Childhood Obesity Quotes

Fighting childhood obesity with the culture of eating

The danger of childhood obesity is linked to the long anticipated duration of this real disease and the damage secondary to what, to most, seems simply a healthy, thriving baby.
First a definition: the child who is obese has an excess weight of more than 20% of desirable weight for his height. Excess weight between 10 and 20% is an overweight and is a sign of alarm. Assistance from the family pediatrician can help to define precisely the amount of excess weight, if any.

Speaking of obesity, it is easy to demagoguery, and propose schemes of therapy more or less imaginative. Let's start from the power. Recently, UNESCO has declared the Mediterranean Diet "World Cultural Heritage", an important recognition for a way of eating is rooted in our population. The diet practiced by our ancestors helps prevent obesity: does not matter if we have northern or southern roots, Ligurian or bells, the use of traditional foods provides an adequate diet.

From the earliest stages of weaning foods you can offer adults responding to the demands of the child who sees us eat things appealing. You can try offering it to the child eat anything with bare hands and letting him drive his own weaning: the child gets used, so the flavors of the normal family and not those of fast food.

Another important aspect is related to the culture of eating: eating is a necessity that can be satisfied in a pleasant but it is a necessity, not a reward or a punishment. You can not console the child who fell, suggesting a treat because you hurt in this manner reinforces a thought that links the feed the consolation of the first physical and then psychological pain. The child also can not be punished and forced him to eat or not eat things like just how the soup.

And finally we talk about physical activity. It 'important to consider that each child has his temper but everyone loves to play. Exercise of the game has less value of sports classic, which must also be pleasant and not stressful. You can also limit the use of the lift to go up a few floors above it is a proposal to encourage energy consumption, the "waste" of energy. The management of obesity represents a challenge of the third millennium and all the scientific societies are now engaged to fight this epidemic. The Italian Society of Pediatrics has compiled a set of guidelines, readily available on the Internet, with the main suggestions.