VALLEY ACADEMY PUSHES STUDENTS TO EMBRACE FITNESS

sherman-oaks-sun-cover-largeClick to Enlarge SHERMAN OAKS SUN - September 2007 

BY ZACHARY GALE

Twenty-five is the number of grams of fat in three chicken breast strips from a local fast food restaurant in Sherman Oaks. 25 is also the approximate percentage of kids in Sherman Oaks who are overweight, according to a study conducted by the California Center for Public Health Advocacy, which analyzed results from the 2004 California Physical Fitness Test of fifth, seventh and ninth graders.

Unhealthy food temptations are virtually inescapable for children and their parents. The ten-year-old Max Fitness Academy is separated from the fast food restaurant mentioned above by a small parking lot. John Youn, owner of Max Fitness Academy started Max Fit Kids as a way to “plant the seed” of good fitness and nutritional habits in kids’ hearts and minds at an early age with the hope that these habits will fuel a lifestyle continued into adulthood. “The reason I started this whole thing was because I saw the struggle of overweight children,” Youn says.  I started noticing the increase of obesity in kids now and the press talking about how many kids everyday are [becoming overweight] because of junk food and lack of activities.

15-year-old Tabitha Lawrence walked into the fitness center in early July to tone up her body and get ready for her school’s dance team come September. Since then, the Burbank High School student has lost 12 pounds. Lawrence said she has found it easier to dance, noting, “I have noticed
a difference.”

Max Fit Kids 15-week program is a community partner in the National Institute of Health’s We Can! Program, or Ways to Enhance Children’s Activity and Nutrition. We Can! is an educational program that emphasizes the influence of parents and caregivers in their children’s health.

Besides helping children at the fitness center, Max Fit Kids has helped five local schools, both public and private, that elected to participate in the program’s first year. The schools include Sherman Oaks Elementary, Lankershim Elementary, Burbank Elementary, Rio Vista Elementary and Ivy Academia. During the program, Youn and the Max Fitness Academy trainers visited the schools once a week for 15 weeks and met with kids who have either failed the California Physical Fitness Test or were selected by the schools to participate.

Youn is proud of the program’s nutritional focus and the notion that every child who participates is a winner.
 
FIT & FUN, LESS FAST FOOD, MORE EXERCISE IS THE MESSAGE - AND KIDS GET IT

fitandfunClick to Enlarge

DAILY NEWS - January 2007  Byline: MELISSA HECKSCHER

Fitness trainer John Youn stands before an antsy class of elementary school kids at Ivy Academia's gymnasium in Woodland Hills. It's the end of the school day, and he's trying to explain to them why they shouldn't eat sugar after 7 p.m.

"How many of you know what metabolism is?" he asks the shuffling crowd. A few kids raise their hands; most don't. "How many of you have no idea?" Legions of hands shoot up, and Youn explains.

It's a different sort of teaching than he's used to doing at his gym, Max Fitness Academy in Sherman Oaks, but he knows it's just as important -- if not more so.  "We want to get kids to understand how to properly eat," Youn said outside of class. "It's very important that the kids get in shape now, at this age, because it sets a foundation for the rest of their lives." 

It's that foundation that Youn, along with a handful of other volunteers, is trying to instill in kids with the 15-week Max Fit Kids program designed to supplement the traditional physical education program at local schools. Founded by Max Fitness Academy's owner, John Youn, in response to the childhood obesity epidemic, the class is being offered at Ivy Academia and Lankershim Elementary School in North Hollywood.

In addition, low-income children can take a similar program for free at Max Fitness Academy. Youn said he hopes to expand the program to other schools as the program gains more funding. "We just want to do our part for the community,""The best way to get started," he added, "was to go to the schools." And so he did.

Developing the program as a community partner with the National Institutes of Health's "WE CAN!" (Ways to Enhance Children's Activity and Nutrition) program, Youn wanted to make it more than just a gym class. Besides getting exercise via push-ups, tag and dodgeball games, kids learn about nutrition, calories, metabolism, trans-fats and simple sugars. To gauge each child's progress, Body Mass Index and weight calculations are taken at the start and end of the 15-week period.

"We have one kid who's already lost at least 10 pounds," John Youn said. "Kids (as opposed to adults) can make a big change right away. You can see changes on a weekly basis." They're necessary changes. According to the National Institutes of Health, nearly one out of every five kids in the U.S. is considered overweight. It's a problem many experts say starts at home.

Max Fit Kids is just one of a number of fitness programs throughout Los Angeles County aimed at giving children an extra boost toward a healthy lifestyle. In fact, the average American child gets 10 percent of his total energy intake from fast foods, compared to 2 percent in the 1970s, according to the Center for Health and Health Care in Schools. Of course, this is Southern California -- land of bikini-ready bodies and a Whole Foods Market for nearly every ZIP code -- so some kids already know this stuff.

