Healthful Eating In Children For Weight Loss & Gain

Children who weigh too much often face criticism and ostracism from their peers, as well as an increased potential for lifelong obesity-related illnesses, such as heart disease or diabetes. Underweight kids might experience the same sort of societal criticism, as well as health problems if they fail to get the nutrients they need for proper growth and development. By ensuring your child eats nutritious, well-balanced meals, you can usually help her gain or lose weight in an age-appropriate manner that will not jeopardize her overall health.

Significance

Although many parents worry about their children's eating patterns, the American Academy of Pediatrics provides reassurance that most children eat when hungry and stop when they become full. They suggest that consistent, solid nutritious eating instead of calorie-counting or rigorous diet plans, are the best ways to help your child maintain a proper weight. Restricting your child's calories or feeding him "junk" foods to help him gain weight can jeopardize his overall health so never put your child on any type of diet plan without consulting with his doctor first.

Considerations for Weight Loss

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC, recommends balancing your child's caloric intake by serving reasonable portions of healthy meals -- ones full of whole grains, fruits, vegetables and low-fat dairy -- and limiting her consumption of sugars, salts and fats. Encourage her to drink lots of water instead of sugary beverages and sodas. Involving the entire family in your child's weight loss efforts can make it feel like more of a team effort. It can also reinforce the importance of healthy eating for all family members, including adults.

Considerations for Weight Gain

Very few children actually need to gain weight unless the weight loss occurs because of a medical condition or illness. The parenting advice site Babycenter.com states that identifying and treating this condition can often lead to adequate weight gain in your child. If your doctor decides that your child needs to gain weight, you can help him add calories to his diet by encouraging him to eat healthy high-calorie foods, such as avocados, vegetable oils, eggs, peanut butter, nuts, pudding, bread, pasta and macaroni and cheese.

Misconceptions

Even though healthy eating does a lot towards helping keep your child's weight on track, it is only part of the equation for healthy weight loss or gain. Physical activity also plays an important role in helping your child maintain a healthy weight and build strong muscles. The CDC suggests that teens and children participate in at least 60 minutes of moderate physical activity -- including walking, running, riding bikes, playing sports, swimming or dancing -- on a daily basis. You can support your child's efforts by exercising along with her, as well as by limiting the time she spends playing video games or watching TV.

Potential

Food battles -- over whether your child eats too much or too little -- can turn dinner into a tense affair, which can negatively affect his weight gain or loss. Avoid scrutinizing his every food choice or forcing him to eat more or less of certain foods. Instead, keep your meals pleasant and unrushed. According to Babycenter, you can encourage healthy eating by serving regular home-cooked family meals and by involving your children in the food preparation process.