Are There Safe Diet Meal Plans For Kids? What You Need To Know

Are There Safe Diet Meal Plans For Kids?

 

Do you feel frustrated because you know your child is overweight but you feel powerless to help? What about all of these diet meal plans for kids that you aren’t sure if they are safe or not?

 

It can indeed appear to be a daunting task because you know that your overweight child is also growing and developing.

 

You know that he has needs for a certain number of calories and a steady supply of good nutrients. You just don’t know how to pull this off.

Let’s take a look at a few simple steps you can take to get started:

1. Help you child identify signals what he is full. Tell him to eat slowly because it takes the brain about twenty minutes to get signals from the stomach that it is full. Teach him to stop eating when he is first aware of a full sensation.

2. Constant munching is a certain sign of what some call mindless eating. No one is hungry all of the time. Yet, many of us seem on a quest to be the first to chew through the ribbon at the nibble marathon. Set times for your child to eat three meals and a healthful snack between meals. (Try chunks of fruits, vegetables, reduced fat cheese or whole wheat crackers and low fat yogurt.)

3. Reduce screen time. Children are not getting enough exercise, in part because they are spending all of their off-school time in front of the TV or computer. You need to take charge of your child’s life. He doesn’t yet have the maturity to do that. It’s fine to allow your child a part of certain decisions, but not those that involve his present and future health. That’s your job.

 

Make him earn screen time by participating in outdoor activities and other forms of exercise. Play ball with your child. Walk or bike with him. Learn about the relationship between obesity and disease. (He or she doesn’t want to be overweight. He may be getting teased at school. She may wish she could wear the cute little skirts like her thinner peers. Help your kid out!)

4. Get rid of drinks in the house that have been sweetened with sugar. Sodas and other sugar-laden beverages are a source of hidden calories…eliminating them can be a big step in getting your child’s weight under control.

5. Teach your child about the proper way to dish up food. Half of the plate should be filled with fruits and vegetables; one fourth is for protein (meat, chicken, fish, beans), and the last fourth is for grains, preferably those from whole grains.

Don’t put your child on commercially available diet meal plans. They are often not designed with a child’s developmental needs in mind. None of the suggestions offered above will harm your child in any way but they will help him or her get the weight issue under control…for now, and forever.

via how-to-loseweight-101.com