Taking Steps To Avoid The Dangers Of Childhood Obesity

Childhood obesity is on the rise and is creating new problems for both child and parent. There are many reasons for the increase in obesity among children such as:

• Easy accessibility to many processed foods that promote weight gain
• Decrease in quality time of parents which results to lack of time in preparing healthy food for their children.
• Increase in child entertainment that promotes a sedentary life style. More and more children are getting hooked on watching television and playing video games and in the process spend less and less time for sports and other play activities.

Put all of these together and you have growing childhood obesity rate that’s like a time bomb – it can blow up in all our faces.

The negative effect of childhood obesity to the physical and mental health of children is alarming. More children are now in danger of high cholesterol levels which can lead to heart problems - a disease used to be associated only with adults. Being an overweight or obese child can also have harmful effects as the child is growing up.

An obese child is more than likely to be obese when he or she grows up. This means that there is a great possibility that a child suffering from childhood obesity will more likely have obesity problems when he becomes an adult.

Obesity causes high cholesterol and in turn could lead to hypertension or a heart attack. These are just some of the possible illnesses that an obese child will develop if he retains his excess weight when he becomes an adult. In effect childhood obesity creates a risk factor at an early age.

The negative effect of childhood obesity is not limited to the child’s physical health. Children who are obese may also experience psychological problems. It is not uncommon for obese children to be treated as outcasts by both their peers and elders. They can become the subject of jokes at school by both their classmates and teachers. This may cause an abnormal social development. They may have less friends, become shy and introverts. They will become even more discouraged to participate in social activities such as team sports and in the process become even more overweight.

They may not live up to their potential as well. Childhood obesity can lead to loss of self esteem and self worth. Such an individual may think of themselves as no good. So a possible president of the United States or a person who will make a scientific breakthrough may not achieve his purpose in life because of his weight.

Help your children now by making sure they grow up with a healthy body weight. Parents will find that the process required to achieve this, and the simple steps of obesity prevention will actually be easier and less problematic compared to obesity treatment. Giving them healthy home cooked meals, keeping them active though sports and other recreational activities, keeping them away from watching television and playing video games non stop, are sure ways of not only keeping their weight down, but getting them physically and mentally fit to face the challenges of the future.

source http://www.lowercholesterolnews.com/