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Obese children carry a lifelong risk of disease
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HAVING A chubby kid in the family is no longer cute. Overweight children often grow up to be overweight adults with an increased risk of suffering heart disease, hypertension, type 2 diabetes mellitus and some cancers. Cardiovascular disease processes may begin silently at a very young age, and being overweight may contribute to its rise.
Fault lies here
Why are so many kids overweight these days? Genetic factors play a very important role in bodyweight, but that does not lessen society's role in driving this phenomenon. For example, candy makers use synthetic sugars that are many times sweeter than natural sucrose or fructose to keep kids hooked on to sweets. The caffeine in soft drinks plays a similar role. There is more parental pressure now to make kids use playtime for study. On an average, the kids of today eat more high-calorie snacks, watch more TV and play more video games and less physical sports than the kids of the previous generation. When parents realize their child is overweight they should take him or her to a doctor. Sometimes a weight problem is just a temporary blip natural to the growth curve of the child. Some hormonal disorders can cause obesity, and a physician will be able to differentiate between lifestyle causes and endocrine causes. Whatever the reason for the child's obesity, being supportive and understanding is very important. Being fat damages a child's self esteem, and drawing attention to the child's weight usually does more harm than good.
Lead by example
Set an example for your child. The answer to lifestyle-related childhood obesity is as simple as that. Parents are the child's first role models, and children love to imitate what their parents do. If you make a habit of eating healthful foods and having regular exercise, the child too will make a habit of them. Take your kids with you to the gym; let them accompany you on walks; do most of your chores together and on foot. Make healthy living a family habit and take the focus off the child's weight. Focus on the healthful nature of exercise and good nutrition than on the fattening nature of junk food and inactivity. Warning a child not to eat certain foods simply increases the fascination for the forbidden items. Sending a child to "fat farms", where enforced regimens of starvation diets and exercise attempt to make obese kids thin in a matter of weeks, is dangerous and stupid because the child loses more self esteem, develops greater craving for junk food, and may develop a lifelong aversion for weight-loss programmes.
RAJIV. M
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