10 tips to prevent diabetes in children

Childhood obesity is on the rise due to many factors like fast food, lack of physical activity because of video games, phone games, computers, etc which is why Type-2 diabetes is becoming more common in children nowadays.

But when your child is overweight/ obese do not put them on a weight loss diet yourself instead take them to the doctor for a regular check-up. Children with type-2 diabetes are at risk for high blood pressure, heart disease, high cholesterol, etc.

Remember, as parents, you play the biggest role in your children’s lives because children behave, react and imitate the same as their parents… You can help your children learn healthy eating and physical activity habits to follow for the rest of their lives to keep them away from health problems like type-2 diabetes, hypertension, etc.

10 Tips to help children prevent diabetes:

1. Weight matters. Reduce weight if overweight/obese.
2. Make kids drink more water instead of sugary drinks or aerated drinks.
3. Food matters. As parents try to be a role model for your kid because kids eat the way you eat. You can also make your child eat healthy by involving them for healthy food shopping or in preparing/ cooking meals, include more of fruits and vegetables in diet, choose complex carbs (whole grains, brown rice, etc), lean protein, low fat dairy and healthy fats like omega-3 (walnuts, olive oil, fish, etc).
4. Make healthy snacks available in the fridge like fruits, unsalted nuts, yogurts, etc so that kids avoid unhealthy snacks like soda, sugary food, chips, etc.
5. Instead of frying foods, cook in less oil, less salt and choose non-stick cookware for cooking. These include baking, broiling, roasting, grilling, steaming, and boiling.
6. When kids craving for sweets/ chocolates offers them fruit or dried fruits like raisins, dates, etc.
7. Eat only in the dining room or kitchen. Eating in front of the TV may make it difficult to pay attention to feelings of fullness, and may lead to overeating.
8. Limit outside food for kids.
9. Educate kids about the benefits of healthy eating. This will make them alert.
10. Encourage kids to be physically active. Limit TV, computer, and video game time and involve them in outdoor games like cricket, football, etc to be physically active.

Author: Dr. Prabha Acharya, Co-founder Of Global Homeopathy
Source: Practo