In the last 25 years, childhood obesity in Canada has almost tripled. Presently, approximately 26% of children between the ages of two and seventeen are deemed to be obese or overweight.
Here are some tips on how to get your children to a healthy weight, without having to put them on a diet:

1.) Don’t purchase sugary drinks –Studies done that have shown that there is a link between the consumption of sugary beverages and the increase in body weight of children, adolescents, and adults. Energy drinks, sodas, and some juices are full of sugar and have little to no nutritional benefits. Reducing or even completely eliminating sugary beverages from your child’s diet can have a great improvement for your child’s health. Water is the best source of hydration.

2.) Ensure that they get enough sleep – Terrible sleeping habits can cause children to become hungry. Studies have shown that there is a significant relationship between sleep deprivation and excess weight gain in kids, adolescents and adults. Not getting enough sleep causes overeating because it increases the production of the hormone – grehlin which makes us feel hungry. Lack of sleep also decreases the production of the hormone – leptin that makes us feel full. Children should aim to get nine hours of sleep a night to ensure that they get enough sleep.

3.) Reduce the time your child spends in front of a screen – Studies have shown that there is a link between the amount of time a child spends in front of a TV or computer and the possibility of them being obese or overweight. In the last 30 years, the amount of time children spend in front of a screen has increased dramatically. More and more children are watching more TV and at even younger ages. Children under the age of two should have zero screen time and children between the ages of two to five should only have an hour of screen time. Set firm time limits on TV and other gadgets with screens.

4.) Encourage them to be active – Children do not have to do formal exercise to be considered active. For children, being active is as simple as moving their bodies around for at least 60 minutes a day. They can play Lego in the house, or you can go to the park with them after school. Make being active fun for them!

5.) Ensure they are emotionally healthy – Children should be happy and have a sense of developing self worth. Encourage things that help to promote self-esteem. Help your children find out what they are good at and encourage them to do those things more often.

Obesity is a health concern that is growing among Canadians of all ages. These tips are small changes that can help your children maintain a healthy weight for the long term.

Tag(s): Nutribar

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As part of the Nutribar weight-loss program, we have provided a convenient 7-day weight-loss plan (printed on the inside of each package) to help you plan your meals. All meals have been created by a nutritionist and carefully follow Canada’s Food Guide. This meal plan has been designed to work in combination with enjoyable healthy eating and regular physical activity, since exercise is crucial to weight loss and health. Dieting without exercise reduces the body’s ability to use stored-up fat, and it may promote obesity.

Find out more in Nutribar’s weight-loss tools and downloads section.

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Well, we’ve known this for a while, haven’t we, folks? The news that chocolate is good for you is no surprise to us! Here’s an article on the The Heart and Stroke Foundation site, by Marlowe Hood.  

Heart attack survivors who eat chocolate two or more times per week cut their risk of dying from heart disease about threefold compared to those who never touch the stuff, scientists have reported. Smaller quantities confer less protection, but are still better than none, according to the study, which appears in the September issue of the Journal of Internal Medicine.

Earlier research had established a strong link between cocoa-based confections and lowered blood pressure or improvement in blood flow. It had also shown that chocolate cuts the rate of heart-related mortality in healthy older men, along with post-menopausal women. But the new study, led by Imre Janszky of the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, is the first to demonstrate that consuming chocolate can help ward off the grim reaper if one has suffered acute myocardial infarction — otherwise known as a heart attack.

“It was specific to chocolate — we found no benefit to sweets in general,” said Kenneth Mukamal, a researcher at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston and a co-author of the study.

“It seems that antioxidants in cocoa are a likely candidate” for explaining the live-saving properties, he told AFP in an exchange of e-mails. Antioxidants are compounds that protect against so-called free radicals, molecules which accumulate in the body over time that can damage cells and are thought to play a role in heart disease, cancer and the aging process.

In the study, Janszky and colleagues tracked 1,169 non-diabetic men and women, 45-to-70 years old, in Stockholm County during the early 1990s from the time they were hospitalised with their first-ever heart attack.

The participants were queried before leaving hospital on their food consumption habits over the previous year, including how much chocolate they ate on a regular basis. They underwent a health examination three months after discharge, and were monitored for eight years after that. The incidence of fatal heart attacks correlated inversely with the amount of chocolate consumed.

“Our findings support increasing evidence that chocolate is a rich source of beneficial bioactive compounds,” the researchers concluded. The results held true for men and women, and across all the age groups included in the study.

Other factors that might have affected the outcome — alcohol consumption, obesity, smoking — were also taken into account. So should we all be loading up on cocoa-rich sweets?

“To be frank, I’m pretty cautious about chocolate because we’re working on weight problems with so many individuals,” said Mukamal, who is also a practising physician. “However, I do encourage those who are looking for healthier desserts to consider chocolate in small quantities,” he said. “For individuals with no weight issues who have been able to eat chocolate in moderation and remain slim, I do not limit it,” he added. The researchers caution that clinical trials are needed to back up the findings of their study. In the meantime, however, a bit of chocolate may not be amiss, they suggest.Good news, in any case. Check out The Heart and Stroke Foundation’s statistics for some more interesting reading.

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