Top Ways to Prevent Childhood Obesity

When it comes to helping to prevent childhood obesity one of the main things that a child can be taught is balance. Teaching a son or daughter the importance of appropriate portion size and about the calories contained in both food and drinks while keeping up physical activity can play a vital role not only in keeping him or her within a healthy weight range throughout the younger years, but also as he or she becomes a teen and an adult.

The right strategy to prevent childhood obesity can place the necessary knowledge and habits in a person’s hands so that normal growth will be possible and to help to make proper weight maintenance a more natural part of a regular lifestyle.

That said, these important lessons to prevent childhood obesity aren’t just a matter of sitting down and discussing the issues with your child. While discussion is a part of it, you need to actually live it in order to build it into regular habits. Lead by example by working to adopt the same habits for yourself. It won’t do much good for your child if you’re eating all the junk food that he or she craves, while you serve only veggies, lean proteins and whole grains to him or her.

Instead, make eating healthfully your new normal. It’s not that sugary or fatty snacks should necessarily be completely banned. Instead, reinforce the fact that those foods are meant to be treats. They taste good because they are rare and they help you to celebrate various occasions. Having Friday pizza night won’t hurt anything when you’re eating healthfully for the rest of the week, after all. The same can be said for a small dessert every night. Just keep it small. There really isn’t any need to have more than one cookie.

If your child is already resistant to eating nutritious foods such as many veggies, consider letting him or her in on the food preparation process. Children are far more willing to try foods when they’ve made them, themselves. Sharing food prep time also gives you the opportunity to discuss the nutrients in each food and why it’s good to eat them.

The same can be said about introducing great habits in physical activity. Work a bare minimum of 30 minutes of exercise into each day. Do something together, even if it is a brisk walk or a trip to the park.