As I discussed in the last post, Scotland has a real problem on its hands with obesity. The Scottish parliament has taken the decision to tackle obesity from the bottom up by introducing new regulations to school dinners.
I applaud their action to improve school meals, but unfortunately, I don’t think they are going far enough or seeing the bigger picture.
Children as they grow up copy other people. They particularly copy their parents. That’s how children learn. From my experience working with adult clients has been that when I work with a client who has children, the client improves their lifestyle and the children copy it with little encouragement.
For instance, if you don’t want your children to smoke, the best thing you can do is not smoke yourself. Telling children not to smoke is likely to make them want to revolt and smoke anyway. Therefore, a healthy active lifestyle must start at home. This means:
- Going to bed early each evening (before 10.30pm for adults)
- Allow teenagers to lie in at weekends as their body needs it to grow.
- Making exercise part of every day life like walking the children to school, walks in the park, walking the dog, dance classes or organised sports. Every body can be good at something active. Something like roller-blading is non-competitive and great for balance and calorie burning as well as good fun.
- Eating only whole foods and as much organic produce as possible. All children should be fed a high protein, high fat low carbohydrate diet to allow full development of the brain, bones, muscles, nerves and hormonal systems.
- Minimise time spent watching TV and on the computer, especially in the evening time. This upsets the delicate hormonal balance in the body.
- Avoid all fizzy drinks, sugary and fried foods.
- Take time each evening to a sit down meal around the dining table. Chew your food slowly and take time to feel the texture of your food and REALLY taste the food. Ensure you chew food until it is liquidised before swallowing. Most people I know who eat fast are overweight. That’s no coincidence.
Tune in next time to hear my views about what schools can do to reduce childhood obesity…