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Archive for Childhood Obesity

How Parents Can Instill Good Eating Habits In Their Kids

Jeff / January 9, 2010 / One comment

What Can Parents Do To Help Their Children With Weight Issues?

Last month we talked about what the causes are of childhood obesity and why this problem is becoming so epidemic. This month, I really want to focus on what parents can do to help their children prevent having weight issues as they grow.

First and foremost, you must start your children on a healthy regimen when they are young. If they aren’t young anymore, don’t worry, you can still make the changes outlined below and have an impact on your child’s life moving forward. The reason to start young is so you can plant the seed in their little minds on what being healthy is and how it can be achieved. So, what are some easy steps you can take right now to get your kids in the right mind set?

1. NEVER SKIP BREAKFAST!
This is extremely important for everyone, not just children. Can you remember the last time you went eight hours without food during the day? Unless it was for religious purposes, you probably can’t think of any instances, right? Well, that is exactly what you are doing every night when you go to sleep. Your eyelids may be closed and your activities stopped, but it doesn’t mean your body stops burning energy. Our bodies are constantly consuming energy and need to be replenished regularly…with healthy supplies! So, after an eight hour fast, you need to wake your little ones with a nutritious breakfast and get their bodies primed for a long day at school or the play yard. (For some good ideas on what to have for breakfast, go to http://www.stop-childhood-obesity.com/healthy-recipes.html)

2. Replace All Soft Drinks and Fruit Juices with Water.
Ever look at the labels on the fruit juices you are giving your children? Take a guess how much sugar is in one serving? A single pouch of Capri Sun can have as much as 26 grams of sugar! That’s two-thirds of what is in a can of soda, which also should be a no-no for kids. When you replace these types of drinks with water, you can cut out nearly 50% of the sugar and carbohydrates that a child may consume in one day! That’s huge! Plus, water keeps us hydrated which helps to reduce our hunger cravings.

3. Limit Pizza, Burgers, Ice Cream, etc. to One Night Per Week.
Now, this is going to be probably more challenging than the other tasks, but it’s very important. What happens to us psychologically as we’re growing up is that we tend to see these ‘junk’ foods as an easy go-to source and tend to associate them with good feelings and quick fixes. In reality, nothing is further from the truth. These so called ‘good’ feelings one gets when consuming junk food is simply a sugar high that stimulates your metabolism. After that high is gone, the body returns to its normal state and the process of trying to get rid of those toxins (and that’s what they are, toxins) begins. This leaves people feeling low and that sub-conscious memory of feeling good that is associated with junk food returns. It’s a vicious cycle, and if it is prevented early, then the battle of breaking the habit later on in life is not an issue.

For now, I think that will be enough to get the process started. I don’t want to burden you with too many ideas and insights right now. However, now is the perfect time to start getting your family on the ‘health train.’ Everyone is talking about eating healthy and exercising more, so why not join them. Then you can have the support of others to get the job done.

If you want more support and advice, please feel free to leave a comment on our blog or in our Healthy Eating Forum.

Category: Health and Fitness / Tags: , , ,

Activities That Can Be Fun and Are Still Considered Exercise!

Jeff / January 6, 2010 / One comment

The majority of the obese population does not engage in sports, exercise, or outdoor activities.

Obesity is one of the most common problems in America. It is a problem that affects not only adults but a big portion of the young population. Children as young as 8 or 9 years old are now experiencing obesity problems. One of the major contributors of obesity is today’s sedentary lifestyle. Many of today’s young and old lead an inactive life. Getting yourself immersed in an active lifestyle will help keep you fit and healthy. Aside from keeping your body trim and in shape, an active lifestyle has many other benefits.

Apart from regular exercise and eating a healthy balanced diet,outdoor activities also form part of an active lifestyle. There are several forms of outdoor-based activities that you, or obese adults and children, can get into in order to start leading a healthier lifestyle.

* Skipping Rope – The skipping (or jump) rope is an effective calorie burner. It is a fun activity that can be done as a group or a family. Children love skipping rope so this will not be a problem even if they are obese.  Boxers tend to use this activity ad-nauseum to boost their VO2 Max, and raise their heart rate significantly.

