National Childhood Obesity Week

National Childhood Obesity Week

It is National Childhood Obesity Week this week.  It is a shocking fact that nearly 1 in 3 children in the UK are obese.  That's a third. And MEND (Mind, Exercise, Nutrition … Do it!)  ask, does that sound right to you?

Although obese children might be unaware of the problem and go on living and playing just as happily MEND tell us, - there are some serious dangers of obesity.

Although we associate these conditions with adults, children too can develop diabetes and coronary heart disease. They could also end up developing a bad sense of body image that knocks their confidence in a long-term way.

A lot of the time people trot out that old saying,  'It's just puppy fat they’ll grow out of it.’  But 40-70% of the time an obese child grows into an overweight adult.

It's time to cut these child obesity rates down.   And it is quite simple, to lose weight you need to do more activity and eat more healthily.  Long-term the effects won't work unless you're doing both of these together!

Often it's difficult to know what is and isn't healthy.  You can't go wrong with a salad but other meals can be misleading.   Like some well-known slimming organisation's meals that have recently been found to have really high levels of salt in them!

If parents are eating unhealthily then the pattern is likely to be carried on by the children.  But by drawing up a new fitness week plan you can kickstart your family's new routine.  And once you have been doing it for a while it'll soon become second nature!

During the week MEND will be holding more than 30 activities and 'MEND Move it week' intends to get children and their families moving together!

Join the Facebook and Twitter pages for up to the minute information on what is going on and how you can get involved.

Better yet - get the ball rolling and start organising your own event!  You can get all the information you need online for some great ideas for your MEND programme event.

For more info on how to stop obesity, head to the National Childhood Obesity Week website.

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Amanda Thomas

UK Health Radio