Skip to content
 

Understanding and preventing childhood obesity

  • Blog

*Image Source: Pixabay

With the drastic changes in the technology of today’s generation, the food style of people also changes. Advancement in food technology affected the people’s diet, especially for younger people. Fast food chains are very popular to children. Those who have both working parents tend to be driven to patronize fast food chains and instant food. Nutrition plays an important role in the development of children. Lack of health consciousness might result into obesity leading to different health problems such as cardiovascular diseases, postural deformities, metabolic syndrome and type II diabetes.

Childhood obesity is defined as a multi-factorial disease which is most often misunderstood and has various etiologies in different children. Pediatricians generally have a full understanding on way on preventing communicable diseases and injuries. However, parents are still the one who plays a big role in preventing their children to suffer from childhood obesity. Pediatricians are only responsible for giving advice on what families can do in order to promote healthy eating and to encourage proper exercise.

Lots of genetic and non-genetic, psychosocial, social factors are to be considered in discussing issues on preventing childhood obesity. The implication of “right to know” on food products should be checked by parents in monitoring their children’s health. In the study of Ahrens et.al (2006), they proposed knowledge-based guidelines on the lifestyle activities and dietary in health promotion and disease prevention of children for consumers, professionals, and stakeholders.

There are many reasons why children gain excessive weight. Childhood obesity causes can be due to unhealthy eating patterns and lack of proper exercise. This can also be caused by some hormonal problems. In finding out the cause of your children’s obesity, blood tests, and physical examination could be done to find out the best remedy for this medical condition.

Children whose family members are overweight are more likely to become obese. This can be associated with the shared family eating and activity behaviors. Also, children of today’s generation are spending most of their time watching television and playing computer and video games, thus, making them inactive. They are more prone in not getting enough physical activities that can greatly help them prevent from being obese.

Focusing on the overall health and not just on a target specific weight is the best way to prevent children obesity. Being optimistic towards food, physical activity, and wellness regardless of weight is also a great lift. In making food choices, it will be more enjoyable if it is done by the whole family. Most of the time, people especially children skip meals which make people more prone to obesity. With this, a fix daily snack and meal time should be scheduled. Home-cooked means are more preferable than fast food because it is a healthier choice especially in terms of the food’s oil and sugar content.

Moreover, personal and open communication is the best way to prevent childhood obesity. Many parents feel frustrated for their children being picky on food preferences. Talking about nutrition and exercise with children helps their children to have a better understanding of health. An exchange of thoughts regarding health concerns can help the whole family to come up with strategies on keeping a healthy lifestyle. Working together as a family will make everything easier and more achievable especially in terms of health.

Back To Top