Battling the Childhood Obesity Bulge

A guest post by Heather Johnson:

Children are bearing the weight of their parents’ mistakes – literally. Bad diet decisions, exposure to junk food due to sheer laziness, unchecked snacking and weekends spent on the couch watching television, absolutely nil or very limited physical activity – these are just some of the things parents knowingly pile on their children, thus loading them with extra pounds that leads to childhood obesity.

Besides the obvious health risks like diabetes, joint trouble, hypertension and heart disease, fat kids are beset with social problems as well. They’re the butt of jokes and pranks at school, they’re ostracized by their peers and called unflattering names, they’re the last to be picked for teams and events, and they have trouble making friends because of insecurity issues. This causes depression and a low self esteem.

Children who are overweight are sometimes too young to understand why they’re being asked to cut down on what they eat, so it’s a tough task to get them on a healthy diet once they’ve let themselves get addicted to snacks and processed junk food. Prevention is the best medicine when it comes to child obesity, but if the inevitable has happened and your child is already tipping the scales, here’s how you can get him/her to shed a few pounds and get back on the healthy track:

* Talk to your child first before you effect any change is his/her routine. Make them understand why you are suddenly cutting back on their snacks and sweets, that it’s not a punishment but a way to become more healthy and fit.
* Set a healthy meal plan that involves the whole family and not just your overweight youngster. Consult a dietician before you make any drastic changes to make sure your other children are not deprived of any nutrition.
* Limit favorite snacks and sweets to special occasions like treats for a job well done or a good grade.
* Make healthy homemade snacks that your kids can munch on while watching a movie.
* Offer your child healthy alternatives at meal times instead of just one option.
* Make your child understand that by filling up on junk food and soft drinks away from your eyes, they are only cheating themselves and aggravating the problem.
* Take the TV out of your child’s bedroom. This discourages lolling in bed and switching channels aimlessly.
* Make weekends a time for the whole family to get involved in some outdoor activity that gets your child away from the television and video games.
* Give them some form of motivation to stick to a healthy diet and exercise more, either the anticipation of fitting into that new dress or being able to ride that new bike once they’ve lost a few pounds.



It’s a tough ask when you’re a child to take on the added responsibility of having to control your weight, but if done in the right way from the start, children are free of having to carry those excess pounds gained in childhood all through adolescence and into adulthood.

This post was contributed by Heather Johnson, who writes on the subject of nursing programs. She invites your feedback at heatherjohnson2323 at gmail dot com.