Obesity is the heavy accumulation of fat in the body to such a degree that you lose control over the weight and shape of your body. Obesity rapidly increases the risk of diseases that can damage your health and can reduce your life span, including heart disease and diabetes, etc. Childhood obesity and overweight children have become one of the most pressing health care crises everywhere.
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The Root Causes for Childhood Obesity
- Lack of any physical activity or sedentary lifestyle
- Eating more calories than he or she expends
- Too much fat in the diet
- Too much sugar in the diet
- Family genetics
Nutritional Awareness among children
As a caring parent, you need to enhance your own and your family’s awareness of the nutritional and caloric value of the foods you intake on a daily basis. You should lead discussions with your child and other family members about your healthful eating goals. Creating nutrition awareness among children is very important in the modern world. Train them to read labels on food packaging and ask them to use the Web to learn about the calories in the food.
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Foods to Avoid in Obese Children
Ensure that the children avoid foods that add empty calories to the body. Such foods include fast foods, high-calorie snack foods, such as cookies, ice cream, potato chips, pastries, fatty, sweet, fried, and processed and high-calorie foods. High-calorie beverages such as soda and whole milk with low-calorie should be replaced with alternatives such as skim milk, ice water, and low or no-calorie drinks. Avoid butter, fat, heavy oils, and creamy sauces as they add fat deposits in the body which leads to obesity.
Balanced Meal Plan For Overweight children
Children must be educated on balanced and nutritious eating. Create enticing, snack and meal plans that draw your child and family into healthful eating habits. When planning for the meals, strive to represent all the food groups including grains, vegetables, fruits, dairy, and meats and beans. Include a serving of whole-grain pasta, whole grain bread or brown rice, and a 3- to 4-oz. serving of low-fat meat or beans, along with non-fat milk or yogurt. For dessert make them take fruits instead of ice cream soda etc. Plenty of plain water and buttermilk should be included instead of soft drinks.
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Giving Health Snacks To Overweight Children
Guide your children to consume healthy snacks such as fresh fruit, low-fat yogurt, raisins, fresh-cut vegetable salads, frozen fruit juice bars, fig bars, and graham crackers.
Food Limitation
Start measuring the food and its calorific value to be aware of how much food they should consume for their requirement of calories. Consult the online sources to get guidelines on serving sizes based on age, sex, and height. You can also get example recipes and meal plans based on specified daily calorie targets.