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Overweight and Obese Children
Some might
say that overweight and obese mean the same thing. They will offer that
those who think otherwise are just quibbling over two words that are
interchangeable with each other. You may or may not agree with that. I
am sure however, that once you realize the inherent risks in each of
them that you will agree that neither is preferable to be.
The medical
community uses overweight and obese for clinical diagnosing and
determining which category of risk patients weighing more than
recommended for health fall into. Like adults, overweight and obese
children are at an increased risk for developing catastrophic diseases
and afflictions. However, because their bodies are still growing and
developing, treatments may be less successful when disease strikes. The
suspension of full growth and development may also occur in overweight
and obese children, which can cause many physical, social, and emotional
problems for them.
Body mass
index (BMI) is a type of body fat measurement that derives from a
calculation of age, weight, and height to arrive at a percentage of body
fat. There are methods that are more direct for measuring body fat, but
BMI is quite accurate and is less costly than other methods for
determining body fat compositions. You should rely on the expertise of a
medically trained professional to evaluate whether your child is
overweight or obese. He or she will use the BMI calculating of body fat
percentage method in combination with other methods for measuring body
fat composition and other factors of overweight and obese.
Helping
children who are overweight or obese to reduce their weight can help
them to reduce their risks for developing life threatening diseases by
as much as 10 percent. Some common diseases that overweight and obese
children are more susceptible to than average weight children include:
diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, gallbladder disease,
heart disease, stroke, respiratory disorders, and some cancers.
Susceptibility and risks increase as children move from overweight to
obese.
Fat
composition in the body is a greater indicator of potentially
compromised health in a child than their weight number is. This is
because fitter children have more muscle composition in their bodies,
which can result in a higher number on the scale. It is therefore
possible for a child evaluated on weight alone, to be falsely identified
as overweight. We must also be mindful of the fact that children's
bodies experience ongoing changes that could give them the appearance of
overweight until the body readjusts various compositions that comprise
their bodies.
Overweight
and obese are words used to describe children, that are no laughing
matter. Nevertheless, you can use laughter and fun to help children to
adopt the healthier lifestyles that can help keep many diseases at bay
and that most often results in extended living. This is also a time to
take a good look at your own level of fitness and health. The lifestyle
choices you make heavily influences those that your children will make.
If changes are necessary, do not spend time berating yourself for how
you got here and for not modeling the healthiest choices for your
children to follow, instead make the necessary healthy changes to your
lifestyle and that of your child/children with the smoothest of
transitions.
Discover
what healthy choices you could make to improve upon your own fitness and
health and that could help your children to improve theirs as well. Then
make a conscious effort to make those changes that you discover are the
best changes for you and your family. Transitioning from unhealthy to
healthier lifestyles does not have to be hard or cause anyone to feel
deprived. It can be fun and exciting for parents and children to prepare
healthy meals together. When the whole family gets involved in doing fun
physical activities together, it is more likely that children will
remain more active even as adults.
Overweight
and obese are dangerous for children as well as for adults. Make health
a priority for you and your family by getting your fitness and health
levels under control.
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