TUE 28 SEP 2004
Dietician warns obesity stems from childhood habits
By Cynthia ReynaudArgonaut Staff
A craving for sweets is actually something we are born with, Joanne Ikeda told the University of Idaho students who packed into the SUB Borah Theatre Friday morning.
Ikeda is co-director of the Center for Weight and Health, a lecturer in the Department of Nutritional Sciences at the University of California-Berkeley, and this year’s UI Margaret Ritchie Distinguished Speaker.
In her presentation, “Establishing Eating and Activity Habits in Children that Will Prevent Overweight: What Can We Learn from Research?” Ikeda spoke of ways to make future generations healthier.
“Human beings are born with an innate preference for foods with a sweet taste,” Ikeda said. “We therefore use candy, sweet things, to reward children for eating certain foods. It’s the foods that are rewarded for eating that are usually disliked the most by children.”
Ikeda presented ideas of how to instill good nutritional and physical health in children at a young age and said that instead of limiting access to sweets, parents should limit the quantity.
“When my daughters were young, I’d go to the supermarket once a week and buy a six-pack of soft drink. My daughters were taught that they could each have two and me and my husband each got one. They chose when they drank them, but once the drinks were gone, there was no more until the next week,” Ikeda said.
“I think Joanne has a very powerful message,” said Sandra Evenson, chair of the Margaret Ritchie Distinguished Speaker committee.
For the past year, Evenson and her colleagues have been working to bring Ikeda to UI. Her groundbreaking work on health at every size is a tool that students can use to resist the social pressure to have the ideal body they can’t possibly attain, Evenson said.
A few of Ikeda’s ideas are controversial in the field of dietetics, but that makes her even more interesting to students and faculty, Evenson said.
Some professors at the university did not hold their normal classes so students could attend Ikeda’s presentation.
“It was really interesting to me that they talked about diets with child obesity and didn’t focus on exercise so much as body composition,” said Ruth Bond, a student in Kathy Browder’s fitness activities and concepts class.
Sophomore Robyn Paul came to hear Ikeda with her family development class.
“I initially went because my professor Janice Fletcher recommended that we go, but after hearing all the things Joanne had to say, I think that I might have gone had I not had the class,” Paul said. “It was interesting because you learn about the little things that can help when raising a child.”
In addition to the UI presentation, Ikeda also gave a public talk, “Why Abandon Dieting for Health at Every Size?” at Moscow City Hall on Thursday.
Ikeda is a nationally recognized expert on pediatric obesity and weight problems. She has written several books and training manuals on how to instill healthy eating habits and physical activity in youth. The UI Margaret Ritchie School of Family and Consumer Sciences sponsored the annual lecture, named after the late Margaret Ritchie, a longtime UI professor and director of the Department of Home Economics from 1938 to 1959.
“Joanne is a compassionate person and urges us to be as well,” Evenson said. “Her work really exemplifies the goals and mission of the family and consumer sciences program.”
SUB Ballroom, Gold and Silver Rooms
11 a.m.
Diversity training certificate series: “Breaking the ‘Old-Boy’ Network”
Administration Building, Room 217
noon
Film: “Iron Jawed Angels”
SUB Borah Theater
7:30 p.m.
Wednesday
Career Expo of the PalouseKibbie Dome
9 a.m.
Foreign film series: “Faat Kine”
SUB Borah Theater
7 and 9:30 p.m.
Job search for international students
SUB Ballroom
8 p.m.
Thursday
Work and life workshop: “Protecting Your Identity”Idaho Commons Aurora Room
2 p.m.
College success series: “Improve Your Memory”
Idaho Commons, Room 327
3:30 p.m.
Foreign film series: “Faat Kine”
SUB Borah Theater
7 and 9:30 p.m.
Concert band and wind ensemble
UI Administration Building Auditorium
8 p.m.
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