How to Deal with Your Child’s Weight Problem While Maintaining his Self Esteem

Editor's Note:

 

Today's post is from Nicole Harris. She has some great tips on how to help keep your child from becoming an unhappy, overweight adult. Starting with better habits now will go a long way towards helping your child avoid obesity, diabetes and many other chronic diseases. 


 

Fear that you may have to buy plus size costumes for your 6-year old boy this Halloween? You can see that your child is getting overweight but you aren't so good at convincing him to quit the soda and the cookies that he is so fond of.

You may also need to get him off the couch and start exercising.

But what if you point out these things and he doesn’t listen? Or, worse, it brings down his confidence irreparably?

You don't want your child to have self-esteem issues. Then how can you address this issue without any of these negative effects? The only way to tell your child all these things without hurting his self-esteem is by tackling it as a family, and making sure he/she feels loved and accepted the way they are. 

You have to tempt your child with healthy foods that also taste good and find a fun, enjoyable program for him/her. Better yet, maybe you should join in too! It is not only healthy for him but also healthy for you.

You will be surprised at some of the changes in diet that your child is willing to make to lose his weight if you involve him in all the decisions. Remember that children are very sensitive and you must be careful that you don’t damage the child emotionally by pointing out his flaws.

Below are a few tips to help your child lose weight by involving the whole family in this weight loss program:

 

1.         Make the meal attractive – There are a lot of online tools that will help you to plan a healthy meal. Plan a colorful mean that looks attractive. Plan a balanced diet or all parts of a healthy meal and then ask your child to fill in the different colors that appeal to him. Sit down and discuss what healthy foods you can add that will match the color of the diet chart. This exercise involves the child and the entire family in planning a healthy meal.

2.         Add New Foods – You can ask your child to help you select a healthy recipe and then shop together for the recipe. This will be a fun exercise for the family and the child will enjoy it. This also works with snack foods. There are a great many healthier options other than chips or cookies. Try apples and peanut butter, or peanut butter and celery, or some tasty trail mix.

3.         Kitchen Time With Your Child – Your child loves cooking with you and this should not surprise you. Give him tasks that are appropriate for his age. He will love helping you in the kitchen and meal times will be looked forward as fun time. You can ask him to pack his lunch and your lunch too. Make him feel that he has chosen the lunch for both of you. He will eat all the healthy foods that he is given and has helped to cook.

4.         Avoid Second Helpings – Don’t set the pot on the dining table. Instead, serve single helpings on the plates and carry them to your dining table. Make sure that everyone has only one serving.

5.         Exercise Together – Exercising can just as much fun as choosing healthy food and recipes is. There are so many things that you can do together. Go for walks or jog together or you can play tennis. Another good option is to join a gym. You may even get a discount when the whole family joins it. This will also limit time before the computer or the Television.

 

Children today are aware of health issues and the dangers of obesity. All they need is some understanding and a gentle push in the right direction. Support them by being a part of their endeavors and your child will soon be happy and fit like you always wanted.

 

Nicole C Harris is a personal fitness trainer and a freelance writer. In her free time, Harris loves partying with her friends and recommends that you should buy themed birthday party supplies online to get great discounts. 

3 Critical Things You MUST know in Order to Lose Weight and Keep it Off.

If you are working on burning body fat and increasing your energy, there are three key things to keep in mind.flat belly fit girl

These things are so important and so many people are trying like crazy and cannot figure out why dieting does not work. Until you ‘get’ this, weight loss and fat burning will be hit or miss.
Many people have been brainwashed into believe that “calories are calories” all the while trying unsuccessfully to lose weight. Not that simple really….

The first of these principles is to eat food your body recognizes.

By that I mean, eat REAL food. Our bodies have evolved in a relatively short time and the foods we are putting in them are often unrecognizable. Packaged, refined processed foods with chemicals and preservatives in them are foreign substances to the body. Yes, foreign substances.

What happens when you eat something that is processed and unnatural is that the body doesn’t recognize or is confused by something artificial. Unable to metabolize it into usable nutrients, it breaks it down as well as it can, causing a blood sugar response, the resulting insulin surge and viola!

All the calories you have just ingested get stored as fat.

The easy solution? Eat REAL food that your body recognizes. Eat unrefined, natural foods with one ingredient. And for excitement, combine a couple of one ingredient foods for snacks. Like fruit and nuts. Cheese and nuts. Eggs and veggies. Avocado and turkey slices. Get it?

Principle number two: Losing weight is less about calories and is ALL about controlling your blood sugar and insulin response.

Blood sugar spikes cause insulin to be released in the body. Insulin causes the body to immediately start storing everything consumed as fat. That includes anything with any kind of sugar–fructose, glucose, sucrose, etc. That also includes grain products such as corn, wheat, soy, oats and more. And that INCLUDES whole grain products.

Starchy products like potatoes and gluten free foods also stimulate insulin as well.

And, while it sounds healthy, fruit juice is actually just a natural form of sugar water. This is a refined product that basically contains fructose–a sugar–and water. This stuff hits your system fast and your blood sugar spikes quickly. Insulin follows, your body stores calories ingested as fat, blood sugar drops, and you are hungry again. Not good.

Fruit on the other hand, while it too, is full of fructose and too much of a good thing can be fattening, has lots of fiber in it, so the sugar in fruit is absorbed more slowly. Better.

Best–eat fruit with nuts, nut butter, cheese, or other form of protein and/or healthy fat to help it get absorbed more slowly into the body. Result is more stable blood sugar and no fat storing.
So the main trick here is pretty simple: control your blood sugar by avoiding the starchy and the sweet and you stay in the ‘fat burning’ zone.

Principle number three: The nutritional value of your food makes all the difference.

In other words, if you had to choose between something with little nutrition and few calories or a superfood packed with nutrition, antioxidants, healthy fats, vitamins and minerals, but high calorie–which would you choose?

The correct answer and the best fat burning, healthy answer is the higher calorie, nutrient dense food. If it’s real, your body recognizes it and packed with tons of nutrition–go for it. Your body will metabolize this food, use it to build health and energy in your body, and rev up your energy and fat burning as a result.

Controlling your blood sugar has significant health benefits other than JUST fat burning too:

-Controlling blood sugar and insulin response actually is extremely healthy for the heart and blood vessels, dropping your risk of heart attacks and stroke immensely.
-Controlling blood sugar and keeping it at an lower even level will drastically reduce your risk of cancer and will prevent any cancer (whether it has been detected or not) from growing.
-Controlling blood sugar is very effective as an anti-aging tool and will keep you looking younger and prevent wrinkles and sagging skin as well.
-Controlling blood sugar also keeps your energy high with no peaks and valleys. You stay alert and vibrant.
-Controlling blood sugar also keeps triglycerides low and helps prevent deposits in the blood vessels.

I will go into these important principles in depth in upcoming articles, and you can read more about these KEY principles in The Fat Burning Kitchen. Check it out.

And start burning fat to get healthy and lean!