Is your kid not playing outside but just sitting in the room and watching TV or playing video games etc?

A multi-factorial condition that affects many children these days is childhood obesity. It is one of the rapidly growing health issues in kids across the world. Bitter truth is that childhood obesity would not only affect the physical health of the kids but their mental health also. It must be noted that the overall quality life of the kids would come down due to this problem. The kids who are obese are at huge risk of developing issues like type 2 diabetes, high BP, heart diseases etc.

There are several reasons for childhood obesity like

Consuming high calorie diet:

The kids could consume an excess amount of calories if they eat processed foods, high sugary foods, less amounts of fruits and vegetables etc. This could lead to childhood obesity in them. It is true that obesity during childhood could lead to further lifelong health complications in them. So, please be careful.

Lack of exercises etc:

It is believed that a sedentary lifestyle along with excess screen time like watching TV, playing video games etc could contribute to obesity in the kids. Fact is that insufficient physical activity can be a direct cause for weight gain in the kids.

Gene based:

When the parents are obese, then they could pass on their genes to those kids also. Both environmental as well as lifestyle factors also play a huge role in making a child obese.

Environmental factors:

It is worth noting that the environment where the kid grows could also result in childhood obesity in them. Examples are availability of unhealthy food options, absence of safe places for doing exercises.  Poor eating habits are influenced by  easy access to fast foods and presence of sugary snacks etc at homes.

 Psychological factors:

The child can become obese due to factors like stress, anxiety, and emotional eating. These could be due to family based, social and school based pressures etc. Parents please take care of your kids.

Socioeconomic factors:

Higher rates of obesity could be witnessed in those families that have lower incomes and limited access toto healthy food options and opportunity for physical activity etc.

How to lower the chances of childhood obesity?

By providing balanced meals:

Nutrient rich foods like fruits, vegetables, lean proteins and whole grains etc must be provided by both schools and parents etc. Eating home prepared food must be given importance and by this the kids would get the taste of home cooked foods. The home cooked food would provide the much needed nutrients for the growing kids.

By limiting sugary and processed foods etc:

The kids could avoid eating calorie rich foods like sugary snacks, beverages etc by reducing the availability. By this, unnecessary weight gain could be avoided by the kids.

By having portion control:

Over eating by the kids can be avoided by teaching the kids about the portion sizes. This would help the kids to avoid getting obese.