Childhood Obesity

Childhood obesity is a serious medical condition that can negatively affect children, because when children start gaining extra wright at an early age, it usually leads them to a path full of health problems and diseases. These illnesses will then turn into major health issues they deal with as adults and may never be able to cure or easily get rid of. These include diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and even heart disease or cancer. 

Apart of the health side, childhood obesity can also lead to poor self-esteem, anxiety, and depression. That being said, these childrensuffering from obesity will, in most cases, grow up to be weak and have low confidence in themselves. As a result, they may not be able to communicate with others and be socially active as they would always fear the way other children, or people in general, look at them. 

As a result, it is important to point out that not every child with a couple extra pounds are overweight. In some cases, children may just have a large body frame than the average. In fact, children usually have different body fat amounts depending on the development stage they are at. That still does not mean they are overweight, it is just how their body and bones are built. That being said, you may not be able to tell if your child is overweight by just looking at them and immediately assuming; not always will it be a health concern. 

One of the main reasons of childhood obesity is their incorrect and unhealthy lifestyle. Meaning they most likely are not too active and have a crazy amount of calories from foods and drinks through the day. These two factors can easily and definitely lead your child to gain unhealthy weight. However, that is not the only reason for childhood obesity. Genetic and hormonal factors can play a significant role as well. 

The following list includes the two most important reasons and risk factors that can lead to childhood obesity: 

• Continuously eating foods and meals that are high in calories. For instance, fast and junk food, baked meals and unhealthy snacks found at vending machines, candies, sugary drinks, sweetened fruit juices, desserts, sports and energy drinks. These foods can easily cause your child in an unexpected gain of weight in such a short period of time. 

• Minimum to no exercise. Children who lack of physical activity and do not exercise are a lot more likely to gain unhealthy weight than other children. That is because they all eat calories every day but with their lack of exercise, it is impossible for them to burn these calories and thus, they will suffer from childhood obesity. This particular group of children are the ones who spend too much time watching TV or playing video games and never going outside to play sports and etc. 

• Family factors. If your child has overweight family members or is living in an environment in which foods and meals that contain high calories are always or consistently available and physical activities are not usually or regularly encouraged, the child will most likely (if not definitely) gain unhealthy weight and face childhood obesity at an early age. 

The following list includes some tips to prevent your child from gaining unhealthy weight:

• Set a good example of yourself to your children. When your children see you preparing and eating healthy meals and avoiding unhealthy foods, and regularly exercising and performing many different physical activities during the day, they will most likely do the same. In addition to that, this is helpful to you as well, everyone will benefit from this practice, and most importantly, the child will not feel singled out for their weight or obesity. 

• Offer healthy snacks and encourage your children to eat them instead of unhealthy snacks. Some of these healthy snacks you may have available are fruits, mixed nuts, baby carrots with hummus, whole-grain cereal with low-fat milk, and fruits with low-fat yogurt. 

• Reward your child after every healthy meal they finish or after every exercise session they complete. Examples: a visit to the park or zoo.