're not in the house, you don't have to tell the child no. Generally, if kids are more involved in sports teams, they tend to be more active, that's an organizational way to do that. Another thing is to plan healthy activities with your kids, so going for a walk after dinner at night. Going out and playing with them. Encouraging them to be outside. There are a lot of parental fears and anxieties contributing to obesity. I know one of the issues, for example, is sometimes parents are afraid to let their kids be active. A lot of parents won't let their kids jump on a trampoline because they're afraid that they might fall off or something would happen to them. Well, yeah there is that possibility. But right now it's getting to be where your chances of being overweight are greater than that. I think there'a lot of places you can go to get more information on the subject. Right now, Michelle Obama's campaign, Let's Move, has a lot of information on it. She's connecting to a lot of other sites. There's a lot of resources there. There's also a lot of good resources in the communities. A lot of times schools, by mandate, have to do health programs. So, they can be good sources of information as well.
Daddy Clay: Well it seems obvious that you need to monitor your child's nutrition and physical activity. But it must be harder than it seems. And I think it may have something to do with the fact that parents feel so much anxiety because there's so much information coming in all the time about all the dangers lurking outside so it's very difficult to encourage your kid to just go outside and engage in free play.
Daddy Brad: And another thing that we struggle with, especially around here, is setting a good example for our kids.
Daddy Clay: What are you trying to say?
Daddy Brad: I'm just saying that with our busy schedules and hectic life, sometimes it's hard to eat right and also exercise. But we need to because our kids are watching us and we need to set a good example.
Daddy Brad: And it's not about just right now. It's also about when they grow up. You want to model what it's like to be a healthy active adult so when they grow up, they take care of themselves. Now this brings up a whole bunch of different issues. We want to hear from you, what you think. So leave us a comment on this video. Join the conversation at DadLabs or at Man of the House. You're certain to hear back from us.
Daddy Brad: We'd like to thank the good folks at Man of the House as well as the folks at the Susan and Michael Dell Healthy Living Center. Well that's all for us here in The Lab. Did you model husky jeans when you were a kid?
Daddy Clay: Does this internet make me look fat?