Neena Satija Photo
The 10-year-old girl came into Dr. Meredith Williams’ office with unusual neck bumps. Williams quickly determined what that meant: an early sign of obesity.
Later that morning, in came another 10-year-old with a similar problem. “We would love to see her grow a bit taller without gaining too much more weight,” Williams told the child’s mother.
Williams (pictured above) had been telling her visitors that all morning in her office at the Cornell Scott-Hill Health Center on Columbus Avenue.
During that recent morning in her office, almost none of the pediatrician’s conversations with kids or their parents centered around crime, or school performance, or teen pregnancy.
They were more often about juice.
Not just that morning. These days in general.
“I think if we could get rid of all juice on the planet, we would be fine,” Williams said as she filled out her eighth medical chart around 11 a.m.
Williams has been a pediatrician at Hill Health for 16 years. These days, she estimates, at least half her patients are overweight or obese. Nationwide, the rate of childhood obesity is closer to around 20 percent.
Williams called calorie-high drinks like juice and soda a major contributor to the obesity crisis across the country and in New Haven, especially for kids.
“What do you drink at dinner time?” and “What do you drink at school?” are two questions she asks all of her patients at the clinic — whether they come in for a routine physical or for an unscheduled appointment.
Almost all her patients Monday morning answered juice or soda. One exception was 6‑year-old Willy Lara, a first-grader at Washington Elementary School in West Haven. Williams has been seeing Willy since he was an infant.
After a number of conversations with parents about keeping their child’s weight down, Williams was looking forward to Willy’s appointment even before she actually saw him. “It’s looking more hopeful,” she said of his health, already noting that his weight seemed to be more on par with his height this year compared to last.
When she walked into Willy’s patient room, she saw that his mother, Fernanda, was also looking considerably slimmer.
“I lost around 50 pounds,” Fernanda Lara boasted. “I eat healthy now. And Willy too.”
“Now you know, kids don’t need sweet stuff,” Williams told her as she wrote on the chart “Mom lost 50#. Doing great!”
As Willy sat on the doctor’s table and fidgeted in his Dr. Seuss hospital gown, his 26-year-old mother and Williams discussed what he was eating and drinking. Only water, said mom; and for breakfast, cereal (the kind without too much sugar, like Cheerios or Kix) and 1 percent milk. For exercise, he bikes and walks with his mom. She attends zumba classes where “they have stuff for kids.”
Fernanda Lara, 26, of West Haven, with her 6-year-old son Willy.
“I was a little depressed” at the 50 pounds heavier weight, Lara said. “I would only wear sweatpants and watch TV all day.” Finally, her mother — and Williams — intervened. Lara still makes rice, but eats smaller portions. She boils vegetables rather than frying them. She also fits in some exercise almost every day; her son usually comes along.
Washington Elementary sends a menu home regularly for parents to review, Lara said. Her assessment of the food: “So far, so good.”
It isn’t always so easy for other kids and their parents. Cynthia, who’s 10, dances several times a week. But she was still having problems with her weight when she came in for a physical Monday.
When Williams asked Cynthia if she plays outside with her friends, she responded: “I have friends, but they stay inside.”
“I totally understand that hardly any of these kids can go outside” because they live in crime-ridden neighborhoods, Williams said after Cynthia’s appointment. If it wasn’t for dance, she added, Cynthia would have even more of a weight problem.
The lunch she’s eating at Betsy Ross Arts Magnet School in New Haven may not be helping either: Her favorite item on the menu is sweet potato fries.
And the main drink all New Haven Public Schools serve at breakfast?
100 percent juice.
It's amazing how many calories a juice habit adds to the day -- and kind of counter-intuitive because most of us think of real juice as a healthy food.
I don't enjoy drinking just water with meals or to quench thirst, and my juice habit was part of why my weight had been slowly rising for 30 years. There are as many calories in a glass of 100% juice as there are in the same amount of soda. Of course there are also vitamins and minerals and maybe a little fiber if it's cider or unstrained orange juice. But still.
A large part of my modest weight loss campaign a year ago was achieved simply by cutting my juice 50/50 with seltzer. I love the fizz and it disguises the sensation that the juice is "watered down." I wonder if kids who love soda would enjoy this technique: replace the totally empty calories in the soda with 50% fruit juice and seltzer, get only half the calories, more vitamins and minerals, and a similar fizzy taste.