Thinking that they are doing them a favor, parents and grandparents fill their children with all kinds of unhealthy foods, in inappropriate amounts and at inappropriate times, forgetting that in nutrition “quality” means something else.
More and more children weigh more than is ideal PHOTO www.doc.ro
Romanians cannot boast of a healthy lifestyle. Adherents of a consistent, abundant and often vitamin-deficient diet, they raise their children in the same way. That is why it is not surprising that Romania occupies leading places in all kinds of international rankings that balance food and actual food. But Romanians are not the only ones in the world lacking in such things.
Nutritionist Vlad Roșca from Arad says that obesity has grown enormously in recent years worldwide, so much so that we can call it an epidemic.
“It is something pathological that is spreading enormously fast worldwide. Referring only to our country, we are in second place for obesity among children. From this we deduce that the future does not sound good. The future of children with the cause shows cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, liver diseases, joint diseases, etc. Asking how we got to this serious problem, the answers are many: industrialization, the evolution of bad marketing, diversity and harmful variants displayed on the shelf and many others”says Dr. Vlad Roșca.
In the opinion, of all the causes, the most important are: lack of food education, sedentary lifestyle, faulty lifestyle and personal negligence. These form the clinical picture of obesity among children.
“The main authority is always the parent. The most important behavior starts from the family, and implicitly the food behavior. I am aware that we live in a continuous movement where time is limited and it is easy to give the children a few pennies to buy what they want to eat than to spend time in the kitchen for them and for us. This habit only creates a problem that will cost more money, more time and more suffering for years to come.“, adds the nutritionist.
Children must be fed properly
Vlad specifies that parents only want good things for their children, to see them happy, but sometimes they leave out the most important things. Children must be fed nutritionally correctly to avoid deficiencies that will make their lives more difficult. A malnourished child will experience fatigue in the first phase, then the other clinical manifestations, until obesity is reached.
“If we eat a lot it does not mean that we are nourished. Quality is more important than quantity and taste. It's okay to enjoy sweets or junk food too, but it should be an occasion, not a habit. Parents must remain authoritative and remain rational to their children's needs rather than their desires. Sometimes we have to be “bad” parents so that later the children realize that we are “good” parents”, specifies Vlad Roșca.
The doctor also points out that nutrition is a key factor in the physical, mental and emotional development of a child, and this start often coincides with the rest of the journey through life: this “waste of time” in the kitchen for the child and implicitly for the family is inferior the time, costs and burdens of chronic diseases that will come as a result of neglect”.
Emotional effects, serious
The doctor is most concerned about the psychological side of children with obesity. In addition to the effects on physical health, very serious are those of a mental-emotional nature.
Children with obesity, when they become teenagers, live dramas and fight psychological wars because of this problem. Unfortunately, they are like a chain, they associate with each other. From frustration, to marginalization, introversion, depression, to eating disorders such as bulimia, compulsive eating, etc.
“This is probably also when parents realize that their son/daughter is dealing with more than just a weight problem. It is also then that he realizes the negligence of taking early action. Obesity, both in childhood and among adults, limits and complicates life. The extra weight is like a weight with the phrase a burden on the shoulders of the bearer. In my view, the mainstreaming of acceptance is promoted in a completely wrong way. It's okay and healthy to fight bullying of those with issues in this sense, but we shouldn't be complacent in accepting and supporting the illness“, adds the nutritionist.
He shows that if we accept and promote this we are doing nothing but supporting the disease. Obesity must be fought, not accepted under the indifferent phrase: “This is ok too”.
“Not to be overlooked is the fact that people with obesity are mostly malnourished. It seems strange, but overfeeding is not always quality, and nutritional deficiencies are present in this problem”concludes Dr. Vlad Roșca.
