By Angela Hynes Faced several times a day with your toddler’s
very age-typical reflexive answer to all food (“No!”), you may
not have had much cause to consider the statistics on overweight
school children yet. Who has time to think that far ahead when
you’re just trying to get him to eat
something—anything—healthful? For the record, according to the
Centers for Disease Control, overweight and obesity rates in
children ages 6 to 19 have tripled since 1980. The problem can
start even younger, and “if they’re already overweight as
toddlers, their chances of becoming overweight as adults are
much higher,” says Jennifer Shu, M.D., coauthor with Laura A.
Jana, M.D., of Food Fights: Winning the Nutritional Challenges
of Parenthood Armed with Insight, Humor and a Bottle of Ketchup
(American Academy of Pediatrics, 2007), and a medical expert for
cnnhealth.com. As moms, both women take a reality-based approach
to food-related challenges, but one that is backed up by their
credentials as pediatricians. Here are some of