Howto protect your children from obesity
We all know that the childhood stage is the perfect stage for learning. It is a period where they easily absorb information like a sponge. That is why most parents focus on teaching lessons, building up values and good habits. This could also be the best time to teach them healthy eating. Obesity is an issue that most parents would not want their children to have. Early cases of obesity lead to low self esteem for kids, early signs of diseases, lack of energy, inappropriate weight loss concerns, and are usually associated with laziness and even stress.
Common complaints of adults would go something like, “I wasnot used to eating vegetables” or “I usually eat fast food, it’s what I grew upwith”. All these can be blamed for poor diet management when we were kids. Sodon’t allow this to happen to your own children. As parents you have fullcontrol over exposing them to healthy eating. Here are further tips on how topromote it.
Try to minimize fast food products on your dining table.
Fast food products and processed food are sources of obesityfor children. It is best not to make them available at your dining table allthe time. This might cause time and effort, but preparing a healthy meal isideal. It may be a simple whole grain cereal for breakfast and vegetable saladfor lunch. Processed foods like bacon and other fried stuff will have to belimited, and you should limit them to a maximum of three to four times a week.It doesn’t really matter, as long as you have a healthy diet 80% of the time.That’s good enough.
Promote Activities.
Allowing them to watch too much television and play too manycomputer games won’t help your children in the least in controlling their weight. It is best toinvolve them in activities, and you can start with simple household chores.Teach them how to vacuum, sweep, etc.Assigning tasks for these kids will not only help them to get moving, but alsoinstill a sense of responsibility.
Introduce a healthy diet.
It may be Mediterranean diet or any healthy diet that youlove. Basically it will consist of fresh fruits, vegetables, whole grains,fish-meat, low trans-fat meat, and definitely less grease, sweets and salt.Prepare healthy recipes for your meals and slowly introduce them. It isimportant to set examples and not just mention “eat this and that”. So eattogether with them and enjoy a happy meal with the whole family.
Allow them to prepare their meals.
One good technique you can use, which is quite effective forkids, is to allow them to prepare their own meals. Give them simple and safetasks that they can do, which may be sorting out vegetables, or bringing youdifferent food items. Remember to only allow them to chop if they are trulycapable of doing it already. Accordingto study this process will entice children to eat what they prepare, and alsoappreciate preparing healthy food.
Explain the importance.
You can make use of colors. Did you know that vegetables aredesignated with colors and they have special benefits with them? Greenvegetables like spinach and lettuce give you basic nutrients and vitamins like folate,whilst orange or yellow vegetables like sweet potatoes, mangoes or carrotsboost your immune system and have high vitamin C content. Learn more aboutthese colors and be informative and factual to your kids. They will love that.
Add these simple tips and the basics like eating small mealsand drinking lots of water, and you will surely promote a healthy eatingpattern for your children. You don’t have to worry about obesity concernsanymore.
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