Weight Loss - Child Obesity
Weight loss is not just necessary for adults, as child obesity has reached epidemic proportions. Child obesity is medically far more serious than most parents realise, as many of the more serious adulthood illnesses have been linked to child obesity, including Osteoporosis, diabetes, heart-disease. This however does not mean children should be put on a weight loss diet, but rather, children should be encouraged to eat a balanced healthy diet. It is also important as not to recognise that children do need more body fat than adults, as the brain needs healthy fats to develop and grow.
The causes of child obesity
With the rare exception of a medical condition, the cause of child obesity is the result of poor diet and not performing being active enough. Not being active does not mean that children should follow a specific weight loss exercise program, but the simple games that children play in the playground should be enough to keep them fit and healthy, as long as it is done for long enough and often enough. The family diet is another factor that contributes to child obesity, and it is a known fact that obese parents also have children that suffer from obesity. This is because the children often eat exactly the same food as the parents.
So why do children prefer not to play in the playground? Well, from a psychological perspective, children tend to get easily distracted by external influences, which stops them from being physically active. The most common of these distractions include, electronic games, Television, The Internet, overly focused on the academic achievements, lack of friends to play with, fear of being bullied for partaking in physical activity.
Addressing child obesity
As explained above the root cause of child obesity, with exception of children suffering from a medical condition, is poor family diet and lack of sufficient physical activity. Children often eat what ever the parents feed them, and as such tend to follow the same eating habits as the rest of the family. It is for this reason that if parents are obese then the children also tend to suffer from obesity. To help children with the problem of obesity, the whole family should also consider following a weight loss diet. In addition to this, the parents must draw up an exercise timetable for the children. The exercise timetable does not have to be in the form of a specific sport as such, but it could be any form of physical activity such as playing ball in the park or playing in the play ground with other children. Children are used to following a routine and are therefore more likely to follow a routine activity than an ad-hoc one. Ideally the activity should be done prior to a main meal, therefore ensuring the child's metabolic rate is raised immediately prior to eating a meal and hence reducing the chances of the excess calories being stored as fat.
|
|
 Children & Obesity
In simple terms, obesity is caused when the body stores excessive calories.
Obesity in civilized countries is reaching epidemic proportions. What
is worrying is that the children too are now more obese than ever before
in the history of man kind!
Child Obesity and Weight Loss
 Calories and Weight Loss Weight loss depends on the amount of calorie intake. Calories are used by the body to perform its day-to-day functions. However, when the calories taken in is greater than the energy burnt, then the excess calories are stored as fat. The most common reasons for excessive consumption of calories are:
- Psychological
- Emotional
- Lack of knowledge
- Habit
calories and weight loss
 Weight loss plans There are a number of VERY dangerous diet plans used to target weight loss. A dangerous, or misleading, diet is one which provides "rapid" result. Remember, in order for a diet to be effective and safe, your body needs time to adjust to the change in your lifestyle. This is because rapid dieting will almost always have health consequences, and in fact research has also shown that as soon as your body adjusts to the diet, you will start to put on weight at even a higher rate than before.
Weight loss diet
 Weight Loss plans to be avoided For legal reasons we are unable to actually name dangerous or misleading
weight loss diets, however, the following is a list which should help
you identify these diets for yourself.
- Any diet that cuts out any essential food groups (Specially carbohydrates!)
- Any diet that promises or guarantees fast result
- Any diet that involves you drinking only liquid food.
- Any diet that involves you buying processed and ready made "food
substitutes".
Weight loss diets
 Diet
 Exercise Exercise is vital not only to a safe weight loss plan, but, is also crucial to the general operation and well being of the human body.
Weight loss exercise
 Measuring Body Fat Measuring the Body Fat is a much more accurate way of measuring
how your weight loss program is going than using a bathroom
scale. The bathroom scales are highly misleading!
Measure Body Fat
 Swimming Swimming is a VERY effective and safe way of burning calories. Its one of the safest ways of exercising as you do not put any excessive force on the joints.
Swimming
 Walking Walking is one of the safest form of exercise as you burn those calories without excessive wear and tear on the joints.
Walking
 Pilates and Yoga Pilates and Yoga are important to any weight loss program as they both encourage good body posture and alignment.
Pilates
|
