How To Tackle The Nationwide Child Obesity Epidemic

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, hyperlipidemia, heart health issues, skeletal disorders, 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 child obesity. Parents must give their children a lot of attention and help them to feel wanted. Children that are neglected by their parents have a much higher likelyhood of obesity than their peers. Be sure not to force your kids to eat more than they feel like at mealtime, all you will achieve is to train your child’s metabolic system to make your child eat more than he or she needs.

Do not emphasize too much the amount of food eaten. Of far more importance is that the child should eat properly and then get adequate exercise. Your kid will acquire abnormal eating behaviours if you are going to be constantly fussing about food intake.

Your child should not spend so much time in front of the telly. As your child spends more time in front of the TV so he or she will be more obese, watching television is obviously going to reduce physical activities by the child, and then it naturally also reduces the body’s metabolism. The junk food commercials on television also affects children, and they are encouraged to eat more junk food and drink soft drinks that will have one result only and that is increased weight.

If you can see that your kid weighs more than he or she should and is on the way to being obese, consult with a physician as soon as you can, to ensure that obesity is halted quickly and effectively. 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. Your newborn should be breastfeeded for a period of not less than one year. With your infant still very young, there should be strong emphasis on fruits, and vegetables and grains while all the time monitoring to see if the youngster is really hungry before feeding it.

If you note that there is a high risk that your child may become obese, try using low fat milk instead of the richer variety. Sugar and fat containing snacks must be avoided, 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 must be nutritious, treats can be allowed occasionally and generally good food habits must be encouraged.

The child obesity problem does not remain static, it keeps on increasing with each passing year and, since 1981, there has been an alarming increase. The childhood obesity epidemic poses a great risk to our children’s children, it is now the time to stop it on a globewide scale.