* Cycling – Riding the bicycle is another form of exercise that can also be fun. You can even mix in a little sightseeing while riding through the park or while passing by a neighboring community. Cycling can also be done by the whole family.  If you have a gym membership, look into taking their spinning classes.  These are a great way to get a good burn in any day of the week, regardless of the weather (though I do prefer a good mountain bike in the rain any day over a gym!).

* Jumping Games Like Sack Races – Aside from being a fun parlor game, a sack race can also be a good exercise as it helps generate good blood circulation.

* Running – Running is a fun exercise and may even encourage a healthy competitive spirit among your children, friends, or other family members.

* Bouncing Off the Trampoline – The trampoline is one of the latest trends in exercise. Children will have fun trying out different jump styles. Jumping is also good for blood circulation; and the trampoline also encourages control of balance.  Just be sure to supervise when the youngsters are on the trampoline.

* Tennis or Racquetball – These games can be played by two or four players and is considered a complete body workout. It works out the entire muscle system and also helps improve coordination.  Watch out for the old guys with the glasses- they may look like an easy target, but they know their way around the court, trust me!

* Football – A game of football can also serve as the perfect whole body exercise. Like tennis and racquetball, football works out the whole muscle system and helps develop better coordination.  Don’t pull any muscles- warm up and stretch thoroughly before partaking in any of these exercises.

There are other outdoor activities that anybody can participate in. The key word here is “active”: any activity that requires a person to move and exert effort; any activity that makes a person sweat, is a good fat buster.

Try any of the outdoor activities given above and start beating obesity!

Category: Childhood Obesity, Health and Fitness / Tags: , ,

It’s a New Year! Why Not Just Eat Healthy Instead of Diet?!?

Jeff / December 31, 2009 / No comments

Why not try eating healthy foods, instead of dieting? There are a lot of diets out there but some of them simply do not work. Dieting just doesn’t work for everyone, especially children. To prevent childhood obesity, we simply cannot depend on dieting. It is much easier and way more effective to teach kids to eat healthy foods than compute their daily calorie intakes and such. Some adults can handle dieting, but children are still growing. They need all the nutrients and vitamins that they can get.

To prevent childhood obesity, instead of putting them on a diet, we can point them to the right direction by teaching them to eat healthy. Eating healthy foods will not only help prevent obesity, it can also help reduce the risk of diseases that go with eating junk or unhealthy foods. There are a number of diets that work well with adults, but that doesn’t mean that it will work on children. You can’t expect kids to know stuff like protein, or carbohydrates, or calories. If it is edible and tastes good, they eat it. That is why training a kid to eat healthy foods while he’s still young is essential in preventing childhood obesity.

Before worrying about what kind of diet you want to follow, think about your children’s health and the lifestyle that you wish for them to follow. You can begin by finding out which foods are good for you and your kids, and which are not. One thing you need to remember is that the closer a food is to its natural condition; the better it is for your health. Foods such as fresh fruits and berries are awesome as they will satisfy your craving for sweets.

Steaming green, orange, and yellow veggies will help retain its nutritional value as these types of vegetables are packed with vitamins and minerals. However, you need to be careful with the sauces that go with salads, because they may be high in calories and fats that are bad for you. We all know that some kids hate to eat foods such as green veggies; the key is to feed it to them at a young age as some vegetables will take some getting used to.

When it comes to pasta or any baked goods, you should go for whole grains. Kids love sugary snacks, but you shouldn’t spoil them with it. As much as possible, you must teach your kids to avoid eating too many sweets. Healthy foods can include lean meats and, of course, fish. Ocean fish are packed with omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids that are often lacking in our daily consumption. So try serving it to your children two to three times a week. Finally, keep in mind that steaming or baking is way healthier than frying.

