Docs advise: Exercise daily, skip sugary drinks, eat more vegetables
With cases of obesity among children on the rise, medical practitioners reminded families to eat balanced meals and stay physically active.
Thirty minutes to one hour of exercise a day and the consumption of more fruits and vegetables are good habits, said Dr. Parolita Mission, coordinator of the National Nutrition Council (NNC-7) in region 7.
Avoid sugary drinks like sodas, and don’t skip meals.
Mission gave tips as part of the NNC’s campaign for a healthy lifestyle.
Remember the figures “5100,” she said in a press conference. That stands for five servings of fruits and vegetables daily, one hour of exercise, zero sugar drinking and zero smoking.
The problem of obesity and overweight used to be noticed among adults, but today it affects family members as young as 15 years old, said Dr. Gerry Tan, chairman of the Endocrinology and Metabolism Division of Cebu Doctors’ University.
A healthy lifestyle starts at home, said Tan, who urged parents to watch the food intake of their children and their own.
If one parent is obese or overweight, the child is three times more likely to suffer from health problems like malignancies or cancer.
If both parents are obese or overweight, the health risk is ten times.
A trend of increasing weight problems in children in Central Visayas was noted in results of the 8th National Nutrition Survey.
In 2013, three out of 100 children or 3.6 percent of children aged 0-5 years old were obese and overweight. The figure was lower at 2.6 percent two years earlier.
Among children 5 to 10 years old, the figure was 7.9 percent in 2013 compared to only 4.3 percent in 2011.
Among teenagers 10 to 19 years old, an increase was also noted from 4.8 percent in 2011 to 6 percent in 2013.
Top ten “Kumainments” for children include reminders to eat protein-rich food, vegetables and fruits, drink milk, and use iodized salt.
DON’T SKIP MEALS
Tan said he always reminds his patients to eat the proper amount of food at the right time.
Skipping meals contributes to obesity or its opposite, being underweight, he said.
It also affects your mental alertness.
“You become insensible if you don’t eat at the right time,” he said.
When you skip a meal, it would take 10 to 15 minutes for the brain to work properly.
The NNC defines overweight and obesity as abnormal or excessive fat accumulation that may impair health.
A person with a computed body mass index greater than 30 is obese.
A person is considered overweight if his BMI is between 25.0 to 29.9.
This simple index of weight-for-height is calculated by dividing one’s weight in kilograms with height in meters.
The most number of affected children are found in Bais City, Negros Oriental with 3.21 percent followed by Tagbilaran City, Bohol (1.53%), and Naga City in Cebu (1.4%).
The lowest level of obesity and overweight among children was in Tanjay City, Negros Oriental with 0.06%.
Mission said the condition in Bais city is related to the fact that 60 percent of the population are sugarcane farmers.
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