How to Prevent Obesity in Childrens
Issues with
Childhood Obesity
There are immense risks to children who struggle with childhood obesity. First, it greatly effects the social developmental advancement. Being obese opens children up to potential discrimination which can then lead to low self-esteem. This type of discrimination due to being overweight often lasts a lifetime, preventing advancement in many aspects of life including healthy relationship growth and academic progress. It also increases the likelihood that a child will develop severe depression as he or she develops. Secondly, obesity leads to many health risks such as early onset cardiovascular disease, diabetes and asthma. Almost 65% of obese children have a cardiovascular risk factor.
How can I prevent my child from becoming overweight?
The keep to preventing your child from being overweight is to limit the weight gain while not stunting growth. It is important that you never put a child on a diet. Instead, limit things such as empty calorie drinks (soda, high sugar juices) and focus on giving your children nutrient dense highly filling foods. Great food options are vegetables (High satiety, low calories) and fruits (high sugar, high calorie but nutrient rich). Again, it is important to focus on healthy choices.
It is important that we refocus on food being used as a fuel. It's OK to enjoy food, but we live in a culture that advertises food equals a happy and good time. The more the merrier! This is dangerous for impressionable children. If I ever have the misfortune of having to grab fast food, I always take a look around and see many children eating meals that are too much for even a full grown adult. Imagine the negative message this sends. So OK, once in a while you take your kids to a fast food restaurant. That's fine, but we need to be sure we are providing at least healthy portion sizes based on age. It is incredibly reckless to allow an 8 or 9 year old to eat a meal scaling in over a 1000 calories. Add to this, soda addiction and a never ending supply of high calorie snacks and you get obesity at an early age. We need to break this cycle.
How do we break the cycle?
We break this cycle like we break any cycle of bad behavior, through gaining knowledge and practicing good behavior. The first step is to educate your children. Teach your children that food is a fuel source, to grow in a healthy manner. There should be a disconnect with eating food and great pleasure as this pleasure is a trap to lure people in to seeking more pleasure through overindulgence. That can be taught through consistent modeling. This leads to the second point. As parents, it is our responsibility to model good behavior. This means eating a healthy diet consisting of high nutrient foods without empty calories drinks or junk food. A child will do as his or her parents do. You cannot hope to keep your child from becoming overweight if your child see's you eating junk food every day. The child will take of the same bad habits. Take care of yourself to take care of your children.
The importance of Physical Activity
Physical activity can replace the good feeling some children receive from foods. The same chemicals are released in the brain when one exercises. This good feeling will help perpetuate the good habit of staying physically active throughout a person's life.
Regular physical activity, in addition to making your child feel good offers additional benefits such as:
Higher Self Esteem
Strengthening the body
Reducing Stress
What are some ways we can encourage physical activity?
Life used to be so much simpler. We didn't have constant television, computers, cell phones, video games to constantly distract us. If we were bored, we had to find something to do. This usually meant that we were being physically active in some manner. Now parents have to fight the tech battle. Perhaps the parent could limit access to encourage their children to find other things to do. It is also important for the parent to take part. Take your child for a walk, or teach your child to swim. Again, as the parent does the child will do. Be the good role model.
Having a healthy view on food mixed with an active lifestyle is all that is needed for your child to live a healthy life. Remove empty calorie drinks and junk food from the home. Limit the time spent eating at high calorie, fast food restaurants. Also encourage smaller healthy portions at every meal. Additionally, encourage activity. Teach your child a sport, take them for a walk or simply teach them an active game to play. It is important to your child's health that they adapt an active lifestyle. Remember above all else, your child will live like you live. Be healthy so your children will be healthy.
The CDC site dedicated to fighting childhood obesity. This site covers obesity basics, statistics and articles to help you fight against obesity.
There are immense risks to children who struggle with childhood obesity. First, it greatly effects the social developmental advancement. Being obese opens children up to potential discrimination which can then lead to low self-esteem. This type of discrimination due to being overweight often lasts a lifetime, preventing advancement in many aspects of life including healthy relationship growth and academic progress. It also increases the likelihood that a child will develop severe depression as he or she develops. Secondly, obesity leads to many health risks such as early onset cardiovascular disease, diabetes and asthma. Almost 65% of obese children have a cardiovascular risk factor.
How can I prevent my child from becoming overweight?
The keep to preventing your child from being overweight is to limit the weight gain while not stunting growth. It is important that you never put a child on a diet. Instead, limit things such as empty calorie drinks (soda, high sugar juices) and focus on giving your children nutrient dense highly filling foods. Great food options are vegetables (High satiety, low calories) and fruits (high sugar, high calorie but nutrient rich). Again, it is important to focus on healthy choices.
It is important that we refocus on food being used as a fuel. It's OK to enjoy food, but we live in a culture that advertises food equals a happy and good time. The more the merrier! This is dangerous for impressionable children. If I ever have the misfortune of having to grab fast food, I always take a look around and see many children eating meals that are too much for even a full grown adult. Imagine the negative message this sends. So OK, once in a while you take your kids to a fast food restaurant. That's fine, but we need to be sure we are providing at least healthy portion sizes based on age. It is incredibly reckless to allow an 8 or 9 year old to eat a meal scaling in over a 1000 calories. Add to this, soda addiction and a never ending supply of high calorie snacks and you get obesity at an early age. We need to break this cycle.
How do we break the cycle?
We break this cycle like we break any cycle of bad behavior, through gaining knowledge and practicing good behavior. The first step is to educate your children. Teach your children that food is a fuel source, to grow in a healthy manner. There should be a disconnect with eating food and great pleasure as this pleasure is a trap to lure people in to seeking more pleasure through overindulgence. That can be taught through consistent modeling. This leads to the second point. As parents, it is our responsibility to model good behavior. This means eating a healthy diet consisting of high nutrient foods without empty calories drinks or junk food. A child will do as his or her parents do. You cannot hope to keep your child from becoming overweight if your child see's you eating junk food every day. The child will take of the same bad habits. Take care of yourself to take care of your children.
The importance of Physical Activity
Physical activity can replace the good feeling some children receive from foods. The same chemicals are released in the brain when one exercises. This good feeling will help perpetuate the good habit of staying physically active throughout a person's life.
Regular physical activity, in addition to making your child feel good offers additional benefits such as:
Higher Self Esteem
Strengthening the body
Reducing Stress
What are some ways we can encourage physical activity?
Life used to be so much simpler. We didn't have constant television, computers, cell phones, video games to constantly distract us. If we were bored, we had to find something to do. This usually meant that we were being physically active in some manner. Now parents have to fight the tech battle. Perhaps the parent could limit access to encourage their children to find other things to do. It is also important for the parent to take part. Take your child for a walk, or teach your child to swim. Again, as the parent does the child will do. Be the good role model.
Having a healthy view on food mixed with an active lifestyle is all that is needed for your child to live a healthy life. Remove empty calorie drinks and junk food from the home. Limit the time spent eating at high calorie, fast food restaurants. Also encourage smaller healthy portions at every meal. Additionally, encourage activity. Teach your child a sport, take them for a walk or simply teach them an active game to play. It is important to your child's health that they adapt an active lifestyle. Remember above all else, your child will live like you live. Be healthy so your children will be healthy.
The CDC site dedicated to fighting childhood obesity. This site covers obesity basics, statistics and articles to help you fight against obesity.
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