Helping Children Overcome Obesity

          Ten Year old Helen, a pupil of Haviborah Secondary school in my community is obese, and her mom says the fight over her weight started when she was a toddler. Her mom who is slim and tall reveals how she has tried to curb Helen ravenous eating habits but to no avail.

       She said my Husband and I are not fat although my mother was a bit on the fat side. I’m not very knowledgeable in that area of genes and DNA, but I know that my daughter’s challenges with obesity are because she finds it hard to control what she eats. I’m really pained about her weight.

       “I couldn’t allow my daughter to starve. But I knew I had to do something. So, she tried getting a nutritionist, someone has to monitor her food intake. After sometime the man gave up on her, I have decided to leave the matter, hoping that she would lose the body fat as she grows older,” she said

      Obesity is a condition where a person has excess fat that has accumulated to the extent that it may have a negative effect on your health, thus parent should balance the calories their child eats and drinks with the calories used through physical activity and normal growth.

Getting  your child involved in Physical activity has a great deal of effect on your Child obesity but, most children feel tired and misinterpret your caring nature for hate or punishment, making it difficult to control her weight.

Then try making their favourite meals healthier and focus on reducing calorie-rich temptation is the best measure.

Avoid using food as a comfort measure: this is one mistake parent make. Whenever a parent wants his or her child to do something or behave in a certain way, they offer the child food. That attitude is wrong especially to Obese Children.

            A Lot of Fruits and vegetables should be incorporated into the diet of children to avoid weight. During meal time provide plenty of vegetables, fruits and whole grain products for your child. Also include Low-Fat or non-fat milk or dairy Products, Fish and Beans for protein. Beans is extremely rich in protein, encourage your child to love beans. When serving their meals, serve reasonable sized portions.

According to experts, cooking at home allows one to choose healthy ingredients and control portion sizes.

Children also enjoy fizzing and sweet drinks, they don’t enjoy drinking water but encourage your child to drink lots of water and limit sugar sweetened beverages

Another note to parents with obese children should put a limit to their children’s television viewing time. There is a direct relationship between the amounts of time spent watching T.V and degree of weight gain, this habit is also common with adults. You can sit in front of a T.V and finish a packet of biscuit quickly. T.V Viewing can directly cause obesity through replacing your physical activities.

         Childhood Obesity is a complex health challenge that is due to several factors, some of which are genetic, lack of activity, improper food choices or a combination of two or more of these factors. Sadly Overweight children are at a high risk of becoming overweight adolescents and adults, placing them at risk of developing chronic diseases such as heart disease and diabetes later in life. Children need about 60 minutes of physical activities a day and it does not have to happen all at once.

Encourage your child to join in sports and other moderately intense activities like jumping rope, playing soccer, swimming and dancing.

  

Children grow at different rate at different times so it is not always easy to tell if a child is overweight, Body Mass Index uses height and weight measurement to estimate how much body fat a child has and can be used to screen for weight and obesity problems from the age of two. However BMI may be a good indicator, it may not be a perfect measure of body fat and can be misleading in some situation. 

"Childhood Obesity isn't some simple discrete issue. There's no one because we can pinpoint. There's no one program we can find to make it go away. Rather, it's is an issue  that touches on every aspect of how we live and how we work - Former First Lady, United States, Michelle Obama"

Episodes of Back pain and remedies

So It is fortunate that episodes of back pain heal with time. However, back pain can be a temporary but recurrent pain that is indeed a very uncomfortable occurrence. It has a way of interfering with your daily routine, aside making you very uncomfortable. It is important to identify the causes of back pain and know the remedies to help deal with it.

POOR POSTURE

This is one of the major causes of upper and lower back pain. This pain usually occurs along with neck pain or shoulder pain. Poor posture puts on strain on sensitized muscles and soft tissues leading to increased tension in the muscles which most times results in pain.

Remedy: 

The simple remedy for this is to correct your sitting and standing posture to help alleviate some of the muscle tension causing you back pain. Avoid slouching or hunching your back when sitting. Also try to do exercises that strengthen your core muscles, buttock muscles, check muscles, neck muscles, rear-shoulder muscles and back extensions (exercises like bridges, back extensions, side-lying stretches, planks etc.), this will help improve your posture.

When standing, balance your weight evenly on both feet (don’t lean on one leg), keep your shoulders and back relaxed, pull in your abdomen, keep your feet apart and straight but knees relaxed, and try not to tilt your head forward, backward or sideways.

STRENUOUS PHYSICAL WORK AND EXERCISE

Jobs that involve lifting, pushing, pulling or twisting with the low back can cause injury and back pain. These jobs especially affect the lower back and cause lower back pain.

Also, there are some physical exercises that contribute to back pains. Exercises like the ‘touch-your-toes’ hamstring stretch, hurdler’s stretch, leg raises, sit-ups, crunches and high impact aerobic exercises.

Remedy: 

For physically strenuous jobs, try to avoid heavy lifting, pushing, pulling or twisting your low back as much as you can. If you must do heavy lifting try to bend your legs and keep your back straight when lifting something heavy. Also, you should often do exercises to stretch and strengthen your core, back, neck, shoulder and buttock muscles.

For strenuous exercises, avoid strenuous physical exercises like the ones mentioned above and swap them for more back-friendly exercises like side-lying stretches, reverse curl-ups, swimming, walking etc.

