Is Your Child The Butt Of Jokes At School and Always The Last To Cross The Finish Line Huffing And Puffing With Every Step?

Discover Why Childhood Obesity Is The Number One Frustration Of Parents All Over The World And What You Can Do To Prevent Your Child from Standing Out Like A Sore Thumb At School, Parties or Social Events and Win The Admiration Of Peers, Classmates and Even Schoolteachers with these Practical Tips

With all the pressures that parents are faced with, there is a tendency to focus a lot of about themselves. This is probably the reason why childhood obesity is such a growing problem, especially in the western world. We all believe in the principles of sharing and lending a helping hand. With that in mind, why not step forward and see what you can do to help get children back in shape.

Getting it right from the very beginning

The biggest problem with obesity in children is that if they start out life obese, they are more likely to stay that way for the length of their life. And being obese, their lifespan is shortened considerably. With this knowledge the biggest help when battling obesity is prevention, ensuring that does not happen in the first place.

If this isn't possible because obesity has reared its ugly head in a child’s life or the life of a loved one already, all hope isn't lost. While it's a little harder to reverse the effects of obesity, it is not impossible. It's a long, hard road, but with a willingness to put in the work, a reversal of the condition is possible.

Can Obesity In Childhood Impact Health As An Adult?

Most experts measure obesity using Body Mass Index (BMI). A BMI of 30 is considered obese and a risk to healthy living. Children are not immune from this health risk.

Childhood obesity has reached epidemic proportions with approximately 22 million children under five years of age worldwide being overweight. Obesity is a global problem and contributes to 40 different health illnesses. There are a few diseases listed that are the result of obesity. These diseases can have a severe impact on health.

Some of the diseases of obesity are:

Blount's disease This disease involves the lower extremities as the bones in that area are still growing and are prone to deformities.

Arthritis The knee and the ankle joints suffer due to excess weight being carried. The wear and tear that occurs to these joints accumulates through the years. Weight loss can prevent this from happening.

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) Cysts on the ovaries develop especially when a girl is obese and her menstrual cycles are non-existent. These hormonal changes may lead to infertility.

Diabetes Diabetes is on the rise. And more and more of the young children are being diagnosed with Diabetes II which is usually an adult set diabetes that affects people 40 years and older. When you are carrying excess body fat less glucose is taken into your body's cells. Glucose builds up in the blood and with a rise in blood sugar, a diagnosis of diabetes is not far behind.

Other problems that you may encounter with obesity are asthma, sleep apnea, high blood pressure, elevated cholesterol, gallstone formation, fatty liver, and depression with low self esteem.

Overeating – is there a reason why we do it?

Most people trying to lose weight try to identify whether or not they are overeating.

In reality overeating is a big problem because weight loss will basically boil down to how many calories you've consumed versus how many calories you've burned. If you aren't burning more than you are consuming, you aren't losing weight. So, it doesn't really matter how great of a diet you are following, if you have a tendency to overeat and when do so, put yourself over your caloric balance, you will then gain weight.

There are many reasons why overeating can take place so determining what is at the root of the issue will really be a step in the right direction for overcoming this issue.

Three common reasons why you may be overeating but not aware of it are.

Oversized Dishes

If the food is there - you may just eat it. It's amazing how many people tend to lose track of how much food they are consuming when it's sitting there on their plate. Far too many of us have the 'clean your plate' mindset, which basically means that if you are dishing up more food, you're therefore taking more in. To quickly recover from this problem, buy smaller plates. It really can be that easy in some instances.

Eating Triggers

The next thing you should be doing is identifying the emotional triggers that will cause you to eat. This could be anything from stress, to being in a good mood, to feeling tired.

While identifying it definitely will not stop it from happening, bringing it out in the open you can then address it much more easily.

A very heavy workout

While this may seem shocking to some people working out frequently with too much intensity can actually serve to work against you.

While you definitely do want good exercise sessions, when these sessions become overly intense and you're not recovering from them, the body will tend to increase its appetite, trying to get you to eat more so that you supply more than enough reserves to recover.

The issue is that while you definitely do need fuel to recover, you don't need 'more than enough'. Plus, more often than not, more time is actually what you really need, rather than more food.

So, in order to keep hunger in check, workout with intensity, but also be sure you aren't overdoing it.

Keep these three factors in mind and then think of others that could be at play with you.

Overeating is a hard thing to stop once started, but step by step it is possible.

How can children be encouraged to get in shape?

Due to our eating habits, lack of exercise and sedentary lifestyle that most people have our children are now suffering the consequences, our generation has the biggest amount of obese child and this has serious health issues.

There are different plans that you can follow to reduce obesity in your child, but is not just about dieting for a while to lose weight, it’s about our lifestyle. We need to prevent childhood obesity by looking at the causes and changing our habits.

Most people don't have an idea of why their children are overweight. They think that is the genetics, metabolism or even a psychological problem. This may be true but in a very small percentage. The real causes of child obesity are very obvious but no one wants to change their way of living.

The way to prevent child obesity is first to encourage children to play sports with friends and in school and don't allow your child to watch too much television or play video games for hours. They need activities that require physical effort, that will increase their metabolism and provide a healthier lifestyle.

Another way to prevent obesity is to cook food at home for our children instead of just buying fast food meals or pre made breakfast which is full or sugars, salt and fats. You should give your children fruits and vegetables so they become used to it. Refrain from giving them candy every time they are hungry.

Children are constantly exposed to multiple advertisements of junk food every time they turn on the television. Your role is to educate them and make sure that what you buy at the supermarket is healthy and not just full of sugars. Offer them juice instead of soda and cook nutritive food full of vitamins.

While these are just some ways to prevent obesity in children, there is a lot more that you can do for your community and child’s school. Encourage healthy eating habits, take an interest in your child’s sporting activities, and participate in events that help to educate children and parents about child obesity. Most of all set an example to your children by being a role model and following a healthy lifestyle yourself.