mystery obesity in 7 year old?

[andrea moon]

i wonder if anyone here can shed any light on how i should approach a little girl i care for twice a week. 

 

if you look at her, you assume she eat junk and watches TV all day. nope. she eats healthy (at least no soda, fast food, small amount of processed foods), has no TV and does not sit at a desk in school all day. she is homeschooled, physically active, and lives with two slim, physically active parents. her father runs daily. her mom dances and swims several times a week. she was breastfed until she was 3 and never had formula. 

 

this is the part that concerns me: even if she has eaten just before she comes over, she says she is hungry constantly. she talks to me constantly about food. she tells me she doesn't care how it tastes, if it's food, she'll eat it. but she begs me for high calorie foods and processed carbs after inhaling the healthy snacks i give her. i have seen her eat 3-4 pieces of fruit in a row. i have known her since she was 2 and she has always been like this. but has only gotten obese in the last year or so. when i asked her what her favorite vegetable is, she says corn. (which to me isn't a vegetable) once her mom and i baked sweets for a party. even though everything was still hot, she used her hands to tear the cake apart and eat it. she had been told not to touch it or even go in the kitchen, but she snuck in there. i am always in shock when she does stuff like this. 

 

her father tells me that all the women in his family are morbidly obese. he is worried but doesn't want to take her to a doc, since the last time they did, the doc lectured them about TV and soda (without asking about her actual habits). her mom's side of the family is native american. 

 

we aren't particularly restrictive in our family. my kids are generally in charge of what they eat. (even if my son is totally picky and has a really really narrow diet, i still let him choose) i know her parents did this with her for a while, but they found she was eating entire packages of candy, cookies, etc. so now they don't have it in the house and more rigidly control what she eats. 

 

she is amazingly demanding and i am frequently at odds on how to handle her. i'd like to try and get her to drink water and herbal tea at my house. (instead of asking for chocolate milk) i'd like to get her to slow down and think more about what she is eating. (she has barely finished one snack and is asking for another) i'd like to understand why she is always hungry. i'd like to know if she needs healing. i'd like to be able to help if i can. 

 

i wonder if anyone has any insight to share with me? 

 

 

 

 

[Leah Spencer]

Can you give her a spoonful of coconut oil? It might take 20 minutes, but perhaps it would make her feel a little fuller.

 

One thing that I've noticed in the foods you're describing, they're mostly carbs. I'm not hearing about proteins and fats. It sounds like her body poorly metabolizes carbs and they just trigger more hunger.

 

Leah

[Jennifer Steinbachs]

she probably does, but unless her family is prepared to support healing, there really isn't a whole lot you can do. anything you might do surreptitiously would be thwarted in the home environment.

that said, she may already be insulin resistant (epigenetics can be a b*tch sometimes).

i'd go with low carb offerings (jerky, coconut oil "candy", kale chips, etc), though be prepared for carb withdrawal symptoms. in our house, one cannot have a piece of fruit without something else that has substance (e.g., apple and nut butter, fruit and cheese, orange and almonds, berries and yogurt etc.)

[andrea moon]

Leah Spencer said:

 It sounds like her body poorly metabolizes carbs and they just trigger more hunger.

 

 

actually this makes lots of sense, as it's a native american metabolic characteristic. mom is open to hearing new ideas, so i can certainly discuss it with her. 

[andrea moon]

anyone have any other insight? i keep wondering about her behavior and obsessions. 

 

i'd love to hear ideas about respectful ways to deal with/help her. 

[Amy Durham]

I would suspect hypothyroidism.  Or, in some cases, there is a genetic problem that causes the body to produce too much Ghrelin--which tells the body it is hungry and needs to eat more, more, all the time more.  Many children on the autism spectrum have this condition.  The portion of the brain that sends feedback saying "I'm full; I've had enough to eat" is not functioning properly.  I am not clear on testing or treatment for this though.

[Amy Durham]

Oh! I know there was something else!  Prader Willi Syndrome  http://www.medicinenet.com/prader-willi_syndrome/article.htm