Cut down on bakery products – bread, cakes, biscuits, confectionary and the like. Enjoy them once in a while, and look for whole-grain alternatives for everyday snacks. Eating disorders are on the rise; parents need to keep a watchful eye.
“I’m not going to school from tomorrow, everyone calls me a fatso,” an 11-year-old says. The words used to tease may change over the years – from ‘polson’ to ‘tuntun’ to ‘jaadi’ to ‘motu’ to ‘tubby’ to ‘sumo’ and the like, but the fact remains that a fat child is often picked on and mocked mercilessly right through his or her school years.
While obesity in children has not reached epidemic proportions, as in the West (one estimate says that as much as 18 % of American kids are overweight), we do see an alarming rise in obesity and related disorders in the urban Indian child population.
Contrary to some perceptions that chubby children are cheerful and always clowning around, the fact is that obese kids lack self-esteem and are often socially awkward and maladjusted. They may make up for it with clowning around, overeating and joking about their weight, or being aggressive, but inside almost every fat child is a vulnerable, hurt and unhappy person.
With children leading increasingly sedentary lives even during recreation time – in front of the TV or a computer – and a dramatic rise in the consumption of fast food, the last decade has seen child obesity as a growing urban Indian phenomenon. We are firmly in a world where most commercially available snacks and fast food contribute hugely to obesity. While this trend is unlikely to change in the near future, there is quite a lot that we can do in our homes – changes in lifestyle and food choices that will go a long way in preventing our kids from getting overweight, undernourished and unhappy.
What can we do to reverse this trend? For those who are grossly overweight, with a corresponding family history, perhaps the help of doctors, dieticians and fitness experts is the main recourse. For kids who are marginally overweight, there is so much that we can do at home, by making small but significant changes in eating and other routines.
Cut down on bakery products – bread, cakes, biscuits, confectionary and the like. Enjoy them once in a while, and look for whole-grain alternatives for everyday snacks.
Simply say no to aerated drinks. Do not stock them at home, and allow one, at the most, once in a week. Offer alternatives through summer, like chaas, nimbu paani, coconut water, kokum sarbat, and other such choices.
Take a family walk after dinner; if possible, walk kids to school or part of the way.
Insist on some outdoor games at least twice a week.
Encourage kids to sit on the floor when they play board or card games, work at craft, drawing and the like.
Avoid taunting, joking or teasing as a part of your strategy to get a child to exercise or eat less. It is always counterproductive, and they face enough of it from schoolmates.
Have small targets, and every time the child passes the milestone, reward him or her with a piece of clothing or some such thing that he can now get into. You will find that weight-loss brings its own best rewards in terms of better self-esteem, better school performance and a happier disposition.
There is another side to the weight-watching issue. Many parents complain that their pre-teen and teen girls refuse to eat properly and are constantly worried about becoming fat. Earlier, 13-year-olds had healthy, huge appetites, and one of their avenues of fun was to go out eating street food, or burgers, or ice creams, or a great mom-cooked meal in a friend’s house. Today a lot of them are denying themselves food, even basic nutrition, in the name of dieting.
Eating disorders are rampant and rising amongst urban young girls. To counter this, one simple rule that has got to be in place: however much your daughter protests and claims that she does actually eat enough: you (or any other adult) have to actually see her eating 2 meals everyday, one of which is the staple diet of your household/community, and one of which is preferably breakfast which includes chaas/milk/juice. If she insists on being on some kind of diet, the only thing you could agree on is no-sugar. But as for dumping entire food groups, simply do not agree to it.
One final word: if adults in the household need to lose a few pounds, just go ahead and quietly do it; stop talking about weight, weight loss, calories, and such like around your kids.