Children who are overweight or obese can benefit from healthy eating and regular physical activity (exercise). It is important to develop healthy patterns in childhood to prevent weight or health problems later in life. Professional advice from a doctor or dietitian can help your child reach and maintain a healthy weight.
Overweight children can face many difficulties. They may feel different from other children, which can affect their confidence. They can also be subjected to bullying from other children. This may make parents feel worried about their child taking part in everyday activity such as school sports. Unfortunately, this cycle can make weight control more difficult.
Although health problems are less common in childhood, children who continue to be overweight into adulthood are at greater risk of developing:
* High blood fats and heart disease
* Type 2 diabetes
* High blood pressure
* Stroke
* Joint problems
* Breathing problems
It is rare for a medical condition to cause a child to become overweight, but always check with your doctor if you are concerned.
How to help your overweight child:
If your child is overweight, it is important to seek the advice of a health professional. Young children should not be on diets that severely limit food intake. You may be advised to make permanent changes to your family’s lifestyle and eating patterns. Everyone at home should be involved in these changes, regardless of body weight, so that no child feels singled out. Making the right changes will protect your children from developing eating and dieting problems later in life.
It may take a number of attempts before children are happy to change their food choices or become more active. This can be frustrating for parents who have their children’s best interests at heart. Don’t give up. Remember to stay positive. Children who are overweight need to know that they are loved and important, regardless of their weight.
How to make healthy food choices:
A healthy diet is not only the type of food your child eats but also the amount of food they eat. All children should eat regularly, including healthy snacks.
Good nutrition starts early in life. Wherever possible try to:
*Breastfeed.
*Introduce solids at around six months.
*Encourage a wide variety of nutritious foods. No particular food should be forced or overly restricted.
*Consider using reduced fat dairy products after two years of age.
*Offer mostly cereals, grains and breads, vegetables and fruits with moderate amounts of meat products and dairy foods.
*Use added fats (such as oil, margarine and butter) in small amounts.
*Offer fresh vegetables and fruit instead of processed snack foods.
*Include small amounts of treats such as cakes, chips or takeaway foods occasionally (once or twice per week). Enjoy them as a family.
*Offer children water when they are thirsty. Sweet drinks including juice, cordial and soft drinks are not necessary and can contribute to tooth decay.
Ways to encourage healthy changes to your child’s eating:
Suggestions include:
* Buy, prepare and offer the foods you would like your child to eat. Allow them to choose what and how much of these foods they will eat.
* Keep offering healthy foods even if they are refused at first.
* Include your child’s food choices in the family menu sometimes.
* Act as a role model. Make sure your child sees you eating healthy foods.
* Involve children in simple food preparation such as making a salad.
* Let your child decide if they have had enough, even if food is left on their plate. This encourages children to better understand feelings of hunger and fullness. These habits may help to control appetite and prevent overeating as they grow.
* Encourage slow eating if yours is a family of fast eaters. Put your knife and fork down between mouthfuls. Offer crunchy foods that need lots of chewing.
* Help your child recognize if he or she eats when bored, sad or lonely. Try to suggest another activity to help distract them.
* Try not to punish, reward or cheer your child up with food. It can be tempting to use food this way sometimes, but it establishes an unhealthy relationship with food.
Fun family activity:
An active lifestyle is important for the whole family, regardless of their age or weight. Physical activity helps to build skills, makes you feel better and helps to protect you from many lifestyle diseases.
Activity should be fun, without focusing only on competition or skills. To keep children active as they get older, they may need help from their parents to include physical activity in the family routine.
Tips to increase everyday activity at home:
Suggestions include:
* Be active together. Let your child see you being active too.
* Encourage lots of free playtime outside.
* Try to use the car less. Walk or cycle to school, the shops or to a friend’s house.
* Help your child find a balance between organised sport, fun activities and individual sports like swimming and dancing.
* Find an activity that your child enjoys and that is fun, readily available, affordable and matches your child’s age and skill level. Ask your child’s physical education teacher, childcare worker, community centre or other parents about options.
* Be supportive and encouraging. Some children feel embarrassed and uncomfortable about their physical skills or appearance.