Category: Childhood Obesity, Health and Fitness / Tags: , ,

The Effects Of Childhood Obesity

Jeff / December 5, 2009 / 2 comments

In today’s population, child obesity is fast becoming a serious problem, and the same goes for childhood obesity effects. The fact is that one in five children and teenagers are obese. That is a staggering statistic. Unfortunately, the number keeps on growing. Many health experts, as well as scientists, believe that this generation may have shorter life expectancy compared to the previous generations.

As the number of obese children keeps on growing, many scientists are now looking at the two aspects of childhood obesity effects, namely the physical and the mental aspects. Children who suffer from obesity may encounter the same physical effects as obese adults. Like any overweight adult, obese kids may also be at risk of heart diseases, high blood pressure, type II diabetes, sleep apnea, and certain types of cancer. Take note that diseases such as these have no prejudices.

The childhood obesity effects previously mentioned are just the tip of the iceberg. There is a lot that could go wrong in an obese kid’s body. One condition that overweight children are at risk of is coronary heart disease. Keep in mind that heart diseases have no discriminations. It does not matter if you’re black, white, or brown, young or old, male or female. The fact is obesity is a serious risk factor for heart diseases.

The mental aspect of childhood obesity effects can be as serious as the physical aspect of it. An obese kid can suffer from serious psychological problems. A study has shown that some obese children think very little with regards to their quality of life. They presented scores as low as kids suffering from cancer. Obese kids are showing signs of low self-esteem. We all know that some serious mental illnesses are rooted in low self-esteem. This is one of the serious childhood obesity effects.

It is believed that the quality of life is composed of physical well-being, mental well-being, and social well-being. Our quality of life is measured by those three aspects. When you do something to tip the scales and disturb the balance of those three aspects, your quality of life could significantly decrease.

Social biases and low self-esteem are the two main aspects that may have the most effect, psychologically, on obese children as well as adults. Social indifference could result in less or no friends at all. This results in loneliness, which can be a huge factor in having low self-esteem. The isolation and the discrimination that an obese kid endures in school or at home will have great effects on his mental health as he grows up.

These kinds of childhood obesity effects pose a great threat on the next generation of children, if we do not do something about the problem of childhood obesity.

Category: Childhood Obesity, Health and Fitness / Tags: , ,

Do You Lead by Example?

Jeff / November 19, 2009 / No comments

So many times these days we see an overweight adult walking around with an overweight child.  Very seldom do we see a thin or athletic parent holding the hand of an overweight youngster.  Why is that?

Well the plain, simple, and easy truth is that children, or any species for that matter, don’t learn through directing.  True, we can learn certain tasks by being told how to accomplish them, such as reading, but even then there is a certain amount of leading occurring.  As humans, we learn more through watching and imitating than any other way.  If you asked the professional sports players how they got so great, their responses would be 99.9% the same: emulating their idols.

If it is true that a professional athlete can learn most of their skill through emulating others, than doesn’t it stand to reason that your child will learn other skills in life the same way?  Of course it does.  That is why it is so important to lead by example rather than tell them how to live and hope for the best.  This means you can’t just tell your child to eat their veggies.  You have to eat them yourself first, and let them see you enjoy them.  This is key!  If you try to swallow some broccoli by forcing yourself to hold back the urge to regurgitate it, do you think that your toddler is going to think it is a fun food to eat?  Probably not.

So what happens if you don’t like eating healthy?  Well, then you are going to have a heck of a time teaching your children to eat healthy.  If you have no desire to change your own thought processes, then you will never be able to encourage your child to think positively about living a healthy lifestyle.  In other words “Good Luck Chuck!”  If however you have realized the importance of your child’s health and future,  you will be willing to change your way of thinking, and thus change both you and your child’s lives for the better.

If you want to change but don’t know how, then you can check out my companion website, Stop Childhood Obesity, or speak to your primary care physician.  Other sources for help are BeverlyMonical.com, or the Mayo Clinic.  Whichever choice you make, be sure it is not a selfish one, but rather a choice dedicated to improving your child’s overall health and well being.

Best of Luck!

Category: Childhood Obesity, Health and Fitness / Tags: , ,
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