Your Child Needs Your Help in Order to Combat Childhood Obesity

Your child cannot stop themself from becoming obese. Nor can they loose weight by themselves. If you want to ensure that your child doesn’t suffer from childhood obesity then you will have to make changes to the whole family. Childhood obesity is usually caused by not enough exercise and too much food. This is why creating new family routines and eating habits will drastically alter your child’s weight and prevent childhood obesity.

Small progressive steps are much better than large ones that no one is willing to go along with.

Remember:
• It’s not a race. Don’t try and rush the changes incorporate them slowly.
• Make the changes small. Foe example turn the tv off during meals or go for a family walk once a week.
• Set both individual and family goals. This will give you something to aim for and may provoke friendly competition which will help.

The new goals will be hard but if you follow the 3 above rules and you are determined you and your child will be able to battle not only childhood obesity but family obesity.

Reference: the mayo clinic- http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/childhood-obesity/FL00058

childhood obesity

Create a Healthy Environment

Have healthy snacks avaliable rather than chocolate bars and other high calorie foods. You also need to build physical activity into your lifestyle. Whether this is family exercise or just your child playing outside it needs to be done. One of the most successful forms of physical activity is at clubs. For example swimming and karate are very good sports as they are individual and you can go at your own pace. Also your whole family could and should participate. Taking any TV’s and computers out of your childs bedroom will also help to create a healthy environment and combat childhood obesity, although if you take the TV out of your childs bedroom ensure that you also take it out of your bedroom to.

You’ve all got to follow the rules.

Reference: the mayo clinic- http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/childhood-obesity/FL00058

You will beat childhood obesity

I’m not going to lie to you and tell you that the changes are going to be easy. Especially if you are a busy family juggling busy schedules but if you stick to it you will succeed. To help your child succeed you should give them rewards for reaching their goals. However these rewards should not be based on food in anyway. They instead should involve family outings such as ice skating or swimming. Or Equipment so that your child can participate in even more physical activity. With this information you and your child will combat childhood obesity.

Reference: the mayo clinic- http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/childhood-obesity/FL00058

An Introduction to Childhood Obesity

Childhood obesity is a growing epidemic in the U.S and the U.K. It is a very serious issue which can lead to many health and social consequences which can continue into later life. It is important that we implement prevention programmes and get a better understanding of childhood obesity. However it is not as simple as this as the science behind childhood obesity is highly complex and can vary between individuals. However medical advice and common sense are usually the safest and most effective ways of reducing childhood obesity in your child.

Reference: American Obesity Association-http://www.obesity.org/subs/childhood/

The Drastic Increase of Childhood Obesity

Roughly 15.3% of children (aged 6-11) suffer from childhood obesity as do about 15.5% of adolescents. The rise in these percentages has been drastic over the past two decades.


Prevalence of Obese Children
(Ages 6 to 11) at the
95th percentile of
Body Mass Index (BMI)
1999 to 2000 15.3%
1988 to 1994 11%
1976 to 1980 7%


Prevalence of Obese Adolescents
(Ages 12 to 19) at the
95th percentile of
Body Mass Index (BMI)
1999 to 2000 15.5%
1988 to 1994 11%
1976 to 1980 5%


The 95th percentile is used as a reference point for childhood obesity. So as you can see childhood obesity has risen over 10% in 12-19 year olds and over 8% in children aged 6-11. In theory at the rate of increases continues then within two decades over 30% of children will suffer from childhood obesity.

Refrence- American Obesity Asociation-http://www.obesity.org/subs/childhood/

Causes Of Childhood Obesity

Many different factors contribute to the cause of childhood obesity. These can be split into modifiable and non-changeable causes.

Modifiable:

• Low family income and unemployed parents


•Over-exposure to adverts of junk food and video games/tv programmes

•Lack of physical activity

•Anything that takes up time which could be spend doing physical activity. E.g. watching TV or playing video games.

•Eating high calorie and high in fat foods. Also eating snacks when you are not actually hungry


Non-Changeable:

•If you have overweight or obese parents you may be more genetically prone to obesity.

