Top 11 Childhood Obesity Prevention Strategies

Preventing childhood obesity is only possible with successful childhood obesity prevention programs. Still, the process might not be as easy as it sounds. Creating childhood obesity prevention programs that work requires focusing on many aspects like healthy eating habits, regular sleep routines, and adequate levels of exercise, which means it is all about having a healthy lifestyle.

If you aim to prevent obesity in your kids and family, you don't need to get lost in all the childhood obesity prevention guidelines. Through this blog, you will learn beneficial information about creating childhood obesity prevention programs. Let’s go!

Facts About Obesity & Prevention

For the last decade, childhood obesity rates have been rising every day. Nowadays, about 1 in 5 kids suffer from being overweight or obese in the United States. According to CDC, childhood obesity prevalence was 19.7% and affected about 14.7 million kids and adolescents between 2017-2020. In Europe, especially in low-middle-income countries, childhood obesity trends follow a similar pattern.

Obesity in children depends on many factors like genetics, eating habits, physical activity levels, and sleep routines. Also, when compared to kids with a healthy weight, children and teens that suffer from obesity carry a higher risk for medical conditions like asthma, sleep apnea, Type 2 diabetes, and heart disease.

Childhood obesity prevention requires an equal amount of responsibility for both parents and kids. Parents should observe their kids' eating, sleeping, and activity habits and aim to plan successful childhood obesity prevention programs if there are some signs of obesity. On the other hand, kids need to stay motivated and care about healthy eating habits, sleep routines, and activity programs.

Childhood obesity prevention programs can be divided into three stages according to kids' current health conditions. The first stage includes primary prevention for childhood obesity and includes efforts to influence kids with obesity-preventing habits.

The second stage includes secondary obesity prevention strategies directly for kids at a greater risk of becoming obese. The last stage includes the tertiary prevention childhood obesity programs for treating kids with obesity.

Childhood Obesity Prevention Strategies & Recommendations

Unfortunately, it is not possible to solve the childhood obesity problem with only one solution. Thus, to prevent obesity in kids, parents need to consider the process holistically and come up with beneficial childhood obesity prevention strategies and plans that will encourage children to maintain a healthier life.

Throughout the process, it is significant to set objectives for childhood obesity prevention program and aim to achieve these objectives gradually so as to not overwhelm children. Let’s take a closer look at the most beneficial childhood obesity prevention strategies and recommendations.

1. Consistent Sleep Routine

Having an adequate amount of sleep affects kids' cognitive skills and overall mental and physical health. Research shows that kids who get inadequate sleep have a higher risk of weight gain, Type 2 diabetes, obesity, and injuries.

Therefore, a consistent sleeping routine that includes the right amount of sleeping time is essential to prevent childhood obesity. The need for sleep changes according to a child’s age. While preschoolers need 11 to 13 hours of sleep per day, children aged 6 to 12 need 9 to 12 hours of sleep.

You can support your kid’s sleeping routine by having calming pre-sleep habits and encourage children to practice their sleeping routines both on weekdays and weekends.

2. MentalUP

Motivating children to maintain a healthier lifestyle is the most influential factor for the success of childhood obesity prevention programs. So no matter how hard parents try, they might still need safe resources to encourage children to have healthy habits entertainingly.

MentalUP is designed with an academic approach from scientists and educators to provide a safe learning environment for kids to practice their cognitive skills like attention, creativity, problem-solving and logical thinking.

With MentalUP app games and activities, it is possible to enable kids to practice their cognitive skills and stay entertained at the same time.

3. Healthy Eating Pattern

Having a healthy eating pattern and healthy eating habits is key to preventing obesity in kids and helping them maintain a healthy weight as they grow up.

By adopting a healthy eating pattern as a family, you can encourage your kids to have healthy eating habits and set your family up for optimal health. You can start by including more fruits and vegetables, nutrition-rich foods, and proteins in your diet.

Then you can replace their sugary drinks with natural fruit juices and low-fat milk. Also, make sure to provide them with the right portion size to prevent weight gain.

4. Positive Habits

The impacts of childhood obesity on mental health is no less severe than its impacts on physical health. As having positive and healthy habits affect kids' psychology positively, it can be said that preventing obesity in children is also related to staying positive.

Teaching kids to stay positive helps them in their life no matter what challenges they encounter. To acquire this core skill, kids need to feel both physically and mentally healthy.

To ensure their optimal health, you can support their childhood obesity prevention programs by teaching them positive habits like brushing their teeth daily, sharing their belongings with their friends, caring for animals and plants, and helping others when they need them.

5. Physical Activities

Physically active kids build stronger muscles and bones, have better cardiovascular fitness, and maintain lower body fat, which is of course directly related to the prevention of childhood obesity.

