Obesity, as defined by the World Health Organization, is the accumulation of too much fat in the body to impair health. An increase in the rate of fat in childhood leads to metabolic diseases such as cardiovascular disease, cholesterol, diabetes and hypertension in later ages.
So, are we dietitians just slimming people down, or are we making them conscious individuals who know how to eat healthy?
Actually, the problem starts here. It becomes more difficult for us to raise public awareness because of the information pollution in the media, and people trying to take part in the social media with little information about healthy nutrition even though they are not dietitians.
The prevalence of childhood obesity, known as today’s disease, is literally growing like an avalanche. This must be what they call an occupational disease; wherever I am, every mother/family-child eating connection I see attracts my attention. Such as forced-eating vegetable meals, rewards offered with strict rules without alternatives, fast food consumption under the name of a weekend feast…
How accurate are these, have you ever thought about them for your own child?
As announced by the World Health Organization, 22 million children under the age of 5 have overweight. This ratio, which is actually high, is increasing day by day. As a result, families are looking for a person to consult in order to raise awareness, and this search may end before it starts due to prejudices, judgments or reflections from family elders more than once. As I say to my clients; “Your child’s health is not more important than anyone else, do it for his/her convenience.”
“My child doesn’t like vegetables”, “I can’t get him to eat anything other than pasta, rice, hamburgers”, “What they eat in a friendly environment” If I restrict it, he cannot be a free child. “These sentences that you hide behind are actually things we hear from individuals in our daily lives.
So how do we prevent this?
Healthy Eating Recipe
In order to understand whether our children’s weight and height are appropriate for the age they should be, percentile curves published by WHO are looked at. In this curve, the length and weight prices suitable for all age ranges are written. We take our children, who we see not suitable for this range, under nutrition follow-up in order to ensure the continuation of healthy nutrition and growth. In this nutrition follow-up, we create a “Healthy Nutrition Recipe”, which we do not call a diet, in line with the needs and desires of the person, in order to ensure his health without hindering his growth and development. There is no rule that says no child will stay away from ice cream, hamburger, and fries for a lifetime!
Being conscious of the portion of these precious foods. You dear mother and mother-to-be readers, try to create your children’s eating habits without being as restrictive as possible. You know that the restrained child is not free. He has the right to be free, just like us. Do not offer potatoes or pasta as an alternative to a child who does not like to eat vegetables. Instead, serve another vegetable dish, let the child who has two choices freely choose his own vegetable dish. Because the content of a vegetable dish and the content and nutrition of a pasta dish are never the same. Appeal to their eyes, stomachs and imaginations by making their breakfast fun. Saying “I’ll buy you chocolate if you finish your meal” is not a reward for your child, it is a waste. The reward of the meal should not be chocolate, it should be going to the park or playing a game together. In fact, finishing a meal should be seen as something necessary for healthy growth rather than a reward. Even though our mothers of the new age tremble to raise their children in adequate conditions, small behaviors that are unwittingly overlooked can affect your child’s feeding pattern in the future.
To right all these wrongs, we must be careful to nurture our children without forcing, ending, and offering attractive rewards. We should not make them eat in front of the TV to distract them while they are eating. We should eat consciously by being aware of what we eat. Frying or pastry should not be an alternative to vegetables, it should be another vegetable option. Instead of giving ready-made crackers so that your child does not cry while spending time outside, you can give them a toy or activities that will improve their intelligence development. If there is none, you can give carrots, cucumbers, yogurt or milk, which we call healthy snacks.
