Children today are getting bigger. I remember a newspaper article that talked about how children of today are growing physically bigger than their parents. Whenever I take public transport, I encounter teenagers who are my height and some of them are teenage girls. Not only are children nowadays taller, they are also fatter. We have Trim and Fit (TAF) or now renamed "Fitness Clubs" where obese children have to attend additional physical activities to counteract the evil effects of obesity.
Even during my national service days going through basic military training (BMT) in Pulau Tekong, the concept of obese company for recruits was starting to be implemented to help condition recruits whose body mass indexes were on the wrong side of the scale.
Prosperity's curse: obesity
Increasing prosperity brings increasing obesity. Even in my own life, there was a period of time when my weight continued to grow each year despite the annual requirement to take the individual physical proficiency test (IPPT) required by the army. Eventually, I embarked on a diet of rolled-oats from Mondays to Fridays for breakfast complemented with a regular exercise regime of running at least once a week and some tennis. This has helped me shed about 1.5 kg over the past 1 year and has allowed me to slim down so that my pants do not feel so tight around the waist.
How can we invest in our children's health?
Our young generation today grows up in an environment of books, studies, computer games, console games and a relatively sedentary lifestyle. Coupled with easy availability of fast-food and with more families eating out as opposed to cooking at home, childhood obesity is also becoming a challenge. To prosper your child, investing in his or her health should be one of your foremost priorities. So how can you, as a parent, do this?
- Avoid fast food
- Eat home cooked meals
- Exercise together as a family
- Sleep early
Fast food is one of the worst contributors to childhood obesity. Watch "Supersize Me" if you are not convinced of the ills of fast food. In general, fast food is highly processed, contains very little nutrients and is high in fat content and sugar in soft drinks. Eating less fast food (recommended not more than once every 2 weeks) would help battle obesity.
2. Eat home cooked meals
Cooking for a family can be more economical and more importantly it allows the family to control the amount of oil, salt and the quality of the food used in the meals. Furthermore, eating together as a family helps the family to bond over the meal, to know about each other's lives.
3. Exercise together as a family
The government has provided many excellent facilities in terms of parks and park connectors that allow families to exercise together near canals, lakes and gardens. Make use of these free facilities to get some family exercise going during weekends and even weekdays. Exercise builds up our bodies immune systems, is an excellent destresser and is fun for the entire family!
4. Sleep early
Sleepling early allows our bodies to recharge and rejuvenate. If our children have been exercising, then even when they are sleeping their metabolic rates increase and will be helping them to burn fats even at rest. Sleeping early also gives children sufficient rest for the next day's activities!
To help our children prosper, we must make sure they first achieve prosperity in their health. For without health, wealth is useless.
0 comments:
Post a Comment