10 Ways to Trim Childhood Fat

Obesity is a health issue mostly in developed countries. It causes a lot of chronic cardiac diseases. In the United States, 1 in 5 children suffers obesity. Just like nutritional deficiency affects the developing nations, obesity and over-nutrition are a main problem to children and adolescent living in the United States. A survey done by the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey between 1988 and 1994 showed, eleven percent of American children and youth are obese and an additional 40 percent are at risk of becoming obese. It is important to monitor your child’s eating habits to avoid them from becoming fat.

1. Monitor Children usually get a high percentage of calories from between-meal snacks. During that period, encourage the child to eat snacks that are nutrient dense and low-fat foods.
2. Avoid the “clean plate syndrome.” Children need to develop and practice their internal appetite control signal on their own. It is your work to make nutritious food and serve it creatively, but not to fill up the child’s plate.
3. Discourage boredom eating. Keep your child busy with things that they enjoy doing. Discourage eating alone in front of the television. Restrict frequent visits to the refrigerator to satisfy their snack cravings.
4. Resist using food as a reward. Food rewards contribute substantially for a child to become obese. It instills an unwanted eating habit from the child. Instead, you can pay a child with special outings to appreciate the child’s job well done.
5. Trim TV watching. Trim TV watching time to accommodate time for exercise and other extracurricular activities. More TV hours contribute to obesity due to inadequate fat burning exercises and a slow metabolic rate in the body.
6. Model healthy eating habits. Children acquire behavior from their parents. Behavior eating habits will most likely influence the way your child will eat. Girls are more influenced by parental diet than boys.
7. Take baby steps. Gradually change the eating habits of a child who has suddenly switched from a junk food family to a healthy eating family to avoid a temptation of going to a junk food family next door.
8. Send your child off to school with a good, nutritional start. Studies show that those who miss breakfast overeat during the day. Basically hunger triggers the neurotransmitters that stimulate eating thus the effect of overeating caused by missing breakfast. Make sure you give your child breakfast to avoid overeating that will increase their daily
9. Water down the sodas. Soft drinks contain five to nine teaspoons of sugar per serving that trigger the sugar-insulin-fat cycle. Overindulging on a soda can cause
10. Set realistic goals. Don’t set goals that are unachievable. In case your child is fat; you can set a goal to maintain the weight for a year, making it a plus to a growing child. Make sure you seek your doctor’s help in monitoring your child’s progress by frequent health check-ups.