Childhood Obesity: A Serious Medical Condition

Dr. Sanford Siegal's COOKIE DIET™
With childhood obesity on the rise, parents and health care professionals are trying to correct this serious medical condition. These kids are heading towards diseases that were once the domain of unhealthy adults. There are both physical and psychological issues that need to be addressed.

Causes of Childhood Obesity

There are genetic diseases, such as Cushing’s Syndrome and Prader-Willi Syndrome that can cause a child to be overweight or obese. These diseases are rare. Scientist’s have discovered that some children have a genetic predisposition to become overweight. This predisposition can be controlled through healthy eating and lifestyle changes.

The main cause of childhood obesity is eating nutrient-poor, unhealthy foods combined with a profound lack of physical activity. As a parent, you must educate yourself on healthy eating. It may not be what you believe it to be. You must also become more active with your child.

What is Healthy Eating?

In a nutshell, it is eating natural, whole foods and strictly limiting “junk” food. This can be a difficult change to make if you’ve been eating a lot of fast and processed foods. With persistence, you can make lifetime changes to your lifestyle making you and your children healthier. That seems like a worthy goal, doesn’t it?

Make Small Changes

Make small changes to combat obesity such as replacing white bread with whole-grain. Many people say “I prefer white bread”. My response is “Do you? Or is it that you’ve become used to it? When I made the switch to whole grain a few years ago, I had trouble making the change because I preferred white bread. I persisted over 6 to 8 months in making the switch.

What happened? I now like whole-grain bread over white. I like the texture and the way I stay full longer after eating it. It has more fiber and nutrients. It digests slowly providing steady energy without the blood sugar spikes of white bread.

Use fresh or frozen fruit to make smoothies instead of the sugar-laden, processed fruit juices. It will provide your child with essential nutrients for proper growth and development. Involve your child when making these drinks. Teach them about nutrition.

Healthy Snack Foods

Here are some healthy snack foods:

  • Fruit and fruit smoothies
  • Nuts and seeds
  • Cheese and whole-grain crackers
  • 100% all-natural peanut butter
  • 100% jams and jellies – no sugar or high-fructose corn syrup added
  • figs and dates

Physical Activity and Childhood Obesity

Healthy Food
Losing Weight Is Easy with Bistro MD 
www.bistromd.com
Healthy Meals		
Get one FREE week of meals with your 
first eDiets' Deliciously Yours meal 
delivery order 
http://ediets.com
It is important for children to be engaged in some form of physical activity for normal growth and development. It doesn’t have to be calisthenics or jogging programs although these are good programs. Make it fun. It should be something they enjoy and will do every day.

Help your child choose their activities, however let them make the final decision. The choices of physical fitness activities are only limited by your imagination. Any activity that lasts for at least 60 minutes per day is required for proper growth and development.

To fight childhood obesity, you must instill healthy habits into your child’s lifestyle.

Is Your Child Obese? Learn How He/She Can Lose 11 Pounds in 9 Days!


footer for childhood obesity page