begins now. hey there, thanks for joining us i'm dr. sanjay gupta. today i'll take to you boston for a look at a new helping kids stay in the classroom and out of the hospital. we'll explain. off to phoenix and los angeles for candid conversation with seven time olympic medalist amanda beard. she will open up about training through this tumultuous adolescence with a goal, to let kids know they are not alone with whether dealing with problems. a problem that affects every single one of us. under the microscope this morning, beyond the fat. there is a new study suggests obesity crisis in america may be worse than we thought. i know it's not what you wanted to hear. bmi, a ratio of height to weight they used that that categorize people as overweight or obese.

some say the current thresholds under estimate the problem. four in ten adults whose d bmi that are considered overwheat would be considered obese if their body fat percentage was taken in account. we can't ignore this, because all that extra weight is cutting decades off of peoples lives. if that sounds over the top or extreme, trust me, it's not. especially for our children. quite simply, many of our kids could be eating themselves to death. today, we'll talk about solutions to get your health in check. joining me from los angeles, a doctor, board certified physician, nutrition specialist, point out there is a few hundred of these in the entire country. also jeff guardier, we'll talk to them. first a reality check what fat does inside the body. as a father of three it's especially hard for me to hear

these stories. children dying far earl leier than they should. in some cases their lives cut short by decades. these are children, the worst case scenarios of the nearly one third of american kids who weigh too much. you see the thing is behind all those stats, behind all those numbers, are real stories. people are worried that what we're describing could happen to them. let's meet somebody. -- >> when h we're happy we eat. when you're sad we eat. when you just are watching tv, you eat. >> what did you eat? >> lunch, i have like a big 15 ounce steak or something. and then five sprites, and stuff like that. >> five sprites, one meal?

i'm almost scared to ask about dinner. what is that like? >> take lunch times five. >> it's hard not to smile. but also important tiger didn't get here by himself. he had help, from the people who care the most. >> i have three kids so i'm the last guy in the world who preaches about anything now a days, i know the reality. what were you thinking when you saw him eating that much? >> as a parent, you want to see your kids happy, mistakenly, when we were eating, we were happy. somehow that computed to be good parenting. >> tiger's dad wishes he would have known this one startling fact. children with an obese parent are 50% more likely to be obese themselves. 50%. >> i think a lot of people focus on what is happening what you look like on the outside, have you ever thought about what is going on on the inside? >> not much.

>> that is something i want to show you today. that is why we brought you here to this hospital, we'll take a look and see what is happening to your heart, your liver, see what you think, okay? >> okay. >> hard to believe this is a child's liver. all that white filled with fat. fat, not just on the outside of your body. >> that is happening in your body. >> for me as a doctor, this is especially disturbing, we see this with patients decades older. >> that is the top of the femur that goes in your hip. it is pushing against the bone over here you should have a nice layer of cartilage in between here, nice cushion, of so much weight, that bone is pushed back and in that joint. that will hurt. >> of course your joints hurting is not nearly as frightening as what all that fat is doing to your heart. >> this heart is having to work so hard that muscle is getting bigger and bigger, which in the heart is a bad thing it won't be

able to work as well. >> scary, because i know that could be happening to me right now. >> one of those kids has an early death from cardiovascular disease. >> when you say early death, are you talking about people in their 30s having heart attacks? >> this is unprecedented. we haven't really seen 8-year-olds with type ii diabetes, it's very concerning. good news is we can do something about it. >> tiger has started. >> this is a good looking refrigerator, blueberries, strawberries, fresh vegetables. >> for tiger a point of immense pride. that smile, it means he's peeling off the pounds. and those years. >> malina and jeff, tiger is continuing to shed pounds, we checked in this week he's down 60 pounds, trimmed 11 inches off his waist, completely off some

of the medications we were talking about. i think everyone pays attention to a story like tiger and there is millions of overweight kids, malina, how do you adjust their diets, incorporate activity, what have you found that works? >> well, it's certainly a challenge. as a mom, too, i know what we say to do sometimes isn't what happens. hearing that story, limiting sugar sweet yenned beverages, one of the most important things a parent can do. lemonade, flavored waters, juice drinks, we are giving our kids hundreds of extra calories of sugar, those lead to a higher risk of fatty liver. second thing is you really need to make physical activity a family affair, because we shouldn't just limit computer time, recent research shows we need to increase that really active time that a lot of kids do but the overweight and oh

