Contents:
- Medical Video: How Can I Tell if My Child Has an Eating Disorder?
- Parents who focus on a child's weight can trigger an unhealthy diet
- How to ensure the health of teenagers
- 1. Maintain food intake
- 2. Regular exercise
- 3. Get enough rest
- 4. Healthy environment
- 5. Take a multivitamin supplement if necessary
Medical Video: How Can I Tell if My Child Has an Eating Disorder?
According to The American Academy of Pediatrics, parents have a huge role to play in preventing obesity and eating disorders in children and adolescents. Why? Because parents are able to encourage the habits of teenagers to eat healthier than just focusing on weight alone. This method is considered better for maintaining children's health and preventing adolescents from falling into an unhealthy diet.
Parents who focus on a child's weight can trigger an unhealthy diet
According to a study conducted by the University of Minnesota, when parents ask teenagers to lose weight, these teens will think of quick ways to lose weight, and the way they choose tends to be unhealthy. The study took data from two groups surveyed, namely teenagers and parents. There are 2,348 adolescents with an average age of 14 years and there are 3,528 parents involved in the survey.
It was found that among teenagers whose mothers talked about healthy eating, only a few of them underwent an unhealthy diet to control weight. Diets and unhealthy weight control habits are more often experienced by overweight adolescents, or even normal weight, whose mothers focus more on the child's weight than their health.
For example, from the study, there were 64% of overweight teens, whose mothers talked about weight and how to lose weight, and eventually would tend to do dangerous habits to lose weight. However, only 41% of teenagers use unhealthy methods when talking in family is only about healthy eating.
There were also 53% of teenagers who were on an unhealthy diet even though their parents never mentioned weight or food at all. Surprisingly, there were 39% of teenagers who actually had normal weight, but still underwent an unhealthy diet, as a result of their mothers often talking about weight loss.
How to ensure the health of teenagers
Experts recommend that you create a healthy environment, set an example for healthy habits, and support children or adolescents to maintain their health.
Applying a healthy lifestyle to children is not an easy thing. There are also internal and external factors that often hinder, such as the presence of roadside snacks and air pollution from motorized vehicles.
Not to mention the behavior of children who tend to be free and lack discipline. Parents need extra attention to watch over them. There shouldn't be this. If it's too far, the impact is bad on children's health.
Their endurance can decrease so they become susceptible to disease. Applying a healthy lifestyle to children can begin with simple ways like the following.
1. Maintain food intake
Maintaining food intake can be the beginning of the introduction of a healthy lifestyle to children. Parents need to make sure the child eats regularly in accordance with meals. Give nutritious food that includes a menu of four perfectly healthy five. So that children are not bored, parents need to present a varied menu.
2. Regular exercise
Sports are not always synonymous with something heavy. Parents can invite children to try sports that are fun, such as jogging, swimming, or cycling. If you are used to exercising since childhood, they will not find it difficult to continue this healthy lifestyle to adulthood. Children are no longer susceptible to disease.
3. Get enough rest
The third way is challenging for parents. Make sure children and teenagers sleep enough for eight hours a day. Don't forget them to take a nap every day. To make this step easier, parents need to limit their use gadget like a cellphone or tablet that often distracts them.
4. Healthy environment
A healthy lifestyle in children starts from the surrounding environment, for example from the house where he used to play and learn. Try to keep the condition of the house clean. Try to plant small trees so that the air around the house feels fresh.
5. Take a multivitamin supplement if necessary
Multivitamin supplements can be used to support the development of children and adolescents. You can start giving children supplements that suit their needs. You can do this method to maintain children's health.
