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, cardiovascular diseases, lack of sufficient bone density, sleep disorders and problems, psychological symptoms and gastro-intestinal problems. These abnormalities will in all likelyhood continue into puberty and adulthood. Research has unfortunately shown that obese children has a much higher risk than other people to turn into obese adults.
Despite all the above, parents can easily impact on the lifestyle of their children and guide them to achieve a healthy lifestyle and remain healthy.
What is the role needed from parents to make a contribution to the prevention of obesity in their child? Parents must address the causes of child obesity. Parents must pay attention to their kids and help them to feel that they belong and that they are in a secure environment. 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, 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. 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. 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, and then it naturally also reduces the body’s metabolism. Children also watch the commercials on television and it affect them, 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 are thinking that your child weighs more than his or her ideal weight and that there is a risk of obesity, consult with a physician as soon as you can, to ensure that obesity is halted quickly and effectively. It is not really necessary for expecting mothers to eat for two persons, if you eat too much while you are pregnant there is a good chance that both you and your unborn child will 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, you should consider using fat free milk instead of full cream milk. Avoid cane sugar and snacks that contain excessive fat, because they are high in low nutritional value calories. If your kid is still at school, 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 epidemic is not static, it keeps on increasing with each passing year and, since 1981, there has been a dangerously high increase. The child obesity epidemic poses a great risk to our children’s children, and it must now be halted in its tracks all over the developed world.