6 Healthy Habits To Teach Your Kid From The Start To Prevent Childhood Obesity

Childhood is the developmental stage where a child needs an optimum amount of nutrition to build a healthy foundation for the rest of their lives. It is a stage of innocence and a period of play. Children often eat mindlessly as they don’t think about what they eat and indulge in a lot of junk, processed, and sugary foods. And if they are diagnosed with childhood obesity, many ailments can risk their quality of life in later stages.

Childhood obesity is a condition where the child’s weight is more than the ideal weight for her/ his age. It can lead to many lifelong ailments like diabetes, heart diseases, high cholesterol, and hormonal issues.

Healthy Habits To Teach Your Kid From The Start To Prevent Childhood Obesity:

• Breakfast Is A Must- the first meal of the day must be something filling and healthy. It should provide the utmost nutrients to start the day with full energy. Also, it’s a fact that if a child skips breakfast, he or she becomes more irritable and tired during the day. This will also ensure that the child does not lean towards high-calorie food to gain more energy. A protein-rich breakfast must include fruits, a glass of milk, and cereal like paratha, chilla, or poha. Avoid giving processed foods like juices, milk cereals, or bread.
• Unhealthy Fats Is For None!- unhealthy fats like butter, fried foods, and processed foods, basically the foods that have trans and saturated fat, are not good for any age group. Especially when a child is growing, the body needs something to make muscles and bones stronger, you don’t want to compromise on that, do you? Instead, opt for healthy fats like nuts, olive oils, egg yolks, avocados, etc.
• Avoid Overeating- overeating will make the child more indulgent in food, and even increase its body’s requirements for the bad. So, make it a habit to control their portion and teach them to fill their plate with only the foods that they will be able to finish comfortably.
• Exercise- exercising involves all parts of the body, be it physical or mental, a child has to use its limbs and brain to even play. So, exercising is crucial for the healthy development of the body, and of course, it will prevent obesity by reducing the amount of fat accumulation. Exercising regularly for about an hour can make the brain sharp and body fit.
• Don’t Ever Forget To Drink Water-drinking water is a piece of advice that goes for everyone. It is what helps our body cleanse naturally, and produce electrolytes to fight the loss. It will aid digestion, avoid overeating and prevent weight gain.
• Sleep On Time- the protein assimilation is disturbed if there is a delay in the sleep pattern. A child below the age of 13 must sleep by 9.30 max. It will promote the healthy growth of cells and better hormonal and bodily functions. And most importantly, avoid screen time as it would hamper the sleep quality of the child.

Over To You:
Teach these habits to your child and it will become a healthy lifestyle, as it only takes 22 days to learn a habit. A good foundation will promote a healthy body, and well-being and prevent many diseases like childhood obesity.