How Parents Can Prevent Childhood Obesity From Home

There are more and more obese children: they eat poorly, eat a lot of fat and sugary foods, and do little physical activity. Preventing this pandemic is everyone's responsibility, starting with adults. How can parents prevent childhood obesity from home? We give you some tips!

The childhood obesity it is a disease that is on the rise every day. Unfortunately the figures in pediatric age worldwide are alarming. Entities such as the WHO have published on multiple occasions that this condition can be prevented if a healthy lifestyle is followed and habits are instilled from an early age in life.

And all this in order to avoid later diseases such as hypertension, diabetes, dyslipidemia (high fats in the blood), heart disease, certain types of cancers or insulin resistance. Most of the population believes that they are only adult diseases, not knowing that children can also suffer from them, and they can appear at an early age of life or in adult life.

But what happens in the short term? What happens in the day to day with children who are overweight? They have a hard time falling asleep, which affects their school performance, making it harder for them to concentrate and keep their studies up to date. Other consequences are social isolation and low self-esteem. Children lose mobility, which makes them unable to participate with their friends in games or activities.

Now, to start this article I want you to know a little about what is known as 'the first thousand days'. This is nothing more than the food that your baby receives during the time it is in your womb, which is 270 days of pregnancy and the first (365 days) and second year of life (365 days) outside your belly.

All the food that your child receives in this period will affect the rest of his life in a negative or positive way. I'm talking about it, since, in addition, there is a window of opportunity at the nutritional level at that stage, since the first foods and their variety and quality will have a great impact on whether your child leans more towards a healthy or inadequate diet.

For this reason, it is important when starting complementary feeding to offer healthy, nutritious foods that include all the food groups, and from the beginning teach them to choose healthy foods and eliminate those that are harmful. It is also important, as pointed out by the Comprehensive Care of Prevalent Illnesses in Childhood 'to avoid eating while watching television or using food as a punishment or reward'.

The recommended diet includes 3 main meals and 2 snacks or snacks, and that include the following food groups:

- Proteins both vegetable and animal (if possible avoid red meat) and / or eggs.

- Carbohydrates, preferably whole grains (I do not mean processed cereals), tubers and legumes (beans, lentils, soybeans, chickpeas ...).

- Fruits, vegetables and vegetables daily and of different color, since the nutrient depends on it.

- Healthy fats, avocado, olive oil, seeds or nuts.

- Dairy products, including cheese, yogurt and milk, without abusing it, since in large quantities it can lead to anemia due to lack of iron, constipation and an increase in the Body Mass Index (BMI).

The best option for snacks or snacks is always going to be fruit. It is important to avoid foods with large amounts of sugars, juices (whole fruit or pieces are recommended and not in juices), industrial pastries and sweets, as well as processed and ultra-processed foods, fried foods, sodas, sweet cookies, chocolate drinks, among others.

All the foods described above are high in calories, which makes the child fill up quickly and displace foods that are nutritious, altering their palate and leaning towards very sweet or very salty foods.

In addition to the above, it is also important to eat as a family, so parents should eat healthy and lead by example, since children are imitators par excellence; It is also convenient not to bribe, not to scold, not to punish, not to force ... Mealtime should be a time to share with the family and to laugh. What if we make it the most beautiful routine in the house?

And finally, to complement all the above, it is necessary not to forget the role of physical activity in obesity. This can range from walking 30 minutes a day, to sports activities such as swimming, soccer or basketball and others that help improve the child's health.

There will be situations or moments in which it is not easy to carry out these types of activities because you cannot leave the house, so from Guiainfantil.com what we recommend is that you exercise at home: it can be to run for a while down the hall or in the living room, play a game that involves movement, such as dancing, or going up and down the stairs of the portal.

The indiscriminate use of electronic screens should be avoided, since they only favor sedentary lifestyle and, therefore, do not contribute to improving the health of the child but in many cases worsen it.

You can read more articles similar to How Parents Can Prevent Childhood Obesity From Home, in the Obesity category on site.

Video: How parents can prevent childhood obesity? - Dr. Dhanashree Kulkarni (September 2020).