Do your Children have the Potential to be Overweight?
Numerous articles have been written about weight loss and hundreds of weight loss programs being offered. However, only a few address the growing number of children who are overweight.
This is even more alarming when you consider the number of overweight children and teenagers has tripled in the last twenty years and those numbers continue to grow.
From 4% in 1974, the percentage of overweight children from 6-11 years has risen to 17.5% in 2004. The same is true for teenagers. Overweight teens aging from 12 to 19 have increased from 6% in 1974 to 17% in 2004.
Today, 32% of children are overweight. 16% are obese. And 11% are considered extremely obese.
Children these days experience more peer pressure about their weight than before. Teenage girls, as young as 13 years old, are asking for, and some are actually having, gastric surgeries as a means to reduce weight. Anorexia and bulimia are also seen as the only solution by others.
The biggest threat with childhood and teenage obesity is these children are much more likely to become obese adults. The difference is they’re being affected at a much younger age with the same health issues that plague obese adults.
It has been foreseen that the children of this generation will be the first in history to have a shorter life span than their parents.
We don’t need to discuss here the reasons why our children are fat. All of us know the reasons, and as adults, we are the ones responsible for this, not the kids.
Our kids are obese because instead of healthy and nutritious food, we feed them junk food. Instead of oatmeal for breakfast, we feed them sugar laden cereal.
They eat too many overly processed, nutritionally lacking, calorie-laden snacks instead of fruits and vegetables. There are also too many fast food, too much and too often.
To add to that, we’ve stopped encouraging our children to go outdoors and be active. It’s too easy to let them spend one mind-numbing hour after another in front of a TV screen or a computer monitor.
They’re growing up so sedentary that even playing outside seems like work. What have we done to our children?
It is time for us to step up and take responsibility for our children who are struggling with weight issues. The damage reaches far more than their physical body, inside and out, because they are also affected by this emotionally.
Children should not be suffering from depression and lack of self-esteem. They should not have to worry about classmates teasing them and giving them rude comments which chip away at their self-image.
It isn’t fair to take a young body that’s still struggling to grow and put the added demands of carrying around extra weight on it. I’m encouraging all parents and grandparents who have overweight children in their life to do something about it.
Get active with your child. You need to find the time and make the time to prepare healthier meals and snacks. Another thing you can do is use my Weight Loss Breeze Program to lower your child’s weight to a normal, healthy level. It’s a natural, rational approach to weight loss. And best of all, it works.