Why my child is fat?

Studies done in 2012 found that about 6.7% of the world’s children population aged less than 5 years old were overweight or obese.  That comes out to about 44 million children.  Wow!  Don’t you think that it’s a big number?  This means that more of our children are open target to  more serious health complications and an increased risk or premature illnesses.  This is because obesity in children often leads to health problems.  Why my child is fat?

Needless to say, these overweight children usually transform to overweight teenagers.  As a result, 80% of these overweight teenagers contribute to an overwhelming obese adults.  Guess what we have now?  A list of killers.

Top Killers

• Heart disease – No.1 cause of death worldwide.
• Cancer
• Stroke
• Diabetes
• Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
• Hypertension, etc.

Why my child is fat?  Are we not more health conscious now?  Is obesity inherited?  Well, the answer is yes, as gene contributes to this factor, but not totally because the environment has its own part to play.  Our environment can be very influential, be it negative or positive.  Since today’s kids spend most of their times on tv, video games, internet games, therefore they have lesser times on physical activities.  Thus, it is not surprising, why my child is fat?

How can we control the environment?  What step should we take?  Where do we begin?  Determining a child’s good health is an affair of the family.  As such, a strong family support is called for.

Steps to Take

1. ensure that a child eats a proper, balanced diet –  3 meals a day at regular time consisting of whole grains, fresh fruits and vegetables.
2. observe a healthy lifestyle habits.
3. stay away from tempting junk food as the nutrients intake of these food is low but the overall consumption of sugar, total fat, saturated fat and sodium is significantly high.
4. drink plenty of water instead of sodas, juices and other beverages.
5. encourage at least 1 hour of active outdoor exercises daily.
6. cut down on tv and substitute it with more reading.
7. get plenty of rest.
8. create activities such as family outings, art & craft, visits to the library,  etc.
9. be a role model to our child.

Take Actions

So, let’s get started and help our child out of obesity.  Obesity hinders our child from his abilities to perform well.  Begin monitoring our child’s emotional life – understand his feelings and not left him neglected.  We should always make our child feels loved unconditionally.  Take action and stop asking why my child is fat!  I hope this little “piece” opens a new window for us.

Feel free to share your views and leave a comment below.

Your friend in health,

Norleila