To Diet Or Not? Teens Must Focus on Health And Not On Weight Loss, AAP Says

Losing weight may be an indicator of a healthier daily regimen but it alone does not do the trick of maintaining good health for life. As parents, you need to watch over what your kids eat, not because you want them to be the next top model, but because you want them to live healthy, and thus, longer lives.

Health Day reports that the American Academy of Pediatricians (AAP) released new guidelines for doctors and parents of teens who are suffering from obesity and other eating disorders. According to the lead author of the recommendations, Dr. Neville Golden, having a pep talk on losing weight can be detrimental, rather than helpful to the teens.

They have found that most who have eating disorders developed them from wanting to lose weight. Because the teens probably want to see instant results, they resort to fasting, taking diet pills and laxatives and overexercising.

This is why the aim of AAP's new guidelines is to discourage teens from dieting. Dieting may only lead to desperate, unhealthy measures of losing weight and the teen dieting may add extra pounds than lose them. Eating disorders would also be harder to pinpoint among overweight teens because they are not abnormally thin.

AAP recommends parents to not criticize their children's weight and also even their own weight. The teens would be able to nurture a positive body image if parents encouraged them and are also not complaining of their own bodies.

Parents, as well as doctors, can emphasize instead the benefits of having a balanced diet and exercising regularly. Family meals are also recommended because in this set-up, members are more inclined to eat healthy than to diet. Asking for diet advice from the doctor for both teens and parents is also helpful.

As per HealthyChildren.Org from the AAP, your children should eat a variety of food from five major food groups to maintain a balanced diet. Vegetables must be eaten three to five servings a day, two to four daily servings of fruits, six to eleven servings of cereal, pasta, or bread, two to three servings of meat or fish, and two to three servings of milk, yogurt or cheese.

According to National Institutes of Health (NIH), one-half of teen girls and one-quarter of teen boys have tried dieting. One in three girls who are healthy still diet to lose weight. It has been found that teens who diet are unhappy with their weight, have low self-esteem, less connected to their families and less in control of their lives.

Teens normally feel self-conscious, according to NIH. However, it is already unhealthy if they are constantly disappointed with their bodies. Parents and doctors should always guide them to have a positive body image and live a healthy lifestyle.

Having a healthy lifestyle is difficult but with a determined and focused mind, it is not impossible. Sound off your thoughts in the Comments section and follow Parent Herald for more news and updates.