What are the socio economic and environmental factors? And what can we do about it? without panicking and imposing a family wide daily fasting and padlocking the snacks pantry! The vast majority of such cases are preventable and can still be reversed at almost anytime in kids and adults alike. So lets not panic.
Causes of childhood obesity and overweight and its management: “It takes a village to raise a child” and also help keep the normal weight too!
We need to first understand how children become obese or overweight in the first place, as it’s an important step towards breaking the cycle. Most cases of childhood obesity are as simple as eating too much and exercising too little. Children need enough food to support healthy body and mental growth and development, which include healthy dose of fat too. But when they take in more calories than they burn in a day, and the result is weight gain.
Many factors contribute to this growing imbalance between calories in and calories out. We need to install healthy eating habits at home first and then expect more from the society in general. The best way to fight and prevent childhood obesity and weight problems is to get the entire family on a healthier track. We all are busy and cook less at home and depend a lot on the food served outside.
Eat healthy and show them what’s good for them by implementing yourself first.
What you eat: Tell your child what healthy thing you are eating, while you are eating it. You may say, “I’m eating boiled veggies with garlic sauce. Want to try?”
When you cook: Get the kids involved in healthy cooking by giving them small non monotonous chores to stay involved the entire process of cooking.
How you move: Exercise yourself, every day. Be real and do things you enjoy and invite them to join you.
Your own free time: Avoid the television or too much computer time yourself. Kids are much less likely to turn screens on if they are off and you are doing something they can get involved in.
Instant gratification. Many kids my not relate to “avoiding high BP and a heart attack” but, focus on the good things that can happen right now. Like telling them…“Your tummy won’t feel so overfull if you have a smaller portion of that fried chicken”, take a walk with your teenager might lead to a wonderful talks that are beneficial for better parenting too. A fruit salad tastes great and looks beautiful?
Make small, easy changes over time. You can’t accomplish it all in one day or a week and once in a while all of us will get off the bandwagon but the key is to stay consistent to give a clear message and remember you can always jump back on, after a “pigout” dinner or a vacation. Make small changes such as avoiding, creamy icing on the cake or making healthy choices in the ‘toppings’
How to install Healthy eating habits??
The parents have to be the leading example in this lesson. And the Dad’s will have to drop their “assistant parent” role and get involved in this too! Do it yourself and then try to preach.
Good health at the end of the rainbow. Serve and encourage consumption of a wide variety of fruits and vegetables. This should include red (beets, tomatoes), orange (carrots, squash), yellow (potatoes, bananas), green (lettuce, broccoli) and so on, just like a rainbow. Add as many naturals colors as you can as that’s what healthy!
Do not skip breakfast. Children who eat breakfast are less likely to be overweight or obese than those who skip the first and the most important meal of the day. Lets get them healthy choices like oatmeal, fresh fruit, whole grain cereal, and low-fat milk. A good breakfast will give them energy at school and rev up the metabolism for the day.
Cut back on fat. To have an overall healthy growth, your child does need some mono and poly-saturated fats such as fish, nuts and vegetable oils. Cut down on fast food, junk food, and sweets. Lets skip that $0.99 Micky -D meals.
Regular meal times. Believe it or not, majority of kids like discipline and also like and need routine. If your kids know they will only get food at certain times, they will be more likely to eat what they get when they get it.
Limit eating out but give your family certain “off” days. If you must eat out, avoid fast food and make the healthy, conscious choices you are trying to make at home. Give your self and your kids an entire “off” day in a week if you have been consistent in keeping the week healthy. Kids will have more fun and will not feel like they can’t eat that “blizzard” ever again! Let them and yourself be kids too.
Don’t ever ban sweets entirely. Having a no sweets rule is an invitation for cravings and overindulging when given the chance.
We need to limit juices and pop. Soft drinks are loaded with sugar and “empty” calories that don’t do anything healthy for your child’s growing body. Juices are the worst culprits at times. So are the so-called energy drinks. Even 100% fruit juice with no sugar added should be limited to a small glass a day and no more.
Keep snacks small and healthy. Don’t turn even the healthy snacks into a meal. Limit them to 100 to 150 calories and no more than 3 times a day properly places between lunch and dinner. Multiple small and controlled portions of healthy snacks between meals is a good way to keep metabolism going.
Focus on fruits. Whole grain and fiber more. Keep a bowl of fruit out for your children to snack on. Kids favorites include frozen juice bars, frozen bananas and strawberries and a scoop of whipped cream, low fat milk products, string cheese and sliced apples and peanut butter. Whole/ multi grain and sandwich versus white bread. This will give them what they need and it all looks doesn’t look like diet food either. Fresh fruits are good for school snack too.
Portion size, bigger is not always better! The portion sizes that a lot of us are used to eating may be equal to two or three true servings. Limit portions to the size of your fist. Limiting portion size alone can go a long way in reducing the bulges.
Bother to read and know the food labels. Information about serving size and calories are always there, but do we bother to look? You may be surprised at how small the recommended portions are or how many calories are in the dishes? Take kids off the diet drinks and colas as they do more harm then good. Keep them off the Gatorade kind of drinks too.
Use smaller dishes at home. Portions will look bigger and you’ll eat less when you use small bowls or plates and get used to downsize the ‘big momma orders’, while eating out and instead of finishing all on the plates, get the doggie bag and use it as snack the next day!
Get involved in your child’s life as a whole. talk to them, talk to their friends, friends parents (parents networking) is a great too to fight a lot of house hold/parenting nightmares. Talk to the teachers too and you will start seeing measurable results. It will also make all of us better parents too and will improve our relationship with our kids.
Encourage kids to start developing healthy habits and an exercise schedule. Don’t enroll them in ‘pilates’ but encourage to take up a running sport or just get out there and run around. There are a lot of indoor active games you can play as a family on those cold and snowy evenings like, crawl tag, jumping jacks and hide and seek etc and enjoy healthy treats!
Just remember that the entire process is not a change of life but treat it as life style alterations and never let this seem like a punishment to the child.
~Dr.V
