March 28, 2024

If you take a closer look at your obese neighbors, that is, if you have watched them grow from children into teenagers and finally adults, you would find that many of them didn’t become obese adults overnight. Most probably they were eating junk and processed foods since their childhood.

Those habits followed them when they grew into the puberty stage. Today, as adults, they would probably like to kick off their bad habits and lose weight, but since they have never followed healthy eating habits as children, they now find it difficult to adopt them.

As you can understand, if we can put a rein on childhood obesity and teenage obesity, much of the present day’s obesity problem could be solved. A lot of it depends on parents. They should the ones teaching their kids the benefits of healthy eating and healthy living.

They should be the ones to teach their kids how harmful it would be for their health if they become fat. I have actually found that when it comes to kids or teenagers, the fear of social disgrace usually influences them much more than the fear of diseases.

You see, it is no secret that:

a) Kids are very sensitive by nature and don’t take offences kindly

b) Almost in all societies, fat kids are abused and taunted at by their peers

Therefore, inculcate the fear of imminent social disgrace in your kids, and see if they don’t follow healthy eating habits. This is a psychological trick which almost always works for teens, and to some extent, over-sensitive kids too; however, it won’t probably work for adults.

The genetic factor is there to consider as well. If a teen’s parents are obese, he would have to fight harder than usual to keep himself from getting over. Studies point out that a teenager can, if he wants to, keep himself healthy and fit even if his parents are not healthy. However, if a teen doesn’t follow a healthy lifestyle during his adolescence, he would find it difficult to keep the away in his adulthood.

While working out in the gym is an obvious option, teenagers shouldn’t be doing workouts which are too strenuous, as they can injure themselves badly. From my experience, I can recommend two good activities that would help your teenage child keep obesity away without harming him in any way:

1) Outdoor sports: Right after finishing their academic activities, teens should engage themselves in some form of outdoor sports. Afternoon is usually the best time for playing sports such as cricket, football, basketball, tennis, etc. Make sure that you do not force your kid to play any particular sport. Almost all kids are interested in one of these sports, and since all of them are good for loss, it doesn’t matter which sport he picks up for himself.

2) Swimming and dancing: Many kids take interest in these activities. They are good choices since they keep your kids healthy, both physically and mentally. Yoga is yet another good choice.

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