I have a lot of nicknames; "the food police", "the stoplight lady", "the boss" but my favorite is "health goddess".
Clearly some are more complementary than others but you get the idea. For the past 10 years I have been a weight loss coach for kids and their parents with a leading hospital and university in the San Francisco Bay Area. I became involved in this area of public health during graduate school which was also when I had the first of my three daughters. I became very concerned with how to provide her with healthy foods and to make sure she was developing good behaviors.
After I graduated with a master’s degree in public health, I got a job teaching a six-month behavior change program that supports parents and overweight kids with their efforts to reduce their BMI and subsequently risk factors for a number of health issues through the adoption and practice of healthier eating and exercise habits.
Being a part of this program and having a positive impact on kids and their families has been incredibly rewarding. Looking back at the first classes I taught, I realize that 10 years ago was really the beginning of the childhood obesity epidemic. Research studies and statistics were just being published that demonstrated the rapidly increasing number of overweight kids but it is clear that the issue on how to best support these kids was not fully understood.
For several years I have wanted to share my experience but it has only been recently that I have felt ready to do so. This blog is an effort to share what I have learned after 10 years of working with and supporting families in their pursuit of healthier lifestyles. Through my experiences, I hope to help many more families that may not be able to participate in a program like the one I have the privilege to teach.
