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How to deal with your overweight child?






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There is an increasing trend in childhood obesity all around the world. Obese children are at risk of developing sleep apnoea, low back pain, arthritis, diabetes, high blood pressure and cholesterol, and heart disease in the future. Evidence also showed that obese children have less self-confidence and are more prone to develop depression.

In order to keep your children healthy, parents must teach them how to make better food choices since they are young and encourage them to be physically active. If your child is overweight, the key to childhood weight problem is to “control” weight gain, but not weight loss. The proper way to help children controlling their weight is to maintain a slow rate of weight gain, and let height catch up to weight.

As parents, you can do the followings:

1. GIVE HEALTHY FOOD CHOICES.
Serve whole-grains carbohydrate as the main component of a healthy diet.

Choose lean meat, poultry with no skin, fish and tofu as protein source.

Encourage to eat more vegetables & fruits.

Have 1 -2 serves of skim or low fat milk products everyday.

Limit deep fried foods, sugary drinks & salty snacks.

2. BE A GOOD EXAMPLE
Children like to mimic what their parents do, including their eating habits. So if you want your children to eat healthy, then you should too.

3. ENCOURAGE YOUR CHILD TO EAT BREAKFAST
Skipping breakfast can slow down children's metabolic rate, in turn leading to weight gain. On the other hand, eating breakfast can help to burn fat and avoid children from over-eating at lunchtime. Choose whole-grains such as oatmeal, unsweetened breakfast cereal, whole-wheat bread along with a serve of low fat milk or yoghurt.

4. LET YOUR CHILD CONTROL THE AMOUNT OF FOOD HE/SHE EATS
A child's body is naturally sensitive about satiety, and when to stop eating. Forcing children to clean up the plate can cause ignorance of the full feeling, and may lead to over-eat. So encourage your children to be aware of their internal hunger and fullness signals when eating.

5. CREATE A GOOD PLACE CHILDREN TO EAT
Keep TV, books and toys away from the eating area, as they will only distract children from controlling the amount of food they are stuffing into their body. Encourage children to focus on eating before performing other activities.

6. ENCOURAGE PHYSICAL ACTIVITY
Physical activity is essential in weight maintenance for overweight children. To provide encouragement and support, parents should exercise together with their children. For instance, take walks together after dinner, jump ropes at home, and plan hiking trips or ball games during weekends.

Moreover, cooking a healthy meal together with your children can also teach them how to eat healthy; here is a recipe that you can try.