Children and Obesity

Researchers claim that childhood obesity has risen dramatically, with 1 in 5 kids today being either overweight or obese.

Many of the overweight kids have fallen prey to the lack of a balanced diet that could be easily obtained with home prepared foods, but many parents are both working or have some bad eating habits or lead inactive lifestyles themselves.

Fast food style restaurants are more concerned with their bottom line rather than feeding the consumer with an inexpensive, healthy, low calorie tasty meal. Kids and parents keep going back for more since it fills you up, taste good and it's affordable.

The poor are really in the grips of fast food eating, since you can fill up on belly, butt and thigh busting foods for under $5.00.

This combined with inactivity is the perfect recipe for becoming overweight or obese for the young people that will be confronted with health, employment and social problems as they get older. Parents should not let their kids get into the situation of needing to lose weight.

The chances of kids growing up with good eating habits and embracing exercise and physical activity as a way of life are not to good if the parents aren't setting a good example with better eating and lifestyle choices themselves.

Never before has sedentary lifestyles become the norm as it is today with everything geared towards fast and easy. Fat burning type activities in the past usually involved some sort of fun sport competition, but today the parks seem to be empty because the kids are parked in front of the TV or computer. Past generations didn't have obesity problems with the physically demanding lifestyles.

Only about half of the families today in the U.S. sit down as a family for meals, leaving kids to fend for themselves when it comes to making their daily food choices. Children of stay at home moms or dads have a big advantage providing they are following sensible food and activity guidelines.

One bright spot is that the schools are finally beginning to realize they can play an important role in curbing the childhood obesity epidemic and have made tremendous progress in offering more healthy, nutritional foods according to the results of the 2006 School Health Policies and Programs Study (SHPPS) released October 19, 2007.

What the schools are doing now to help curb obesity amongst children can be applied in the home by providing less foods high in fat, and more healthy choices of fruits and vegetables and whole grain products. Also, school districts required 87.1% of high chools, 85.1% of middle schools and 77.4 % of elementary schools to teach nutrition education.

Some Tips: Parents need to try and prepare more healthy food for the kids and themselves, such as cold whole grain cereals or hot oatmeal to start the day and fill up on more large low calorie salads for example and fruit for dessert. Prepare meals for the week on the weekend so when the kids reach for something to eat it will be of nutritional value, and don't leave out protein…Cut way back on the five c's, candy, cookies, cakes, cola and chips, unless their made of whole grain products.

The formula for maintaining a healthy weight is no different for children than it is for adults. Burn more calories than you take in and you have the best chance possible for weight control. School sports or sports outside the class room is one surefire fat burning activity, but if this isn't feesible encourage the kids to start the day with some aerobics and stretching that will counteract all the TV and computer sitting, or 10 minutes of exercise for every hour they sit.

It is the responsibility of the parents and school administrators to guide the kids towards healthy choices and enlighten them to the benefits of exercise and avoiding bad food choices so they can avoid being victims of obesity related diseases that include diabetes, heart disease, cancer and premature death.

Some Studies: Overweight children and adolescents are more likely to become obese as adults. One study found that approximately 80% of children who were overweight at aged 10-15 years were obese adults at age 25. Source: Centers For Disease Control (CDC)

Another study shows that a child's weight may be influenced by the mother even before the child is actually born, and is more likely to become overweight at a very young age – 2 or 3 years old – if the mother was overweight or obese before she became pregnant. Source: National Insitutes of Health (NIH)

Conclusion: Before and after pregnancy the same formula applies; Everyday physical activity + balanced diet = Good Health

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