Exercise + Management: No More “Little Fatty”

With the improvement of living standards, reduced exercise, watching TV and playing computers and other lifestyle changes, as well as one-child families pay too much attention to their children and spoil them, childhood obesity has become an increasingly serious social and family problems. Children are white and chubby and look and feel cute, but obesity may become a lifelong disease that accompanies him/her and brings high risk of cardiovascular disease and cancer. There are few safe and effective medications for the treatment of childhood obesity, and more reliance on exercise prescription and behavioral control, so life management of obese children is crucial. Simple obesity in childhood is the removal of secondary obesity and drug-induced obesity caused by endocrine, metabolic, genetic and central nervous system disorders. Simple obesity is a lifestyle disease, through the measurement of children’s height, weight, calculate the value of height don’t weight, and WHO reference population value for comparison, more than 20% for the median value point, 20%-29% for mild obesity, 30%-49% for moderate obesity, more than 50% for severe obesity. Obesity is also screened for by body mass index (Kaup index). Simple monitoring of children’s height and weight indicators is a simple and effective way to dynamically observe the degree of obesity in children. The main point of the treatment of simple obesity in children is exercise prescription, this prescription does not have to pay money to get medicine, but it needs teachers, parents and medical personnel to participate in the selection of appropriate exercise and exercise, 50% of the maximum aerobic capacity as the average training intensity, the efficacy of exercise prescription is not visible overnight, pay special attention to can not be a short-term rapid weight loss. Exercise 1-2 hours a day, 5 days a week, a course of treatment takes 12 weeks, this long process, need parents’ attention and cooperation. Some exercises, such as jumping rope and badminton, are best accompanied by parents and co-participation, which can make children enjoyable and more persistent. Diet is also an important part of the treatment of obesity. Some families’ eating habits have been passed down from generation to generation, like high-fat, high-salt and high-sugar diets, it is easy to “obesity” as a family heirloom from generation to generation, and sometimes see the interesting phenomenon of bringing children to see the parents of obesity is often obesity themselves, obesity and genetic factors related to an unhealthy lifestyle is often also related to the family. It is important to pay attention to the intake of the right amount of calories, the appropriate size of food, recommended to eat more fiber-containing or roughly processed food, less sweets, fast food and sweet drinks, the daily life of food commonly eaten in accordance with the dietary guidance program is divided into encouraging to eat more and discouraging to eat more, through the development of a weekly recipes and so on to limit the types and quantities of parents also need to cooperate with the child, do not not pay attention to their own diets and simply ask the child to comply with the requirements. For young children and adolescents, care should be taken to ensure the intake of vitamins, minerals and trace elements in the diet. Children should not be starved in order to effectively control their weight; a sensible diet is the right choice. Another important factor that is easy to be ignored is watching TV. Watching TV or computer is an important entertainment in children’s life and a way to gain knowledge, but watching TV or computer for a long time is also easy to cause obesity. On the one hand, watching TV will reduce the exercise time, on the other hand, watching TV will unconsciously intake more snacks and drinks. So to control the time of watching TV or computer, you can choose to do games, reading, storytelling and other interactive activities instead. Obese children to life management, in fact, more attention should be paid to prevention, many children’s obesity is accompanied by lifelong problems, born with a huge child, may not be able to reach a normal weight in adulthood. So prevention should start from the mom before pregnancy. Before pregnancy, we should pay attention to have reasonable nutritional preparation, early pregnancy to avoid inadequate nutritional intake, mid-late pregnancy should pay attention to avoid over-nutrition and weight gain too fast. Infants and young children emphasize breastfeeding, do not add complementary foods too early, for obese infants in the addition of complementary foods should be appropriate to reduce the amount of milk intake. During the school age, children should cultivate good dietary, exercise and living habits, and adhere to moderate physical exercise. During adolescence, we should pay attention to the psychological and physiological changes of children on the basis of life management, avoiding psychological fluctuations and youthful development causing bad habits such as overeating. Obese children have to carry a heavier burden on their bodies, and exercise and activities will be more strenuous. They may be ridiculed and rejected in school and social activities, which will affect the children’s social skills and psychological development. Obese infants are more likely to suffer from respiratory infections and wheezing disorders, and are also more likely to be comorbid with diabetes. Obesity persists into adulthood, and adult-onset obesity is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease and cancer. Concerned parents should make healthy lifestyle choices for their children to keep their cute babies away from obesity.