As with any diet, support is going to be important for your child. In fact, in children, support by the entire family is crucial. Positive reinforcement is needed, and having everyone participate in the program you choose will make a big difference.
Before starting a diet, talk to your child's pediatrician. Get guidelines about nutrition, calories and exercise, as all of this information is important. Cutting calories needs to be done, but how and where they are cut can make a big difference in the long term success.
The tips I have written for adults can apply to children. You don't have to live on foods that taste bad, nor do they have to be unusual. Instead of candy, serve fruit. Instead of French fries, have sliced apples, or even a small baked potato. Little changes like this can add up.
We need to talk a bit about lunches during the school year. While some school districts are beginning to serve healthier alternatives, not all have. Worse, if you look at where schools are, you'll see many are within lunch time walking distance to a fast food place. Both of these choices may be contributing to your child's weight problem.
There are three things you can do about this as a parent. First, talk to the school. Tell them that it's important that the lunches served be healthy, and suggest that the campus be closed during school hours. This keeps the kids on campus and away from the fast food places at least until after school.
Fast food places are also beginning to notice that we want healthier options. Look up the calorie, fat and sodium contents of the offerings and talk to your child about which items to choose on the menu. As an example, many times when I'm at one of these places, I'll choose a children's meal. It's filling and a lot lower in calories.
However, I'm an adult and I don't really care what the people around me think when they see me eating one. If they ask, I'll tell them how many calories I'm eating, and probably how many they are. Children, on the other hand, may have a problem with that. Here, I'm talking teens...being overweight is stigma enough. That's why you should look at all of the foods offered.
The third thing is what you serve. It may be mildly embarrassing for a child to take a lunch or snack from home, but it is the best way way to help your child set good nutritional habits. Making sure this lunch is eaten rather than less healthy foods may be something of a battle, though.
Exercise is even more important for growing children. While it would be nice if schools encouraged real, physical play, if it's not happening now, it probably won't. There are a lot of possible reasons, ranging from the need for more class time and the possibility of law suits should a child be hurt. For the sake of your child's future, you will very likely have to handle this aspect of weight loss.
The nice thing about children and exercise is that there are a lot of programs that offer exercise in the form of play. Soccer, Little League and soft ball are some. In higher grades, track and football may be useful. If your child has an interest, many parks programs offer classes such as Judo, dance and tennis. If it's fun, your child will willingly take part.
You may want to consider setting a time limit on television, game devices and computers. We are tending to be mouse potatoes now instead of couch potatoes. When it comes to exercise, this is very much a problem.
One program I've heard of has a good idea, I'm thinking. Allow your child to have the same amount of time for these devices (not each, all together) as the amount of time he or she exercises. This helps you and your child set reasonable goals and reasonable hours.
There is one last thing you can do to help your child lose weight. Make sure he or she gets the proper amount of sleep. Studies indicate a direct relationship between chronic sleep deprivation and obesity. With these tips, you can help your child become a fit and healthy youngster.
For more information about home remedies, you can visit my site: http://healing-home-remedies.com/. There are blogs and articles about many herbs and the conditions they may help. Subjects include stress, back pain, the flu, gout and cholesterol. You can also download my free report, the Top Ten Herbs. The report discusses the uses, side effects, precautions and interactions of popular herbs. My eBooks, also found on the site, contain information about foods and herbs that can help you deal with the problems life throws our way. If you have any questions, feel free to e-mail me at: mary@healing-home-remedies.com. Mary Bodel, MH
