Understand
obesity and how it can affect your child. Know what obesity is and
isn't might be the best place for you to start. For instance, if you
visit AACP you'll find that a child isn't considered overweight until
his or her weight is 10% higher than the recommendations for height and
body type. A child's struggle with obesity usually starts around the
5th or 6th year of life and worsens during adolescence. There have been
many studies, which suggest that if a young person is overweight
between the ages of 10 and 13, they have an 80% of being obese as an
adult. (See Resources for link).
You child's poor eating habits, overeating or binging, lack of exercise, stress, and low self-esteem can all lead to his or her weight issues. Being overweight increases your child's risk of heart disease, diabetes, insomnia, and breathing problems.
Lead by example. The best possible way to teach instill healthy habits is to practice them yourself. Go to www.diabetes.org and find out how to decrease the changes of developing Type 2 diabetes. Eat more green vegetables, drink water instead of soft drinks, switch to lean meats and avoid processed foods like white bread whenever possible.
Start
an exercise program either alone or with your family and get into
better shape. You don't have to train like you're entering a marathon,
but the habits you show your children are the ones, they will be most
apt to develop themselves. If you want your children to be healthy then
consider getting as fit as possible yourself.
Eat at least one meal a day with your children. It can be hard with complex work, school and sports schedules to manage an hour or so a day when everyone in the family can sit down and be together, but studies show that the family who eats together will develop better, healthier habits, especially if the meals include plenty of raw vegetables, lean meats, poultry, or fish prepared without frying. Going to sites like Mayo Clinic and looking for heart healthy meals such as ginger marinated grilled Portobello mushrooms will demonstrate to the young people in your family that there are exciting foods with great taste you will never find on a fast food menu. See Resources for link.
Share
your knowledge about healthy values. Understand what's important for
your child to know and pass the information along. You child needs
breakfast. This doesn't have to be complicated or take too much time.
Avoid processed foods like sugary cereals or pre-made tarts. A piece of
fruit, boiled egg, and a toasted whole grain muffin would do nicely. As
long as there is some protein as with the egg, and a complex
carbohydrate like a whole grain muffin as well the important fruit
portion a hastily made type of breakfast is still great.
Either
pack a healthy lunch or go over what choices a child should make when
purchasing food at school. Don't forbid your child to have any treats
as this will just make such treats even more impossible to resist. Just
let children know what the alternatives are and the actual consequences
of over indulging in bad food choices like being overweight or not
having good health.
Prepare some healthy snacks for when they
return home from school. Have these ready to eat and some place where
the children can readily find them. This will combat the habits of
grabbing cookies, chips or soda.
Encourage the young people in the
household to drink water. Limit the number of soft drinks, even diet
drinks, they can have per day, and make sure to stock up on fruit
juices or healthy decaffeinated teas.
Do
not nag. The most helpful thing you can do when working on how to
encourage healthy habits is not to nag. Lead by example and encourage
them enjoy the rewards of a happier, healthy family.