Today, 11 October, is World Obesity Day. Its aim is to raise awareness and take action to reduce childhood obesity.

Obesity is an increasing problem throughout the world and is a cause of physical diseases such as impaired glucose tolerance which can lead to type 2 diabetes, type 2 diabetes with all its awful complications, high blood pressure, fatty liver and some cancers. Obesity often causes low self-esteem, embarrassment and social isolation. Mobility is reduced and so exercising is difficult. Obesity leads to unnecessary early death.

Unfortunately obesity is increasing in children; in the UK over 27% of children between the ages of five and 17 are overweight or obese. This epidemic is caused by the food children are eating and insufficient exercise.

Anyone who is involved with raising children needs to consider how they can help children to live healthier lives. I have a few suggestions to share with you and, of course, we can all benefit from these tips.

• Make water the drink of choice. You can add a slice of orange or lemon to make it tastier. Avoid having squash or soft drinks in the house, even low or no calorie ones. Artificial sweeteners release the pleasure hormone dopamine and can create a craving-type dependence on getting more and more. It’s an appetite that can never be satisfied.
• Cut down on added sugar. Sugar is nutritionally empty. It provides extra calories and can lead to cravings that are difficult to beat. It lurks in many unexpected places such as pasta sauces, yogurt, salad dressing and bread, as well as in cakes, biscuits and popular breakfast cereals.
• Get to know your labels. When you buy packaged food read the label. There is so much useful information there. Sugar is hidden under many different names such as dextrose, maltose, fructose, hone, agave syrup, evaporated cane juice and many more. It’s all sugar. Stabilisers, flavourings, thickeners, emulsifiers are often chemicals and they may affect hormones in the body. I have found that reading food labels stops me from buying processed food. Even a simple sandwich may contain 2–3g of salt which is 33–50% of the recommended daily amount.
• Cook from scratch. If you make meals from the basic ingredients you know exactly what you are eating. It will take longer than buying something prepared from the supermarket but the time you spend shopping will be less because you won’t have to go along all the aisles full of processed food. You can also make larger quantities and freeze meals for when you don’t have time to cook. Now that the cooler weather is here, soups are quick, easy and nutritious.
• Make exercise a family event. Join in exercise with the children. Go swimming or walk regularly. The children will build a good habit for life and you will benefit from the exercise and by being in nature you will reduce your stress. Lead by example and have fun.

I hope you found these tips useful.

If you want to know more about World Obesity Day and beating childhood obesity, visit:

http://www.worldobesity.org/what-we-do/world-obesity-day-2016/

http://www.obesityday.worldobesity.org/