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    Raising Fit Kids: Healthy Nurtition, Exercise, and Weight


    Sometimes the scale doesn't matter. Your child might be at a healthy weight -- her body mass index (BMI) is in the normal range and she doesn't look like she has extra pounds.

    But looks can be deceiving. If your child doesn't move enough and doesn't eat well, being at a healthy weight doesn't always mean she's actually fit and healthy. The goal for all parents should be to help their kids adopt healthy habits now, so you can help them avoid health problems like diabetes and heart issues related to being unfit.

    Experts agree that a person's weight is not always a clear sign of good or bad health or fitness level.

    Carl Lavie, MD, medical director of cardiac rehabilitation and prevention at the John Ochsner Heart and Vascular Institute in New Orleans, says the key is being physically fit -- especially getting aerobic exercise. "The people who are unfit, it almost doesn’t matter if they're thin or fat."

    Lavie was one of the first researchers to document the " obesity paradox," which found that people who are overweight sometimes live longer and are healthier than people who are thinner.

    "If you just look at weight alone, it can be very misleading," Lavie says. "Weight is both fat and muscle. You can have somebody who is normal weight but they don’t have any muscle and they're all fat. On the other hand, you [can] have someone who has pretty high weight and BMI and they're low fat -- like a middle linebacker in the NFL who is huge, but solid muscle."

    Then Why Weigh?

    Weight isn't the perfect predictor of good health. But it's still an important piece of information.

    Weight and BMI give you and your child's doctor a basic idea of health, says Jeffrey Schwimmer, MD, director of the Weight and Wellness Center, Rady Children’s Hospital-San Diego. If your child isn't in the "normal" range, he may eventually be more likely to have certain health problems, like high blood pressure, heart disease, and liver disease.

    The doctor will also care if someone in your family has a history of health problems like high blood pressure, type-2 diabetes, or fatty liver disease. Family history is a key part of your health information.


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