Three Steps You Must Follow To Avoid Childhood Obesity by Nana

Childhood obesity has now become a worldwide problem. More and more children these days are suffering the same symptoms and diseases that were once only seen in adults; heart disease, high cholesterol and type 2 diabetes, to name just a few. Obesity is becoming one of the serious problems day by day all over the world. Obesity is termed as increase in the body weight of an individual due to excessive accumulation of fats. Where do all the little needles point to when they get hungry? You're the one they look to, when they are young, to buy, prepare, and serve the food they eat. This is when good or bad habits are developed. You set the rules and govern the amount of food and type of food that comes into the house. To battle childhood obesity there are three steps you must follow.

1.Eating dinner at the table more than 5 times a week .

2.Sleep at least 10.5 hours a night.

3.Watch less than 2 hours of TV a day.

It's that simple? In a study conducted by Sarah Anderson, Ph.D, and assistant professor of epidemiology at Ohio State University, 8,550 4 year old from around the United States followed these three steps and were found to be 40 percent less likely to become obese than children that did none of these things.

When you sit down to dinner, as a family, without TV, you can regulate what your children eat , the proportions and the proper amounts. If they are sitting in front of the TV, how are you going to know if they ate their broccoli or the dog ate it? In some families the parents are working two jobs or odd hours and the only time they can see the kids is if they let them stay up late. If they stay up late that means less sleep, more treats and TV. Bad, BAD and more BAD. 10.5 hours a night gives kids the rest they need to be energetic and active the next day. You can't pay attention in school if you stay up late. We have all heard the evils of TV all our lives but what does that have to do with being obese? If you are sitting around watching TV you are most likely, if you 're a kid, not doing any type of exercise. You are probably snacking and your probably staying up late. All together now bad, BAD and more BAD! Less than 2 hours a day of TV is recommended by this study. That gives a kid time to come home from school, play outside, come in and do homework, eat dinner Then see some TV before getting the 10.5 hours sleep they need. It's all about education. You get what you need and then you'll be able to give what they need! Visit:http://affiliatemoneyathome.com/weightloss/ 

What causes childhood obesity and what can it lead to?

Obesity among children in the United States is a national health crisis and a terrifying reality. It can cripple our country for generations to come unless significant changes are made.

Not all obese infants become obese children, and not all obese children become obese adults. However, the older one gets, the more likely it is that one gains weight. Our metabolism slows as we grow older, and we also become less active. In addition, it is very likely that obesity beginning even in early childhood will persist through the life span. In other words, if your 14 year old son is obese, it's likely that he will carry the extra weight (and put on more weight) during his adult life.

For parents of overweight children, the time to help your kids get in shape is now or never. Obesity presents numerous problems for the child. In addition to increasing the risk of obesity in adulthood, childhood obesity is the leading cause of pediatric hypertension, is associated with Type II diabetes mellitus, coronary heart disease, increase stress on the weight-bearing joints, lower self-esteem, and altered relationships with peers. Between 5-25 percent of children and teenagers in the United States are obese, according to some studies. Other statistics indicate that 17% of children between ages 6 and 19 are obese.

Childhood obesity is the result of an interaction between food, state of mind, family and the environment.

An imbalance between intake and output. Intake: excessive consumption of fast foods and unhealthy food choices. Output: less time spent playing outside, more time spent on a computer, playing video games or watching TV.

The Family. The risk of becoming obese is greatest among children who have two obese parents. This may be due to powerful genetic factors, the manner in which the child is raised, parental modeling of both eating and exercise behaviors. One half of parents of elementary school children never exercise vigorously.

Low-energy Expenditure. The average American child spends several hours each day watching television; time which in previous years might have been devoted to physical pursuits. Obesity is greater among children and adolescents who frequently watch television, not only because little energy is expended while viewing but also because of simultaneous consumption of high-calorie snacks. Only about one-third of elementary children have daily physical education, and less than than one-fifth have extracurricular physical activity programs at their schools. The American Academy of Pediatrics urges parents to take walks or otherwise get physical with their children at least once a week, to make up for shrinking levels of physical education in schools.

