Childhood obesity is a health condition where the extra fat of a child is having a negative affect on the child and his/her well being. In fact, it is such a huge problem in our society, that it has been labeled a national epidemic! It is expected that in the year 2010, fifty percent of children in the US will be obese!

Childhood obesity can lead to serious health problems and diseases. These include Stereotypes of being overweight also affect obese kids. In general, overweight children are made fun of all the time from peers, and even sometimes from family members. This can lead to depression and social anxiety disorders in the child. Childhood obesity has also been proven to increase mortality rates as the child matures into adulthood, as they are more likely to develop heart diseases, type 2 diabetes, high cholesterol, and hypertension (high blood pressure) as well

Poor eating habits and food choices

Today, the way we prepare food and the no of time per day is totally different as compare with our ancestors did in the old time. During the old time, everything need to be cooked from scratch, but now with the help from modern equipments, the time and effort to prepare food became simple and faster. This is one of the reasons why now fast food restaurants dominate our diets.

By study how the children eat today; you will know what the main cause of childhood obesity is. Small changes in their daily diets can have large help enabling you to prevent childhood obesity. The best healthy choices of food include vegetables and fruits instead of sugary snacks. The most popular choices include carrot and bananas, celery sticks, apples and even salads that include a large variety of vegetables. By helping children understand and choosing the correct and better foods during the childhood time, definitely will ensure that they make the correct choices as they move into adulthood.

Bad behavior is also one of the causes. This group of children eats food that is low in nutrition and high in fat. This group of children eats fast food meals, rich desserts and drinks with a lot of sugar. They also usually overeaten, and the food that they consume has many empty calories. In other words, the food that they eat does not provide enough nutrition for a children needs. This same group of children eats lots of sweets food which in general have empty calories.

Here are some causes  of childhood obesity .

Environments

The environment too plays a role in the causes of obesity. The family home is an important place to learn about proper nutrition and enough physical activity. Attitudes, Habits, and beliefs about food selection and how to spend family leisure time are critical factors to forming a healthy relationship with food. Children spend a lot of time in school, their food choices at school become important and it was influenced by the school eating environment.

Modern lifestyles have improved our quality of life but also contribute greatly to physical inactivity. Cars are used for short trips, and the number of walking trips the average American children takes each year have decreased. Today only about 10% of public school students walk to school compared to the large no of student a generation ago.

Lack of Exercise

Lack of regular exercise is a factor that has contributed to this being one of the causes of childhood obesity. Children who spend a lot of time watching TV programs will have a greater risk of child obesity than those who go outside playing or sporting. This is typically true when the children are eating fast food while watching television or playing video games.

In the pass, children like to play sports more often, enjoy outside activities as forms of entertainment and walk to school. But now a day, children are completely opposite from the pass. The sports our children like to do these days include watching television, playing computer game, surfing internet, chatting, and any game they choose while exercising only their mind, head and hands only. When you combine the poor choices in food and the lack of exercising, there is a high chance that childhood obesity will end up lead to disease.

Genetics

Genetics and DNA have been found to be a contributing factor in the causes of childhood obesity. Unfortunately, some children are naturally predisposed to obesity. These children are born with genes that cause them to put on weight more quickly than other children. The children with certain genes end up storing the fat more easily than other children. There is not much that these children can do about their genes, but there are steps that they can take to conquer the obesity.

Children parents can also aid in determining your chances of dealing with childhood obesity. If children parents had a problem with overweight, chances are the children will deal with the same issues. This makes it very important that you keep an eye on your children and their action and habits. Our DNA can not be changed. We can do some small changes in other areas that can make a great deal of improve on your child obesity. Some small changes, such as walking to school, playing outdoor games rather than letting children stay at home and avoid exercise. The simple and regular exercise can help your children avoid childhood obesity.

Psychological issues and Stress

Some study say that about 10% of people that are mildly obese was cause by psychological or stress problems. Some children have a difficult time dealing with stress so they use food as a comfort when they feel, and many children are prone to eating in response to negative emotions like being bored, feeling anxious or being angry.

Each child has to contend with different factors in their lives. The causes of obesity are can also be viewed as being weakness, a lack of willpower or a lifestyle choice of overeating and not exercising enough.

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How a child gets excessive weight has something to do with how much food they take and how active they are. To effectively keep these two aspects in regulation, the entire family has to be involved. Just as in the three steps in fighting childhood obesity, parents and older siblings need to participative and be cooperative.

Below we look at some ways that can help to reduce childhood obesity.

1. We all know that our children like soft or fizzy drinks. However, it is best to eliminate them from their diet as much as you can. In addition to containing lots of sugar and calories, they don’t really have any nutrients that are beneficial to the children.

If your children has been drinking soft drinks for some time, getting them to not drink them at all will prove to be somewhat of a challenge. Rather than removing these drinks from their diet straight off, it is better to gradually wean them off and replace them with things that are healthier. What you should be aiming for is to get your kids drinking water, fruit juice, or low fat milk instead.

2. When it comes to preventing childhood obesity in your family, it is important that you encourage your children to participate in physical activities. Yes they may do these at school but you should look at exercises that they can do at home as well. Also to further ensure that they do some form of physical activity regularly, you may want to limit how much time they spend each day watching TV, playing video games, or sitting in front of their computers. If they spend too much time chatting online with friends then you may want to invest in certain software programs that allow you to disconnect their internet connection when necessary.

3. As many parents work during the day, they don’t have the time in the evenings to prepare freshly made meals for their children and themselves. As a result many kids tend to eat a large amount of ready-made meals that have been highly processed and have lost a good portion of the nutrients they contain originally. A good way of ensuring that your children are eating a healthy and well-balanced diet is to spend some time over the weekend making various meals that you can freeze or refrigerate then heat up when necessary.

To help them stick with this new healthy diet you may allow them to have a treat of some fast food once a week. Also through providing them with the meals your prepared yourself, you are teaching them that a healthy and well-balanced diet is important to not just their weight but their health overall.

Fighting childhood obesity involves lifestyle changes and requires discipline and commitment from the parents. It is not an easy task but for the health benefits of the children, it is certainly worth the effort.

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