Childhood Obesity: The Serious But Often Neglected Problem

"Mom! I am so tired. Feeling so hungry…”

“So am I, Tired and super hungry! Let me cook Maggi for both of us.”

“Mom! Can I get some chips and a glass of coke please!”

“Why don’t you try some grapes or apple and a glass of juice instead?”

“NOOOO! I want chips and coke only.”

Sounds familiar? We listen to these words in almost every household with kids almost everyday, right? In fact, we ourselves could be one of these people too. This unhealthy eating has led to Childhood Obesity.

Childhood Obesity is something that can’t be ignored anymore as it’s affecting more and more children and adolescents. It’s a serious medical condition that leads to many problems like high blood pressure, diabetes, etc. among children. It’s also one of the reasons children and adolescents face various psychological issues like depression, poor self-esteem etc.

Childhood Obesity is defined as a condition in which a child is significantly overweight for his or her age or height. Once considered a high-income country problem, obesity is now prevalent in low and middle-income countries too.

Diet is one of the major causes of childhood obesity. Children and adolescents love to eat unhealthy junk food like pizzas, chips, momos, etc. over healthy food like fruits and vegetables. Sometimes intentionally or unintentionally parents, siblings and friends encourage children to eat junk food.

Lack of exercise is another major factor of childhood obesity. Children spend their evenings and weekends playing games with their virtual friends on I-pads, mobile phones, Xbox etc. Due to their addiction to technology, children have reduced their outdoor activities, playing with other children in playgrounds, walking, running which would have helped them in burning their calories and make them healthy and active. As they spend more time with their electronic gadgets, their food intake has increased which mostly consists of junk food.

In a lot of cases, children who are part of less active overweight families also tend to be overweight. Personal and family stress also leads to children overeating to cope with problems and deal with the emotional stress.

The world is moving fast and we find our way of life has changed. Our days have become a schedule which we need to follow. Balancing our personal and professionnal life has been difficult as well. The level of stress, anxiety and pressure has doubled, especially since we have entered the digital world and the Covid pandemic.

Be it amongst children or adults, results are showing a shocking fact. We are facing obesity and it has become a worldwide disease. Awareness campaigns have started to develop in many fields.

At schools, canteens try to offer students the best quality meals possible, avoiding chips, salt and fat. Schools have partnerships with local farmers and hence, a more eco-friendly chain is developped, to make the locals live and give students the best meals possible avoiding pesticides. But it is not as straightforward as it seems. The worry is that it is costly and not all schools or parents have resources to promote it.

Fast food restaurants have also tried to come on board and tackle this global disease. In fact, they have developed salads and have been promoting the urge of eating well and healthy. But many find some of the healthy options have high calorie intake which means double the effort is needed to lose those pounds.

On social media, ads from many campanies' websites have understood the issue and try to sell « ways » of loosing weight to potential clients. It has become a business with its drawbacks. Online websites sell weight-loosing capsules, soups and recipes to attract people, with only a small percentage of clients satisfied. While some studies may reveal positive results, the fact stands that not all diets are appropriate for everyone and can in some cases prove prove be harmful. People are always advised to seek medical advice prior to trying any online diet and medication.

In search of better health and to reduce obesity, sadly, many times, the results are not what one expects. For example, overweight people or people with medical conditions may need the treatment to be adjusted to their individual needs and when this is not the case, it adversely affects not only their physical wellbeing but also their mental health. While individuals fight their personal battles against obesity, the perfect image of 'slim is in' leads people with weight issues to isolate themselves and they are at a high risk of being involved in dangerous situations I.e. suicide.

There are various therapies which can assist people experiencing anxiety and body image disorders. Medical professionals always urge people to find a personal trainer who can discuss the healthy way to lose weight and lead a happy and healthy lifestyle. Regular exercising and reducing junk food from our diet are some common steps to support the process of healthy eating and lifestyle.