Fast food companies. It is easy ad inexpensive to buy unhealthy foods from vending machines. The good news is that beverage makers have agreed to pull sugared sodas and whole milk out of all school vending machines over the next three years, as well as diet sodas and sports drinks from machines in elementary and middle schools.

Heredity. Since not all children who eat non-nutritious foods, watch several hours of television daily, and are relatively inactive develop obesity, the search continues for alternative causes. Heredity has recently been shown to influence fatness, regional fat distribution, and response to overfeeding.. In addition, infants born to overweight mothers have been found to be less active and to gain more weight by age three months when compared with infants of normal weight mothers, suggesting a possible inborn drive to conserve energy.


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The Causes of Childhood Obesity

Hi

Welcome to my blog about the causes of childhood obesity. There are many articles explaining and exploring the causes of childhood obesity. I hope you find them useful in explaining the causes to you.

Many Thanks
Michael

If you enjoy this blog then also take a look at some of my other blogs
Childhood Obesity and

Causes of Childhood Obesity in America

We are watching with anguish and frustration that hi tech age is taking its toll on the health of children. Children, particularly adolescent or near the age of adolescence are spending more time for watching televisions and / or sitting on the Internet in his / her computer or working in his / her computer.

Not only watching or working by sitting for long hours, they use to take high calorie snacks during their period of watching or working on their computers. As a result low energy is being expended for these children for longer period by which excess fat is accumulated in these children's body making them obese which is not at all desired.

In fact this child hood obesity has gripped the children in the United States of America to such an extent that in average one in every five children in the USA are generally found to be obese. We are very much concerned that the general health of average citizens of America will be bad if the children who are the future citizens of America are obese which invites many diseases to them like pediatric hypertension, Type II Diabetes Mellitus risk of coronary heart disease, stress on weight carrying body and above all lower self esteem resulting in relationship with peers.

Whom should we call obese? Generally it is defined as excessive accumulation of body fat. Child hood obesity is often defined as a weight for height in excess of 120 percent of ideal. However, a more accurate determinants of fatness is the measurement of skin fold. If the measurement exceeds the optimal level the child is called obese.

Now we shall discuss about the causes of childhood obesity. Our flat opinion is the imbalance between the energy in and energy out for children is the root cause of Childhood Obesity for the children in America. What is Energy in? The calorie is coming from the food the child takes. What is energy out? The calories expended in the basal metabolic rate and physical activities. So as I told at the starting of this writing that long hours with TV or with computer and taking high calorie snacks hampers the balance of energy in and out. Lot of studies have been carried out in this regard, which showed that Childhood Obesity is most likely the results from an interaction of nutritional, Psychological, familial, and Physiological factors.

The risk of a child to be obese is more, who has both the two obese parents. Some strong genetic factor or parents' desire may lead to obesity to the child. This is the familial cause.

We have already discussed about the low energy expenditure, which is the most rampant cause for children obesity.

Heredity some times influences fatness, regional fat distribution and response to overfeeding.

Obesity treatment for children seldom uses Weight Loss programs. Instead the aim is generally to slow or halt weight gain so the child will grow into his or her body weight over a period of months to years.

However, cases are there where risky Obesity Surgery had to be carried out even for teenagers, when the Obesity level reached the danger zone and no effective solution was at hand.

In general, early and appropriate intervention for obesity treatment for an obese and overweight child is the most important. We can name three forms of intervention.

Physical Activity - More and more physical activities, be it exercise, playing outdoor games like tennis swimming, football etc are the most healthy way to burn calories. Children should be motivated to take part in these outdoor games or exercises. Overall health and outlook to life of the child will see a miracle change.

There are two other forms of Interventions, which are Diet Management and Behavior Modification. Parental guidance will be required to encourage the child to take balance diet, restriction in taking fast food, cola drinks etc., taking part in outdoor games and exercises, and keeping record of improvement in weight maintenance etc, restricting time for watching TV etc.

