Teaching Healthy Habits: How Parents Can Prevent Childhood Obesity
Parents setting good examples, when accompanied by the application of basic math, could cure the obesity epidemic in the United States. The CDC declares that, in the last 30 years, childhood obesity has doubled, with there being a fourfold increase during the same time period for obesity in teens. It is easy to blame the food industry, video games, fast food lifestyles and other things, but the facts remain that obesity leads to metabolic disorders, which lead to serious health issues such as cardiovascular disease and diabetes.
Parents Need to Learn Healthy Habits First
It is impossible to teach what one does not know. Words such as fiber, carbs, protein, good fat and bad fat are heard but not well understood by the general population. Fad diets abound, severely restricting carbohydrates and pushing proteins or stressing not to eat certain foods. The math says that, if weight needs to be lost, then the body has to go into a net caloric deficit. That means either cutting back on calories consumed or increasing calories burned. The best "diet" does a bit of both. The count of …show more content…
What should be striven for is a change in the patterns of eating over time. This is why fad diets are useless, especially for children. Actual eating habits from what is eaten and how much is consumed needs to be changed in children at risk for obesity. This generally will be a trend away from heavily processed foods that are packed with sugar, salt and fat to more healthy alternatives. The Standard American Diet (SAD) is a plate with mostly meat followed by some starch and just a tiny bit of vegetables. Fruit is consumed as juices instead of its fresh, whole form. Making the switch, however, from unhealthy eating to a plant-based diet overnight will be an uphill battle. Make changes slowly, consistently and permanently for the entire
Parents setting good examples, when accompanied by the application of basic math, could cure the obesity epidemic in the United States. The CDC declares that, in the last 30 years, childhood obesity has doubled, with there being a fourfold increase during the same time period for obesity in teens. It is easy to blame the food industry, video games, fast food lifestyles and other things, but the facts remain that obesity leads to metabolic disorders, which lead to serious health issues such as cardiovascular disease and diabetes.
Parents Need to Learn Healthy Habits First
It is impossible to teach what one does not know. Words such as fiber, carbs, protein, good fat and bad fat are heard but not well understood by the general population. Fad diets abound, severely restricting carbohydrates and pushing proteins or stressing not to eat certain foods. The math says that, if weight needs to be lost, then the body has to go into a net caloric deficit. That means either cutting back on calories consumed or increasing calories burned. The best "diet" does a bit of both. The count of …show more content…
What should be striven for is a change in the patterns of eating over time. This is why fad diets are useless, especially for children. Actual eating habits from what is eaten and how much is consumed needs to be changed in children at risk for obesity. This generally will be a trend away from heavily processed foods that are packed with sugar, salt and fat to more healthy alternatives. The Standard American Diet (SAD) is a plate with mostly meat followed by some starch and just a tiny bit of vegetables. Fruit is consumed as juices instead of its fresh, whole form. Making the switch, however, from unhealthy eating to a plant-based diet overnight will be an uphill battle. Make changes slowly, consistently and permanently for the entire