It should be stressed that formal dieting, and especially giving your child a severely restricted diet, should only be attempted with medical approval and the appropriate nutritional supervision. Many pediatricians believe the best course is to try and hold an overweight child’s weight at a steady level, and avoid losing large amounts of weight at a time, until such a time as their height is at a healthier proportion to their weight.
The following steps will not only help to facilitate healthier eating habits, but will also increase the amount of physical activity that they do.
Assessing the Health of Your Child and Whether They are Overweight
Before you make any personal or environmental changes in your teen’s life, take a few minutes to survey what your home life is like. Do you allow them to lead a sedentary life, and are they given plenty of chances to over eat at any time? If you do, then it is important that you bring any changes in to these areas of their life gradually.
First, look at just how many hours your teen spends either watching TV, or sitting at their computer. A teen can spend up to 24 hours a week watching TV. Log any time that they spend doing either, watching TV or on the computer, and try to reduce this by half.
When you have meals, does your family gather around a table, or do you eat most of your meals sitting in front of the TV or computer? If you do, then try and make it a family rule that, in the future, all food (including snacks) will be eaten in the kitchen or in the dining room at a table.
Such a small change has been shown to significantly reduce the amount of over eating that takes place in the home.
Next, you will need to take a close look at your fridge and food cupboards. Which foods do you have that you are most likely to eat when hunger hits you? If the foods are high in fat, sweetened or low in nutritional value, then why not try to find healthier alternatives instead, such as fresh fruit and vegetables?
No comments:
Post a Comment