'It’s definitely taking its toll': Fall River area dietician seeing an increase in childhood obesity due to pandemic restrictions

FALL RIVER – The “pandemic 15” isn’t just afflicting adults, kids are also packing on extra pounds as a result of staying home and having easier access to foods.

Now that patients are coming back into the office, registered dietician Autumn Makowski RD, LDN said she’s definitely seeing that trend with her clients at the Fernandes Center for Children and Families in Fall River. “I’m seeing children gaining anywhere from 10 to 20 pounds; it’s quite a bit,” she said. “I think remote learning is not helping the situation as well.”

From what her clients are telling her, they’re spending on average six hours in front of the computer screen for school work and then once they’re done with school work they’re staying at their screens where they’re adding on another four to six hours. “Being home increases boredom, there’s less activity, there’s less distraction so it’s more the emotional eating aspect, but also because you’re home you’re closer to the kitchen so when those cravings hit it’s very easy to go to the kitchen and eat that type of food.”

From what she’s seeing with clients, learning outside of the school is leading to a less structured day and more access to typically higher calorie snack foods. “At least from my point – I’m seeing the children who are going to have the higher calories or high fat food,” she said.

Adding to the weight gain is the lack of gym classes or even just the activity from walking from classroom to classroom during a typical school day, Makowski added.

Her clients range from infants and senior citizens, but the majority of kids she’s seeing in relation to weight gain range from age 6 to 17 who are being referred to her for excessive weight gain. “Four to six pounds is what we look for in a year, not in a three-to four month period,” she said.

Makowski has been working as a dietician for 11 years and doing outpatient work for eight years, said she’s seeing signs of insulin resistance among her clients such as dark pigmentation on the back of their necks.

While she’s used to seeing overweight youth, what’s really remarkable this year is the amount of weight gained in such a short period of time. “I’m used to seeing overweight and obese in children, but I’ve had clients come in that I discharged because they were doing so well come back with 30 pounds of weight gain,” she said. “It’s definitely taking its toll. I think everyone is between a rock and a hard place situation with parents trying to work and juggle and keep their kids happy – it’s hard.”

Additionally, she said weight loss motivation has always been a factor in that teenage age group.

Makowski, who said she believes in intuitive eating, said her approach with her clients is to teach them to have a healthy relationship with food. “I don’t like to fully restrict them because that can lead to eating disorders and restrictive binging behaviors. So I try to teach them the difference between true hunger and emotional eating.”

Once they’re able to recognize emotional eating or reasoning of why they’re eating, they work on coming up with different techniques and things they can or healthier healthy snacking. The first step is to get them on a meal routine with set meals and set snack so they’re not snacking throughout the day.

Makowski encourages snacks, but just healthier snacks. For those who like saltier, crunchy snacks she suggests items such as roasted chick peas or raw veggies with a dip they like. For sweet lovers, she pushes fruits and more creative options such as microwaved unsweetened applesauce and oatmeal made into a stand-in for apple pie. “I really try to encourage the kids to let me know what they like so we can make it into something they’re going to be interested in,” she said.