National Childhood Obesity Week 1-7 July 2019

Sunday, 7 July 2019

National Childhood Obesity Week 1-7 July 2019

A leading obesity charity (The National Obesity Forum) joined forces with a social enterprise (MEND which deliver free after-school healthy living programs to families), launched the first-ever UK awareness week which focus on child obesity issues back in 2011.

Childhood Obesity is one of the most serious health epidemics facing our society today with 1 in 3 children currently overweight or obese in the UK. 

The prevalence of childhood obesity is of a high concern in Wales, having higher levels of obesity than all English regions with 26.4% of children in Wales are overweight or obese, compared to 22.4% in England and in Scotland in this age group.

These top tips are aimed at encouraging families to incorporate them into their everyday lives to help them get fitter and healthier.

1.  Try to walk for an extra 20 minutes every day and you will be walking for two hours every week!

2.  Make sure you are getting your five a day by setting yourself the challenge of
including at least one serving of fruit or veg with each of your meals and
snacks.

3. Try one new activity or exercise this week, such as street dance, trampolining, circus skills, tennis or martial arts and you might find you want to keep on doing it!

4. Start the day as you mean to go on with a healthy and filling breakfast! Make the right choice and swap your low fibre cereal or toast for a wholegrain option such as wholemeal toast or a no-added-sugar muesli, porridge oats or shredded wheat.

5. Fruit juice can contain a lot of sugar so it is good to drink it in moderation. Try and limit it to a maximum of one small cup or carton (200ml) a day.

6. We know that water hydrates you but studies have shown that children concentrate better at school when they drink more water so get wise and aim to drink 6-8 cups a day.