Patient Power®
Get Email Alerts!
Health Topics
Obesity Health Center
Health Center Home Audio Programs Videos
Search by Keyword:
Search by Health Topic:
View all Health Topics >

The Role of Parents in Childhood Obesity

Program: Childhood Obesity: Winning the Battle Against the Epidemic
<< Previous   1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9   10   11   12   13   14   15   16   Next >>

Andrew Schorr:

That’s the ticket. Let’s meet your dad. Your dad Anthony is with us. Anthony, I know you have another child, a son and he’s like my older son. You were telling me before the show, he’s like a beanpole. How did we get to this with Ashley and what do you think the role of parents is?

Anthony Mellow:

It was actually my wife and daughter that started this SHINE program through Kaiser Permanente, and when they first started I wasn’t very supportive. I was in my own world, I was a guy, you know "guys don’t need to lose weight." It’s kind of a mentality. Then I noticed having some bad habits. I’d get home from work and stuff my face with Ding Dongs, and Ho Ho's. I noticed that I wasn’t feeling that great, I wasn’t sleeping well. At work we have floor scales so I decided to weight myself, and I was at about a 190 pounds, which for me is pretty heavy, that’s the heaviest I’d ever been.

Andrew Schorr:

How tall are you?

Anthony Mellow:

I’m 5’ 9”

Andrew Schorr:

Okay, 5’9” and 190 pounds, okay.

Anthony Mellow:

For my frame, I just didn’t feel healthy. So when I started seeing the results from my wife and daughter and what they were eating, and I thought I needed to support the family. What I did was get rid of all the junk food in the house. It was all gone, so we literally have no junk food in the house. Within a couple of months, not only was I feeling better, but I’d lost about 20 pounds, I was down to 170. We’ve done it as a family and I think it’s important that the whole family participates and supports each other in order to make it successful.

Andrew Schorr:

Yes, that’s where a lot of the food is, now did you make some healthy choices? We just finished Halloween and that’s usually sugar and candy central. What did you give to people that trick or treated around your house?

Anthony Mellow:

Luckily we live out in the country so we didn’t have anybody come to the house to treat or treat and, and we didn’t have candy at the house, so we didn’t have to worry about that. The biggest challenge that I had was at work. Everybody had their little candy dishes on their desks, and I was avoiding that temptation.

Andrew Schorr:

We’re going to take a break and when we come back we’re going to meet a pediatrician who is very concerned about obesity, Dr. Phil Wu from Kaiser Permanente in the Portland area and we’ll be right back.

<< Previous   1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9   10   11   12   13   14   15   16   Next >>