how to prevent child obesity

Obesity among children is becoming so alarming that parents are now beginning to look for solutions on how to prevent child obesity in their children. Obesity in children can lead to child and adolescent death and all kinds of diseases at very tender age. You will discover how to prevent child obesity in your children by simply following my recommendations in this hub.

Most of the tips I will be given here will revolve around eating habit of our children as children’s eating habit is the main culprit of overweight and obesity in children.

HOW TO CONTROL WHAT YOUR CHILDREN EAT WITHOUT MAKING THEM FEEL HURT AND DEPRIVED

• Allow the family members participate on drawing up feeding time table for a period of time: never let your children have the impression that they are being forced to eat a different thing from every other members of the family as this will breed hatred and the feeling of not being loved. Make it look as if you and your family members are trying out a new recipe and diet. Pretend as if you are enjoying the food even when you are not as most healthy foods are not too pleasant in taste.
• Reduce the intake of sugar laden foods and increase intake of calcium: everyone needs calcium for our normal and healthy living but our children needs them most. Make sure that what you give to your children are low in sugar and calorie but, rich in calcium and other 28 vitamins.
• Unanimously agree on the areas where food can be eaten in the house: obesity in children will be unavoidable if parents do not control the movement of foods and other edibles in the house. Don’t allow your children to take their food to their rooms or serve themselves food. This is one big mistake that parents make about the health of their children. Agree with them that food will not be taken to places other than the dinning room.
• Substitute heavy foods with nutritional soups and vegetables: soups and vegetables are very good to the health of children and at the same time cheaper than most regular and healthy foods. Your children can never become obese if they are constantly given soups and vegetables.
• Don’t let your children watch too much television: too much watching of television will contribute to the probability of your child becoming obese in the following two ways- (1) your children will spend time that they ought to use in exercising watching television and this will not allow the to burn energy and calories. (2) While watching the TV, your children will daunted with all sorts of adverting that will only help in increasing their appetite for more junk foods that are often advertised on the television.
• Consult with your pediatrician: you have to consult your pediatrician while drawing up your child’s eating time table. This is important because of the fact that what is good for ones system may be harmful to another person’s system. Also, engage the services of; dieticians, nutritionist and other meal experts for further detailed advice.
• Draw up a fun and entertaining exercise program for your child: Exercising remains the best way to burn calories and excess sugar in the body. Children by nature like playing and exercising but, it becomes potentially harmful when it is made too strenuous.
• Teach your kids how to select healthy foods from the supermarkets and food marts: teaching your children to read label of foods is a good way of ensuring that they select foods that will not cause obesity in your children. Special attention should be paid on the serving (i.e. the quantity that needs to be taken at a go).
• Make your children understand the danger behind spontaneous eating: children should learn to control their emotion when it comes to eating. Teach them to distinguish between real hunger and emotional hunger. They should understand that obesity awaits them when they eat out of boredom and anxiety.
• Cut down on the intake of beverages: your children will be better off drinking water rather than beverages that contains empty calorie.

Please try as much as you can not to make this whole process look so strict and stressful. Rather, create an enabling environment where love and support will reign. You will get better result by not instilling fear in your children all in the name of helping the prevent obesity. Obesity in children must be reduced if all parents should invest little time in learning how to prevent child obesity rather than controlling child obesity.