Parents Should Watch What Their Kids Eat

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saladheartFrom Your Health Journal…..”Everyone who visits here a lot knows how much I love The Times Of India web site and articles. I always try to promote their site, as they have such great health articles. Today’s article discusses how parents should monitor what their children eat. Children often eat what their parents eat. Parental eating behavior has a strong influence on children. So, parents have to eat healthy around their children and set good examples – so their children do not grow up to be overweight of obese. Changes need to be made which include making schools devote more time on physical education and promote walking or cycling to school. Promoting an active school concept by opening up sports and recreational facilities that the community can use is equally important. This was an excellent / helpful article. Please visit The Times Of India web site (link provided below) to read the complete article.”

From the article…..

Children often eat what their parents eat. Parental eating behaviour has a strong influence on children. Experts underlined this during an open forum on childhood obesity on the second day of a conference by the All India Association for Advancing Research in Obesity and Poona Hospital and Research Centre 2013 (AIAAROCON) on Sunday, in which teachers and parents participated in large numbers.

“To prevent obesity in adulthood, it is important to take the necessary precautions from childhood. Parents need to realize that being overweight is not healthy and should do something about it when their child is young, so that they do not face health problems later. Family and school-based approaches can be used to deal with this problem,” said bariatric surgeon Jayshree Todkar, organizing secretary of AIAAROCON. Elaborating on the school-based approach, Todkar said, “Children spend a fair amount of time in school, which makes school-based interventions important. These include making schools devote more time on physical education and promote walking or cycling to school. Promoting an active school concept by opening up sports and recreational facilities that the community can use is equally important.” Outdoor sports should be cultivated from a younger age rather than screen-based video games, she added.

“Family-based interventions, when targeted properly, can prevent the speed of obesity in children from a very young age. The calorie intake of children should be monitored at all times, especially junk food, chocolate and cola intake. They should be taught to eat mindfully, not eat in front of the television or computer as they don’t realize how much they have eaten at one go. Eating out should be discouraged,” Todkar said.

To read the full article…..Click here