Just ask Jo Morley, an Ivy Academia fourth-grader: "I only eat sugar-free chocolate and organic apple juice and stuff," Morley chirped. "We got rid of sugar when I was 6, and I've never been to a fast-food place." An energetic and bouncy blonde (you'd think she was on a sugar high if you didn't know better), Morley sounds perfectly happy to have given up the sweets and french-fry grease most kids crave. "My neighbors, they were like, 'Let's go to McDonald's and get some ice cream,'" she said. "I was like, 'No, no, no. You can't go there."'
 
FITNESS, NUTRITION PROGRAMS TACKLE WEIGHTY PROBLEMS
dailynews-frontpage-largeClick to Enlarge COVER OF THE DAILY NEWS - 03/24/2008
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SHERMAN OAKS - Since he began working out 10 weeks ago at the Max Fitness Academy, 13-year-old Luke Nale has lost 12 pounds, his abs are taking shape and he feels great. His mother, Debbie, had been concerned about his waistline and cholesterol, which was dangerously high for a child his age, so she signed him up at the gym, one of the few that takes children."He doesn't get any exercise at school," she said. "They were teaching him juggling." 

She took a proactive approach to her son's health, but many parents, dealing with weight issues of their own, don't. And even doctors are shying away from the topic.

With obesity-related illnesses now costing $28.5 billion annually in lost wages and medical care statewide, two California organizations have stepped in to create "how to" guides to help thousands of doctors emphasize to patients the importance of diet and nutrition to kids and adults alike.

The massive informational "tool kit," available today, will encourage physicians to conduct body mass index, or BMI, measures on all patients. It will also offer guides on how doctors should discuss weight issues with patients, how to include more information about nutrition inside waiting rooms, and the importance of providing a sturdy scale for those 300 pounds or more, as well as appropriate-size examination gowns. "We wanted to put together a united approach to addressing obesity because this is a subject that has a lot of emotion and a lot of stigma associated with it," said Christine Maulhardt, director of obesity prevention for the foundation. As a last resort, the guide also recommends how physicians can discuss bariatric surgery, a procedure on the stomach or intestines that limits the volume of food intake.The California Association of Health Plans and California Medical Association Foundation spent two years compiling the guide after the groups learned that physicians needed to be more direct with patients - and their waistlines. Obesity in Los Angeles County increased from 14percent of the population in 1997 to 21percent of the population in 2005, the last year for which data were available, according to the county Department of Public Health.

"California has the image of being a healthy, active state, and for some people that's the case, but overall (the state) lines up with national statistics," Maulhardt said. "We do have a significant portion of residents who are struggling."Adults and children are defined as overweight or obese by measuring weight and height to calculate the BMI. An adult who has a BMI between 25 and 29.9 is considered overweight, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A BMI of 30 or higher is considered obese.

Local physicians, dietitians and professional trainers who work specifically with children confronting weight issues say that while the guides are a good idea, state and local governments, schools and especially parents need to confront the issue, too."More parents need to be involved in their children's activities," said John Youn, president of Max Fit Kids, a program that began through the Max Fitness Academy. "The obesity epidemic has crossed into all social and economic lines."Pasadena dietitian Wendy Crump said she formed Kids on the Run, an eight-week course that encourages parents to work out and learn nutrition along with their children."It is a family-based program because kids can't do it alone," Crump said. "Nutrition education is imperative and it is so powerful. Preventative care is really the optimal solution."

For years, federal health agencies and physicians have been reporting on the health dangers of obesity, but the nation is now seeing how all the problems have converged - diabetes, depression, heart disease and hypertension all have increased. What troubles many physicians is the presence of adult illnesses in overweight children."Part of it is a denial among parents, who are upset with the way the child looks, but they don't want to say anything," said Dr. Norman Lavin, who teaches pediatric endocrinology at UCLA and has a practice at Encino-Tarzana Medical Center.Lavin just finished revising his textbook on the subject of pediatric diabetes and for the first time the book includes a chapter on insulin resistance among children, a subject he neverthought he would have to tackle.

The tool kit provided by the two state associations also includes suggestions on how to discuss bariatric surgery, which some say should only be approached as a last resort."I see that as a quantum leap," Lavin said. "My perspective is let's try to lose weight first. Let's eat right first and exercise."But Dr. Mark Paya, a bariatric surgeon who works out of Northridge and West Hills hospitals, said more patients are turning to surgical procedures. Education and prevention should come first, Paya said, but when diet and exercise fail, physicians should tell their patients about bariatric surgery."We have pretty high referral rates from doctors, but not as high as we want it to be," Paya said. "I think we have to be direct with our patients, and that's what patients like. They should get educated about the procedure, because it saves lives."

More insurance plans also are beginning to cover bariatric surgery, but illnesses related to obesity are placing a strain on insurance companies, too, said Chris Ohman, president of the California Association of Health Plans.

"Obesity puts a $28.5 billion burden on the state of California," he said. "The cost of direct care, workers' comp claims, loss of income - you put that all together and this is a very costly but preventable disease in California." 
 


MAX FIT KIDS IS A DIVISION OF MAX FITNESS ACADEMY

(818) 501-5445

15037 Ventura Blvd. | Sherman Oaks | CA | 91403

www.MaxFitnessAcademy.com
Max Fit Kids
 

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