We hear a lot these days about overweight children. The difficult question is, as always, what can
we do about it?
Most public health offices say you can help your child by serving her nutritious foods while encouraging her to exercise more frequently. Usually these same offices have lists of foods they consider of value to children.
When we control a child’s diet and exercise activities we are, in effect, taking on responsibilities for his or her well-being. This takes responsibilities away from the child. Getting him or her into a regular routine may be an important step, but it should not stop there.
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The goal is always to give the child complete responsibility for her own well-being and encourage self
regulation by having her decide how much to eat, when and what she will choose to eat. Our hope is that what they learn to do as children will be carried through to the habits they practise as adults.
Generally speaking, people who are overweight practise poor control in dietary regulation. They eat, whether or not they need to, and once they start to eat they will continue to do so until their plates are clean. Their dietary habits are controlled by physiological difficulties and emotional problems more than they are by self regulation. Many who are overweight have never learned how to control their nutritional demands.
Self-regulation in dietary habits can begin early in a person’s life. In
a study conducted in Denver, Colorado, pediatricians taught a group of preschool children the differences between eating, swallowing and digesting their food.
They also taught the children the correlations between exercising, eating and obesity. The results were significant. Those children who understood the process were able to regulate their dietary habits. They ate only that which they needed to maintain a healthy lifestyle. They did not bother with junk food.
All of us know that many of our dietary habits begin in early childhood. If we can help children develop reasonable eating habits, which they control themselves, we may save them from a number of problems later in life.
We also know that our eating habits are learned behaviour. If we learn them, then we can relearn them. All of us can change our eating habits. It is simply a matter of assuming some control. Most rural people have access to a dietician in their community who would love to help.
Jacklin Andrews is a family counsellor, living and working in west-central Saskatchewan who has taught social work for two universities. Mail correspondence in care of Western Producer, Box 2500, Saskatoon, Sask., S7K 2C4 or e-mail jandrews@producer.com.
