Health Tips

Who drives these kids to the fast food chains?

The level of childhood obesity in this world has reached an epidemic level and the cause is you “the parent”. A child’s eating habits are formed by what you buy and feed them. Their activity levels are dictated by what habits you encourage and allow. The bottom line is that there is no greater influence in a child’s health then the parents.

Go into any restaurant and you will find countless tables of kids less than three years old drinking soda. Those same kids are eating fried processed fast food numerous days of the week. How in anybody’s mind would that seem healthy. If you think that sounds bad how about the average kids breakfast in this country: Pop tarts, high sugar cereals, and McDonalds Egg Mcmuffins all washed down with a glass of less then 25% real juice. Who drives these kids to the fast food chains and who buys all the junk food in the house? YOU!

Our children are tipping the scales primarily from poor nutritional habits along with an excess of inactivity. Both of these factors can be changed towards a more healthy direction. They cannot do it on their own though. It is up to you the parent to use some common sense and set your kids up for a healthy life.

During the years of growth proper nutrition intake is vital

Now that we have established the main cause for the rise in childhood obesity, we can take certain measures to prevent this from happening in the future. The nutrition solutions will seem simple but our society seems to lack common sense in the health and nutrition department.

The first step in improving your child’s nutrition habits is to make water the main choice of beverage. Soda may have a great taste but it is nothing more then an empty calorie, artificially filled, syrupy beverage. A common mistake parents make with the whole soda issue is allowing their kids to drink diet thinking that it’s the better choice. Well it may be if you are thinking about calories alone, but there are many other reasons in that can of soda that effect their health negatively. So the bottom line is its best to scratch soda all together.

The second step is getting your kids on a multi-vitamin and mineral supplement. No matter how well balanced you think they are eating, nutrients are lacking in their diet. Our food quality outside of organic products is growing in artificial chemicals and pesticides while shrinking in natural nutrients. During the years of growth proper nutrition intake is vital, so it key to get them on that supplement as early as possible.

The third area you should focus on is the snacks. The majority of snacks that are fed to our kids these days are highly processed foods with no benefit. Substitute the junk for fruit and nuts. Be creative, like peanut butter with apple slices, or trail mix with an assortment of nuts and dried fruit. This will insure they are getting a well balanced diet.

Having your kids trade their bad habits for healthier ones may be difficult in the beginning, but its not their choice, its yours. Stick with it and they will have more energy, improved health, and a much lower risk of obesity. The habits they form in childhood are usually the habits they bring into adulthood.