Overweight kids: What are the causes?

One of the things I find most difficult about my excess weight is the effect it has on my children. During my pregnancy and when my children were still young, I didn’t think about it. As they get older, they become more aware of the things around them, including their overweight mother.

The binge showers keep coming.

Overweight parents are more likely to have children who are overweight. That’s one reason why I’m worried about it. In addition, I don’t have a ‘normal’ relationship with food, otherwise I would never have been so overweight. I can have a healthy diet for long periods, but I always fall back into binge eating, and those periods can last a long time. I then eat everything I can find in the house. Usually we don’t have so many (tasty) things in the house, precisely because we try to be healthy with food and to set a good example to our children. So then I eat sandwich fillings, like cheese.

Even children’s sweets

Of course I’m not standing by the fridge until they’re in bed. Sometimes we have ice creams in the house, they disappear quickly in my bad times. And sometimes, very sometimes, I eat the children’s candy. That doesn’t happen very often, because I don’t like candy very much. So why do I eat it sometimes? Yeah.The children start to notice it.

I’ll replace what I eat. But I notice from my oldest child (10) that he is starting to notice things. If, for example, there are only two ice creams left in a suit, which had four in it the day before. Sometimes I do talk to him about the fact that I don’t want him to be such a grazer like me. He loves to eat and can eat a lot. But he also sports a lot, so I understand that one plate of pasta is not enough for him.

Setting limits

But actually, I can’t explain what it’s like in my head, except to other obese people. So neither can my children. So how do I prevent them from becoming overweight? By giving them the chance to enjoy their food, but not to eat too much. That they don’t have to empty their plates when they’re full. That they can eat sweets twice a week and get chips once a week. That we set limits on what they can eat (and by that I mean candy), just like parents set limits in other areas.

Regularity and discipline

We always eat together at the table, because that also has a positive effect. And because it’s fun and we can discuss what everyone’s day was like. And I explain to them that if they get ice cream on the beach, they don’t get ice cream in the evening after dinner, even if the boy next door gets it. It’s difficult, but it has to be done.

The temptation is everywhere

Unfortunately we live in a world where everything seems to be about food. Endless commercials on TV and on the radio for food and drinks, such as sweet drinks and fast food. It seems as if children get candy everywhere: at the hairdresser’s, at the florist’s, when they return a storage box to their neighbour. Very sweet, but how should children learn to handle food wisely if they are constantly confronted with it?

No more kitchen stress: 6 handy food hacks

In front of you is a fruit bowl full of colourful vitamin bombs and nothing seems to stand in your way to create the ultimate fruit salad. Unfortunately, your apples are still a long way from ripening and you know that mangoes are more likely to produce sticky hands than beautiful cubes. Out of desperation you turn to the last piece of baguette of yesterday. If that turns out to be harder than the walls of your kitchen, then you’ve lost a bit of courage.

Fortunately, there are simple solutions for this kind of small kitchen utensils, so that you will never again drive yourself to some kind of despair.

Cutting mangoes like a pro

The cookbook has made way for the smartphone and tablet: quick and easy to look up a recipe. Of course, you don’t want this kind of equipment to suffer from your cooking skills. Take a mango, for example. At first glance, a mango seems to be the ideal piece of fruit. But cutting it almost always results in a mess. While the flesh sticks to your fingers, the juice drips everywhere you don’t want it. There are plenty of covers to protect your smartphone from it, but your clothes really need a washing machine.
Next time, you’d better do it differently. Cut the mango in half lengthwise and place both halves with the skin on a chopping board. With a sharp knife, cut squares into the flesh without cutting through the skin. Then push the skin inwards and you will get perfect mango cubes that you can take off the skin in no time.

Perfectly timed avocados

Avocados are known as multifunctional flavourings. Quite rightly so, because they are not only indispensable in your homemade guacamole, but are also a welcome addition to almost any salad. Not for nothing that you always have a few in the house. A small downside is that you never know exactly when they are ripe. Squeezing an avocado only gives a rough indication and is not always reliable. Instead, remove the small seed at the top, where the stalk was once located. If the hole is brown, the avocado is overripe and you’d better grab another one. Is it light coloured? Then your timing is perfect and it’s ready to disappear into your newest dish. Do you use your tablet in your kitchen? Then put it on the sink with a holder, so you can read the recipe well and let your mouth water!

Faster ripening

Although we appreciate the enjoyment of a filled fruit bowl, we all know what frustrations it sometimes causes. If you fancy a peach, only the pears are ripe and the kiwis you crave are still not ready to be eaten after a week of waiting. A simple plastic bag in this case is a real time machine. Put your unripe fruit in it together with a banana to speed up the ripening process. Wait for the banana to perform its miracle and put your teeth in a juicy peach.

Keep it dry with onions

While as a child we thought that Bambi was the biggest tearjerker, we now know better. When slicing onions, even the toughest guys can’t keep it dry. That’s why in Japan they seem to cook up with goggles. It seems to work, but we find our own tip a lot more practical. Put the onion in the fridge for 15 minutes before cooking and you won’t be bothered by anything. The cold reduces the activity of the enzymes that ensure that you are always with tears on your cheeks in the kitchen.

Crown and straws

There is not much fruit that surpasses the fresh-sweet taste of strawberries. Only that wretched crown, turns out never to go off as easily as you had hoped for beforehand. If you try it with a knife, there is hardly any strawberry left, while you always leave some green with your fingers. So take a straw from the kitchen drawer and you’ll be amazed at the possibilities. By poking it exactly in the bottom of the fruit and pushing it right up, you get the strawberry exactly the way you want it.

A second life for bread

A freshly baked sandwich can be the ideal start to your day. Unfortunately, a day later the same sandwich may have become so tough, that even the ducks in the pond will refuse it. A simple trick fortunately offers a solution. Sprinkle the bread with water and put it in a preheated oven of 180 degrees. Five minutes later your sandwich is no longer inferior to the fresh ones from the baker around the corner.

Copyright © 2019 Richard yates.