Host: We live in a society where kids think they have to look like the model that's covering these magazines and why kids want to become thin and yet they are getting heavier and heavier. How to be approach to this problem.
Warren Seigel: Well, one of the issues that I as an Adolescent Specialist, who got to be from many many years is the issue of eating disorders that is anorexia nervosa. Those adolescents who were strict for calories so much to look like the models in the magazines or the athletes and for both boys and girls, this is a very very powerful message that you can't be too thin. We also see adolescents with another eating disorder called bulimia where they eat and they often will do something to get rid of calories whether it's laxative abuse or self-induced vomiting. There is a third eating disorder that is becoming more and more recognized in this country and that is the issue of obesity. We know that children can be obese. We know certainly that adults are obese, but teenagers who are obese often will turn into adults who are obese as well. High cholesterol levels, high triglyceride levels, these are -- it can lead to significant medical problems later on in life.
So the issue that adolescent obesity is one that we need to take very seriously. Here at Coney Island Hospital, we actually have an obesity program where we help adolescents and some children lose weight in a safe way that is not too rapidly. We help them learn more about nutrition, so that they can restrict their calories, so that they can have a very slow and steady weight loss. But but just restricting calories is not to be the best way to be healthy. We also talk about the importance of exercise. Exercise meaning at least 20 minutes at least three times a week, for the sheer purpose of losing weight that's in addition to gym activities in school. If they are participating in gym in addition to the things that they like to do. So losing weight is an appropriate thing for adolescents to do, if they have been professionally assessed. That is your pediatrician says and agrees that they are obese.
Host: Thank you.
