'Obesity classes' for parents

PARENTS are being offered lessons on how to get their children's weight under control in a bid to tackle Scotland's spiralling obesity epidemic.

Courses covering healthy cooking, cutting portion sizes and understanding food labels will begin next year, in what is believed to be a UK first.

The classes are being taught by Laura Stewart, a nutritionist and dietician who runs a child obesity clinic and who has treated children as young as eight weighing more than 10st.

An important element of the classes will be group support, with parents discussing their worries about children's eating habits.

Mrs Stewart said: "It's about parents sharing their experiences. I have met parents who feel they must be really bad parents because their child has a weight problem."

The treatment offered at the Edinburgh-based Children's Weight Clinic involves the children directly, but Mrs Stewart said youngsters were unwilling to get involved and would come along only as a last-ditch solution.

Cases can be referred by GPs, health workers, or parents.

She explained: "It takes the child until they are very aware of their weight before they are prepared to do something.

"A lot of the children talk about being bullied. That's their main reason [for coming along] - or they want to wear nicer clothes, or feel they want to fit in.

"At the parent group, parents worried about their child's weight can get advice much earlier. By going to it, they don't feel they're saying to the child they have a weight problem."

Parents will learn how to change their own behaviour so their children can learn by example - and get their weight under control without the word "fat" even being mentioned.

Scottish Government figures show 21.8 per cent of children in primary one were overweight in 2005-6, including 9.1 per cent who were obese and 4.4 per cent who were severely obese.

The data also shows that the proportion of overweight children increases as children get older.

Each week, the clinic will focus on a topic, such as understanding food labels, planning menus and increasing activity. At the end of the session, children can set targets for change before the next week - swapping biscuits for fruit as snacks, for example.

The following week, they can discuss whether they succeeded.

Mrs Stewart added: "Parents of children of any age can come to the group, but the younger we get [the children] the better."

The classes will also underline the importance of cooking healthy meals. Mrs Stewart said: "We have a generation of parents who can't cook. There are children who think food comes from a plastic container and is heated in a microwave."

A Scottish Government spokeswoman hailed the scheme as "positive action to tackle obesity". She added: "Government and other stakeholders, including business and local authorities, have an important role in supporting people [in making] healthier choices in what they eat and the physical activity they build into their lives."

• The classes run at St George's West Church, Shandwick Place, Edinburgh, from 24 January.

CLINIC SUCCEEDS WHERE 'DIY APPROACH' FAILS

AS AN overweight 11-year-old, Sarah was teased at school and would come home in tears. Her distraught mother, Janice, desperately wanted to help, but could not find the right way.

She said: "We tried all sorts of things - basically do-it-yourself solutions - as Sarah was getting called names at school.

"Slimming clubs don't take children and she was really down about it. There were lots of tears and it was really difficult.

"We tried to go through the local nurse but that didn't really work out."

She heard about the Children's Weight Clinic through a friend, but it took a year before Sarah was compelled by the bullying to go. Since then, she has lost 9lb.

The clinic's advice meant Janice had to make changes at home. "We steam vegetables and Sarah likes most things, apart from sprouts," she said. "She also likes chicken, which is good. The biggest difficulty we really had was trimming portions."

Janice can now see a big change in her daughter, who is much happier and more confident. The taunts at school have also stopped.

Sarah said she was now reaping the benefits of losing weight: "I had been trying to lose weight but it was really difficult, even though I love vegetables and eat a lot of chicken.

"I was hungry at first when my mum cut down on the portions, but I got used to it and it's great to have lost over 9lb."

"I also love clothes and I can now wear my favourite clothes, like jeans."