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This article was co-authored by Laura Marusinec, MD. Dr. Marusinec is a board certified Pediatrician at the Children's Hospital of Wisconsin, where she is on the Clinical Practice Council. She received her M.D. from the Medical College of Wisconsin School of Medicine in 1995 and completed her residency at the Medical College of Wisconsin in Pediatrics in 1998. She is a member of the American Medical Writers Association and the Society for Pediatric Urgent Care.
This article has been viewed 28,491 times.
The rates of childhood obesity are growing, especially in places like the United States where fast food and processed foods are inexpensive and readily available. When children become overweight or obese, they put themselves at risk for health problems including diabetes, asthma, high blood pressure and cardiovascular problems.[1] Kids who are labelled fat by their peers are also subject to ridicule and social stigmas. Keep your child from getting fat by encouraging healthy eating habits and regular exercise, while limiting time in front of the computer and television.
Steps
Part 1
Part 1 of 3:
Making Dietary Changes
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Encourage eating healthy foods. The best way to prevent your child from becoming overweight is to instill and encourage healthy eating habits from an early age. Take some time to learn about healthy nutrition online and then help your child make good choices by promoting lots of fresh fruits and veggies, lean meats and fish, whole grains and low-fat dairy.
- Teach your child to choose at least one (if not two) veggies per meal. Don't expect them to like what you like, so expose them to lots of variety such as sweet peas, lentils, asparagus, zucchini, yams and bell peppers.
- Children strongly mimic their parents, so it helps a great deal if you adopt healthy eating habits and slim down first before encouraging your kid to do the same — practice what you preach.
- Avoid fatty, fried and breaded foods as much as possible. Learn other ways to prepare food, such as grilling, broiling, steaming, baking and sauteing.
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Serve reasonable sized portions. Another strategy to help prevent your child from becoming too hefty is serving more moderately-sized portions.[2] If left to their own devices, hungry children will pile food onto their plates because their "eyes are bigger than their stomachs." As such, dish up their plates for them when they are young and make sure they finish everything before allowing a much smaller second helping (if need be).
- Your child will soon come to appreciate what a reasonable meal size is and won't be tempted to mound their plates and over-eat.
- Portion size should roughly be equal to the food your child can hold with both their hands cupped together.
- Start your child with a low-calorie salad with some raw tomatoes and veggies before serving them a smaller portion of higher-calorie protein (meats, fish, poultry) and/or carbohydrates (pasta, rice, potato, breads).
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Limit and be creative with treats. Every child has a sweet tooth to a lesser or greater degree, so you have to be prepared to allow some types of desserts and treats on occasion. Sweet desserts and treats shouldn't be served after every meal, or even every day, but could be given a few times a week. Be creative and choose naturally sweet fruits for desserts, treats and snacks instead of sugary high-calorie types like candies, cookies and donuts.
- A ripe banana, mango or a handful of sweet blueberries or grapes make great low-calorie treats and snacks.[3] Add the ripened fruit to some frozen yogurt for a nice dessert.
- Stock your kitchen exclusively with healthy treats, so your child has no other choice and is not tempted by baked goods and potato chips.
- Unsalted nuts are also a good idea for treats. They're relatively high in calories and natural plant-based fats, but they are a good source of protein and minerals. Just make sure your child is old enough to eat nuts without choking on them. If anyone in your household is allergic to nuts, then do not keep nuts in your house.
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Make better beverage choices. A significant source of calories and reason why so many kids are overweight now is the prevalence of sugary drinks (such as soda pop) in their diets. Consuming so much sugar in a short period of time causes the pancreas to secrete too much insulin hormone, which causes the sugar to be quickly stored as fat. As such, replace soda pop, energy drinks, sweet tea, artificial juice and milkshakes with mostly purified water, as well as some low-fat milk and natural fruit / vegetable juices.[4]
- Drinking lots of water can help curb a child's appetite and make their bodies a little more efficient at processing nutrients and burning calories.
- A small glass of water, low-fat milk or soy milk is appropriate with meals, but shouldn't be used as a crutch to "wash food down." Encourage your child to eat slowly and chew thoroughly before swallowing — they'll get fuller sooner.
- To help your child get their recommended 5 servings of fruits and vegetables a day, mix some in a blender with some frozen yogurt or almond milk and make a smoothie.
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Part 2
Part 2 of 3:
Encouraging Healthy Eating Habits
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Establish regular meal and snack times. Establishing a set time for when your child / family eats meals and snacks removes doubt associated with feeding times and reassures them that they won't feel hungry for very long. This will teach your child not to open the fridge and cupboards in search of calories whenever they get a twinge of hunger. The downside is that you'll have to prepare and serve most meals and snacks to your child, so set aside the time for it.
- Your child shouldn't be eating right before bed because excess calories are more likely to be stored as fat instead of burned off, so restrict meals and snacks at least 2 hours prior to bedtime.[5]
- Serve snacks about 2 hours after meals and choose ones that are nutritious, relatively filling (lots of fiber), but not too high in calories. Good choices include sliced apples, carrot sticks, wholegrain crackers, light popcorn, edamame beans and low-fat yogurt.
