How can we help our kids lose weight? Is it important that they slim down? Yes! It is vital that we “cut our kids down to size!” Extra calories are creating more than plump cheeks and chubby bodies. Unneeded calories are jeopardizing our children’s health. Instead of worrying only about how to pay for college, add weight reduction as an important responsibility in the stewardship of your child’s future.
Statistics show that overweight or obese children typically grow up to be overweight or obese adults or raise overweight or obese children who grow up to be…well, you get the idea. Part of the problem is certainly heredity. Our children may be born with an inner metabolism that predisposes them to weight issues. However, the eating habits they develop as children are often more to blame than their inherited tendency to be overweight.
Adults often don’t know the basics of good nutrition which will lead to a lifetime of weight management. (This is why most adults are also overweight.) Many of us were raised by parents (“or parents who were raised by parents”) who lived through the Great Depression of the 1930’s. The memory of bread lines and inadequate food supply has haunted their memories and they have developed attitudes about making sure they, and their children, get enough to eat.
After World War II when goods and foods, and the money to buy them, became abundant for so many people, there was an understandable desire to “live the good life”. Women went to work leaving little time for food preparation… and the ready-made-meals industry was born! It wasn’t until high-tech medical tools for research were developed in the late 50’s and 60’s that scientists began to uncover the relationship between what we eat and our health. (Remember the “damn the egg” move of the 60’s? The relationship between eggs and cholesterol became routine conversation.)
It took several decades, however, for over-consumption of fats, sugar, sodium, and calories to deliver the brunt of their effect. We became a nation of obese people with heart disease, diabetes, and high blood pressure. We are now in the “enlightenment” phase. We see the damage excess food habits and sedentary lifestyles have produced.
Start today to educate yourself and your children as to the problem (obesity is making us sick), and the solution (exercise and eating the right foods at the right times and in the right amounts). Our health as a family and as a nation depend on it!
Sue Bristol, R.N. says: “lose weight and lower your BMI”
By Sue Bristol | Submitted On February 29, 2012
Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Sue_Bristol/805988
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6671480
