The importance of understanding labelling to prevent teenage obesity
Generally when we refer to obesity and over-eating we’re thinking of adults. We tend to imagine the overweight grown-up who’s just one of a growing a number of seriously obese individuals that comprise the modern epidemic that most developed countries are now suffering. However, adults aren’t the only ones being affected by the growing problem. More and more children are becoming over-weight or obese. Research shows that the number of obese children has almost doubled during the last thirty years.
Most parents are very conscientious about their childrens health and well-being but can find it difficult to make the right choices because the information they need isn’t easy to access or there is conflicting information so it’s hard to know what to do for the best. It’s important that parents and children are given the right information and advice so that the child can adopt healthy eating habits at an early age.
Much of the food eaten today is processed and packaged and as a result can have quite a low nutritional value. Clearly manufacturers want to sell their foods so it is in their interests to package the foods in the most attractive way. To sell to children this may be as simple as bright and bold packaging to parents are a little more astute and so the manufacturers need to provide a “hook” to encourage the parent to buy the product. This could be by marketing the product as low fat or by suggesting that the ingredients are natural and healthy but purchasers need to look at products in a bit more detail to get the real picture. “Low fat” products for instance, may contain lots of sugar or salt as could the “natural” product. Also, artificial colours, flavours or sweeteners could be added.
The only way to guarantee the nutritional value of your food would be to grow, harvest and prepare it from scratch but obviously that’s not really feasible in most households. The reason that convenience foods are so widely available today is because people needed convenience! With both parents working full-time in many families using pre-prepared foods and ingredients is unavoidable but with forward planning and a little bit of effort you can significantly reduce your reliance on processed foods. For instance:
- Always plan your weeks meals so that you’re not left gazing into the freezer at the last minute
- Ask the supermarkets butcher/fishmonger to cut or prepare the meat ready for the oven
- Make two meals instead of one and freeze the second for later use
- Make a batch of sauces and freeze them for convenience
- Pre-chop vegetables and keep it in the fridge, it’ll last a couple of days
You’ll find that as you get more used to preparing your own food and meals and relying less on processed or pre-prepared items that your food will taste far, far better and you’ll gradually pick up more time saving tips. Most importantly you’ll be giving your kids a healthy start in life so you’ll be helping prevent teenage obesity and all the health and psychological issues associated with it.
