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Written By: Editorial Team | Updated : August 28, 2018 3:14 PM IST
Your child should be physically active to get rid of obesity. © Shutterstock
Raising kids has never been easy. But it seems like parenting is becoming more and more difficult. Our lifestyles, work, stress, eating and sleeping habits are definitely to be blamed. So how do you ensure that our kids don't get fat and unhealthy and are afflicted with diseases like diabetes, high blood pressure, cardiovascular diseases, cancer and other deadly conditions? Here is what you need to know according to celeb nutritionist Rujuta Diwekar who has helped quite a few Bollywood actors including Kareena Kapoor, Alia Bhatt, Varun Dhawan and others get in shape through good diet practices.
At home, what can parents do/not do to inculcate healthy eating habits amongst children from a young age?
The best way to put a child off healthy eating habits is to talk carb, protein, fat, calories, etc., on the dining table. It makes eating a chore and makes them feel inadequate. Meal times should be what they are meant to be - a time for everyone to be together and enjoy good food and have a good time. Food should be spoken about in terms of culture, climate, crop cycle and not food groups. This allows children to see food and eating as a natural, social act and encourages them to eat responsibly. The key here is to not just talk but do, kids watch more than they listen.
Parents should also monitor their own eating habits better and work at building long-term and sustainable healthy lifestyle. I have often noticed that parents who have poor body image, invariably superimpose that on their kids too. Being on extreme weight loss diets - only protein, only salads, etc., or obsession with exercise, often compounds the problem. "I really need to knock off 5 pounds", may seem like a harmless thing to say around a child but it lays the foundation to a twisted relationship with body weight, about fitting in and health in general.
2) Is easy availability of junk food, soft drinks, etc., leading to a dramatic increase in childhood obesity? Are there any other factors to be considered?
The whole food environment needs to change. These include:
- Dealing with planning of cities and towns, not having access to footpaths or cycling tracks to go to school
- Not allowing buildings having more parking spaces than open spaces to play
- Not making junk food easily available around and inside schools
- Escalating governmental efforts to tackle food advertising and marketing
3) Will setting strict rules when it comes to consuming junk food, etc., have a long-term impact on the eating habits of kids?
No, the fact is that they are going to grow up and then you will be at the receiving end of teenage rebellion. Instead, educate them about how junk food is a global industry and how the same food is in every mall, every airport, etc. Tell them how selling toys with junk food is banned in some countries, Chile e.g., but not in ours. Teach them about how the food industry is often not responsible or ethical about what they produce. Get them to carry a bottle and fill it at the airport instead of just picking bottled water in the aircraft. It's not about avoiding calories but living more responsibly and sensibly. It's okay if they have junk sometimes, the idea is that they have to be able to identify it as junk and not associate either aspiration or prestige with it.
If a celeb is endorsing junk, teach your child that they are getting paid to pose, drink and eat that food on camera. Children are quick to adopt lifestyle changes when they see food from a broader angle and are especially sensitive to both the economic and ecological aspects of food. Make the conversation wholesome - if you talk from a point of view of sugar or calories or fat, there will be a sugar/ calorie/ fat-free version of the same junk and you will be left fighting a lost battle.
Image source: Shutterstock
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