Please discuss below ways parents, schools etc can help do their bit in reducing obesity in children.

Yuvika_15|| -RD-

Parents and teachers can discuss a balanced diet

Have information on display in classrooms about a healthy diet and it’s benefits.
Some countries offer free meals to children 5 years old and below (year 1 and 2) this can be healthy meals only for example no fish and chips instead healthy wraps with vegatables

Excellent informative post by the CC Team! 👏

IMO, in the whole 24 hrs, children spend a max time of 8 to 9 hrs at school, rest of the time they’re at home with their parents or grandparents, so maximum onus lies on all the family members to proactively follow an healthy diet at home and set an example in front of their kids that eating healthy is good and that they’ll rarely fall sick or visit a doctor.

Some students find eating (rather stuffing in ) unhealthy snacks as a stress busterduring exams ... my own batchmates have put on wt while preparing for exams... while some suffer loss of appetite 😕 😒

Originally posted by: Sutapasima

Some students find eating (rather stuffing in ) unhealthy snacks as a stress busterduring exams ... my own batchmates have put on wt while preparing for exams... while some suffer loss of appetite 😕 😒

You reminded me of my own childhood. I used to over eat after school but not for exams reason😒... It's only when I started working and earning that things got better. In the high school of my town, students themselves fight against unhealthy food and anorexia, and often it's due because some students are harrassed. 😭

School rules do help, actually... A lot of private schools make sure to request that parents give a balanced diet to their children who bring packed lunch boxes. Although on the whole students spend more time at home then school, school is also where a lot of their learning happens, be it academic or societal.

Learning about a balanced diet, having a teacher check on whether you follow it or not, seeing peers follow it, it will make the child CHOOSE to have a more balanced diet. This instead of the forced feeling that children have when parents or grandparents ask them to eat healthy...

PS Still, parents should pay attention as well. I'm just saying that this helps kids too... 😆

Good initiative IF!👏

As someone who battled various eating disorders throughout my life, I have gained few insights about why I overate. I present these below:

Firstly, I think obesity is mostly a psychological problem.

We overeat to compensate for missing element(s) in our lives. It’s like filling a void with food, it makes you feel satisfied for the time being. For me, when I was a kid my parents frequently moved and I was never able to build a close and trusted friend circle which I felt I needed to freely express myself. Not that I blame my parents, they did what they had to do to survive.😊 I felt isolated and overate to drown out my misery.

Another issue is stress. Childrens’ lives have become too busy and stressful and stress eating can quickly alleviate tension momentarily.

Thirdly, it’s become rarer for families to cook from scratch with real and natural ingredients. Cooking takes time and effort, and it’s much easier to eat instant precooked meals, have it delivered or eat out.

All these things can lead to excessive and/or unhealthy eating habits and thus cause obesity. Of course, these are not the only causes but I think I have identified the main ones.

If we want to solve the problem of childhood obesity, we must first address these causes and find solutions for them.😊

I have a few solutions for the problems I presented.

For the psychological problem, I think the best solution is giving kids the freedom to try out different things and find on their own what fills their void. I find that people who actively create things are the most psychologically whole.😊

Reducing stress is almost impossible now so we better focus on managing it! Kids be taught techniques such as yoga, pranayama, breathing exercises etc to control their stress.

As for cooking I think people should look towards their elders & traditional diet for advice on how to best prepare food and eat clean. Elders in each family should teach their kids how to cook food from scratch with natural and healthy ingredients.

Interesting points everyone.

Here in the UK I can say I know a school that really does not promote healthy eating well it says it does but then rewards kids with weekly pizza nandos and chocolates for attending school which just makes no sense.

Originally posted by: Yuvika_15

Interesting points everyone.

Here in the UK I can say I know a school that really does not promote healthy eating well it says it does but then rewards kids with weekly pizza nandos and chocolates for attending school which just makes no sense.

Yuvikaaaa diii 🤗🤗

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