Obesity is one of the greatest threats to the health of America’s children, putting millions of young people at risk for a range of chronic illnesses. For the past decade, childhood obesity rates have hovered around 17% for kids between the ages of two and 19. However, since 1980, the childhood obesity rate has tripled, with the percentage of obese teens quadrupling from five percent to 20.5%.
As a parent, you have a responsibility to protect your children. While you cannot control everything they do, see, or encounter, you do play a major role in ensuring that they are living a healthy lifestyle. Preventing childhood obesity starts at home. Below you will learn a little bit about the effects of obesity and how you can prevent it.
How does obesity affect the health and wellbeing of children?
Childhood obesity comes with a wide range of serious long-term health concerns. Obese children often develop medical issues that were previously only found in adults, such as:
- High cholesterol and blood pressure
- Type 2 diabetes
- Liver disease
- Bone and joint problems
- Sleep apnea
- Asthma and other respiratory issues
- Eating disorders
In addition to the numerous health problems obese children face, they are often subject to emotional difficulties like depression, anxiety, and poor self-esteem, and are more vulnerable to either being bullied or becoming bullies themselves.
How can I protect my children from obesity?
The answer is quite obvious, but it’s really easier said than done. You simply need to encourage and enforce a healthy lifestyle for your children, including good eating and exercise habits. Here are a few tips:
- Provide kids with plenty of fruits and vegetables. It is recommended you consume at least one-and-a-half to two servings of fruit and two to two-and-a-half cups of vegetables each day.
- Give them lean meats like skinless chicken and turkey.
- Limit their sugar intake as well as the amount of saturated fat they consume.
- Recognize and enforce portion control.
- Take frequent family walks around the neighborhood.
- Make a physically active game out of household chores.
- Encourage kids to get outside instead of staying in to watch television or play video games.
When you teach kids how to embrace a healthy lifestyle from the very beginning, it becomes a way of life that continues into adulthood. If childhood obesity is not addressed and managed, it can lead to serious health complications as an adult. It also may increase your healthcare costs and lead to higher premiums for life insurance policies in the future. Realistically, your height and weight ratio is something insurers take into consideration when determining your eligibility.