Kids aged 3 to 5 should be physically active throughout the day to burn their energy and stay mentally and physically fit. For kids aged 6 to 17, at least 60 minutes of daily physical activity is recommended to maintain optimal health.

Even though physical activity is crucial for kids' health, these days, most kids are unmotivated towards physical activities due to their busy school schedules. To encourage children to get more active, parents should provide them with fun and beneficial activities and fitness exercises.

6. Healthy Lifestyle

According to World Health Organization, a healthy lifestyle is a way of living that lowers the risk of being seriously ill or dying early, and it is not only about avoiding diseases but also about physical, mental, and social well-being.

Maintaining a healthy lifestyle is a health-promoting behavior that sets a good example for other people, especially for kids. Therefore, obtaining a healthy lifestyle as a family is an important part of childhood obesity prevention programs.

You can try to influence all your family to make healthy choices, eat healthy foods, and get more active as a family. Just schedule outdoor activity times with your family members, prefer walking instead of driving, play tag, or maybe organize activity-related contests to track how much your family members are active.

Preventing Childhood Obesity: 5 Things Families Can Do

Preventing childhood obesity is surely daunting but it is not impossible. Although kids should learn that their health is their responsibility, parents play a significant part in providing them with a healthier life to prevent diseases like obesity. In addition to all childhood obesity prevention strategies and recommendations, there are 5 more things you can do as a family to prevent obesity in children.

1. Limit Screen Time

Nowadays, kids spend most of their time in front of screens which might provide them with inappropriate content and make them less active. On the other hand, kids learn many things by watching and observing. Thus, they naturally tend to spend more time in front of screens.

Reducing screen time to zero is not a solution for preventing technology addiction. The solution is to ensure that screen time is not too much and to provide kids with resources that include safe and educational content. This way, you can help your kids develop their skills and get entertained.

2. Move as a Family

Children get easily discouraged when things don’t happen their way, and when they encounter any obstacles while exercising, they might be demotivated to be active. To prevent this from happening, you can turn exercising from an individual activity into a family activity.

You can organize nature walks, ride bikes, have races, practice yoga, or go shopping as a family to help your children move more and get motivated to be active. You can also check physical activity guidelines to help your kids meet their daily activity goals.

These guidelines show how much activity time your kids need, what kind of activities they can do to get more active, and how they should spend their time in the morning, afternoon and evening.

3. Limit Calorie-Rich Foods

Kids might not be able to understand that eating too many treats can negatively affect their health, and most love eating calorie-rich foods like candy, fast food, and soda.

First things first, you should explain to your kids that these foods are unhealthy for them and cause weight gain and diseases. Then you can limit these foods and let them have some occasional goodies from time to time.

The important thing is to prevent kids to gain the habit of eating junk foods. Keep in mind that you should also be a role model for this situation. So, you should also avoid eating calorie-rich foods next to your kids.

4. Get Creative

Some kids might get bored easily by monotonous activities and plans and lose interest. To spark their interest in maintaining a healthier life, eating healthy foods, and participating in activities, you can get creative with the daily activities you do as a family.

For example, instead of regular exercise, you can go on scavenger hunts as a family, play tag, watch educational documents about foods and sports or cook together to talk more about healthy foods.

So your imagination is your limit to providing your kids with creative childhood obesity prevention programs. The key is to keep kids interested by providing them with different experiences that will help them to engage more with their program.

5. Practice Mindfulness

Mindfulness activities increase kids’ ability to regulate their emotions and feel compassion and empathy. Also, they support them to manage their stress, feel less anxiety, and have more self-esteem.

All of these effects of mindfulness practice affect both kids’ mental and physical health positively and keep them away from stress eating. Because of this, it should be treated as a core component of childhood obesity prevention programs.

Practical Tips for Prevention of Childhood Obesity

Until now, you have learned the strategies and recommendations that will enhance your childhood obesity prevention programs. Now it is time to learn some practical tips that will ease the process:

• Replace treats with healthier versions
• Stock healthy snacks to feed your kid
• Limit sugar consumption
• Make kids walk more when commuting
• Teach kids about the food pyramid
• Ensure your kid to eat an adequate portion size
• Complete activities as a family
• Take your kid shopping
• Be a role model for healthy eating habits
• Teach your kid about stress management skills
• Always eat at the table
• Don't let your kid eat in front of screens
• Ensure your kid drinks more water
• Support your kid’s sleeping routine with calming activities
• Practice mindfulness activities like yoga and meditation
• Avoid having too much caffeine
• Don’t eat late night meals

Frequently Asked Questions

When you are looking for information about the childhood obesity prevention programs, you might encounter contradicting information and feel confused.

You are in luck because, in addition to all the information we’ve provided above, we’ve also compiled all the frequently asked questions and their answers!