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Why Junk Foods Should Not Totally Be Banned For Kids?
 

In the past 30 years, childhood obesity has more than doubled in children and quadrupled in adolescents, as revealed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In 2012, more than one third of children and adolescents were overweight or obese.

While some studies had suggested that kids in some places in the United States are becoming thinner, obesity rate are not declining among children across the country, and the very fattest children might be getting worse. This was reported in April 2014 in the journal JAMA Pediatrics by researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the Wake Forest School of Medicine.

Childhood obesity has been a big health issue around the world. Obese or overweight children will be at a much higher risk of getting many chronic medical disorders including diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, stroke and even certain types of cancers when they move into their adult life later on.

Most health experts blamed sedentary lifestyle, like spending too much time sitting in front of television and computers, and unhealthy diet for causing such epidemic. There is no doubt that children love junk foods such as potato chips, candy and other calorie-laden salty and sweet snacks. All these junk foods are, unfortunately, the culprits that will most likely make the kids gain weight and become obese.

Parents want their kids eat natural food that can be peeled, chopped or juiced, which are mostly not liked by the kids. So the parents are constantly fighting with their kids about what foods they should eat and what they should not eat!

Dr. Charlotte Markey, a health psychology professor at Rutgers University, believe that it is better for parents to let children occasionally have some junk foods rather than trying to entirely eliminate them from their diets.

As a graduate student at The Children’s Eating Lab at Penn State University, she saw first-hand results of what happened when families banned junk food at home. After asking parents whether they allowed certain snacks, the researchers brought the children into a room filled with those snacks as part of an experiment. The researchers then left the room and watched what happened. The kids with very restrictive parents ate more treats than other kids and tried every time when they had chance to access to snacks.

While most parents have good intention to ban their kids for junk foods, tight restrictions on these foods seem to backfire. Trying to let children feel like they have some control over portion size of snacks is better than just restrict them from eating.

It is advisable for parents to explain to their kids why it is not good to eat junk food. Employing negotiation and use tradeoffs are part of the process. For instance, letting kids to put light Cool-Whip on fruit can make them eat more nutritious berries, and parents can offer baked potato instead of fried chips.

Nevertheless, figuring out exactly how much junk food is appropriate can be very tricky, and not to forget the powerful appeal of junk food that is skillfully marketed and packed with salt, sugar and fat.

Children should be taught to make good choices by exposing them to nutrient-packed foods from an early age and they should be taught appropriate portions. Allowing kids to keep some of their favorite snacks at home preferably on a high shelf and behind closed doors can prevent them from feeling deprived. Kids should not feel guilt or shame to have a treat, especially if they are in good health and have a healthy body weight.

Nevertheless, it is still essential to have some limits on how much candy, cookies, ice cream, and chips parents should keep at home because they might be too much for some children. Parents should help their kids decide what is right for them.

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