According to reports, one-third of children aged 2 to 19 have a BMI >85th percentile, and 18.5% have a BMI >95th percentile. Thus affecting 13.7 million children in the United States and 340 million children worldwide. Childhood Obesity week is being celebrated from 6th Jul – 12th Jul 2020.
The prevalence of excess weight, obesity, overweight and severe obesity is higher in the most deprived areas compared to the least deprived, and the inequality gap is increasing at a faster rate.
Lockdowns implemented across the world due to the COVID-19 pandemic have negatively impacted diet, sleep and physical activity among children with obesity, according to University at Buffalo research.
Lifestyle Modifcations to Manage Childhood Obesity
Make an effort to incorporate these habits in you and your children. Do not focus on result focus on changing habits.
- Try to walk for an extra 20 minutes every day. You will be walking for two hours every week!
- Make sure you are getting your five a day by setting yourself the challenge of including at least one serving of fruit or veg with each of your meals and snacks.
- Try one new activity or exercise every week. Such as street dance, trampolining, circus skills, tennis or martial arts and you might find you want to keep on doing it!
- Start the day as you mean to go on with a healthy and filling breakfast! Make the right choice and swap your low fibre cereal or toast for a wholegrain option such as wholemeal toast or a no-added-sugar muesli, porridge oats or shredded wheat.
- Fruit juice can contain a lot of sugar. So drink in moderation. Try and limit it to a maximum of one small cup or carton (200ml) a day.
- Aim to drink 6-8 cups of water a day. We know that water hydrates you but studies have shown that children concentrate better at school when they drink more water .
Take an initiative to be with your family & spend time being active together.