Child Obesity
The number of overweight children is increasing. Different children at different stages of development have different requirements, however, here are some general tips for preventing or dealing with an overweight child.
What causes obesity?
Achieving a balance between the energy consumed from food and drink and the energy expelled (burnt up). Any surplus calories are converted by the body into fat, the greater the energy surplus the more body fat is stored and the more the child becomes obese.
What problems do obesity cause?
- A child that is clinically overweight has a greater chance of heart disease and diabetes
- An obese child has a greater chance of being an overweight adult, which is linked with heart disease, diabetes, and cancer, arthritis, strokes and other serious health problems
How do you know whether your child is over weight?
All children come in different shapes and sizes so it is difficult to tell whether your chold is obese just by looking at them. You can only tell by working out their Body Mass Index (BMI) and checking this against the BMI table for their age and height.
Calculating Body Mass Index (BMI)
- Measure your child’s height
- Multiple the figure by itself e.g. 1.25m x 1.25m
- Weigh your child in kg
- Now divide your child’s weight in kg by the squared height (as calculated in 2)
- The result is the Body Mass Index
- Check the Body Masss Index against the ages listed on the Body Mass Index chart. If the BMI is more than that listed, your child is clinically overweight.
How can you prevent obesity?
The following tips are common sense ways to help prevent your child from becoming obese.
- Limit the amount of sugary sweets, drinks and snacks that you give your child
- Limit the amount of snacks that are high in fat or processed foods, e.g. crisps
- Choose healthier snack alternatives e.g. fresh or dried fruit
- Encourage your child to drink water or semi skimmed milk drinks rather than lots of sugary or full fat milk drinks
- Minimise the amount of fast food your child has e.g. burgers and chips are high in fat and calories
- Portion sizes should reflect your child’s age. Often the portions are too large and this encourages children too eat too much when emptying their plate
What to do if your child is already overweight?
- Visit your doctor.who will be able to recommend a dietician and a suitable eating plan
- The second course of action if your child is growing in height is to maintain your child’s weight, and as your child grows taller, their BMI will reduce
- If your child feels hungary while you are managing their diet, you might need to choose foods with a low Glycaemic Index (GI) for snacks. Glycaemic Index or GI is a measure used by dieticians to measure how long carbohydrates take to be absorbed into the bloodstream. A food that takes a short time to get into the bloodstream has a high GI, e.g. sugar or glucose. Low GI food helps prevent you feeling hungry.
- You could also encourage your child to eat slowly, e.g. an apple takes longer than a glass of apple juice
- Give your child plenty of fluids, especially water with meals
Foods based on their Glycaemic Index <<Read More>> |
