Childhood obesity has gained media attention lately, voicing concerns over the risk to Children’s physical and mental development.

Attention is also being directed towards the advertising of junk and fast foods and their inappropriate advertising in Childrens media. Some recent studies suggest 20% of Children are obese.

The problem with childhood obesity is that it is easier to lose weight as a child than as an adult through the fact that children are generally more active and their food intake can be controlled by adults. Obesity during childhood can cause joint problems and lead to the development of heart and lung problems if it is not corrected well before adulthood.

It is important for Children to develop healthy eating habits from a young age that can be taken through to adulthood. Children also need to be encouraged with exercise as a fun and enjoyable event that can be enjoyed by the whole family. Too many sit in front of the television or computer as entertainment instead of playing and exercising which is far more beneficial.

One of the best ways to teach your Children good eating habits is through example. From a young age you need to encourage them to try a variety of foods and limit the amount of junk food as they don’t contain the nutrients your Children need to grow and develop.

When Children are young food can be a great adventure where they learn to enjoy particular flavours and textures that food can come in. Make a big deal out of healthy food like crackers and fruit and show them how much you enjoy them to encourage the children to eat these as snacks between meals instead of foods which contain enormous amounts of sugars and fats.

It is important to focus on what the child is drinking. A child can eat good food but then drink a few cans of soft drinks which contain enough sugar (12 teaspoons per can) to give anyone a sugar rush. Many juices are also very high in fruit sugar. Fruit juice is a good source of vitamins but this is only in moderation as some juices contain as much sugar as soft drinks which will stack on the weight as well as causing tooth decay. Water is the best option for children to keep them hydrated and as mentioned before it needs to be encouraged from an early age. Today there are some excellent new products that sit between soft drinks and water, these products are flavoured waters, most have zero calories (check the labels), some have added vitamins and taste really great.

Allowing your Children to help you cook meals in the kitchen can be beneficial as well as improving their childhood development and their tastebuds. Let them do little jobs while you are cooking as it will give them a sense of achievement and they will then love to eat the end product that they helped create. It also enables the children to taste and feel the different foods that you are putting in the meals and they might enjoy new things that they have not tried before.

What you can teach them as a child will not only reduce their risk of obesity in childhood but carry forward in to adulthood. The best gift you can give to your Children is the gift of teaching them how to live a long and healthy life, diet is where this starts, and you have the responsibility, influence and control in their early years to give them the best start.

(Serves 6 / One serve: 51cal, 0gm fat)

Ingredients:

1 cup sundried tomatoes

1 ¼ cups water

1 clove garlic

1 teaspoon sea salt

1 ½ teaspoon chilli

1 tablespoons cumin ground

1 tablespoon honey

1 large eggplant, sliced into 1cm slices

Method:

1. Place sundried tomatoes and water in saucepan and bring to the boil. Cook until tomatoes have absorbed most of the liquid, approximately 15 minutes.

2. Combine sundried tomatoes and all other ingredients, except eggplant, in a food processor and process until mixture is smooth.

3. Place eggplant on to a baking tray lined with baking paper and bake in a 200oC preheated oven for approximately 25 minutes.

4. Use approximately ¾ cup of mixture and spread over roasted eggplant slices.

Diet can increase the severity of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder also known as ADHD. Types of food can exacerbate ADHD in one or two ways.  It can either cause it due to particular contents within the food or through the person having an allergy or sensitivity to a particular substance which can escalate the severity of ADHA.

The difficult thing with ADHD is establishing what foods may be increasing the severity of the problem. This can often only be achieved through trial and error to see if behaviour improves through the removal of some foods. It is important to avoid all junk food, sweets, soft drinks and any foods which contain MSG or colourings. After two weeks you should be able to notice an improvement and you can start to add one type of food at a time to their diet.

The introduction of certain foods can then show if a particular food can be detrimental to the behaviour or not. The introduction of foods to the diet is done by introducing one type of food at a time. They should eat larger amounts of that one type of food over four days and after four days you will notice if there has been a change in behaviour or not. If no change has occurred the food can continue to be a part of the diet but if behaviour has been affected it will need to be removed from their diet.