Lately the worldwide problem of childhood obesity is more and more prominent in all the news media. If a child is obese it can lead to serious health issues for the child like diabetes, dyslipidemia, cardiovascular diseases, lack of sufficient bone density, sleep disorders and problems, psychological symptoms and gastro-intestinal problems. Such disorders can be expected to continue into adulthood. Research has unfortunately shown that obese children has a much higher risk than other people to turn into obese adults.
Nonetheless, parents can easily impact on the lifestyle of their children and guide them to achieve a healthy lifestyle and remain healthy.
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, 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. Of far more importance is that the child should eat properly and then get adequate exercise. If you worry too much about your child's weight you are going to encourage eating behaviours that are abnormal.
The time that your kid spends in front of the television must be limited. 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, 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, and stop obesity in its tracks immediately. 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. With your infant still very young, 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 the risk that your child will become obese is high, you should consider using fat free milk instead of full cream milk. 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, 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 1981, there has been a dangerously high 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.
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