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Hi, my name is Amanda Burr, and I'm going to be
talking about ways to prevent childhood obesity.
Obesity in children is hitting epidemic status
in the United States.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, 16.3% of children and adolescents
aged 2 to 19 are obese.
This means they are at or above the 95th percentile of the 2000
BMI for age growth charts.
There are ways for you as a parent to prevent your child
from having a poor diet and being physically inactive.
The first tip is to make sure that your child
always eats breakfast.
No one should ever skip breakfast.
Having your child eat breakfast helps them pay more attention
and be more focused in the morning.
Some healthy breakfast choices are a cup of cereal, a piece of
toast, an English muffin, some waffles and yogurt,
and oatmeal with fruit.
The second tip for preventing childhood obesity is balancing
the meals your child eats.
You can do this by giving them a variety of foods with
a combination of quality carbohydrates and proteins.
The third tip is to avoid liquid calories.
Try not to have your child drink fruit juices or
beverages that contain sugar.
This is because they digest more quickly than solid calories.
So you should encourage your child to drink more water.
The fourth tip is to stock up on non-fat and
low-fat dairy products.
Calcium is good for children to have, but not the calories or
fat that the whole milk dairy products contain unless your
child is two years of age and younger.
Some ideas for this is giving them skim or 1% reduced fat
milk, slices of cheese and yogurt that are either
non-fat or low in fat.
The fifth tip is to fill them up with fiber because fiber
provides volume and will fill them up so they
won't be hungry as long.
The sixth tip is to give them juicy foods.
Fruits and vegetables that contain a high water content
that is built into the food can help fill them up.
And watermelon is a great example of a juicy food.
Because just drinking water will not fill them up because it will
leave their stomach more rapidly.
The seventh tip is to provide veggies 24/7.
Keeping veggies available to your child around the clock will
help them not feel as deprived of food.
Some examples are baby carrots, cucumbers, bell peppers,
and cherry tomatoes.
The eighth tip is to limit snacks.
Letting them choose and plan their fun foods will help them
not feel as deprived of the junk foods that they would rather eat
than the healthy foods.
Some easy snacks for them can be 100 calorie packs, some animal
crackers, golf fish, or an apple.
The ninth tip is to make eating fun.
Having your child be involved in the grocery shopping and
preparing the meal will make them feel ownership of the meal
and they will be more likely to eat it than if they
didn't help prepare it.
The tenth tip is to maximize action.
You should try to get your kids moving.
Aim for at least an hour a day of activity and try to limit the
TV, computer, and video game time.
Interacting with your child can make a difference.
Play games that your elementary school child may love or
let your toddlers and pre-schoolers see how much
fun you have being active.
You can also use physical activity to counter something
that your child does not want to do such as homework.
They probably would much rather want to be outside for an extra
half hour before starting homework.
And finally, you need to be a good role model.
If you don't make good choices about your diet and exercise,
your child will most likely not make those choices as well.
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