0 Childhood Obesity in Sri Lanka

There was a time when chubby children were considered cute. It was assumed that their baby fat would melt away and a healthy adult would be left over. We now know that childhood obesity can be very harmful for our nation’s children. Not only can obesity cause health problems but also psychological problems. In observing the causes of childhood obesity, hopefully we can slow down the epidemic.
Suffer from obesity is a situation almost similar to that of Western countries,eventhough that is a problem in urban area of Sri Lanka.Urban areas show high pervalance of child obesity in Sri Lanka when compare with other part of Sri Lanka.One of the main causes is lack of physical activity.
Children addict to fast food and soft drinks. They don’t like to have enough fruit and vegetables with their meal to have a balanced diet.
Part of finding a solution to the obesity epidemic that is plaguing our society is to determine the causes. The first place we often look is within the family itself. Do family history, genes; family economics play a role in a child’s obesity?
Let’s examine the parents. Before we go further let’s just say this is not to point fingers or play the blame game. It is only to find a solution for both parents and their children. No one wants to see their children suffer, and obesity can lead to distress both now and in the future. Now that we understand why we’re looking at the parents, here are some facts. Children are more likely to be obese if their parents are obese. The reason is simple. Kids are imitators. They do what they see their parents do. If parents are eating all the time or eating unhealthy foods, then children tend to follow suit.
Also, if parents use food as a coping mechanism, children will too. This can lead to emotional eating which has been the catalyst for much adult obesity. So, as a parent, what are you doing or not doing that could be influencing your children’s eating and activity habits? If parents are sedentary, their children will more likely to be inactive as well. If parents reward themselves often with sweet treats, their children may feel the same need. You may be predisposed to certain illnesses or conditions because of family genetics. If your parents or grandparents had certain types of cancers or diabetes or heart disease, your risk increases. The same can hold true if your parents have a disorder that results in weight gain. Body type is hereditary in many instances. If your mother is “pear shaped” and your father is “apple shaped” that means having over weight with irregular body shape the chances that you will battle those same issues are likely. With that knowledge on board, it doesn’t mean that your child will develop those conditions or become obese. Your child’s future is not always set in stone. By having balanced healthy diet with regular exercise, obese conditions can be overcome.
Obesity in children leads to many short and long term effects. Short term effects include physical problems such as pains in the joint, back and hip as well as exercise in-tolerance where the child will try to keep away from outdoor activities which are essential to mould his leadership qualities.
Obesity can also lead to lethargy, a factor which impairs the overall performance of a student in school. Among the more acute long term effects are increase in the chances of bad cholesterol levels, blood sugar and high blood pressure. Parents complain that children don`t like to eat nutritious food. It is not true you must introduce nutritious food at a tender age. Variety is the secret. The fast food should never compliment the meals of very young children.
Generally children are reluctant to try new food. It is the parents who first get them to ‘have a go` at junk food. Among the other contributors to child obesity are irregular meals and excessive fat and carbohydrate contents in the meal. Parents must also ensure a set a time, at least for the main meals and they should feed their child healthy balanced diet with three variety of vegetables and two types of fruit to have healthy child by reducing the chance of making obese child.
How much does childhood obesity depend on where you live and your income level? If you are in the lower income range or poverty level, it can have a lot to do with it. We know that eating healthy can get quite expensive if you’re not the most clever shopper and cook. Fattening foods are often easier to prepare, easier to reach in the grocery store, more prominently displayed, and more often marketed with sales and give always. You don’t normally see coupons for fresh fruits and vegetables, lean meats, and dried beans, peas and lentils.
Community sports programs can help kids get physically active and ward off obesity. Children living in lower income homes are often unable to participate in sporting or community programs due to the cost involved. The money just isn’t there to fund these activities for low income families.
So, Parents be aware of balanced diet for your children’s Health.

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0 Be aware of gestational diabetes

G

estational diabetes is a type of diabetes that can happen during pregnancy even when you have never had diabetes before. It means you have a problem with high blood sugar while you are pregnant. But blood sugar usually returns to normal after delivery.

Gestational diabetes is more likely for women who are overweight or over 35 years of age or having a previous diagnosis of gestational diabetes or having family history of gestational diabetes.

How can gestational diabetes affect me and my baby?

Gestational diabetes starts between 24^th and 28^th weeks of pregnancy and does not show symptoms. However, it can lead to complications later in mother and child unless the blood sugar is properly controlled. In the mother, it can lead to cesarean delivery and repeated infections and continuation of the diabetic state after or next pregnancy. In the baby it could lead to a death, jaundice, large babies with obstetric problems, low blood sugar after birth and respiratory distress syndrome. In addition the baby is more prone to develop diabetes and obesity in later life. But there are treatments to control blood sugar. This can help prevent a difficult birth. It also helps to keep your baby healthy.

How is gestational diabetes treated?

As gestational diabetes can hurt you and your baby while it does not show symptoms, you have to do regular blood tests to check your blood sugar level and you should start treatment quickly. Treatment for gestational diabetes aims to keep blood glucose levels equal to those of pregnant women who don't have gestational diabetes. Treatment for gestational diabetes always includes special meal plans and scheduled physical activity. It may also include daily blood glucose testing and insulin injections. You can get help from a dietitian or a doctor so that your treatment for gestational diabetes can be changed. Some women with gestational diabetes need insulin, in addition to a meal plan and physical activity, to reach their blood glucose targets. Insulin is not harmful for your baby as it cannot move from your bloodstream to the baby's.