Refernce: American Obesity Association-http://www.obesity.org/subs/childhood/

How to Prevent Childhood Obesity

The only way in which you can really help to prevent your child falling victim to childhood obesity is to teach them about healthy behaviours.

A lot of parents are concerned with their child’s weight and the negative effect that schools are having on it. Some schools are proposing to remove or reduce recess and don’t teach children about childhood obesity. A small percentage of parents said that they feel that childhood obesity is the greatest risk to their long term health.

In order to help prevent childhood obesity at home you should create an active environment with little TV and a lot of physical activity. The physical activity is only effective if it is something that the children are interested in doing. Swimming, tennis or karate are good examples of this.

You also need to create a healthy eating environment. Serve low in calories and fat meals when your child is at home. Don’t do any other activity while eating dinner sit down as a family and all eat the same meal at the same time. Most schools do provide a good nutrition lunch for your child so you do not need to worry about this too much.

Reference American Obesity Association-http://www.obesity.org/subs/childhood/

Help Your Child Beat Childhood Obesity

There are two main methods that can be used to loose weight and beat childhood obesity.

Firstly you should change your eating habits. Ensure that you eat three balanced meals a day and do not snack in between. Also try and avoid watching TV during meal times.

However this will not make a great difference without exercise. Start of exercising once a week. Individual sports such as swimming or karate are best as you can go at your own pace and build up slowly. I suggest an hour worth of exercise a week in order to build up confidence but then this should be increased to two hours and then eventually three within 6 months. Make sure the exercise is regular and interesting. In order to keep your child exercising.

It is not as easy as it sounds but with these two improvements to your childs life they will be able to beat childhood obesity.

Referece American Obesity Association http://www.obesity.org/subs/childhood/

Childhood Obesity - Family FightBy: John Furnem

Childhood obesity, as most people now know, is effected by many behavioral factors. In addition to the behavioral changes that may be required by changing the way your child eats and how much physical activity they engage in every day, you must observe at other factors in their behavior, and in the behavior of the teachers, coaches, family members and friends that surround your child.A family is the nucleus cell that we all nourish and learn from, ideally a family is supportive and encouraging, this is usually true of parents, but the issue of siblings is completely different. If oyu feel that all members of the family do not act as one, on an active support that is ongoing and loving, you will need to make sure your family meetings and talks are devoted to getting everyone behind this.If your child is overweight or obese, they need your support more than ever! Self-esteem and confidence issues abound in overweight children. Try not to criticize them, harp on them or berate them for their weight. Let your child know he is loved and appreciated and address his weight issue with positive confidence. Do not make jokes about your child situations, this is not the place in which humor helps, do not try and place blame on the child as this will probably result in the opposite of what you want. Simply let him know that you will work on this issue together and that there is nothing ‘wrong with’ him because he is overweight.Make sure that you have a clear picture of your child life, at school, socially and elsewhere, if he is suffering from abuse from other children, even from his friends, or is suffering a more direct aggressive bullying problems. Work on rebuilding the child confidence by focusing on what he does well and by constantly reinforcing the idea that everyone is special and everyone has problems – he is no different, no better or worse than anyone else, no matter how little confidence he may have at this time. Keep the main focus on health and not esthetics, or weight, stress the importance of health. Focus on gradual changes in your family physical activity and nutrition and allow plenty of time for everyone to adjust and to feel good about the small changes they are making.These are huge changes you need to make and the first baby steps are crucial for you and your child to feel that it is within your power to make the change, so pay careful attention to the start, as it may prove to be the most important part, with many teenagers the first step is the most important to recover their confidence and self esteem. Setting smaller goals will also allow your child to lose weight gradually and to ‘grow into’ their additional weight as they grow in height. Some children have a lot of weight to lose and they will have longer-term goals with lots of short-term milestones to keep them motivated. For these children, you may want to consider rewards or recognition.I hope you found this information helpful, I wish you and you family the best of luck in reducing and fighting childhood obesity.

Article Source: http://www.articlecube.com
John Furnem specializes in work psychology and Stress disorders, he has written articles and held workshops/seminars on the effect of stress on children and adults . John writes articles on Childhood Obesity for ZupaTips.com