Combating Childhood Obesity Part 2
WPH Press
Each Wednesday the WPH features the WPH Wednesday Workout, designed to help you become a stronger, fitter, faster, and better handball player. From leg and shoulder strengthening exercises to HIT Training, biking, surfing, balance, footwork, agility, coordination, first-step explosiveness, hydration, cooling down, upper body strengthening, circuit training, altitude training, swimming, jogging, and much more, the WPH Wednesday Workouts focus on the areas that every handball player needs to reach their peak form.
To view all WPH Wednesday Workouts, go HERE
On this WPH Wednesday Workout, we’ll continue our discussion of how to combat childhood obesity by stressing the importance of kids developing and maintaining an active and healthy lifestyle.
In Part 1 of Defining and Combating Childhood Obesity, we learned that nearly one in five children and adolescents are obese (BMI 30 or higher). We introduced jumping rope as a way to combat the rising childhood obesity epidemic to develop a healthy and active lifestyle.
In Part 2 of Combating Childhood Obesity, we will examine more strategies and activities to accomplish as a family to combat and overcome childhood obesity.
Most handball players have children, and as we all know, there is nothing more important to us than the health, safety, and well being of our children. With obesity reaching epidemic proportions, we need to educate ourselves on how to ensure that our children are healthy, active, and psychologically well.
Kids should be active before they can even walk. Exercise should be ingrained in children from a very early age – no age is too young. The best way to prevent obesity is to never become obese. All children (and adults) should be exercising for a minimum of 60 minutes per day, along with a healthy diet that includes little to no sugar, no fried or processed food, and plenty of greens, fruit, and lean protein.
USA Today HERE provides a number of tips to beat childhood obesity. Of course, kids respond to what their parents do much more than what they say, so parents must walk the walk.
USA Today’s Tips to Beat Childhood Obesity
- Know your child’s Body Mass Index (BMI): if your child is near or at the BMI index (25-30), slow the weight gain to a healthier pace
- Eliminate or limit fruit juice to four to six ounces per day, and eliminate all sugar-sweetened beverages, especially soda
- Eat five or more servings of fruit and vegetables per day
- Keep TVs out of bedrooms and kitchens to encourage healthy eating and sleeping
- Require a minimum of 60 minutes of daily physical activities you can do as a family:
Examples of family exercise activities:
o Handball
o Swimming
o Hiking
o Jumping Rope
o Going to the park
o Jogging
o Biking
o Jogging
o Golf (no cart)
*If you can’t do 60 minutes of activity to start, work your way to 60 minutes gradually as a family
- Always ensure that drinking water is available
- Encourage children (and the family) to try new foods
- Avoid rewarding your children with food
- Avoid allowing your children to sit for more than 30 minutes per day
- Rarely allow screen time
Fruits, vegetables, and healthy meals are more expensive, it’s easier to spend free time on the couch, sugar drinks taste better, and eating new foods is unsettling, but to beat obesity, you must step outside of your comfort zone.
David Fink
WPH Fitness Director