Avoid child obesity for a better life and a better future
Our future is our children. It is our duty to guide them to have a healthy life. But nowadays, developing childhood obesity, especially in urban areas, has become a major public health issue in our country too.
What happened to us?
It is the most important question. In the past decades, childhood obesity was not a big issue. Most children lived happily. They maintained a balanced lifestyle with their education, sports and especially with the diets. They studied at the school, they ate healthy foods from their mom’s kitchen, and then they played the whole day outside with friends doing running, swimming, cycling, hiding, hiking, etc. Some children are good runners, some are good swimmers, and some are good fighters. With the urbanization, busy lifestyles are headed. Most people migrated to urban areas and settle down. Due to high living costs, both parents have to go for jobs. And they got limited time to spent with their children, to cook for them and play with them. Since parents do not have time to prepare food for their children. They buy cooked or instant meals from outside. Thus, fast foods, fatty foods, and processed foods become more familiar with our children. Also, children get less time to play outside with their friends. They are forced to do more studies since their elementary classes. Thus, children are depressed with this house-hold environment. So naturally, our children got to adapt to an inactive lifestyle by spending more time with play stations. As a result of these all, they become obese.
What is this childhood obesity?
It is a medical condition that affects children and teenagers. Obesity can describe as the accumulation of excess body fat that raises the bodyweight than from their ideal body weight.
Causes and treatments for obesity
Several factors can work together in order to increase the risk of being obese. Major of them are eating habits, dietary patterns, and physical inactivity. So, let’s see more about these causes.
- When considering dietary patterns, limited intake of fruits and vegetables, consumption of food and beverages that are high in sugar and saturated fat on a regular basis such as fast food, candy, baked goods, and other sugary drinks, Consumption of refined grain products frequently such as white bread, breakfast cereals, bread, crackers are the factors, associated with childhood obesity. When shopping, the parent should concentrate on buying more fresh fruits and vegetables, instead of going for more convenience sugary or fatty foods.
- Nowadays, our children become sedentary by doing activities that don’t burn calories from body such as watching TV, playing video games, and chatting on social media. But children should be encouraged to play games outside to keep them active. Let your child do physical activities at least 1 hour for the day with their friends or siblings.
Dasuni Nawoda