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Healthy eating and obesity in children
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We should start by identifying obesity,
The dictionary definition is "Extremely overweight".
The clinical definition is that when the BMI (Body Mass Index -
which is very difficult to measure)is in excess of 25% body fat for
men and 30% body fat for women that person is obese.
Obesity has been more precisely defined by the National Institutes
of Health (the NIH) as a BMI of 30 and above. (A BMI of 30 is about
30 pounds overweight.) The BMI (body mass index), a key index for
relating body weight to height, is a person's weight in kilograms
(kg) divided by their height in meters (m)squared. Since the BMI
describes the body weight relative to height, it correlates strongly
(in adults) with the total body fat content.
I am obese and using the calulation above my BMI is height 1.755, my
weight is 120 kgms. The calculation therefore is 120 divided by
1.755
squared = 120 divided by 3.2 = 37.5.
Yet I exercise three times a week, I am a vegetarian, I do not drink
and I do not smoke. I am relatively careful what I eat and the
portions are relatively small.
Now there is the rub because the answer I get from well meaning -
but deluded - friends is "you are big boned" or "cuddly" or " I
cannot believe you are that weight" or "you carry it well". What you
want to hear is "you fat***** shed it or die" - scare tactics not
collusion.
If it like that for me then what is it like for youngsters and their
peer group pressure, television and hoarding advertising, the need
to
conform.
We need to break this cycle for our youngsters - now how are we
going to contribute to that change?
Contribute with strategies we can all use, with diets, suggestions
for healthy but "cool" food.
I want to hear from you.
