My
daughter is the heaviest child in her class. She's only in second
grade. Can I put her on a diet? Don't
"put her on a diet. Change her diet. You'll notice
the difference very quickly.
Tragically, the
children of America are getting fatter. Studies reported in Prevention
magazine found that children weighed an average of 11.4 pounds
more in 1988 than they did in 1975, even though average height
measurements had not changed. In other words, our children aren't
growing taller. They're growing wider.
If something isn't
done, these obese children will first become obese teenagers and
then obese adults. Most overweight children are unhappy underachievers
who learn early that you can bandage a hurt by slapping food on
it. Some children will continue to eat everything in sight. Others
may stop eating altogether in an attempt to get thin, developing
severe eating disorders which can be life-threatening.
If you have school-age
children, you shouldn't control the quantity of food they
eat. Instead, you need to pay special attention to its quality.
Despite your best efforts, children will trade lunches and use
their allowances to buy sweet, processed foods from vending machines.
It's up to you to make certain that the food that's served and
stocked at your home is healthy and nourishing. It may take some
time to retrain your child's taste buds so she'll reach for a
slice of cantaloupe as readily as for a piece of candy, but it
can be done with patience and good humor. It will be a big help
if you make certain that you've swept out all the foods that are
bad to eat and keep the cupboards and refrigerator filled only
with the fruits, vegetables, legumes, and grains that will encourage
good nutrition.
If you had started
your daughter on this food plan from infancy, your feeding task
would have been easier. From breastmilk, a child can go to steamed
vegetables and mashed fruit. Parents shouldn't use butter or cheese
sauce to make these vegetables more appealing. If your child says
"yuck", wait a few weeks and then offer them the food
again. You'll find they may like it better as their taste buds
mature. By the time a child is two or three, it will then be easy
to explain that the cookies at Grandma's house aren't the kind
of food you eat at your house. You aren't depriving your child
of anything. This is the time to scrub out the food fallacies
you were raised to believe.
It is a little
more difficult if you are changing the diet of a child who has
been eating junk food for six or seven years. Pediatricians have
found that very few overweight children really have glandular
problems. Usually the reason they are obese is that they are eating
more calories than they burn off. Not only are they eating too
much, they are eating fat calories that pack the pounds on quicker.
The secret I want
to teach every parent is how to approach the subject of losing
weight. Simply making sure that your child exercises a few times
a week and eliminating a few hundred empty calories a week will
result in a slimmer child. Did you know that 50% of a child's
calories comes from the snacks in between meals? If you substitute
fruit for candy, or carrot sticks for potato chips, you are on
your way to seeing a healthier and happier child.
The worst thing
you can do is talk about diets or fat. You want
to keep up the child's self-esteem and prevent eating disorders.
Instead of negatives, talk about food that will "make you
run faster" or "help you play soccer better" or
"have more fun at the beach. Make the new foods into a game.
Seek out the bad ingredients in various products around the house,
and throw those products away together. Teach your daughter that
eating correctly is something she can take pride in. Be light
hearted instead of heavy handed. Show your love and have fun!
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