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What is obesity in children?
When a child is in a weight class above the normal for height and age, he or she is considered obese. It is a serious medical condition that affects about 15 percent of children. Nearly 25 million children and teens in the United States are obese or overweight. During the past four decades, obesity rates have soared among all age groups, increasing more than four times among children ages 6 to 11.
Behavioral factors such as artificial feeding (bottle feeding), urban sprawl, dietary fat intake, sweetened drink intake, family eating patterns, growing portion sizes, levels of physical inactivity, computer use, video and television viewing have been identified as major contributing factors for childhood obesity.
Obesity is associated with a variety of cardiovascular disease risk factors such as elevated blood pressure, elevated lipid levels, and heightened insulin or glucose levels. All these factors are precursors for heart disease or Type 2 diabetes in young adults. These children are also at increased risk of low self-esteem because of the social emphasis on appearance and being slim. Overweight children have a 70% chance of becoming overweight or obese adults.
Kids do not want to be fat, but oftentimes, they do not know how to carry on the best lifestyle possible. It is essential that the whole family should change their eating and living habits. Here are some tips:
Encourage More Physical activity
Kids are naturally active and get great exercise even on their own. They are suppose to spend 8 hours a day running around outside. Then the adults command them indoors, sit them down for most of the day, give them a pile of homework and make them watch TV for the rest of the day. Perhaps parents can spend time doing recreational activities at home or at the park, instead. Most of all, parents should be role models to their children to help create in their young minds a mental model of a good health.
Encourage your child to walk or ride their bikes to school accompanied by an adult. Parents should demonstrate the importance of physical activity by joining in. Start with small changes, like taking a family walk after dinner once a week. Set reasonable, measurable goals and implement them.
Encourage Healthier Eating
Americans eat more snacks, eat on the run, and eat larger portions. The first step in prevention and-or treatment is to help children change their eating behaviors and live healthier lifestyles.
Research suggests that a child with obese parents is ten-times more likely to be obese. This raises the obvious scenario of an obese child environment where there is likely to be ready access to large quantities of energy-dense foods, provided by his or her parents, who also consume such. Parents should take the lead in introducing a healthy diet. It is essential that the whole family should change their eating and living habits. It is not possible that the child alone takes a different type of food while others consume the food forbidden to him.
A child should not go on an extremely restricted diet, nor prevented from eating when he is hungry. Children need nutrients and calories to help them develop and grow. If you find that you cannot help your child lose weight with a nutritious eating plan and physical activity, consult a physician or dietician.
Emotions also play a major role in childhood obesity, as emotional eating sabotages many weight loss efforts. Children may also have a hard time giving up their junk food snacks. Obese children need not eat less, but learn to eat differently. Help them eat the right foods, in the right combination, at the right times, healthy eating is balanced eating, including varied and nutritionally dense food choices.
Prevention can be looked at as a cure, if it is implemented and if there is effective communication. Environmental and social factors, genetics, illnesses, and medications do not necessarily cause a child to be overweight. Rather, they are risk factors, because they do not guarantee that a child will be obese. The most important thing is to focus on changing things we can control, such as behavior (the old exercise and diet advice).
Are you depending on your workout completely?
You are missing out on all the opportunities to improve your fitness and health if you vegetate all day, and depend solely on your workout to burn calories. Make small changes to stay in shape and perform all day long. For example:
Park your car in the farthest parking space from work.
Take the stairs, not the elevator.
Be inefficient in your chores. For example, instead of taking your dirty clothes to the basement laundry room with a large hamper, use a small hamper and go back several times.
No rest.
When we undergo the stress of physical exercise, our body adapts and becomes more efficient. It is just like learning any new skill; at first it is difficult, but over time it becomes second-nature. However, there are limits as to how much stress the body can tolerate before it breaks down and risks injury. Rest and relax your body before letting it go through stress again. Rest includes getting enough sleep (about 8-9 hours a day) as well as waiting about 24 hours between light training days or 48 hours on heavy training days.
In order to avoid a foot injury, make sure you check the inside of your shoes and socks
Wear good fitting shoes and socks
After you exercise, check your feet
Notify your doctor immediately if you injure your feet.
Bio:
Fitness Centers of Rochester, Rochester Group Fitness Programs and Weight Loss Centers of Rochester provide health and fitness consultation to its members.
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