Childhood obesity

As anyone can clearly note, childhood obesity has become an increasing problem in America today. While experts may blame anything and everything from video games to trans fats, this finger pointing isn’t helping our kids get any healthier. Ironically what may be harming our kids is our overenthusiastic attempts to help them. What may actually be causing obesity in children is all this worrying about weight loss and strictly regulating their diets.

            Children come in all shapes in sizes. Some kids grow tall and lanky at first and then eventually fill out. Others go the opposite way and grow wider before they grow taller. No matter which way your child grows, his growth will remain normal as long as his eating habits remain normal. When you place eating restrictions on your kids or when they place them on themselves, you are making a statement about the right and wrong way to eat. Food restrictions can refer to the more obvious—a weight-loss diet, banning unhealthy junk foods, etcetera—or to the more subtle restrictions—pushing healthy foods, labeling foods as good or bad, limiting portions, hiding certain foods or questioning food choices.

            Both types of these restrictions can result in your child being afraid that food won’t be available the next time they are hungry or there won’t be enough food the next time they eat. These fears cause children to become preoccupied by food, cutting them off from their natural regulatory eating signals and leading to overeating when the opportunity arises, which can happen quite frequently. At fast food restaurants your children have access to large portions for low prices. They can indulge in foods you restrict when they are not with you at a friend’s house or from the vending machines at school. In these situations they eat more than they usually would because they fear they won’t always have such unlimited access to food.

            So how do you ensure that your children maintain a healthy weight without enforcing food restrictions? You need to create confidence in them that they will be able to eat when they are hungry, eat enough to feel satisfied, and be able to eat foods they like by structuring snacks and meals. Set times for meals and snacks that ensure your child doesn’t become too hungry, which is usually two to three hours for a younger child and three to five hours for an older child.

Don’t let your children graze throughout the day. They should only eat at defined snacks and meals. Make sure there is enough food at meal or snack time so that there’s some left over. This may seem like a contradiction of everything you’ve ever read about healthy eating habits for kids, but it will allow them to see that there is always an abundance of food rather than a limitation on it. This will prevent them from overeating.

Watch out for the subtle forms of food restrictions like pushing healthy foods or questioning food choices. Introduce your children to a variety of foods to provide the opportunity to try new things and try to stay away from manufactured foods as much as possible and serve real foods more often. Fast food can be dangerous if eaten several times a week, but isn’t harmful if eaten once in a while and in moderation. Also try to stay away from liquid calories, which can add up without anyone realizing it. Serve milk or water at meals instead. When preparing meals for the family, try to include a protein, starch, fruit or vegetable, break and dairy. Physical activity is also important to your child’s health, but it should be done for fun and overall health rather than a weight-loss method.