Childhood Obesity - Is It Out Of Control? by Gary J Kidd

Nearly 15% of all children in the USA are officially Obese. That is also true for teenagers and that percentage is getting higher each year. The last three decades has seen a huge increase in these figures. What makes it all the more frightening, is that it is not getting better.
Over 25 Million children in the USA are overweight or in danger of being so. Childhood obesity is rising and it is now the biggest pediatric problem in the USA with up to 30% of adolescent children suffering from it.

So who is to blame for this crisis? well, to be honest, the parents are most at fault but alongside that we need support centers and programs put in place to help. Children who have obese parents are 75% more likely to become obese themselves, which means we need to help the parents now to prevent this from getting out of hand. Helping people eat more healthily and control their weight is important in helping to reduce the childhood obesity problem.

It is not just in the USA of course. This is becoming a worldwide problem with Australia having one of the highest childhood obesity problems. It is a national issue and not just restricted to rural and suburban areas.

Schools must also take action as nearly half of the children in school eat school meals. They must be given healthy great tasting food instead of what fits the budget for financial reasons. Too many schools are driven by financial costs instead of realizing that if they fed their children healthy food, it would in fact save them money in the long run.

It is important to understand the cost to the American tax payer is estimated to be between $150 to $200 Billion dollars a year with time lost at work, hospital costs, medications etc. The fatter people get the more it costs the country in lost production and ultimately the lifestyle of the people and the economy itself.

Chronic diseases are associated with obesity like high blood pressure, cancer, diabetes etc. The cost of treating these disease puts more and more pressure on the health system and the overall cost to the nation is huge!

Childhood obesity is becoming an epidemic and soon it will be out of control completely. We need to not just educate these people but the whole nation as a whole. Action needs to be taken now before it really is too late.



About the Author

Gary J Kidd offers a Free Weight Loss Report from his website 10 Day Slim Down Challenge. He also offers help and advice for anyone trying to lose weight but not able to succeed. Visit his website for a Free Report or see his other articles here for more great tips and tricks to help you lose weight naturally.

Why Should You Loose Weight

Why should you loose weight?

Many children know that they are obese or at least overweight. But what they fail to realise is the effect that this can have on them in later life.

When you are a child you body produces fat cells in order to store the level of fat that you have in your body. When you are a child the number of these cells can increase or decrease. The lower the number of cells you have the easier it is to loose weight.

The problem comes when you are obese as a child and continue to be obese as an adult. This is a problem as it means that you will find it a lot harder to loose weight as an adult. This is due to the fact that the fat cells tell your body the level of fat that they need to store and it is therefore much harder to consume lower amounts of fat than you are used to.

If you loose the weight as a child your body will loose some of these fat cells and it therefore becomes a lot easier to keep the fat off.

Michael Adams

The Questions You Need to Ask

The first question you need to ask yourself is why do you want your child to lose weight?

Are you unhappy with their weight?
Are you unhappy with their figure?
Will you really feel happier just because they lose weight?
Do they want to lose weight?

Only you can answer these questions and it is only once you do that your weight loss will start to become successful.

The second question you need to ask is how you are going to lose weight. You can lose weight by going on a crash diet. You can also lose weight by eating roughly what you eat now but by exercising more.

It is important that any diet is moderated as some "crash" diets can be harmful to your childs body and will end up doing more harm than good.

It is also important that when they exercise they start off gradually and then begin to train more once they feel confident within themselves. If they do try and train too hard too fast they will find that you will soon give up and your weight loss will not succeed.

So you need to decide why you want your child to lose weight and how you are going to get them to lose it. Once you have done this you will see the pounds falling off them.

Simple tips for evening meals to combat childhood obesity

With all the birthday parties, sleep overs and going round to a friends for dinner it is very hard for you to try and regulate what your child is eating.

However this is not always a bad thing. Your child gets to enjoy themself so they are in a good state of mind. But if this is happening too often and your child I not eating healthily when at home then you could soon find yourself struggling to help your child overcome childhood obesity.

Some people believe that the weight of a child is determined before birth. IF the parents of a child are overweight or obese then yes there is more chance of the child becoming obese. Partly because of genetics but mostly because of the lifestyle that the parents are obviously accustomed to and will therefore rub off on their child.

As most children do not know or even care how much they are supposed to be eating or what kind of food they should be eating it is up to the parents to decide this for the and to make sure that they stick to it.

This means that your lifestyle and eating habits also have to change. You cannot sit at the dinner table eating whatever you please while your child is limited to set meals. The whole family must sit down around the table and eat the same food at the same time as a family. There are two reasons why this is a very good thing to do.

• If everyone is eating the same food then no one will complain just make sure you incorporate the changes gradually.

• You get to eat a meal as a family

• You will be able to monitor the eating patterns of your child and you can ensure that they eat all of the food including the vegetables.

When your child eats it is vitally important that you monitor the way they are eating. If your child eats the food too quickly then there will not be enough time for the message to get from the stomach to the brain in order to tell the child that they are full and therefore the child will continue to eat until there is no food left. This is bad as it means that the child is eating much more than is needed. In order to combat this your child should place their knife and fork down on the side each the plate in between each mouthful until the food is swallowed. This will then give enough time for the message to be sent and for the child to realise that they are full.

By Michael Adams