What are your kids eating? Pizza? Hamburgers? How often are they eating these things? If your child is eating lunch at school, he or she may be eating these things much more often than you think—perhaps even every day.
It may surprise you to know that 1 in 5 schools in the Unites States currently serves at least one brand name fast food menu. This means, even if you’re telling your child to make good choices at school, they may in fact be eating Taco Bell, McDonald’s or something similar—and likely their choices don’t include the new “healthy” options.
Childhood obesity is at an all-time high. Cases of Type 2 Diabetes among children and teens in this country have escalated more than ever before. What does this all mean? It means your life expectancy may be greater than that of your children.
Frightening, isn’t it?
So what can you do? It all starts at home. What are you stocking in your refrigerator and cabinets? What healthy foods are you sacrificing for yourself and your kids for the sheer sake of convenience? Perhaps it’s time to get back into the kitchen. Make the time to cook dinner. Get up earlier, stay up later, do whatever you have to do to ensure your kids are not living in a world where their only choices are junk food.
You can’t always be there to make sure your kids make the right choices. But if you start at home by eliminating sugars, soft drinks, chips, and most sweets, your child won’t naturally crave those things. I don’t suggest going cold turkey. After all, total deprivation often leads to total rebellion. But that doesn’t mean that we as parents have to feed into the convenience food, fast-food, canned and prepared food—hype that has run rampant in today’s society.
With a little effort, you can help make sure your children have a life expectancy that meets or exceeds your own.
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Preventing Type 1 Diabetes in Children