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Eat together more as a family. It used to be much more common for families to eat meals together, at least dinners in the evening, but times have changed and schedules seem busier and more incompatible. However, eating with your child will allow you to observe and direct their eating habits, and they will be more impacted by your good example. As such, coordinate schedules and eat meals together as a family as often as possible.
- Eating together also stimulates important conversation and encourages closer family bonds, which is important for a child's confidence and self-image — both of which can affect weight.
- Aim to eat together as an entire family for either breakfast or dinner on a daily basis. If the work week is too hectic, then definitely make time on the weekends.
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Reduce eating out at restaurants. Although eating out can be fun and be good for family bonding, the food at restaurants tends to be fattening and relatively unhealthy, especially for growing children. As such, limit eating out, especially at fast-food restaurants, even though it seems convenient sometimes and a lot less work than cooking at home.
- When you do eat out, pick restaurants that have salad bars or go to ones that make their food fresh and made to order.
- Make your own pizzas and hamburgers at home with healthier and fresher ingredients. Use more vegetable toppings and whole grain dough and buns, for examples.
- Eating healthy at home isn't cheap anymore, but the money you save from not going to restaurants as much will help ease the cost of groceries.
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Part 3
Part 3 of 3:
Encouraging an Active Lifestyle
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Limit television time. No matter how exciting the television show or movie is, the act of watching it is completely sedentary, which promotes weight gain if done too much and too often. Most researchers agree that older children should be limited to less than 2 hours of "screen time" (TV and computer combined) per day once they are away from school — and toddlers shouldn't be viewing any TV until they're older and more mature.[6]
- Although reading and studying are also sedentary activities, the benefits far outweigh time spent in front of a TV.
- Remember that it won't be effective to tell your child to quit watching TV if you are still on the couch gawking at it. The solution is to turn the TV off for extended periods of time.
- Instead, encourage your child to find fun activities (board games and outdoor stuff) to do with family members or on their own that involve more physical activity and social interaction.
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Limit computer gaming. Computer / video gaming and internet surfing has actually become more popular than TV for many children, so this has to be limited also to under 2 hours daily combined with TV watching. Kids are clever at sneaking onto the internet and playing games thanks to wireless internet and all the devices that can connect to it, so this won't be easy.
- Instead of just severely limiting the computer time and letting them get bored, replace their computer time with physical activity that's not so sedentary and addictive.
- Invest in a computer gaming system for the whole family that involves moving your bodies and getting fit, such as the Wii system by Nintendo.
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Encourage physical activity. Once you have your child away from the TV, computer and gaming consoles, you need to fill the time with some physical activities that are perceived as fun or at least stimulating. In general, children and teens should get at least 1 hour of moderate-to-intense physical activity most days of the week, if not every day. Exercise obviously burns calories and either stimulates weight loss or maintains a healthy weight.
- Good, safe physical activities that will get the heart pumping include brisk walking, hiking, playing tag, jumping rope, cycling and rollerblading.
- As with eating, it'll help tremendously if you also adopt an active lifestyle and participate in the physical activities with your child. After all, you're likely their most important role model, at least while they're younger.
- In addition to burning calories, exercise encourages stronger bones and muscles, better coordination and flexibility, and reduced risk of many diseases such as diabetes and high blood pressure.
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Sign your child up for a sport or activity. If you think your child needs more structure or would benefit from the comradery and sociality of team sports / activities, then sign them up for something in your local community. Look into teams and activities to join at their school, church and community center. Appropriate choices include baseball, soccer, volleyball, tennis, swimming lessons and dancing.[7]
- In addition to burning calories and keeping the weight down, your child will also learn important social and communication skills from sports and organized physical activities.
- Sports don't always have to be competitive and high pressure if you're concerned about your child's abilities. Choose non-competitive ones if it's more appropriate.
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Tips
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Remember to read labels when you are food shopping. Check the list of ingredients for sugar, fat and sodium contents.Thanks
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Cook and freeze meals in advance when you have the time. This will help you avoid the temptation of feeding your child a fast food or processed meal when you are in a hurry.Thanks
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Include your child in shopping for and preparing meals. This will interest them in cooking and eating well as they grow older.Thanks
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Warnings
- Putting your child on a calorie-reduced diet may compromise their growth and development. Focus on nutritious food and good health instead of calorie counting or weight goals.Thanks
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References
- ↑ http://www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/children/
- ↑ http://www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/children/
- ↑ http://www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/children/
- ↑ http://www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/children/
- ↑ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK83818/
- ↑ http://www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/children/
- ↑ http://www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/children/
About this article
Laura Marusinec, MD
Board Certified Pediatrician
This article was co-authored by Laura Marusinec, MD. Dr. Marusinec is a board certified Pediatrician at the Children's Hospital of Wisconsin, where she is on the Clinical Practice Council. She received her M.D. from the Medical College of Wisconsin School of Medicine in 1995 and completed her residency at the Medical College of Wisconsin in Pediatrics in 1998. She is a member of the American Medical Writers Association and the Society for Pediatric Urgent Care. This article has been viewed 28,491 times.
Co-authors: 20
Updated: October 11, 2022
Views: 28,491
Thanks to all authors for creating a page that has been read 28,491 times.
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