OVERWEIGHT CHILDREN: ADVICE FOR PARENTS

Often both children and their parents struggle to follow more traditional diets which tend to be too restrictive. This problem can be overcome by first off identifying the child’s incorrect eating habits. Once understood, it is time to correct them, gradually and consistently, and according to what each child, adolescent can handle.

For this reason, we advise not radically changing the eating habits of our children but introducing small changes that gradually lead to a healthy diet and weight.

Begin with a Food Diary
The first step is to understand the eating habits and lifestyle of your child or adolescent. The diary entails keeping track of food and lifestyle habits for a week or more. These entries help us to reconstruct your child’s typical daily diet.

Advice to help your child lose weight:

1. Limit the high-starch foods of the PRF category (4Ps: pasta, “pane” or bread, potatoes, and pizza, and rice, fruit and fruit juice), as well as sugars from junk food.
2. Reduce saturated fats.
3. Vary sources of protein using both animal and plant-derived proteins.
4. Eat more—not less, by substituting in part the high-starch foods with vegetables and legumes.
5. Fast for 12 hours (during the night).
6. Avoid eating too many meals out— rather eat at home more frequently.
7. Measure and record body weight and weight circumference every two days, until a desirable weight is reached and maintained.
8. Burn calories by leading an active lifestyle.
9. Be somewhat flexible with the rules: the best food plans are customized for each child and must consider what he or she is willing to do.

These are guidelines applied by professionals with whom I collaborate. They all report excellent results from three different clinical studies involving overweight and obese children. Other information and guidelines can be found in the new Italian book by Valter Longo: La Longevità inizia da bambini (The Road to Longevity Begins with Childhood, trans.)