bose o-- obese ones don't. you can't put them on the treadmill for an hour. more family meals at home. we eat more than 30% of meals away from the house. we don't have control over it, you need to take control as a family of what your kids eat and set a great example. >> that is great advice, i take my kids with me when i do runs. i used to be reluctant because i was afraid i was leaving them behind when would go train, they come with me now which is helpful for all of us. jeff, one of the hard things i think and you heard the stat there, if you have an obese parent you're 50% to become obese as a chile -- child. how much do you push in terms of i have a dressing overweight or obebesit obesity, parents may say it may be department ri mental to talk about it. >> i think what tiger's dad was saying is that he felt that in order to be a good parent he had to let a lot of that eating

slide and look the other way and we need to understand that you are a better parent when you are able to say no to a child. when that child walks in with iced tea with a ton of sugar in it that they buy from the store, or they have those snacks, being able to say no. our kids extort us, they blackmail us because they will say okay i'll keep quiet, won't give you a hard time if you let me eat this stuff. it is about being able to say no and i'd love to see tiger's dad is work out with tiger, because it's not just about inherits a lot of those fat cells, but about what we're teaching our children by the way we eat in an unhealthy manner so we have to model good behaviors for eating. >> we will stay on the theme. some of the foods that can sabotage our weight loss efforts, stay with us. see life in the best light.

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fascinating discussion. melina, you say people often think they are eating healthy but in fact they aren't. this is something i have been beating the drum on as well. what foods say tend to sabotage weight loss efforts? >> i think the two biggest mistakes i see in my weight loss practice is salads first of all, people assume because it has vegetables in it that it's healthy. by the time you add on the dried fruit, dried nuts, salad dressing, crutons, if you're thinking by giving kids salad when you eat at restaurants you're doing a good thing you may not be, you have to be careful of those add-ones. and keep things more simple. the second problem i see this a lot with parents trying to get their kids healthier is salty or sweet dried snacks, the ones that come in 100 calorie packs. devoid of nutrients, highly

processed, they increase blood sugar, most people don't have 100 calorie packs. the snacks need to be restricted. they could be occasional but in most cases i would rather see them have a little bit of the real thing will be more satisfyi satisfying, less processed foods are better processed by the body. those are biggest mistakes i see. >> people watch this and may be inspired to say okay i'll make a big change i'll have this all or nothing mentality. and i heard you talk about this. you're not a fan of that all or nothing mentality, people want to make a change, take advantage of that, how do you keep people mentally on track? >> i think you have to let them know they will fall off the wagon, will take a long time to get to where they need to go, they are going to make mistakes and it's okay, as a matter of fact, i like failure, because

failure takes us out of our comfort zone, we learn from it and do better. if our kids in fact eat something that is unhealthy, as the other good doctor is saying, well yeah, okay, that is a bad thing but don't beat them up over it. instead lead them to where they need to be in a healthier manner. >> i hope this helps, we talk about this a lot. a lot of people pay aten sthoun this. hopefully it helps a lot of people. we have been talking about obesity, one of the leading chronic illnesses for children. you might not know asthma is another. it's responsible for half of all childrens hospitalizations, one of the main reasons kids miss school. 11-year-old thomas brown loves basketball, but two years ago you wouldn't catch him on these courts. >> i wasn't able to play sports because my asthma got in the way. i had to go to the nurse every time i went outside, because i

was wheezing. >> his asthma was so bad he missed school, a lot. asthma is one of the leading causes for school absence according to the cdc. >> i heard a wheeze, i'd like get kind of stressed because i knew eventually i was going to go to the hospital and stay. >> every time thomas was in the hospital, his mom was there by his side, instead of at work. >> thomas was missing maybe five, six days of school, maybe a month, maybe a little bit more. and i was missing that same amount of work. >> they spent a lot of right here at childrens hospital in boston. >> asthma is the number one hospitalization -- diagnosis for hospitalization at childrens hospital and other childrens hospitals. >> to bring the numbers down, dr. elizabeth woods helped develop the hospital's community asthma initiative.

this program has nurses and case workers like these two women, they make home visits to family with children with severe as machma. the visits start here. >> this is where we keep our vacuums and patient supplies. trying to reduce the dust exposure that the kids have in the homes. >> armed with vacuum cleaners, roach traps and more, they head out to make home visits where they look for asthma triggers. >> i'm going to start with this room. >> educate families how to keep children breathing easier. using an asthma action plan. >> they suck out and spreads out the back. this doesn't do that. >> chanese thought she did everything right until they came to visit. >> when they came to the house, they were like okay, you're trying really hard to do things right but you have some things that are not supposed to be here. >> since the program started in

