The World Health Organization has described childhood obesity as a worldwide health crisis, with rates of obesity doubling since 1980. Obesity affects even the youngest children, with nearly 43 million children under age 5 being overweight, according to WHO.
Many parents are so desperate for their children to lose weight that they are willing to do almost anything, including a number of strategies that are painful and ineffective. The good news is that research shows that many of the most effective strategies are actually fun for both parents and children.
Food as Fuel
For overweight children, relationships with food can be complicated, with food sometimes seeming like an enemy there to destroy their lives and other times seeming like a best friend that they can turn to for comfort. Helping children to develop healthy relationships with food involves helping them to see food not as friend or foe, but as fuel.
Instead of banning high-calorie foods altogether or calling them “bad”, research suggests using more neutral labels like “sometimes foods” (Milner). Banning food or calling it bad often leads children to want these foods even more and to eat more of them when given a chance (Fisher & Birch). At the same time, place limits on the amount of “sometimes foods” that children consume at a time. Keep good fuel foods like carrot sticks, celery, and apple slices easily accessible so that kids have some freedom to eat when they want.
To help children change their attitudes about food, it also may be necessary for parents to change their own attitudes as well (Brown & Ogden). Do you use food to comfort you when you are feeling down? Do you talk about food as an evil villain sneaking fat onto your thighs? You may need to relax your own attitude about food: it’s not the enemy! Even Hcg Drops work effectively when losing weight becomes ultimate target.
Get the Kids in the Kitchen
Cooking with kids is a great way to get them interested in good fuel foods, preparing healthy meals, and spending time together. In fact, research shows that learning to cook is associated with increased knowledge about healthy food, better attitudes toward eating fruits and vegetables, and making healthier food choices (Brown & Hermann, Engler-Stringer,; Meehan, Yeh, & Spark).
Incorporate foods from a variety of food groups into your recipes and allow children to have some choice when it comes to what to prepare. Getting involved in food preparation also makes it more likely that children will try new foods. Choose a recipe that is age-appropriate. For younger kids, try something simple and fun like apple porcupines:
- Cut an apple in half
- Place tooth picks in the apple
- Allow children to add a variety of bite-sized foods to the toothpicks such as cheese squares, grapes, strawberries, cereal, and raisins (be sure to watch kids closely so that they do not poke themselves with the toothpicks). Then, enjoy together.
For older children, try something a little more complex, like fruit salsa with homemade pita chips:.
Cut whole wheat pitas into eight triangles,
- Spray whole wheat pita with cooking oil spray and sprinkle with a few pinches of cinnamon and sugar
- Bake in a 400 degree oven for seven minutes
- Chop up apples, kiwis, strawberries and other fruit that your children love and mix together
- Serve the pita chips with the salsa
These two simple snacks allow for sharing and co-operating, combining food from different food groups, and empowering children to make some of their own food choices.
Bring Back the Family Dinner
Eating together as a family allows you to spend time with them, help them develop their conversation skills, and model healthy eating for your children. If Popeye can get kids to eat their vegetables (Sirikulchayanonta, Iedsee, Shuaytong, & Srisorrachatr), surely you can too!
When serving meals try to include a few new vegetables each week. Research shows that even if children do not particularly like vegetables, having them around and accessible makes children more likely to eat them (Neumark-Sztainer, Wall, Perry, & Story). Your child may not even eat the vegetables the first few times that they are presented, but as the foods become more familiar, children will be more likely to eat them.
Some studies suggest that even babies will eat vegetables that they initially dislike if they are presented about seven or eight times (Maier, Chabanet, Schaal, Issanchou, & Leathwood). Keep preparing those vegetables and putting them on your children’s plates. Before you know it, they will be gobbling down broccoli and brussel sprouts without a second thought. Allowing children to be part of the preparation, whether by setting the table or preparing part of the meal will help them to feel a sense of ownership and belonging and will lead them to be more engaged during the meal as well as having a more positive attitude about eating what is served.
Just Listen
Many children and teens use emotional eating to cope with feelings of depression and with the stresses of their daily lives (Goossens, Braet, Decaluwe). You may need to show them that you can provide much better comfort and company than a chocolate chip cookie. Whether you’re cooking, eating, playing, or just sitting around, try to show your children that you are interested in what they have to say. Encourage them to open up about their worries. Normalize the ups and downs of daily life by asking them questions like “What was the worst part of your day? And what was the best?” If they are unwilling to talk about their own worries, it may be helpful to get them to talk about the problems faced by other children in their age group. Ask questions like “What do you think kids in your grade worry the most about?” or “What do you think kids at your school would change if they could change anything about school?” Once they do open up, praise them for sharing their thoughts and feelings with you and do not press them for more information. Make it a rewarding experience for them and they will be more likely to come to you next time.
Go Out and Play
Remember when you were a kid and you used to go outside and play kick-the-can, tag, and hide-n-go-seek? Your parents might have even told you to go out and play and you probably figured out how to have fun with the other children in your neighbourhood.
As you have probably noticed, children today spend much more time inside staring at screens than they do running around outside. In fact, most American children (over 65%) spend more than two hours per day in front of a screen (Anderson, Economos, & Must).
If you do remember your times playing outside, you probably know that kids today are really missing out. Well, it’s not too late. This is your chance to show your children what fun they can have outside moving around. Your children are less likely to find playmates running around outside than you probably were, but that’s okay. This is your chance to spend some time with them.
Play hide-n-go-seek, ride bikes, or just throw the ball around. Let your kids teach you some of the games that they know. Maybe they have learned some skipping songs at recess. And have you tried wall ball? You do not need to be an athlete to have fun being active with your kids; just enjoy yourself and have a good time with your kid. Avoid discussing how many calories you’re burning or how much fat you hope to burn off. This time is just about enjoying moving around and using up some of that good fuel that you got from eating those good fuel foods. Also, avoid being overly competitive and focus instead on enjoying some laughs and noticing how nice to feels to get our lungs pumping in the open air.
Many overweight children dislike sports. In fact, they may have a strong aversion to anything sport-related. It may be more challenging to get these children into playing games that seem a little too athletic. Instead, try a more creative approach. If your child enjoys art, try going for a walk in the woods with them and collect interesting rocks to paint or leaves to press. Also try having a scavenger hunt. The focus is on looking for items and working as a team, rather than running fast. Have some other ideas to get kids moving outside? Feel free to share them in the comments section!