Childhood Obesity - What Parents Can Do About It

If you're like me, you're tired of hearing how bad our huge waistlines are and that our kids are too fat. The fact that it's true makes it even more annoying. It's time to lose the negative and find some positives. Here are some of my ideas:

1) Go Play: Seriously. Go play, with your kids. Get out the bat and ball, pick up the roller blades and get tantalizing as a family. Most aspects of play are also exercise, running bases in a softball field, skating down the sidewalk with the kids and going for long family bike rides can bring you closer as a family, lift your spirits and... Help you get in shape.

Roller Skates Shops

2) Good Food: Good tasting food doesn't have to be bad for you. You may need to experiment to find the right mix, but it's possible. We've developed a incorporate of habits that make healthy eating fun and natural. One is sort of odd, but works in fact well. We lightly steam broccoli (just sufficient that it doesn't feel like you're chewing on a twig) then eat it as is like popcorn.

Another is an appetizer platter. Fruit in season, popular vegetables, whole grain pretzels and other tasty foods are served before supper or during the evening movie time. This does a incorporate of things quite painlessly. The first is that it helps your family get the fruits, veggies and whole grains they need to be healthy and second it dulls the appetite a limited so that heavier foods aren't as desirable. I've found that if you switch around the various components so the tray doesn't get old, it can be a very beneficial way of having good food safely.

3) Fun Shopping: The average kid in the grocery store is passively riding in the cart or wandering behind a parent text messaging. Even when they are toddlers, kids can have fun helping you pick what you put into the cart for them to eat. As long as you stay away from the aisles with candy, cookies and junk food, this is very useful.

That, in itself, doesn't make it fun. We parents have to make it fun by explaining tastes, being willing to try new foods and otherwise encouraging kids from a young age to be nutritionally smart. An example of how this might work comes from an transfer between one of our daughters and a classmate.

They were sitting down at the table, and the young boy held up his sell out fat white milk and informed our daughter that he had made the better selection because it was reduced fat. She held up her carton of chocolate milk and pointed out that hers was fat free. Guess who changed his milk choices?

4) No Lectures: I've found it very easy to start pontificating to others, together with my family, about healthy eating. All I achieve is annoying a bunch of bored nonlisteners. It's not easy to step out of trainer mode, but avoiding even the sounds of a lecture is in fact better. Showing is better than telling.

5) Snack Smart: You and your family don't have to give up popular foods that are high in fat, sugar and so on. You just have to learn how to time it and how much makes a serving. In fact, eating something "bad" for you a incorporate of times a week can in fact help you lose weight. Just remember the serving size part. Eating a whole tray of chocolate chip cookies is not a smart snack...

If we can carry on to keep the words "diet" and "exercise" out of the equation...but still do them, we're ahead in the game. Let's keep it unavoidable and we can all come to be healthier.

Childhood Obesity - What Parents Can Do About It