New research is suggesting that overweight children can lead healthier lives if they avoid obesity before kindergarten.
According to WebMD News, parents should try to avoid obesity for their children before 5 years old in order to start a healthier lifestyle. If the child is overweight in or before kindergarten, this can often stem from the baby being born at a high birth weight resulting in unhealthy children later on.
Director of Public Health Initiatives at North Shore-LIJ Health System, Nancy Copperman, said that there could be prevention when it comes to child obesity to childbearing mothers.
“We should promote health and healthy behaviors to them because having a baby who’s born at a healthy weight helps make that baby healthy throughout life,” she said. “It may also help a woman work on bad habits before her child comes.
Copperman added that by enforcing healthy habits to children young would also keep them at a healthy weight. By adding five servings of fruits and vegetables each day, no more than two hours of TV or computers, one hour of physical activity and no sodas or surgery drinks, a child’s lifespan can be lengthened.
This comes shortly after the USDA reported that American’s have been trying to cut calories and improve their diets in a recent study.
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