Priya Karkera
Priya Karkera is a clinical nutritionist with a successful clinical practice for the past 12 years. She has a Masters degree in Nutrition and Dietetics. She has been a Nutrition Health writer for the Times of India for the last 10 years. She has special expertise in cardiology, nephrology, diabetes, pediatrics and neurology. Priya is a corporate wellness director conducting plenty of corporate workshops on health nutrition and lifestyle management.
Obesity is a pandemic of its own which is founded in the modern-day sedentary lifestyle and overeating habits. Worldwide obesity has tripled since 1975. People are progressively taking to unhealthy behaviors that affect them negatively in the long run. If we were to talk about children, the statistics are deeply upsetting. The survey reads 38 million children under the age of 5 were found to be overweight or obese in the year 2019. And over 340 million children and adolescents in the age group of 5-19 years were overweight or obese in 2016. Nearly 1 in every 5 children/adolescents is overweight or obese. We have let an ailment that is partly preventable be our downfall in the contemporary world. Priya Karkera discusses childhood obesity in brief. Let us have a look at what she has to say.
DEFINING OBESITY
Overweight are those individuals who have a BMI between 23.0- 24.9 kg/m² Obesity is when the BMI is >25 kg/m² Parents are often worried about how their child is growing up. Is he eating enough? Is he eating too much? Is he eating a lot of junk food? These are the questions that plague every parent, concerned beyond ration about their kid’s nutrition. And they are right in their place. Tracking a child’s food intake is truly no piece of the cake. Especially now that eating trends and patterns have wildly changed and people are gravitating more and more toward unhealthy eating habits. Priya says, “No food is banned if correct portioning and planning is involved”. So that’s what parents need to stick by. Monitor your child’s portion intake. Give them a bit of everything, don’t restrict anything. Just make sure it is a proportionate quantity that agrees with their daily activity.
FACTORS LEADING TO OBESITY
The interplay of these three factors will determine the weight of your child:- Physical activity: you need to ensure that your child is physically active. Too much food coupled with no exercise is like signing up for future obesity. Register them for a sport or maybe take them along on a walk every morning. Nurture healthy behaviors and inhibit long hours in front of the TV on a couch. Replace video games with outdoor games. People often appear to stick with habits that were inculcated early on in life. So if you make sure your child works out in any form at least 5 days a week, you would’ve accomplished your role as a parent in curbing obesity and obesity-related issues later in life.
- Food of choice: Priya Karkera quotes, “Poverty in midst of plenty is the perfect description of the scenario today”. By this, she means parents tend to adopt poor food choices for their kids against the backdrop of a vast array of healthy food choices present out there. As mentioned above it’s not the problem with unhealthy food, it’s a matter of the quantity of its consumption. Healthy snacking is an issue every household struggles with. We tend to give in to tastier but unhealthy snacking options. Parents should make an active effort to ensure their child consumes all his daily meals without fail and the portion of his food complements his daily activity.
- Sleep: you may be confused as to how sleep has a role to play here. But it has a humongous effect on determining your child’s weight. Because of this technologically driven world, kids are becoming progressively addicted to gadgets like mobile phones, laptops, etc and they may pull all-nighters to play a video game or maybe watch a movie or just chat with their friends on social media. This has an ill effect on their metabolism and hormone levels. Having optimal hormone levels is necessary as they can mess with your metabolism in the long run and bring various other ailments in its wake.
PREVENTION OF OBESITY
The most challenging thing Health professionals have observed is acceptance by parents that their child is heading toward obesity. They’re often in denial and continue to ignore the fact that their child may become a victim of obesity in the future. They tend to dismiss it in the name of “baby fat” and think their child will shed those extra kilos as they grow up. The body fat percentage is reflected in your child’s food intake and physical activity. Don’t be deluded by crash or fad diets, intense sudden physical activity, internet advertisements selling you supplements to lose weight. Even if they did work, they would only be temporary solutions. You need to nip this problem in the bud.
Priya Karkera suggests a few steps in the direction of preventing childhood obesity. They are:
- Maintain a daily food diary where you monitor and calculate your child’s caloric intake
- Choose the right food in the right portion
- Meet the recommended dietary allowances of micro and macronutrients
- Strike a balance between food intake and physical activity
- Maintain a balance in the daily intake
COMPLICATIONS OF OBESITY
If not controlled and prevented in due time, your child can be at serious risk of several disorders. The risks of childhood obesity are:
- Insulin resistance leads to more weight gain, hence making it almost impossible to lose weight
- Type 2 diabetes mellitus in children
- High blood pressure (which has a lot of risks of its own)
- Poor self-esteem
- Adult obesity in later years with early-onset diseases
- Obstructive sleep apnea (difficulty breathing at night)
It is every parent’s wish that their child grows up to become a healthy individual. To bring this to fruition, you have to put in a lot of effort from their early life and nurture them with healthy eating patterns, a physically active lifestyle, and overall wholesome health. So take the necessary steps from today so that your child grows up to be the epitome of health.