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As the childhood obesity epidemic increases, parents are becoming more concerned about their child’s weight and are asking how they can prevent them from becoming overweight, or how they can help if their child has a weight problem.
If one parent is obese, there is a 50 percent chance that the children will also be obese. However, when both parents are obese, this risk increases to an 80 percent chance of their children becoming obese. Although certain medical disorders can cause obesity, less than 1 percent of all obesity is caused by physical problems. Obesity in childhood and adolescence can be related to:

poor eating habits
overeating or binging
lack of exercise (i.e., couch potato kids)
medical illnesses (endocrine, neurological problems)
medications (steroids, some psychiatric medications)
stressful life events or changes (separations, divorce, moves, deaths, abuse)
family and peer problems
low self-esteem
anxiety and depression or other emotional problems
family history of obesity
socio-economic factors such as home environments and lifestyles

It is important that parents don’t create an eating disorder or promote poor self-esteem in trying to help their children. The emphasis should be on teaching children to eat healthily and exercise regularly NOT for them to diet.

How can I help my child?

Parents can set good examples by role modelling healthy eating and healthy lifestyles. Here are a few tips for parents to follow;

Encourage your child/ren to eat when they are hungry not when they are bored. Be aware of your child's hunger cues and try to stay away from a ‘clean plate’ policy. Even babies who turn away from the bottle or breast send signals that they are full. If children appear satisfied, they shouldn't be forced to continue eating. Try not to promote over eating ‘if you eat all your dinner you can have a pudding’. This will encourage children to eat for a reward, rather than because they are hungry.
Try not to talk about ‘good foods’ and ‘bad foods’. It is not necessary to completely eliminate all sweets and favourite snacks from an overweight child's menu. If you do, children may rebel and overeat these forbidden foods outside the home or sneak them in on their own. (Food groups) Children will eat secretly if they fear being judged.
Encourage children to eat a wide variety of food in moderation. Be aware of healthy portion sizes and steer away from ‘king size’ portions.
Try to eat meals together as a family at the table, rather than in front of the TV. This also improves your child’s social and communication skills.
Try to reduce the number of hours your child spends in sedentary activities, such as watching TV and playing computer games. Instead, encourage the family to exercise together in activities such as walking, cycling, swimming and other high energy activities, such as skating and bowling. This makes exercise fun rather than a chore.
Try to reduce the consumption of fizzy drinks that are high in sugar and replace with water or fresh fruit juices.
Make sure your child has a breakfast of complex carbohydrates, which are slow release in energy such as cereals, toast, bananas. This will reduce the temptation for children to eat ‘unhealthy’ snacks during school breaks and will help them concentrate better at school. High sugar food can lead to agitated behaviours and poor concentration.
Offer a trip to the cinema or concert as a reward, rather than praising with sweets and chocolate.
Reduce temptation of ‘nibbling’ by cutting down on purchasing high sugar snacks and replace with fruit.
Involve children in the preparation of food, making cooking and eating fun.
Eating is linked to emotions. When children are upset comfort them with a hug rather than a biscuit.

What about Weight Management in the future?

The emphasis on weight management should be on health promotion and health education. Obesity is much easier to prevent than to treat, and prevention focuses in large measures on parent education. In infancy, parent education should centre on promotion of breastfeeding, recognition of signals of satiety (feeling full), and delayed introduction of solid foods. In early childhood, education should include proper nutrition guidance, selection of low-fat snacks, good exercise/activity habits, and monitoring of television viewing. In cases where preventive measures cannot totally overcome the influence of hereditary factors, parent education should focus on building self-esteem and addressing psychological issues.
If you need help with any of the above suggestions please do not hesitate to contact us

Healthy eating = Healthy children & Healthy children = Healthy adults

Bullying and Obese Young People

The number of obese young people under the age of 16 in the UK has now exceeded 1 million. Childhood Obesity is described as a condition whereby the child’s weight has increased to such a point that it causes other health problems such as a high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, asthma or breathlessness. As well as physical problems, overweight young people also face many social and psychological problems, including bullying, which may cause anxiety and depression. There are two main types of bullying that overweight young people may have to face; sports bullying and relational bullying.

Sports Bullying

Overweight children and young people are more likely to be bullied than norm weight children, and this is much more common for overweight girls. Recent research shows that the higher a child’s weight, the more likely the child is to be involved in bullying. Children and young people are extremely dependant on their peers for social support and for maintaining their self esteem. Bullying can therefore prevent social development and lead to social isolation.

Bullying of overweight young people often involves comments that relate to visual characteristics of their appearance, such as size and shape, which can affect body image and make the individual feel humiliated and ridiculed. These ‘put downs’ lowers the level of confidence and affects performance. For this reason, the main school lesson that causes feelings of embarrassment and anxiety for overweight young people is Physical Education (PE). Excessive weight prevents a child from fully participating and enjoying physical games and sports. Overweight children are less likely to be chosen in team sports due to their size. Sports uniforms and swimwear also makes a child more conscious of their size and shape, as do communal changing rooms and showers. Overweight boys may also have pre-pubescent breast enlargement (a condition called gynaecomastia), which can lead to terrible taunts and teasing from their peers. For these reasons, many overweight children and young people will exclude themselves from PE and sports events.

What can be done in this situation?

If you are an overweight young person, don’t let other people stop you from doing the things that you enjoy. Sports and exercise will help you to lose weight and will give you more energy. Just because your peers judge you as being ‘no good’ does not mean that you are rubbish. Many overweight people have great sports potential but fear getting involved in case of being teased about their weight or performance. Don’t let this bother you. Pluck up courage and enjoy yourself. Show your peers what you can achieve and it won’t be long before they realise that you could be one of the best in the team. Talk to your PE teacher about worries or embarrassments you have in the changing rooms. They could make other arrangement for you, so that you can still be involved. If you are really dissatisfied with your body or shape, please ask for support from a health professional, who will be able to help you work through your difficulties. Increasing your level of physical activity, combined with a healthy eating programme will soon help you to lose weight.

If you are a PE teacher/Mentor gently encourage the overweight child to partake in physical exercise and challenge their social exclusion from PE rather than colluding with them. Promote physical activities that the young person is able to participate in and be sensitive to their needs in the changing/shower rooms. This is when most of the bullying takes place. If you are a parent, try to encourage enjoyable physical activities for all the family, such as walking and swimming.

Relational Bullying

Self esteem is a crucial aspect of child and adolescent development. Personal, social and academic achievements can be negatively affected by low self esteem. Research reports that overweight young people rarely recognise their own talents. Young people who are not accepted by their peers, and who are regularly teased about their weight, often see themselves as ‘unattractive and worthless’. This is known as low self esteem. Obese young people with low self esteem, also show increased levels of sadness, loneliness, anxiety and depression. Obesity carries a social stigma for children and young people who live in a society that highly values ‘thinness’. Social acceptance by peers is therefore extremely important.

Being left out on purpose, being the source of jokes or rumours, or being excluded from social activities is called ‘relational bullying’. This is the main form of bullying in overweight young people which may lead to stress, anxiety, social isolation and even depression. Feeling ‘unloved, rejected or unwanted’ may cause an overweight young person to turn to food for comfort, which causes further weight gain and the cycle continues. Alternatively, repeated taunts about their weight can cause a young person to stop eating, which may lead to other eating disorders, such as bulimia or anorexia.