By Diana Maria

Overweight or obese kids have becoming an alarming epidemic across the globe. This problem is affecting households irrespective of class, color, sex and ethnicity. Children of both developing and developed nation are being affected with almost the same intensity. The extra pounds that these kids put on pose a greater health and emotional risk. They can be prone to diabetes, asthma and serious heart ailments. They can also suffer from mental stress because of the alienation from sports and other team activities, as well as possible teasing. They can also lack from enthusiasm and energy when it comes to do something.

One of the most important aspects of fighting obesity during childhood is to understand how they get those extra pounds in the first place. It is observed that mostly children these days are eating too much and not working out enough. More importantly they are hooked up to junk food and sweetened drinks more, which piles up lots of calories and hence those extra pounds. Moreover the situation might be complicated with more time spent idle using computers or video games, or TV or mobile phones. They might be missing out the good old running and sweating by physical exercise and not getting enough calories burned up. So here are a few tips and tricks that might help your child fight obesity and lead a healthy and active life.

#1. All for one and one for all:

Fighting obesity of a child and getting him or her back to correct shape and health is not someone’s lone responsibility. The best way to do it is to get the whole family involved. If the whole family starts eating healthy, and leads an active life, it will benefit everyone in the family. Moreover they will also become the role model of the child. Eat healthy and keep telling your child what you are eating, at times you can also discuss the positive effects of the food and offer him or her a bite too.

Try to have breakfast and lunch together. That will also show the children that all of you have the same food and also discuss the benefits of them too. Make low calorie snacks, and have healthy drinks like lemonade or fruit juices in the cooler. It is better to avoid those aerated and sweetened drinks.

#2. Watch your food & theirs too:

Most children these days are hooked to junk food and soft drinks that tend to pile up calories and those extra pounds. So to fight your child from getting overweight it is always better to start healthy eating habits. Serve and encourage eating all vegetables and fruits. Best way is to indulge in eating fresh and seasonal vegetables and fruits as they boost up the immune system as well. Try to avoid the frozen foods as they tend to lose their food value and does not taste great most of the times. Also add enough roughage in the food. Use different colored vegetables to make the dish colorful and attractive. But make sure to use very little fat and oil to cook.

Use fish, nits and vegetables as a source of fats as they are also needed to keep one healthy.

Skipping breakfast or lunch is not a healthy way to lose weight. Make sure that your child has breakfast and lunch and does not remain hungry for too long. Skipping meals does more harm than you can imagine. Make sure that the child also sees you eating all those healthy food and knows their benefit as well.

Avoid junk food and drinks as much as possible and encourage children to do so. Treat them with something special when they do so.

While making snacks or dessert make sure that they are low calorie ones. There are many ways to make delicious low calorie desserts and snacks.

Also keep track of the portions that you are serving. It is better to have small portions over a gap of two to three hours instead of having a huge portion once.

#3. Make them sweat:

Make your children work. Let them run or jog or do physical exercise that makes calories burn. You can enroll them for swimming or martial arts or any form of sports that needs rigorous exercise. You can jog and ask them to cycle at a brisk pace with you, or they can run and you can cycle along with the, swimming is a very good option. Also gymnastics and other physically demanding and challenging sports can do a lot of good.

Do not idle yourself and lead an active life, this will help the children follow suit.

There are also some indoor games like badminton that can be very demanding physically. You can also indulge in gardening that can be physically demanding and keep you fit along with your children. Yoga can also be a good option. In case everything else has to be kept on hold for one thing or the other clean the house using the old broom and dusters with your kids.

#4. Reduce Screen time:

Limit the time your children spend in front of the television or the computer. Also limit their mobile phones. More they sit idle more they lose interest in physical activity. And without physical activity they definitely will add on those extra pounds. Take them to walks, parks and that will also do your health a lot of good.

Conclusion:

Your child may be already stressed because of his overweight or obesity. A drastic change in your lifestyle may add more to it. So do it in a slow and steady way and keep him informed about the changes in an informal way. Enroll him / her to some hobby that he/she likes as that has been seen to improve self esteem. Most importantly don’t get let down by love for your child, if you feel your child to be obese consult experts and then plan your moves accordingly. A healthy childhood can only lead to a healthy adulthood.

– Diana Maria is a writer blogger. She loves writing, travelling and reading books. She contributes to Neil Druker.