children obesity
Story about 13 years old child
Sumita is 13 years old, eats only junk food, and watches tv for three hours a day. She weights 14kg more than she should, and is often a laughing stock among her class-mates. She gets breathless when running up stairs and cannot touch her toes.
It may be difficult to force children to exercise. It has to be made a fun so they may want to take part in it. Children need encouragement from their friends. Her weight problem, however, requires more than just exercise. She needs to be advised on her dietary habits to help her see how harmful junk food is.
Children and obesity
The rate at which body fat is accumulated during childhood growth is highly variable. At times your child may appear to have too much body fat, but this is usually only a temporary overshoot. At birth, body fat makes up around 15 percent of body weight. This may increase to as much as 26 percent by six months of age and then decrease as the child becomes more mobile. By six years of age a child has about 15 percent body fat; just before puberty this may be as high as 20 percent.
Watch that fat child
Parents, your child’s life is at stake, and it’s time to make change see it.
You tell your obese child that he/she is ‘healthy’? that all the kids who call ‘rolly polly’ are stupid and jealous? Watch out, your over-protection could be alienating your child further from reality.
The standard laid down for baby’s weight is as follows: the general rule of thumb is by the first year, weight should reach 9kg. Every year for the next three years, it should increase by on-and-a-half kilograms. There is a spurt in height when the child is five-six years, and this is also the time when he/she is most likely to gain extra weight.
It is important to take steps to prevent your children from becoming overweight.
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1. If you bottle-feed, do not force your baby to take more than he/she wants
2. Delay starting solid foods until four months of age.
3. Do not insist that your child cleans the plate.
4. Do not offer food as reward for good behavior.
5. Offer healthy snacks, not sweets and biscuits.
6. Do not set a bad example. Encourage the whole family to cut down on their intake of fatty foods and convenience foods which have added sugar.
7. Encourage your child to take more exercise.
Fighting obesity in children
The first to go must be sweets or chocolates you load your child with as a token of affection or reward. And don’t allow him to take chocolates or pastries in his lunch box. Beware, you are propelling child towards obesity. and, subsequently, dental caries.
Give your child healthy snacks to carry to school. This acts as a deterrent from eating in the school cafeterias which usually offer unhealthy food. Of course, it’s impractical to make a child abstain from sweets altogether. But keep the frequency down to once a week. Most colored sweets, soft drinks and ice creams (which children of all ages enjoy)
Contain a high level of food additives, Besides being low in the ratio of essential nutrients and calories.
A natural way to discourage unhealthy snacking is teaching your child to snack on fruits. They then find oily and sugary snacks distasteful. Also ingrain the important of physical fitness early in your child. Encourage him to be physically active. Children who follow fitness routines- be it participation in sports, swimming or walking—rarely turn obese.
Perfect food for your child .
Sprouts: make a delicious snack of sprouts. Add sprouted pulses like whole green gram, Bengal gram, or black whole gram(black gram) to the regular dry bhel along with puffed rice, chopped onions, groundnuts and salt. Top it with lime juice.
Nuts: ground nuts and almonds are popular with most children. The healthy nuts are rich in proteins and vitamin E, which are essential for growth.
Cured or yoghurt: A common question pertinent to yoghurt is its life-enhancing abilities. Studies have been unable to arrive at any definite conclusion, but some researchers do believe that yoghurt, if eaten along with grain bran, vegetables and fish, could add years to your life. The versatile nature of curd and its favorable nutritional content is what counts for its popularity. Low-fat yoghurt is ideal and can be tolerated easily by everyone. It is rich in calcium and protein, had moderate amounts of zinc and a very low fat content. This make it one of the healthiest foods.
Cottage cheese(paneer): cottage cheese is low in fat and a good source of protein and calcium for growing children.
Tofu or soay bean curd: it has excellent nutritional properties. Tofu has a high protein content (about nine ‘g’ in every square piece of five ‘cm’) and a very low calorie content (a five ‘cm’ piece contains less than 100 calories). Tofu is loaded with calcium and iron with virtually no sodium, and its low saturated fat content renders it heart friendly.
Corn: most children enjoy roasted corn smeared with lime juice. Rich in zinc, iron and protein and low in sodium, corn makes a nutritious snack.
Healthy diet for your child.
Early morning: one glass of cow’s milk, a glass of coconut water or orange/apple juice.
Mid-morning snack: sprout with bhel or vegetable (cauliflower, radish, fenugreek, spinach) bread.
Lunch: two breads with a cup of vegetable, a small bowl of curd and mixed fruit salad or vegetable pulao (made from brown rice), one small bowl of curd and mixed fruit salad.
Evening snack: any fruit milkshake and four to six biscuits (preferably, whole wheat) or Frankie/sandwiches or fruits.
Dinner: one medium sized bowl of clear vegetable soup, 150 g of grilled chicken, one bowl of cooked green vegetables and whole wheat bread. Or one bowl dal, one cup of cooked rice or two or three bread, vegetables cutlets with sprouts, mushroom or corn salad.
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Note: sweets must not exceed one scoop of ice cream or one small bar of chocolate per week. And two to three tablespoonful of oil a day is enough.
AVERAGE HEIGHTS AND WEIGHTS FOR BOYS AND GIRLS
BOYS GIRLS
| Age | Height | Weight | Height | Weight |
| Cms ft | kg | Cms ft | kg | |
| Up to 3 months
4-6 months 7-9 months 10-12 months 1 year 2 year 3 year 4 year 5 year 6 year 7 year 8 year 9 year 10 year 11 year 12 year 13 year 14 year 15 year 16 year 17 year |
55.9 1’10
63.5 2’1 66.0 2’2 71.1 2’4 73.7 2’5 81.3 2’8 88.9 2’11 96.5 3’2 104.1 3’5 109.2 3’7 114.3 3’9 121.9 4’0 124.5 4’1 129.5 4’3 134.6 4’5 139.7 4’7 147.3 4’10 152.4 5’0 157.5 5’2 162.6 5’4 165.1 5’5 |
4.5
6.7 6.9 7.4 8.4 10.1 11.8 13.5 14.8 16.3 18.0 19.7 21.3 23.5 25.9 28.5 32.1 35.7 39.6 43.2 45.7 |
55.9 1’10
60.9 2’0 66.0 2’2 71.1 2’4 73.7 2’5 81.3 2’8 88.9 2’11 96.5 3’2 101.6 3’4 109.2 3’7 114.3 3’9 118.2 3’11 124.5 4’1 129.5 4’3 134.6 4’5 139.7 4’7 144.8 4’11 149.9 5’0 152.4 5’1/2 153.7 5’1/2 153.7 5’5 |
4.2
5.6 6.2 6.6 7.6 9.6 11.2 12.9 14.5 16.0 17.6 19.4 21.3 23.6 26.4 29.8 33.3 36.8 36.8 41.1 42.4 |
