The Global Epidemic Of Overweight Children Must Be Addressed Straight Away
Lately the childhood obesity epidemic 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, lack of sufficient bone density, sleep disorders and 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. Your kids should not be pressured into eating more than they want to during meals, you will train your child’s metabolism to function at a higher level than what would be healthy for the child.
Do not emphasize too much the amount of food eaten. It is much more important that the child must eat healthy food and then also get sufficient exercise to burn of the calories. If you worry too much about your child’s weight you are going to encourage eating behaviours that are abnormal.
Your child should not spend so much time in front of the telly. 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. Children also watch the commercials on television and it affect them, 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 are thinking that your child weighs more than his or her ideal weight and that there is a risk of obesity, you should go to the doctor as soon as possible, to ensure that obesity is halted quickly and effectively. It is not really necessary for expecting mothers to eat for two persons, 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. While the child is still very small, a greater emphasis should be 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, you should consider using fat free milk instead of full cream milk. Sugar and fat containing snacks must be avoided, because they are very high in calories. For kids that are still of school going age, put in place steadfast rules as to how much they are allowed to watch television, snacks must be nutritious, treats can be allowed occasionally and generally good food habits must be encouraged.
The child obesity epidemic is not static, it increases with each year that passes and, since the early eighties, there has been an alarming increase. The childhood 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.
Tags: causes of child obesity, causes of childhood obesity, child obesity, childhood obesity, obesity, obesity causes
