Lately the child obesity rate is more and more prominent on the news. Obesity in a child can aggravate the risk for more child health issues like diabetes, dyslipidemia, heart health issues, lack of sufficient bone density, sleep problems, psychological problems and symptoms and gastro-intestinal spasms. Such disorders can be expected to continue into adulthood. Recent studies have shown that if a child is obese it is extremely likely that adult obesity will follow.
Despite all the above, it is possible for parents to make a positive impact on the lifestyle of their offspring and give them the guidance that will ensure a happy and healthy adulthood.
What role can parents play to have a positive impact on obesity amongst children? Parents must address the causes of childhood obesity. Parents must give their children a lot of attention and help them to feel wanted. If your child is neglected by you there is an increased possibility of obesity compared to other children. Be sure not to force your kids to eat more than they feel like at mealtime, you will train your child’s metabolism to function at a higher level than what would be healthy for the child.
The amount of food eaten is not what is most important. It is much more important that the child must eat healthy food and then also get sufficient exercise to burn of the calories. Your kid will acquire abnormal eating behaviours if you are going to be constantly fussing about food intake.
The time that your kid spends in front of the television must be limited. You will find that his or her weight is almost directly proportional to the time sitting motionless in front of the tv, watching television is obviously going to reduce physical activities by the child, it then consequently also reduces the metabolism of the body. The junk food commercials on television also affects children, they are encouraged to eat more junk food and drink beverages with high levels of sugar leading to increased weight problems for the kid.
If you can see that your kid weighs more than he or she should and is on the way to being obese, you should go to the doctor as soon as possible, and stop obesity in its tracks immediately. It is a myth that mothers to be have to eat for two people, too much food while you are pregnant just dramatically increases the possibility that both you and your unborn child will in future become obese. The young infant must be breastfeeded for at least one year. With your infant still very young, a greater emphasis should be on fruits, grains and other fresh produce while closely watching to see if the child is really hungry before being fed.
If the risk that your child will become obese is high, try using low fat milk instead of the richer variety. Avoid cane sugar and snacks that contain excessive fat, because they are high in low nutritional value calories. For kids that are still of school going age, you must enforce rules as to how much time can be spent each day watching television, snacks may only be of the healthy variety, food treats will be allowed only occasionally and generally good food habits must be maintained.
The child obesity epidemic is not static, it increases with each year that passes and, since 1981, there has been an alarming increase. The child obesity epidemic will pose a huge threat to the future of our children and their children, it is now the time to stop it on a globewide scale.
