{"id":29507,"date":"2012-06-21T20:45:00","date_gmt":"2012-06-22T00:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/miserybay.usanethosting.com\/wordpress\/?p=29507"},"modified":"2012-06-21T20:45:00","modified_gmt":"2012-06-22T00:45:00","slug":"mmdhd-94","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stjindy.com\/archive1\/mmdhd-94\/","title":{"rendered":"Childhood obesity on the rise"},"content":{"rendered":"

Break the cycle
\nIt should come as no surprise that children and adolescents often favor fast food, spend hours on end playing video games, and often have to be forced outside in an attempt to engage them in some form of physical activity.
\nWhat may come as a surprise is that since 1980, obesity among children and adolescents has more than tripled, and nearly one in three children are considered overweight or obese.
\nSadly, these new trends may have life-long consequences. Overweight and obese youth are more likely to have risk factors for cardiovascular disease, such as high cholesterol or high blood pressure. They are also at greater risk for bone and joint problems, sleep apnea, and social and psychological problems as well. Furthermore, obesity in youth often continues into adulthood, putting them more at risk for heart disease, type 2 diabetes, stroke, several types of cancer, and more.
\nSo what can be done to break or reverse the cycle?
\nBalance Calories<\/strong>
\nHealthy lifestyle habits, including healthy eating, can lower the risk of becoming obese and developing related diseases. Mothers can start their children off right by eating well during pregnancy and breastfeeding. Other ways to help children develop healthy eating habits include:
\n\u00b7 Provide plenty of fruits, vegetables and whole grain products
\n\u00b7 Choose low-fat or non-fat dairy products
\n\u00b7 Choose lean meats, lentils, beans, poultry and fish
\n\u00b7 Serve low-fat and low-sugar treats, such as fruit, vegetables, yogurt, etc.
\n\u00b7 Serve reasonably-sized portions
\n\u00b7 Encourage children to drink lots of water
\n\u00b7 Limit sugar-sweetened beverages
\n\u00b7 Limit consumption of sugar and saturated fat
\n\u00b7 Avoid watching television while eating. Instead, eat together at the dinner table
\n\u00b7 Avoid forcing your child to eat if he\/she is not hungry
\n\u00b7 Limit the frequency of fast-food to no more than once per week
\n\u00b7 Avoid using food as a reward or the lack of food as a punishment
\n\u00b7 Look for ways to make favorite dishes healthier
\nHelp kids stay active<\/strong>
\nMaking sure your child receives an adequate amount of physical exercise is a critical step in combating childhood obesity. Children should get 60 minutes or more of moderate intensity physical activity daily, but studies show that the average child and adolescent in America today gets less than 15 minutes of vigorous activity a day.
\nWhen it comes to physical activity, remember that children imitate adults. Start adding physical activity to your own daily routine and encourage your child to join you. Some examples of moderate intensity physical activity the whole family can enjoy include brisk walking, playing soccer, rollerblading, hiking and swimming. In addition to being fun, regular activity has many other health benefits, including:
\n\u00b7 Strengthening bones
\n\u00b7 Decreasing blood pressure
\n\u00b7 Reducing stress and anxiety
\n\u00b7 Increasing self-esteem
\n\u00b7 Helping with weight management
\nReduce sedentary time<\/strong>
\nDon’t forget to limit the amount of time your kids watch television, play video games or surf the web to no more than two hours per day.
\nHelping your children balance calories, encouraging them to stay active, and ensuring that they reduce and limit sedentary time will not only stop or reverse the cycle of obesity, but will also put them on the road to a healthy lifestyle.
\nFor more information and tools regarding healthy eating habits, visit www.choosemyplate.gov<\/a>, or www.letsmove.gov<\/a>, a program developed by First Lady Michelle Obama to solve the childhood obesity epidemic. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Break the cycle<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29507","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stjindy.com\/archive1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29507","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stjindy.com\/archive1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stjindy.com\/archive1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stjindy.com\/archive1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stjindy.com\/archive1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29507"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stjindy.com\/archive1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29507\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stjindy.com\/archive1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29507"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stjindy.com\/archive1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29507"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stjindy.com\/archive1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29507"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}