The causes are multiple: from genetic factors to poor diet and sedentary. Childhood obesity is an extremely worrying problem, the number of overweight or obese children growing at the rate of 400,000, and that only in Europe, reveals an annual report of the European Union.
Obese children not have only health problems such as diabetes and liver disease when they are small, but is more than probable to face an increased risk of heart disease, cancer, hypertension, stroke and depression , as they get older. Beyond the problems that may occur in adulthood, other negative effects: socialize difficult, withdrawn, apathetic, irritable and misunderstood. In these conditions, sometimes even education decreases.
Parents with overweight children should seek immediate medical attention and, together, to develop a sustained program to help the younger. Obesity in childhood is a very severe problem, with deep traces in the child’s body and his psyche.
Rehabilitation. The process is slow and must take into account an essential fact: eating is a process that has a profound emotional charge. Deprive the child under 13-14 years of things to eat normally it will be received as a demonstration of his aggressiveness and lack of love from parents.
Ten golden rules:
1. Always eat together at fixed hours. Exclude food dishes, those with high calorie and excess sugar. Cooked food is healthy, low in calories more than the pre-cooked or fast food. Give up carbonated juices.
2. Consistently promoted activities involving physical movement. For example, walking, from home to school and from school to home. Stimulate children’s interest for sports: swimming, basketball, riding, skiing, skating etc.. Take care! It’s easy to start practicing a sport, but very difficult to continue.
3. Spend as much time as possible in the company of children and challenge him to participate in various activities: go for walks together or this week the family does not use the elevator.
4. Don’t impose a strict diet. It is difficult to follow for an adult and even more for a child.
5. Make sure to eat substantial breakfast and nutritious cereals, skimmed milk, fruits and, occasionally, eggs and lean meats or fish. A child who eats well in the morning will not need supplements. Give a balanced and varied lunch. It is not easy, but well worth the effort. First, rely on chicken, fish, green beans, cooked vegetables and salads. Vegetable soups are a real help, being rich in vitamins and low in calories. The child should not consume excessive amounts of bread. Teach him to eat some foods without bread.
6. Quit: sausages and salami, pork and fries or pasta excessively. Should eat: yogurt, vegetables, chicken.