The pace of life that we are leading is not only taking its toll on us but it is doing so with the future of our children. According to a study by the National Center for Health Statistics in the United States, 12% of the calories our children consume comes from fast food and it is something that will have consequences for the health of our children in the medium and long term.
The times in which we had time to prepare dinner from scratch and to sit around the table to enjoy it with the rest of the family are becoming shorter and in many practically non-existent homes, hence the boom that this type of Food is having in our days.
Marketing and our "now" and "now" culture are wreaking havoc on the diet
It is estimated that a nine-year-old child consumes on average the daily equivalent of a small hamburger, of which they go with fast food menus, in fast food (fast food menus, home-made pizzas, pre-cooked dishes, etc.)
According Sandra Hassink, president of the ** American Academy of Pediatrics **, this works because the containers full of drawings and the gifts that come with the menus make them highly attractive and desirable by the smallest and not so small, as another group that large Teenagers are at risk and in this case the bait is the advertisements for this meal associated with meetings of friends and fun, apart from a very affordable price for their pockets.
The obesity rate has multiplied in recent years
The percentage of calories that come from this type of food is 9% in children under 11 years old and 17% in adolescents (11 to 19 years old), which gives us an average of 12%.
In the 80s, the obesity rate in children was 7%, today it is around 18%. ** More than double! ** And in teenagers the thing is much worse, because has passed from a rate of 5% to 21%
Because of this, it is increasingly common to see diseases in children that to date were only seen in middle-aged people, such as high blood pressure, type II diabetes or liver disease, says Hassink.
We tend to believe that in childhood and youth there is a kind of health reserve, a time of "immunity" that we can take advantage of before we get older and start seeing those michelines sticking out on the beach. But that is not true, these types of diets will directly influence the health of our children in the future. Acquiring healthy habits since childhood is the best asset we have to help maintain good health in the future.
Short-term effects of obesity on the health of our children
- Increase in cardiovascular diseases due to excess cholesterol and high blood pressure.
- Increased chance of developing diabetes.
- Increased likelihood of joint problems and broken bones.
- Increased probability of being bullied and having low self-esteem.
Long-term effects of obesity on the health of our children
- Children who are obese as children, especially those who are obese with two years of age, are more likely to be obese adults.
- There are studies that have linked obesity with an increased likelihood of having certain types of cancer such as breast cancer, colon, endometrium, esophagus, pancreas, thyroid, ovaries, cervix and prostate, among others.
We need to apply changes in our lives
We know that it is difficult to find time in our lives and that many times we get carried away by the requests of our children that in turn are easy prey to the marketing of this type of companies, but it is something that we must do for the future of our children, It is a small effort that is definitely worth it.
Many parents believe that this type of food is suitable for the little ones, but a large part of the calories ingested are empty calories that contribute nothing to our body, apart from fats and sugars.
Some ideas that we propose to make these changes:
- Avoid eating more than once a week in fast food places.
- Children want the fast food chain menu for the gift, so we can buy a gift for them and go to another healthier food site or eat at home.
- Many of the fast food chains already have the possibility of choosing healthier dishes and we can substitute part of our menu for less caloric choices: for example the option to replace fried paratas with apple wedges or vegetables that they have in some hamburgers or we can choose one Four seasons pizza instead of bacon and four cheeses.
- If we stop to really think, when cooking certain dishes, we do not waste so much time, nor does it cost more than dining out or ordering dinner. A pizza is prepared in 10 or 20 minutes depending on the type of ingredients that it carries, a hamburger is made in five minutes and roast chicken only requires to put it in the oven and wait for it to be done.
- The time we spend cooking is not wasted time, we can take advantage and cook with our children, it is a fun way to experiment with food and a child is more willing to try new foods when he sees how they prepare or when he has been able to experiment with them.
- We can cook the night before or during the weekend and so we just have to defrost or reheat the food.
- Look carefully at the composition labels of the products we buy and reject those with a high percentage of sugars or fats.
- Replace the industrial pastry of the snack with pieces of fruit or other healthier snack.
If you do not know what to cook or how to do it, in the sites of our partners of Directo al Paladar and vitónica you can find numerous tips for cooking in a healthy and delicious way, as well as many others to introduce healthy habits in your life. We also, every Thursday, bring you a summary of their best recipes.
