Three Healthy Habits to Keep Kids Slim.

New Study Finds Keys to Preventing Overweight Children.

Everytime I hear the phrase: "let's have a nice, family meal", I can't help but think of the scene in the movie Talledega Nights where they're eating at Applebees.

If you laughed at that, you'r e sense of humor may be as bad as mine.

However, what isn't so funny is that a new study has found that something as simple as sitting down to dinner together as a family can go a long way in helping your kids avoid obesity.

New research suggests that family behaviors can have a significant impact on the weight of preschool children.

Other behaviors that may help children stay slim include getting adequate sleep and limiting time in front of the TV.

Now, if that works for kids, why wouldn't it work for adults too?

The new study in the journal Pediatrics found that four-year-olds who regularly ate dinner with the family, got enough sleep and watched less than two hours of TV a day were 40 percent less likely to be overweight.  This study came from researchers at  "THE" Ohio State University College of Public Health.

What's very important about this study is that currently, there are limited, if any interventions that exist to treat childhood obesity.  This is a problem that must be prevented.

The study included a sample of 8,550 children designed to be representative of the average American four-year-old.  One parent of each child answered researchers' questions about the family's routines and behaviors.

In this group, 18% were found obese.

Shockingly, only 14.5 percent of the children routinely took part all three of the study behaviors:

• eating the evening meal as a family five or more nights a week,
• getting more than 10.5 hours of sleep per night, and
• watching less than two hours of TV, video or DVDs a day.

The researchers found that in children routinely exposed to all three of these behaviors, the obesity rate was 14.3 percent. In children who weren't exposed to any of these behaviors, the obesity rate was 24.5 percent.

Statistically, each behavior associated with about a 17% reduction in the risk of obesity, irregardless of race, gender, social/economic status, or whether mom was obese or kids lived in a single-parent home.

While these are associative findings only, no cause/effect relationship can be firmly given.  However, there were also associative findings that these three behaviors also help in constructive behavior and congnitive development.

So, all in all, it looks as though these three simple things can give you a better kid.

Recommendations are obviously to do all three.  But if you can't start with the one you think you'll have most success with.  

But if you're like me, these are our kids we're talking about; our future.  There's no room for playing Q&A with this or treating it as a matter of convenience.  If you want good, healthy kids, you simply put the behaviors in. 

Kids grow up once.  It's parents responsibilities to see to it that kids have the structure they need for a better, healthier tomorrow.  Four activities in their week may not be necessary; it certainly shouldn't trump a good night's sleep and staying together as a family.