We want to put on stress on the behavior of parents for proper intervention at proper time to guide their children so that the children do not suffer from obesity for which they themselves may not be totally responsible.


About the Author
Ftranklin Doughe is an associated editor to the website www.figurefirst.com. Figurefirst is dedicated to solve all your weight related queries and provide you up to the mark information on weight loss,diet pills obesity, healthy recipes, obesity diseases, and latest news. Your feedback & comments will be highly appreciated at fdoughe@gmail.com.

Causes Of Childhood Obesity Explained

Many people believe that the cause of childhood obesity is due to over eating and laziness and to an extent they are right but the main cause of childhood obesity are two reasons. The child's DNA and their parents. If people in the child's family have been struggling with weight gain for most of their life then the genes in that child will make them more susceptible to follow the same pattern, but that can be prevented by healthy eating and exercise which is where the parents come in. Children imitate their parents behaviour so if the parents were to eat healthily and live active lifestyles the child is sure to follow but in this day and age that is not the case and because more adults are going down the road of obesity more children are following them and ultimately suffering at the same hand of fate as their parents although it could easily be prevented!

Parents have the most influence on their child's life, they have the power to show the child that over eating and that lack of exercise is not acceptable in a young person's life and this is the cause of obesity problems later on in life. Obesity has some dreadful side affects and day to day life can be very unpleasant and simple tasks such as climbing stairs, taking a shower and other general things take more time and more effort because of the extra weight. This is even worse for a child, they need to be active and have fun!

The causes of childhood obesity are not so severe that obesity can be avoided! If you we teach oour children how to live an active and healthy lifestyle there is no reason why they should become obese even if they're family are full of obese people! Obesity is a cause and effect disease it is caused by several things over eating being the man one and the effects are horrible which complicated medical problems such as diabetes, high blood pressure and coronary heart disease! Childhood obesity can be avoided so lets try and do that, lets avoid it and help our children lead happy healthy lives with no health problems or emotional setbacks!


About the Author
The author of this article is a contrubuting editor at ArticlePosts.com, today's one stop resource on many different subjects.

10 Possibel Causes of Childhood Obesity

10 Possible Causes of the Obesity Epidemic by Chester Ku-Lea


It's well accepted that reduced physical activity and fast food are linked to obesity. But the evidence that these are the main causes of obesity is largely circumstantial. To stimulate debate, experts suggest 10 other possible causes of obesity, outlined in the International Journal of Obesity.

1. Sleep debt. Getting too little sleep can increase body weight. Today, many get less shut-eye than ever. 2. Pollution. Hormones control body weight. And many of today's pollutants affect our hormones. 3. Air conditioning. You have to burn calories if your environment is too hot or too cold for comfort. But more people than ever live and work in temperature-controlled homes and offices. 4. Decreased smoking. Smoking reduces weight. People smoke much less than they used to. 5. Medicine. Many different drugs including contraceptives, steroid hormones, diabetes drugs, some antidepressants, and blood pressure drugs can cause weight gain. Use of these drugs is on the upswing. 6. Population age, ethnicity. Middle-aged people and Hispanic-Americans tend to be more obese than young European-Americans. Americans are getting older and more Hispanic. 7. Older moms. There's some evidence that the older a woman is when she gives birth, the higher her child's risk of obesity. Women are giving birth at older and older ages. 8. Ancestors' environment. Some influences may go back two generations. Environmental changes that made a grandparent obese may "through a fetally driven positive feedback loop" visit obesity on the grandchildren. 9. Obesity linked to fertility. There's some evidence obese people are more fertile than lean ones. If obesity has a genetic component, the percentage of obese people in the population should increase. 10. Unions of obese spouses. Obese women tend to marry obese men, and if obesity has a genetic component, there will be still more obese people in the next generation.

These other contributing factors deserve more attention and study. Even more explanations include: a fat-inducing virus; increases in childhood depression; less consumption of dairy products; and hormones used in agriculture. What do you think can be attributed to the epidemic?


