Tips to Help Overweight Kids

The 10 Tips to Help Overweight Kids

Obesity is a problem not only in the old age, but among kids too. It affects the kid mentally and also predisposes the child to many other diseases. The following tips help to reduce weight of obese children.

1. Get kids moving. To lose weight, kids must burn more calories than they take in. No one physical activity is better than another for calorie expenditure. So let kids find the type of activity they enjoy.

2. Start babies off slim and fit by restricting their diet during the first year to breast milk. There is really no solid scientific evidence that babies need anything other than formula or breast milk during the first five months. When carbohydrates (cereal) are introduced too early, they are not digested efficiently because the protein in milk and carbohydrates are digested in completely different ways leading to maldigestion. Excessive maldigested foods lead to excess weight.

3. Feed kids alternatives to commercially produced cow's milk. At five times the protein content of breast milk, cow's milk and the bovine growth hormone it contains make kids bigger and fatter. Instead use soya-milk fortified with calcium or Rice Dream, a milk created from rice.

4. Get high-risk foods out of the house. Don't buy snack foods high in calories; they're fattening for the entire family.

5. Establish family meal schedules. Get kids accustomed to eating at specified times with small snacks in between, rather than all day long.

6. Buy organic health foods. The additives in our foods are chemicals, not nutrients, and are therefore neither utilized nor eliminated by the body. The preservatives, steroids and growth hormones in our foods, particularly in meat, chicken, milk and other dairy products, become stored in our bodies, adding to our weight.

7. Encourage your child to take part in extra curricular activities, not necessarily sports only, but music or arts or anything the child is interested in. This will change the focus of the child on it being obese and provide mental relaxation.

8. Teach children conscious food combining. Fruit should be eaten alone on an empty stomach for quick absorption. If introduced into the digestive system when other foods are present, it will just sit there. Mixing carbohydrates and proteins should be minimized. Once animal protein is eaten, it should be followed primarily by protein.

9. Never nag children about eating and being fat. Criticism only raises stress and anxiety levels, making the problem worse.

10. Don't over control what your child eats. Don't make the entire family focus on controlling the overweight child's food intake. Instead, put the emphasis on being healthy and involve the children in attaining that goal.