Child’s Relationship With Food – Part III

HOW TO HELP YOUR OVERWEIGHT CHILD WITHOUT FAT SHAMING

India has the second highest number of obese children in the world, with 14.4 million reported cases, according to a study in the NEJM.

You should be concerned if your child has extra weight because weighing too much may increase the chances that your child will develop health problems now or later in life. Lot of it can be blamed on electronic devices; iPad, laptops, and the endless choices of streaming video content that have caused more inactivity in our kids that leads to weight gain.

In the short run, for example, they may have breathing problems or joint pain, making it hard to keep up with friends. Some children may develop health problems, such as type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol. Some children also may experience teasing, bullying, depression or low self-esteem.

Body dissatisfaction can lead to dieting, restrictive eating behavior, bulimia and other eating disorders in childhood and adolescents. How do we treat overweight children while preventing eating behaviors that can lead to eating disorders?

We do not want kids to go on any kind of dieting. The goal for children who are overweight is to reduce the rate of weight gain while allowing normal growth and development. Here are some tips I use in my practice to help overweight children establish good habits in order to improve health and lifestyle habits.

• Don’t tell them they are overweight and need to go on a diet. You don’t want to harm your child’s self-esteem by making their weight an issue.
• Don’t put them on a diet by restricting their food intake. Restricting calories can only be harmful by causing them to not satisfy their appetite and over eat later.
• Avoid serving large portions. Start with smaller amounts of food and let your child ask for more if he or she is still hungry. Encourage them to listen to their hunger cues, to stop eating when they are full.

This is the healthiest habit a child can have.

• Offer healthy meals and snacks 90% of the time. Make sure you are offering plenty of fruits, vegetables, whole grains and low sugar snacks (“growing foods”). Don’t stock the kitchen full of foods you don’t want your child to eat. Children need 2-3 snacks each day, spaced 2-3 hours apart from meals. Be a good role model and eat the same healthy food options that you offer your children.
• Follow 90/10 principle and not making favourite treats forbidden but to offer the less nutritious foods (” fun foods”) 10% of the time with a portion at the meal or at a snack.
• Reduce the added sugar in your child’s diet. Sugar has an addictive quality to it and just provides excessive calories that our bodies don’t need. The best place to start is by reducing soda and sugary beverages.
• Limit junk food and eating out at restaurants. A home cooked meal will have less fat, sugar, sodium and calories.
• Make sure your child is getting 60 minutes or more of activity per day. It includes, dancing, rope jump, cycling, jungle gym, swim class or playtime at the park.
• Limit their screen time to 1-2 hours per day in order to encourage other activities and outdoor play.
• Discourage eating in front of the television, computer, or other electronic device. Parents should keep mobiles away from dining table.
• Make sure child is getting enough sleep.

HEALTHY SNACK IDEAS:

To help your child eat less candy, biscuits, cookies, and other unhealthy snacks, try these healthier snack options instead:

• Seasonal and local fresh fruits , Paneer, Dahi, Nuts, Dry fruits
• Ghee roasted makhana, Corn (Bhutta)
• Fresh vegetables, such as carrots, cucumbers or tomatoes
• Low-sugar, whole-grain cereal with milk
• Idli, Dhokla (steamed snacks instead of fried)
• Home baked whole wheat cup cakes or muffins (instead of large cakes) to reduce portion size.

AAP’S EVIDENCE BASED GUIDELINES

I am pleased to share these evidence-based management strategies released by the AAP (American Academy of Paediatrics) in 2016 to help treat obesity and prevent eating disorders. These management strategies are a great start to improving children’s body confidence.

• Discourage dieting: Encourage and support the implementation of healthy eating and physical activity behaviours that can be maintained on an ongoing basis. The focus should be on healthy living and healthy habits rather than on weight.
• Promote a positive body image among adolescents.
• Encourage more frequent family meals.
• Encourage families to refrain from talking about weight but rather talk about healthy eating and being active to stay healthy.
• Inquire about any history of mistreatment or bullying in overweight and obese teenagers and address this issue with patients and their families.

Hoping I have been able to guide you help your kids through this difficult process. I have seen great benefits of adopting these methods in my practice as I am deeply interested in Child Nutrition. Please feel free to contact me in case of any queries.