Childhood obesity and simple "tricks" to avoid it.

The nutritional education to children is one of the difficult parts in the science of nutrition. What makes it particularly difficult is that often the problem starts from their parents. The wrong eating habits that children inherit from adults is difficult to reverse the course, when parents are not really ready to change.

The busy schedule of the modern mother has changed the eating habits of the whole family, choosing foods more casual and faster cooked and many families resort to ready meals. Child - adolescent diet, however, plays an important role in the later life of man, because in this period we adopt eating habits that, if correct, reduce the chances of developing wear conditions  in later adulthood such as pressure or diabetes etc.

Success, I think, would be to teach our children have from early age nutritional intelligence! They have to understand by themselves what it means hunger and what saturation, to be independent and be able to prepare their meals themselves, but also to have an opinion about what they like and what they dislike. So, as an expert I'm telling you that initially the word "prohibited" should't exist in your child's diet dictionary. The ban certainly fires up the imagination and because by nature children are reactive, they can relapse and and you will lose control. Allow them eat all kinds of food, but always stressing the importance of the measure and never implicating any food.

Do not expect your children things that they don't see you do. Today 7 out of 10 children do not eat breakfast and 8 out of 10 parents also. We skip the most important meal of the day. The right thing to do, however, is to always eat breakfast and be an example for your children.

Another mistake is that in the child's diet often get involved also our grandparents. Always they mean good, having, however, in their minds the idea that healthy children are plump children, we picture those always running after the kids with a plate of food in their hands, pushing them to eat the last bite, using arguments that last bite is our strength, causing feelings of intimidation. It is big mistake to use food as a reward. We create to children a relationship of dependency between food and acting good. First the good deeds must be done selflessly. Choose other ways to reward them. The food is for the growth and survival of the child and does not have any other role.

Many parents face many problems with their children, because there is usually a wide variety of foods that children do not like such as fish and legumes. The secret in this case is your imagination. With the pressure to eat something that it does not want or there is no reason of eating(when there is intolerance or allergy), only quarrels will cause. Find ways to include in its diet secretly food it does'nt want. If, for example, your child does not want pulses you could display them in another form, such as ground pureed. If your child doesn't eat vegetables, you can use various cutting blades, making different shapes that will transform the food into play and make it eat.

I consider that gathering around the table is an opportunity to be the whole family together. Now most tables are positioned in front of the TV. This is a wrong example for your children. When we eat in front of TV or computer we get distracted, so our attention is directed to what we watch and not on what and how much we eat. Children who eat watching TV are more likely to become obese than children who focus on their plates while eating.

Remember that we are responsible for the wrong eating behaviors of our children and that making the change, we become a good example for them.

Thanasainas Christos

Clinical Nutritionist Specialised in Nutritional Intelligence