* Motivate your children to be active – even though it’s not always easy. Remember, if your child gets hot, puffed and sweaty when active, this is generally a good sign that they are working their bodies and getting some benefit from the exercise.
Television and screen viewing:
Watching too much television is linked closely with overweight in children. When children watch TV, they are not being active. They are also more likely to see food advertisements that encourage them to eat, whether they are hungry or not.
Suggestions include:
* Limit sedentary activity like TV viewing, watching videos, playing personal screen games and using computers. These activities should total no more than two hours a day for children five years and older and, no more than one hour per day for children aged two to five years.
* Avoid eating while the TV is on. This may be a distraction from family time together.
Getting started:
* Start slowly. It is best to manage one or two small changes before moving on to the next change.
* Find out what works for your family – everyone is different. Small setbacks may happen, but try to be patient and reward your child’s effort and progress with treats like books, stickers or special outings.
Where to get help:
* Your doctor
* School nurse
* Maternal and child health nurse
* Dietitians Association of Australia Tel. 1800 812 942
* Physical education teacher
* Childcare worker
* Local community centre
Things to remember:
* Involve the whole family in healthy eating and activity.
* Encourage active play and sport.
* Limit sedentary activities such as TV, screen games and computers to no more than one hour a day.
5 Ways to Help Your Overweight Child
From Jennifer R. Scott, former About.com Guide
If your child is overweight, it's important to make small changes that are easy to adjust to rather than take drastic measures. Here are a few ways you can help your child eat healthier and make better choices.
1. Do Not Solely Focus on the Overweight Child
Don't single out the overweight child; instead, create an environment of support and change. Have the whole family eat the same healthful foods and cut back on fast food. Nothing is worse than being forced to eat a diet meal while everyone else at the table enjoys your favorite foods. Rather than providing your overweight child with special food, make the point that everyone is trying something new tonight. Consider keeping serving dishes away from the table and downsizing your dinner plates, two changes that can prevent both kids and adults from overeating.
2. Teach Your Kids About Better Choices, Portion Size and Food Labels
Take your children grocery shopping and talk to them about making smart choices among the many varieties of foods that are available at the store. Make a point to teach your kids how to read food labels and to pay special attention to serving sizes and total number of servings on the packaging of their favorite foods. Let them pick out a new fruit or vegetable to try at least once a week. Better still, let them help you prepare the new food (or watch you do so, if they're still a bit too young) so they can learn healthy cooking techniques that will serve them well in the future.
3. Talk to Your Kids About Emotional Eating and the Sense of Hunger
Many of us tend to give in to emotional eating, and kids may eat in response to feelings such as sadness and anxiety, too. It's important to help your child avoid eating for these reasons because emotional eating is a tough habit to break. Talk to your children about whether or not they're really hungry when they want a snack; you may find they'll admit they're not if asked outright. Discuss why eating as a result of boredom or anxiety isn't a good habit. If your child does eat emotionally, it's even more important that you choose the snacks you keep on hand carefully and limit or eliminate highly-processed, high-calorie foods such as candy, cookies, and snack cakes. Remember, if it's not in the house, your kids can't eat it.
4. Cut Back on Beverages That Provide Empty Calories
Kids drink a lot of empty calories, meaning they drink beverages that provide few if any actual nutrients, but plenty of calories, such as juice, sport drinks, and soda pop. The best way to prevent weight gain from drinking too many calories is to make water the main beverage for the entire family. Most of us don't drink enough water, and even mild dehydration can lead to problems such as headaches or feeling groggy. Besides, drinks such as soda and coffee actually contribute to dehydration. (Tip: Try adding a little fruit juice to some seltzer water when the kids want a special drink.)
5. Trim TV Time
Research has shown that the more TV kids watch, the more likely they are to be overweight. One of the best ways to get your kids to watch less TV is to make sure the family sits down for dinner together with the TV turned off. It's not unusual for kids today to skip meals to watch TV, or even eat while they're playing video games. The family meal will bring everyone closer and provide the opportunity for them to learn by example as they observe your eating habits. Limit everyone's TV time (even your own), and replace it with activities that get the whole family moving or doing something together, such as playing tag or board games.
No comments:
Post a Comment