Using a meal plan will help keep your blood glucose in your target range. The best way to improve your diet is by eating a variety of healthy foods and not skipping meals and snacks. Eat whole-grain foods such as whole-grain bread, bran cereal, or beans which provide the energy to you and your baby to keep your bodies working well. Eat fruits and vegetables and choose whole fruits than juices as they have more fiber. Or for fruit juices without added sweeteners or syrups is also good. In the selection of vegetables, you may go for dark green and deep yellow vegetables, such as spinach, carrots, and leafy vegetables.

You may choose eggs, fish and poultry as animal protein source. Because it helps to increase your blood volume and growth of breast and uterine tissues and it is very important for the growth and development of your baby. To reduce the fat intake, remove the skin and trim all visible fat from meat. And it is good to bake, roast or boil instead of frying. But don't cut fats and oils from your diet entirely because they provide long-term energy for growth and are essential for your baby’s brain development. So choose low-fat milk or yogurt and go easy on butter, margarine, and cooking oil. And the other thing is you should limit your intake of fast foods, and also sweets.

Remember, about 75% of women with gestational diabetes are able to keep their blood glucose levels within a normal range and provide the necessary nutrients for their baby just by sticking to a well-balanced diet.

With the meal plan, exercise is also an important way to keep blood sugar in control. Physical activities in pregnancy decrease the risk of developing gestational diabetes. There are so many safe exercises for pregnant mothers and walking is usually the easiest type of exercise.

As you take proper diet and regular exercise the gestational diabetes may go away after the baby's birth. But it increases your risk for diabetes in your next pregnancy and also later in life. So it is important that you continue to exercise, watch your weight and eat a healthy diet after pregnancy. If you do these things, you may avoid diabetes later in your life.

0 The better nutritional practices for prevention of cancer

Cancer is one of the leading non communicable disease which affects most of the people worldwide. Although cancer is not a major problem for Sri Lankan people, it can cause major problems in near future due to our present bad habits on our behaviors as well as our food habits. Worldwide, the burden of disease impinges on the lives of tens of millions annually. In Sri Lanka males are highly affected by cancer of oral cavity, leukemia, and malignant neoplasm of lymphoid, hematopoietic and related tissue. In female’s breast cancer, cancer of female genital organs and cervix are the most common types (National Cancer Institute of Maharagama). In Sri Lanka the incidence of breast cancer is 16 per 100,000, cervix is 13, ovary 10and uterus 7.

Cancer is characterized by uncontrolled cellular growth as a result of changes in the genetic information of cells. Normally cell division, differentiation, and death of cells are carefully regulated. All cancers start as single cell that has lost control of its normal growth and replication processes. Food, nutrition and physical activity are important environmental factors in the development of cancer. Cancer can be classified into different types based on their target organs such as liver cancer, breast cancer, lung cancer, stomach cancer etc.

Causes of cancer

Although there are several factors which cause cancer, here main focus is on our behavioral and dietary habits.

Tobacco use- cigarette smoke contains at least 80 known mutagenic carcinogens including arsenic, cadmium, and ammonia. It can cause lung cancer which is the most common type of cancer and most common cause of death in the world.

Bad food habits- food may be contaminated with natural or manmade toxicants. For example aflatoxin B which is a product of Aspergillus fungus and common contaminant of cereals and peanuts which causes liver cancer. In the busy world no one is concerning about their food and nutrient intake. People tend to go for whatever the things which are easily accessible and available other than the traditional nutritious food. Our ancestors ate a wide variety of cereals and legumes include kurakkan, oat, rice, wheat, corn, maize, gram green gram, black gram and lot of fruits and vegetables. But nowadays we are not considering the variety of food items and most of the time avoid fruits and vegetables and choose processed foods like pizzas, hamburgers, bacons, sausages, instant noodles and soft drinks for our easiness. These foods are rich in energy and fat and less in nutrients like vitamins and minerals. Our ancestors did whatever their work by themselves by spending lot of energy, but now in the technologically developed world most of them do their work by using machines rather than doing by themselves.

How to reduce cancer?

Control your body weight- being overweight or obese increases the risk of most type of cancers. Therefore try to maintain your body mass index to between21-23 from age 21. Avoid weight gain and increases in waist circumference through adulthood.

Eat healthy foods- choose a variety of foods from each food groups such as cereals, pulses and legumes, vegetables, fruits, milk and dairy products, fat, meat and meat products daily. Try to include more fruits and vegetables rather than animal origins. Every day try to eat 3 types of vegetables and 2 types of fruits which are rich in fiber and anti oxidants. Limit consumption of energy densed foods such as fatty foods, fast foods and try to use natural fruit juices with low sugar instead of soft drinks.

Try to eat more plant origin foods like whole cereals, pulses and limit refined starchy foods. Limit the intake of red meat and avoid processed meat. Control your intake of beef, mutton to be no more than 300g a week (World Health Organization recommendation). Limit consumption of salt to less than 5g per day and limit the intake of salt preserved, salted foods such as potato chips, French fries, dried fish, canned fish, meat, sausages etc. Avoid consumption of moldy cereals, and pulses.

Get plenty of physical activity- be moderately physically active, do brisk walking for at least 30 minutes every day. Try to use stair cases instead of elevator, try to wash your clothes by yourself rather than using washing machines. Do some extra physical activities in your leisure time as individual or with your family members such as swimming, running, dancing, cycling, hill climbing, or team games such as foot ball and badminton.

Quit smoking- smoking cigarettes increases your risk of developing many cancers. Smoking in public places not only affects your health but also others in the surrounding through passive smoking effect.

Breast feeding- breast feeding may play a role in the prevention of breast cancer. The younger you feed, the greater the protective effect.

If you follow the above practices you can prevent suffering from most type of cancers. Therefore prevention of cancer is better than the management of it once after getting it.

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