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Childhood Obesity







Childhood Obesity: How Can You Prevent It??

One in every 5 children in America is overweight—an absolutely startling statistic.  Obesity is also one of the main causes of health problems in America, including Type II Diabetes. Heredity, poor nutrition, parenting, and fast food corporations are all reasons why childhood obesity has nearly tripled in the past two decades.  So what can we as parents do to reverse the new trend and prevent childhood obesity?   

Let the Pyramid be your Guide to Preventing Childhood Obesity


           Food Pyramid to help prevent Childhood Obesity One thing, that children today lack, is a sense of good nutrition
and portion control. Don’t know how much your child should be consuming? Use the Children’s Energy Needs Calculator to determine how the amount of exercise affects your child’s caloric needs.  Now that you know how much food they should be eating, you need to know what foods they should be eating. Use the Food Pyramid as an easy way to teach your children about good nutrition. You can go to www.mypyramid.gov to find nutritional guidelines and even plan menus. Browse the kid’s section for fun tips and try these great resources to help you teach your children about eating healthy. Only through education can we hope to prevent childhood obesity, and as parents, we are their best teachers.

    

 Download and Print a 2 sided My Pyramid for Kids Poster

Role Modeling to Prevent Childhood Obesity: Childhood Obesity

The second step towards preventing childhood obesity is role modeling. If a parent develops unhealthy eating habits, then so will their children.  Many cases of childhood obesity can be linked backed to their caregivers.   If children are exposed to healthy eating habits and exercise early, then their chances of becoming overweight are significantly decreased.  As parents, we need to not only educate our children about childhood obesity, but we need to lead by example.  Children will not get the message that healthy eating is important if they see their parents’ consuming burgers and fries on a daily basis. After all, it is very difficult to convince a toddler to eat their carrots when you have a candy bar!Childhood Obesity can be prevented.


 Ditch the Drive Thru to Prevent Childhood Obesity:

fast food is one reason childhood obesity is increasing

More and more families are going out to dinner or picking up a quick meal at the nearest drive thru.  Life has become so jam packed with things to do that fast food has become the easiest option for dinner.   In any given week, the average American consumes 3 hamburgers and 4 orders of fries, most of which comes from fast food restaurants. Children are bombarded with commercial after commercial promising toys and fun in fat filled Kids meals designed just for them. In fact, in Eric Schlosser book, Fast Food Nation, he mentions that McDonald’s Golden Arch is better known then the Christian cross. What a sad statement about our society.  Our nation really has turned into a fast food nation, no wonder childhood obesity on the rise.

  Get out and Play to Prevent Childhood Obesity: preventing childhood obesity with exercise

Children need to exercise, but hitting the gym isn’t recommended. Get your child outside to play every day. Allow them to join sports teams and encourage fun, active family outings. Simple hikes, biking trips, and even a game of tag can be great ways to exercise. Save T.V. time and Video games for rainy days and encourage them go outside every day.

If your child is obese, there is a greater chance that they will become an obese adult as well.  Childhood obesity is a combination of many factors--- both nature and nurture. While we can’t control what genes our children inherit, there are many things we can do to help our children lead healthy lives. Childhood obesity can be stopped; we just have to take the first steps.


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 Sources:

“Weight Loss: Obesity in Children”, www.webmd.com


Eric Schlosser, Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All American Meal, Houghton Mifflin Company, 2001

Childhood obesity can be prevented. Childhood obesity is easy to prevent.Children that are obese can loose weight with help.

 

 

 

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