Childhood Obesity Prevention - Take Action and Prevent it Today

     Children are not engaging in enough exercise in school or at home. In some schools physical education is not offered during the school day. Some children hardly participate in neighborhood activities like skating, skipping, running races etc. It is a well known fact that changing eating habits alone will not result in long term healthy weight loss but when coupled with regular exercise the results are impressive. You see, weight loss is all about balancing the amount of energy we put into the body in the form of food, with the amount of energy we use up in activity each day. Home is where the healthiest meals are cooked and prepared fresh. If you pick up a package that has 10 ingredients you can never be sure what you are feeding your children. So prepare great tasting meals for your family, that they love, by beginning with simple ingredients. Do not make an overweight kid worried about their weight by drawing attention to it. They would be well aware that they have a weight issue and don't need anyone bringing it to their attention. They may be teased already by others, so they need your support more than anything.

The numbers show that 19.6% of the children of 6 to 11 years of age are obese. The percentage of extremely overweight adolescents between 12 and 19 is 18.1%. These are the numbers from the main child obesity statistics, but there are independent studies that claim the percentage of obese children is over 25%. The team of researchers studied children using actigraphs attached to children from three schools to measure physical activity. One of the schools did not offer a PE program while the other two did. The results showed that children who remained active during the school day were less likely to be active when they got home and that children who were not active during school were more likely to run and play after school. All of the listed factors play a role in the development of childhood obesity, but the responsibility still lies with the parents. If the children were addicted to cocaine, we would blame the parents. So, why not blame them when they are addicted to fast foods.

The parent education component is key, particularly when children are young. Children don't often choose what they are going to eat. Parents choose, and parents also choose how the children will spend their free time, too. When parents understand the consequences of their choices. Children want to be just like their friends. This can be a positive, such as encouraging each other to get good grades or to join a sports team. Or it can be a negative, such as filling up on junk food. But the truth is, children are not just like their friends, and they never will be. Another reason you should never use weight loss methods such as severe dietary restrictions and fad diets is that it will only result in binge eating. What you should instead do is help your child to make the right food choices and steer them away from junk food towards tasty nutritious home cooked meals that have a high proportion of fruits and vegetables.

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