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Starting Them
Young
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There is strong evidence that excess weight in childhood
commonly leads to overweight and obesity in adulthood. But
childhood is one of the best opportunities to establish healthy
habits like regular physical activity and a balanced diet. So
here, are some tips for starting kids early on healthy life-long
habits and a brief reminder of the reasons why this is so
important.
Many older generations in Asia grew up slightly under-nourished,
resulting in slowed development, and growth. For this older
generation weight problem began only in middle adulthood. Not so
with the current generations of children. To date, childhood
obesity rates in Asia have not risen as fast as in developed
countries, but health professionals have noticed a rapidly
rising trend of childhood overweight and obesity in Asia, and
there are concerns that Asia’s childhood obesity rates could
soon catch up with the western world
Big kids, big problems
Traditionally, chubby infants and toddlers were viewed
favourable, as a little bit of excess weight was an indication
of good health, and could provide some protection against
periods of food shortage or illness-related weight loss. But
now, rising rates of childhood obesity have been accompanied by
an increase in the cases of Type 2 diabetes, previously only
affecting overweight adults, among children; overweight children
are also more likely to suffer from asthma. Hypertension and
high cholesterol levels, previously only associated with
middle-aged adults, are now creeping up on overweight children
as well.
These health problems in childhood continue and become more
serious in adulthood. A study in the journal Circulation
reported that overweight children are three to five times more
likely to suffer a heart attack or stroke before age 65 than
children who grow up within normal weight ranges.
As well as these long-term life-threatening problems, overweight
and obese children may also suffer health problems that will
reduce the quality of life. Children who bear excess weight in
their growing years may put undue strain on their growing bones
and joints and suffer from orthopaedic complications as a
result.
Overweight children may also suffer from sleep apnoea, which is
a condition where they stop breathing whilst sleeping. Children
with sleep apnoea have interrupted sleep and have trouble
staying focused in school, which may in turn negatively affect
academic performance.
Most children hate to be different from their peers and
overweight children may find themselves singled out for unwanted
attention, leading to self-esteem and confidence issues. Indeed,
overweight and obesity has been found to link directly to low
self-esteem in children.
Concerned about eating disorders ?
While eating disorders like bulimia and anorexia nervosa have
received lots of media attention, these potentially serious
problems are actually less prevalent than overweight and
obesity. Parents do need to recognise that overweight and
obesity are serious health issues, just as much as eating
disorders, and despite the common belief that eating disorders
are caused by over-emphasis on ideal ‘thin’ body forms, it is
known that eating disorders are the result of much more complex
interplay of psychological responses than simple emphasis on
healthy food choices and weight management.
First Steps
Childhood is also a period of learning and forming life-long
habits. A child who learns healthy habits is likely retain them
throughout his or her life
Many parents do not realise that excess weight in childhood will
not be automatically shed as a child grows. Baby fat may
eventually translated into stubborn adult fat unless both parent
and child take action to stem the weight gain.
For children who are overweight, although weight-reducing diets
or rapid weight loss is not generally advisable, a number of
steps to stop the factors resulting in excess weight gain, will
have significant health benefits. A study in Germany found that
obese children with only a slight decrease in their Body Mass
Index improved their health outlook, as measured by the build-up
of fats in the arteries, and thus part-reversed the increased
risk of suffering cardiovascular disease in later life. |
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First of all its important to determine if your child is
overweight, and if so, how much. Healthy children have less body
fat than adults, and so many parents with overweight children do
not realise that their children are overweight until they
assessment by a health professional. The best way to check if
your child is overweight is to use the growth centile chart – a
chart often seen in the doctor’s office, and a health check and
consultation with the family doctor or nurse is a good first
step for parents or children with concerns. The US CDC also
provide international standard growth charts on their website,
and although a little complicated to use by laypersons, may be a
useful source of information for some.
Click Here
Staying on the Right Track
Why not look at the whole family’s eating habits, not just the
child in question ? Overweight children are often offspring of
overweight adults. If this fits your family’s profile, it’s time
for the entire family to look at what and how you are eating.
Even if the rest of the family are not overweight, a whole
family effort to improve nutritional quality of the household
diet will provide other health benefits for everyone, and will
provide much needed support to the overweight child.
Aim for the majority of meals eaten both within and outside the
home to be rich in complex carbohydrates, fruits and vegetables
and protein and low in fat
Look also at the type of snacks that your child is eating.
Snacks are important for growing children who may find it
difficult to control appetite and sustain energy levels between
meals. ? A balanced diet can include all types of snacks
including potato chips and candies occasionally, but aim to
balance these with other low-calorie items such as fresh or
dried fruits, low fat yoghurt, rice cracker, flavoured soy milk
drink. Also, encourage to stop for a few minutes to eat the
snack, instead of eating on the run ? This will encourage a
child to grow up more sensitive to appetite cues and less likely
to eat when not hungry. Breakfast is important for all age
groups, and research has found that breakfast eaters are slimmer
than those who regularly skip breakfast. If your child goes to
school on an empty stomach only to pick the first thing that
catches his/her eye in school, consider alternative tactics,
such as packing a small breakfast box to eat at school or on the
bus journey, or put out easy to eat cold food items the night
before so that breakfast preparation and consumption isn’t
competing with other time-pressured priorities in the morning
rush.
Do remember, a child should never be put on a weight reducing
diet unless prescribed by a qualified health professional,
because of a serious medical condition. Children’s nutrient
needs are higher than adults because of greater demands during
growth and development, and weight-reducing diets commonly used
for adults are likely to be deficient in nutrients required
during periods of rapid growth.
Moving On
Do encourage your child to be physically active. Up to the time
they attend school, most children are naturally active. This can
be maddening sometimes, but do resist the temptation to
encourage children to be less boisterous with sedentary
activities such as TV and video watching, instead help them to
associate being physically active with fun.
Encourage your child to dance or move with the characters on TV.
Provide toys that require your child to be active in play. A
skipping rope, frisbees, bicycles, scooters, kites and child
versions of badminton, football and golf are great items to get
a kid to play actively.
While school-age children often find that they have little time
to play, make time during the weekends for physically active
activities like walks, visits to the park or a quick game of
badminton or basketball.
And of course, as one of the most important role models for your
child, so its important that parents ‘walk the talk’, and
demonstrate to children that being active is a normal part of
everyday life, and fun too !
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