MENTALLY STRESSFUL WORK

Mentally stressful work tends to cause stress and anxiety which are two of the most common causes of back pain. Stress and anxiety drastically increase muscle tension, which in turn increases pain. The back contains a variety of muscles that tense during stress and anxiety, which increases pain and leads to a mild or severe back pain in the upper and lower back.

In addition to this, anxiety and stress also cause changes in behaviors that lead to back pain. These include changes in posture (there is a tendency to slouch more, hunch your back etc.), inactivity (there is the tendency of decreased healthy physical activity and mobility) and hypersensitivity (stress and anxiety tends to make you more sensitive to physical sensations which makes them feel more severe and harder to ignore).

Remedy: 

Stretching your muscles regularly, watching your posture, occasional massages, exercising and being mobile can help reduce stress or anxiety-related pains in your back. But for a more permanent treatment, you should learn ways to cope with stress and anxiety. This can be done by identifying your stressors and what triggers your stress and anxiety, then finding ways to avoid it if you can or accept and adapt to it if you can’t. Taking breaks can also help, relaxation and meditation exercises also included. Try to eat a balanced diet, sleep well and limit caffeine or alcohol.

PREGNANCY

During a healthy pregnancy, women usually gain between 25 to 35 pounds which the spine has to support. This can lead to lower back pain for most women during pregnancy. Also, the weight of the baby and uterus puts pressure on blood vessels and nerves in the pelvis and back, which in turn increases pain and leads to back pain. In addition to these, posture changes, hormone changes, muscle separation and stress during pregnancy can also contribute to back pain during pregnancy.

Remedy: 

The good thing is that the back pain experienced during pregnancy gradually eases before birth, however things like safe exercises for pregnant women, applying heat and cold compress to your

back at intervals, working on improving your posture during pregnancy, avoiding high-heeled shoes, and not sleeping on your back can help treat and alleviate the back pain.

SEDENTARY LIFESTYLE

A sedentary lifestyle tends to cause increased stiffness and weakened muscles which can cause or worsen back pain. Being sedentary keeps you inactive and makes you miss out on the benefits of regular physical activity which helps to nourish spinal discs, soft tissues and ligaments.

Remedy: 

Perform regular strengthening exercises, stretching and low-impact aerobic exercises for the muscle of the back and abdomen to help provide better support for your spine. Move around more and engage in healthy physical activities.

Cholesterol!! What You Need to Know...

Cholesterol War!

Cholesterol can be a friend and a foe, at different levels. Knowing that It still is essential for all animal life but if its levels get to high then it becomes a problem.

 What is cholesterol I may ask?

Cholesterol is a soft waxy substance found in all parts of the body its is found in every cell of the body and has important natural function, it doesn't mix with the blood since it is oily based therefore it is carried around the body by Lipoproteins. It is produced in the body and can also be gotten from food we eat (Egg yolk, dairy products and organ meats like liver kidney, brain) which are high in cholesterol. 

They are basically two types of lipoprotein that carry cholesterol through out the body:

Low density Lipoprotein (LDL) “bad cholesterol” – this carries cholesterol from the liver to the cells.

High density lipoprotein (HDL) “good cholesterol”- This carries cholesterol from the body cells back to the liver.

Having healthy levels of both types of lipoprotein is important.

DO YOU KNOW?

That cholesterol contributes to the structure of your cell wall.

It’s a precursor of our steroid hormone like progesterone testosterone and other important hormones.

Allows the body to produce Vitamin D.

Makes up digestive bile acids in the intestine.

WHY SHOULD I CARE?

High Cholesterol is one of the major risk factors leading to Heart Disease, Heart attack and stroke. High cholesterol levels can run in families, and women generally tend to have higher levels of HDL than men. Eating foods with saturated fats also increases the amount of LDL in your blood. And for some people Cholesterol- lowering medication may also be needed to reduce the risk for Heart attack or stroke.

HOW DOES IT AFFECT MY HEART?

High levels of LDL lead to build up of cholesterol in the arteries, where as HDL carries cholesterol to the liver. A build up of cholesterol can narrow the arteries and causes restriction of blood flow called atherosclerosis which process over decades leading to Heart attack, stroke.

Being Overweight or obese can also lead to higher blood LDL levels. Some are Genetic.

Abnormal Cholesterol levels may also be from other conditions like Diabetes, Liver or kidney Diseases, Pregnancy other conditions that would increase level of female hormone, severe Hyperthyroidism and drugs.

SYMPTOMS

There isn't any obvious symptoms that can been seen unless routinely screened through blood testing is done. High levels of cholesterol would go unnoticed and may present itself as a silent killer “Heart attack”.

LEVELS OF CHOLESTEROL

Total Cholesterol    <200 mg/dl desirable level to lower the risk for heart disease

                                          200- 240 mg/dl Borderline high risk

                                                >240 mg/dl High risk

LDL cholesterol      <129 mg/dl Optimal

                                         130- 159 mg/dl Borderline high

                                                >160 mg/dl high

HDL Cholesterol    <40 mg/dl Low

                                        >60 mg/dl high

HOW DO I LOWER MY CHOLESTEROL LEVELS

• Eating a Heart healthy food for example Low fat toppings and sauces and avoid food with high saturated fats, eat vegetables and fruits and fiber-rich grains.
• Regular exercise, increase physical activities can help lower the level of cholesterol in your blood, adopting Healthy Habits.
• Keep cholesterol checks.
• Avoid smoking.
• Maintain a desirable body weight.

Prescription Drugs like Atorvastatin can be provided by your Health Professional. Who would advice you more on the drugs needed.