About the Author
Chester is a health nutrition consultant and is the owner of AstroNutrition - a provider of premium health nutrition and sports supplements. Check out our Health and Fitness Blog!

Risks and Causes of Childhood Obesity

Incidence of obesity is growing at an alarming rate. And this increased rate of obesity means that other obesity-related chronic diseases have also become more common.

Obesity increases the risk of developing medical problems such as heart disease and stroke, Type 2 diabetes, bowel cancer, and high blood pressure. Being overweight can also cause psychological distress. People who are overweight or obese are more likely to be teased or discriminated against because of their appearance. Therefore, they tend to have less confidence and lower self-esteem. This can lead to isolation and depression, which are likely to only worsen the problem.

Predisposition Towards ObesityDue to a combination of genetics and environmental conditions, people from overweight families tend to be overweight themselves. In very rare situations, obesity is caused by an underlying medical condition, such as an endocrine problem or a genetic disorder.

You are at especially high risk for obesity if:*One or both of your parents are overweight.*You earn a low income.*Your mobility is limited by a chronic disease or disability.

Medical Risks of ObesityThe medical problems associated with obesity include such conditions as asthma, Type 2 diabetes, gallstones, heart disease, high blood pressure, liver disorders, menstrual problems, metabolic syndrome, and sleep disorders.

Asthma: Asthma is just one of the medical problems with obesity. The overweight and obese are at greater risk for developing asthma than their peers. The stress of dealing with asthma can lead to issues, such as being nervous and having trouble focusing on tasks. All of these behavior problems can interfere with daily life.
Diabetes: Type 2 diabetes has become increasingly prevalent. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) now estimate that one in three people born in the United States will develop diabetes in their lifetime.

Gallstones: The gallbladder is filled with a liquid called bile that is used to help the body digest fats. Gallstones form when this bile hardens into pieces of stone-like material. The risk of developing gallstones is significantly higher in those who are obese.

Heart Disease: Atherosclerosis is the most common cause of heart disease. It's the process in which deposits of fatty substances, cholesterol, cellular waste products, calcium and other substances build up along the inner lining of an artery. This buildup, called plaque, affects both large and medium-sized arteries. Atherosclerosis is related to high blood cholesterol and triglyceride levels, which are associated with poor eating habits and obesity.
High Blood Pressure: Obese people are more likely to have high blood pressure than their peers. High blood pressure places a great deal of strain on the heart.

Liver Problems: Obese and overweight people have a greater risk for developing a liver problem called nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). This disorder can be severe and can lead to cirrhosis, in which the liver is permanently damaged and scarred and no longer able to work properly.

Menstrual Problems: Young girls that are overweight or obese may reach puberty at an earlier age than their peers. Obesity may also contribute to the development of uterine fibroids or other menstrual irregularities in adult women.

Metabolic Syndrome: Between 25% and 40% of overweight or obese people suffer from the metabolic syndrome which leads to other medical problems associated with obesity, such as diabetes and heart problems.

Sleep Disorders: Sleep disorders are another one of the medical concerns connected with obesity. Those who are overweight may develop a serious condition called obstructive sleep apnea that is characterized by brief interruptions of breathing during sleep. Over a long period of time, this type of sleep apnea can lead to heart failure. If you're suffering from obesity, I urge you to do something about it as soon as possible. Don't put it off--get started today. The best methods for preventing obesity is to improve your eating habits, increase physical activity, and reduce sedentary behaviors such as watching television.

If you think that you may need a little extra weight overcoming obesity, consider a high quality nutritional supplement to help you lose weight. Slimirex™ is an amazing weight-loss supplement which helps boost metabolism, reduce appetite, increase energy levels and build lean muscle mass.

About the Author

Dr. Edward F. Group III is the founder of Global Healing Center, Inc. He continues to develop, sell and evaluate exclusively high-end natural and organic healthcare products to support a wide range of health conditions.