According to the Medical Research Council of South Africa (MRC) obesity in children is no longer only an issue in the USA, but also in South Africa where more than 17% of the urban children younger than nine struggles with weight problems. This is a matter of grave concern since as many as 10% of all teenagers in South Africa have weight problems, showing only a small decline in percentage from the pre-teen percentage.
Stunted growth and deficiencies associated with improper nutrition have been noted to be associated with obesity in children. The most concerning factor about the reports is that as many as 70% of obese and overweight children continue to be overweight as young adults. Moreover, morbid obesity in children, where the level of obesity is severe, has been associated with the development of serious health conditions such as diabetes 2.
Obesity in children is often the start of a lifelong struggle against weight gain. Children suffering from overweight and obesity problems more often than not are also victimized by peers for their condition. Anti-social behaviour may follow and many of the kids have mild to severe self-esteem problems directly related to their obese state. With an alarming number of children spending a minimum of two hours in front of a TV screen daily, one can appreciate why obesity has become a problem in modern society.
With hectic lifestyles of parents, children in South Africa have also become accustomed to fast foods as well as preservative rich processed food in the evenings. During the day they often skip breakfast and may skip lunch altogether. Instead they eat unhealthy snacks throughout the day. More and more children also sleep later in the evenings and because of a lack of sleep start to gain weight.
As such, obesity in children should be tackled on three levels:
Increase in physical activity.
Improved diets and more regular eating.
Regulated sleep.
Herbalife Products Support Proper Nutrition
The range of Herbalife products to promote weight loss and management has been developed to provide the proper nutritional support that the body needs to ensure a balance between energy intake and the body’s usage of energy. The starter programme for weight loss is ideal for addressing weight problems in children and includes:
The combination of the above products is perfect to address:
Vitamin and mineral intake.
Adequate protein and nutritional support.
Adequate fibre support.
Improved health.
Meal replacements.
Instead of unhealthy snacks children can drink the protein enriched nutritional shakes, and with the required fibre support toxin build-up is addressed. Read about each of the products and contact us today for more information about products to address obesity in children the natural way.
Obesity in children and young adults: It is an epidemic! Watch this ABC News video to see how the health of our youth is being compromised. Children are eating themselves to death.
