What is obesity?
Too much fat in our body is not good for our health, and if it deteriorates the condition of our body, then it is called obesity. Excess of nothing is good. Not fat, too.
How do you know if someone is obese?
To determine if someone is obese or not you need to find out the BMI or which you can also call body mass index of that particular individual. If the ratio of the weight to height is not near to what it should be then, the person is either over or underweight. None of them supports your health. The BMI of people varies with sex and the age of the individual. If it is greater than the 85th percentile, you fall into the category of overweight. And if it is above the 95th percentile, you can be called obese.
Now we will see how obesity in children affects them:
- Psychological effect
Not just physiological but obesity also affects you psychologically. You go to school and friends make fun of you. You don’t really feel good, do you? The emotional effect has far more impact than it should actually be for children. Adults can still cope with it, but the immature ones fail to cope up. They lose confidence to open up, too.
- Several ailments associated with it
Well, the physiological problems are no less pronounced. It can result in diabetes or any kind of cardiac problems or high blood pressure. Worst cases can also cause cancer. Also, you may suffer from fatty liver ailment or foot structure problem due to obesity.
- Menarche in girls
For girls, it is more problematic. We see menarche in girls with more weight earlier than it should be. You may also have to deal with asthma.
- Obesity can lead to anorexia or bulimia
Now as we know it does affect us psychologically too, we either tend to stop eating or vomit after you eat each time. This is in order to prevent weight; you feel so. But this is a kind of disease. If you stop eating at all, you have fallen into the category of anorexia and if want to vomit out everything you’ve taken then it is bulimia.
- Obesity may lead to depression
If you can’t control weight, then it will continue to be with you in your adulthood, too. Being teased by fellow people and harassment seems to take place. You may get into depression and develop no self-esteem.
- Cardiomyopathy
You may suffer from heart ailments in which your heart will not be able to pump blood smoothly.
What causes this?
It can be just not your fault at times. You can be obese also, if your parents were, which is purely genetic and not in your hands. But yes, you can also be responsible for being obese. How? We all live in the era of technology, where you don’t really have to do any sort of physical activity. Then, where from are you going to get rid of all your body fat? Having too much of snacks, fast foods, spicy and oily foods? Then, of course, you are prone to be obese. Kids who use technology too much, almost more than 3-4 hours a day, are likely to be obese.
Some common causes are as mentioned below-
- Less breastfeeding to infants- We find now less mom breastfeeding their child. They gain their nutrition from some other products like the formula foods instead which help them to gain weight and finally obese when they grow up.
- You probably never walk to school- Parents prefer taking you to school by driving in car. so, there is no physical activities to burn the fat that you have taken that day.
- Too many junk foods to pamper you- You’re the only child so you will be pampered. And nowadays you mostly find a nuclear family. So you can easily spend all the money on the big burgers to have a big tummy later! Chocolates, ice-creams, and a lot of calories, too to store.
- No parks to play- Do you see parks nowadays or a big ground where all the students are playing and having fun? No, they are all used to building monsters of bricks and cement.
- Schools are not giving proper importance to sports– Even school has stopped emphasizing on sports, nowadays.
- Increase in portion size– As the kids often take higher portion size than what they require, they get obese soon.
- Junk foods are easily available– Energy drinks and other empty calorie-rich foods are easily available. These empty calorie foods do not give you proper health but result in getting stored as fats in the body.
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Where social media should spread awareness, they are busy advertising the chicken bucket of the popular fast foods shops and other junk foods that you should not consume at all. Unhealthy foods are so well put up that any kid would love to have it, be it chocolates or fast-food. Parents blame the ads; the media blames the parents for keeping up with the demands of the children. And who gets obese in between? The kids, who are yet to understand what is and what isn’t good for them.
We will now see some ways to prevent the obesity in children.
Do’s and Don’ts of Diets for childhood obesity:
- Avoid high-calorie foods- You better follow a good eating habit in order to stay healthy. Avoid having foods that gives you too much of calorie. The drinks that are have too much of sugar in it should be avoided too. so, avoid the burgers, french fries, cokes even though you feel too much tempted to have them.
- Avoid oily foods- Vendors who sell snacks put a lot of oil in the foods. You really need to stop having them daily. The school needs to ask them not to settle just outside the school so that as soon as they move out, they start having them.
- Avoid visiting restaurants frequently- Junk foods will just deteriorate your health. Not just obesity, you will have to deal with all problems in liver and kidney too. Avoid going to fast food restaurants daily. According to stats, the McDonalds have over 4 lakhs children and 2 lakhs teen haunting on their website to fast food delivery.
- Have milk, vegetables, fish, meat, cereals- Have milk and foods which are cooked in a home with low oil and fat. Have green veggies, pure fruit juice done in the mixer. They will make you healthy. Even if you want to have some fancy food, try to cook it at your home only.
- Some physical exercise daily is a must- You better now start to work out if you don’t want to grow up as an obese adult. If you want to lose weight, you have to be active. Regular physical exercise should be done.
- Morning walks and games periods in school are extremely useful- Go for morning walks, engage yourself in playing activities in school. Games period is not for you to gossip under the tree but go outside and play something.
- Play outdoor games- Let not your body-fat be so close to you that you keep it with you forever. Just not video games, you also need to play outdoor games.
- Television- Don’t watch too much of TV. Yes, you read that correctly. More the ads in TV, more you get attracted to have the junk foods. Cut the commercial line. Get your programs recorded and watch them.
It is a worldwide problem now, and you need to prevent it. It will affect you badly, both emotionally and physically. You want to grow as a pretty lady or as a handsome hero, don’t you? Then, do put a check on your diet and do some work-out. Stay tuned, stay pretty and attractive!
