We often hear of several attempts to curb the easy access to junk foods and sugary sodas by kids. There is talk of legislation to ban the advertising of unhealthy snacks during childrens’ programming on television and even the removal of snack- and soda-vending machines from schools. But how successful are these programs and should they be continued or is the effort not worth the results?
The answer is: yes, the programs are successful but only if continued for extended periods of time. Yahoo News reports on the results of the so-called Dutch Obesity Intervention in Teenagers (DOiT) which had special health-lessons at school and also increased gym-time:
The results were at least partially positive, researchers report in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine. Over 20 months, students at 10 schools that ran the program reduced their soda intake, compared with their peers at eight “control” schools. Girls at the intervention schools also showed a smaller increase in body fat. [Yahoo News]
There was only one issue with this program and that was that the results tended to slowly show diminishing returns over time:
However, those benefits tended to wane over time. And certain other positive effects seen at the eight-month mark — like less weight gain around the waistline in boys — had disappeared by the 20-month point.
The findings suggest that such school-based programs can be effective, but that they need to be kept up, lead researcher Dr. Amika S. Singh, of the VU University Medical Center in Amsterdam, told Reuters Health.[Yahoo News]
Looks like when it comes to weight loss, the “falling off the bandwagon” syndrome is not limited to adults alone.Any fitness, weight-loss of good-nutrition program needs to be a continuous life-long process and over time it becomes … what else, a way of life. No quick-fixes and no brief-periods of weight-loss “diets”.
Making fitness your way of life is the only way to ensure success.
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I understand how hard it is the weightloss battle.Just commit to geting back into your plan and you will win.We all can do it.