2005, the initiative reports that prarticipants hospitalizations have dropped 85th%. emergency room visits down 70%. >> it's not that we block emergency room visits or hospitalizatio hospitalizations, but they don't need them. >> for ever yfrp dollar invested in the program it saves the community because fewer days are missed at work and school. as far as thomas goes, he's already seeing results, he went on his first class trip to washington, d.c. last year, and finally gets to play outside again. >> i love that because it's great results with some simple changes. that is what we're all about here. still ahead, seven time olympic medalist amanda beard is training for what she hopes will be her fifth shot at goal this sumner london. up next she opens up to he me about anned ed adolescence fillh

abuse and cutting. my. i got that wrong didn't i? [ male announcer ] want great taste and whole grain oats that can help lower cholesterol? honey nut cheerios.

since her 1996 olympic debut at the age of just 14 years old, amanda beard as won seven olympic medals and training for her fifth olympics in london. throughout the career she has struggled with a negative body image and self destructive behavior. this little girl always dreamed big. >> i was ten years old watching the '92 olympics and right then and there decided that's what i wanted to do. >> only four years later swimmer amanda beard's dream did come true. the 90 found 14-year-old walked away from the '96 atlanta olympics with a gold and two silver medals. >> after that i had a huge growth spurt. i grew to about 5'8" and then i weighed about 130.

>> her growing body sparked her struggle with a negative body image. >> all of a sudden i wasn't swimming very well, and i blamed that all on because i got bigger. >> uncomfortable in her new body she turned to bulimia and began abuse drugs and alcohol and struggled with depression. did he speet they are inner demons, she continued to succeed in swimming and her emotional load triggered a new habit, using eyebrow razors to scratch small scratches on her arms or ankles and it wasn't until they are boyfriend discovered the behavior she began to seek help to overcome it. now at 30, four time olympian beard and photographer brown are happily married. they're proud parents of three-year-old blaze. >> i went through all of these things and here i am, happy, healthy, a great family, and continuing on trying to make my fifth olympics. >> joining me is four time

olympic swimmer amanda beard who is the author of "in the water they can't see you cry". a lot of parents watching have dreams for their kids being olympic athletes. what was your life in terms of schedule? what time getting up, training, what was your lifelike at that point? >> it was insane hnestly. since the time i was 12 years old i was doing 9 to 10 training workouts a week. i was waking up at 5 a.m. and working out for about two hours before i would go to school and i would be at school all day and go straight from school back to the pool to train for another three hours and get home about 7 p.m. at night and try to do an hour, an hour and a half of homework, maybe watch some tv and i was in bed at 9:00 every night. >> collapsing. >> yeah, trying to hold my eyes open. >> surgical residency, even harder. >> i don't know about that. >> you decided to write this book. as i said, writing a book is a vulnerable process. i want to ask you a couple

questions about book. what prompted the book now? >> i talked to a lot of young athletes, and i look at them, in their eyes, and i talk to them about my experiences of growing up and being an olympian and i can't do that without being completely honest with people, and i don't want to tell these girls that everything was fantastic, i trained, i had fun, everything was amazing, i won medals, and my life has been wonderful. i want them to know that i had struggles and i had issues and everybody does and it is not something to be embarrassed by or ashamed of and that we can overcome things and move on and still be very successful and happy within our lives, we just have to figure out how to make that happen for ourselves. >> i have three daughters as you may know, and i think my world view and my life view changed after i had daughters and i think you're an example in many ways and one of the things you talk about it was challenging, you cut yourself at certain times. first of all, when was this and

what do you remember what you were feeling at that time? >> oddly enough i found a sense of relief from doing it where i would go into the bathroom and i would make a small incision in my arm and have a tiny bit of blood, and it was like overwhelming sense of calm and release because i had a big issue with learning how to communicate with people, talk to people, letting people in on what i was going through and i had no other way of trying to let things go, and that was the way i started coping with things which is completely unhealthy. >> it has been a roller coaster as you write about in the book and everyone should read but advice for women or young people out there. >> you are not alone in the process. no matter how severe you are taking things, the step to being happy and healthy is really to find help and to talk to someone and figure out those next steps to take. >> amanda beard, the great

amanda beer. i will try to be there in london and give you a wave. >> you should, definitely. >> thank you very much for joining us. >> of course. we have a check of the top stories minutes away but first we all want to chase life to 100. up next, a woman that chased life to 114. we'll let you in on her secret. [ female announcer ] if whole grain isn't the first ingredient in your breakfast cereal, what is? now, in every box of general mills big g cereal, there's more whole grain than any other ingredient. that's why it's listed first. get more whole grain than any other ingredient... just look for the white check. but when she got asthma, all i could do was worry ! specialists, lots of doctors, lots of advice... and my hands were full. i couldn't sort through it all. with unitedhealthcare, it's different. we have access to great specialists, and our pediatrician gets all the information. everyone works as a team. and i only need to talk to one person about her care.

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-- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com just last week she passed away at the age of 114. her passion was pediatrics. by the time she finally retired from caring for kids at the age of 103, she was actually the oldest practicing physician in the