20% of children and adolescents suffer from overweight and obesity problems. A real health risk factor.
5 tips to help them lose weight :
Reduce portions
Parents give too large portions to their children. People tend to feed small children as much as teenagers. However, adolescents eat more, they have more nutritional needs. It is therefore necessary to reduce the portions. An unstoppable technique: use a dessert plate for your child’s meal because it’s visual. The child will not feel like they have less to eat and will not feel frustrated.
Control the snack
It is important that the parents control the taste a little bit. The children are often alone from afternoon tea until dinner, which is sometimes late. And that’s when there are cracks because the children are bored. They will nibble, eat, help themselves from the refrigerator. There will be no consequences for children who have no predispositions. But it is more problematic for a child who tends to gain weight.
Pay attention to deficiencies
Iron deficiency is very common in overweight children. The main sources of iron in children are indeed meat or milk, for the growth of the little ones. However, nowadays, there are fewer and fewer children who eat meat, especially red meat. This contributes to severe iron deficiency, especially in obese children, because there is inflammation in fatty tissue.
When you lack iron for too long, you have anemia. The hemoglobin level drops, and this promotes viral infections and ear infections. This deficiency can also lead to problems with brain development. It is therefore necessary to supplement these children.
Rebalancing the diet
As with adults, diets don’t work. The child’s diet must be rebalanced, without generating frustration. Consulting a dietitian can be a solution if the child is suffering and wants to lose weight.
Choose a treatment
New treatments exist to promote weight loss in obese children. These drugs are called GLP-1 analogues and act on the feeling of hunger. They were originally used against diabetes.
