Guest Post: How You Can Help Prevent Type 2 Diabetes in Your Kids

Fitness is a huge concern in the United States and Carolyn has some helpful information to encourage healthy living for you and your kids.  She’s even included some healthy kid-friendly meals.  Carolyn is a 20-something year old with a passion for life, fitness and overall well-being. She is an avid cycler, golfer and has been known to bust some serious moves on the dance floor. Check out Carolyn’s blog at http://fullonfit.blogspot.com/!

 

I’m kind of a health nut, so when I discovered that one of my youngest cousins was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes this past November (which, ironically, also happened to be American Diabetes Month), I decided I needed to get active and help my cousin get healthy, and help my family members prevent diabetes in their own bodies.

 

Type 2 Diabetes used to be something that only affected adults – in fact, it used to be called Adult-Onset Diabetes. However, as the number of children being diagnosed with obesity dramatically increases, so do the number of Type 2 diagnosis in children. In fact, according to information from Syracuse’s St. Joseph’s Cardiac Hospital, 1 in 3 of today’s kids under age 20 are diagnosed with obesity, with the majority of them also being diagnosed with Type 2. Even worse, this number continues to grow. In order to get this epidemic under control, the most important factors are a healthy nutrition and regular physical activity. Here are a few things we have done as a family:

 

Nutrition
Nutrition is a major factor for preventing and/or managing diabetes in your family. Your diet can help your insulin production and function. Additionally, obesity largely affects the way your body reacts to insulin. If you can control your diet and your kids’ diet, you can help prevent diabetes. The greatest part is you control what your kids eat. If you can instill a healthy diet mindset in them now, they will carry that into their adulthood.
Choose to eat whole-wheat grains and lean meats. Cut out the fatty and fried foods. Also, cut out the excessively sugary foods. Salty snacks like potato chips should be avoided., as should snacks high in sugar. Try to drink a few glasses of water each day. Of course, it’s also important to have a high intake of fruits and vegetables every day.

 

Here are a few of the kids’ favorite meals:

– breakfast: maple scrambled eggs with turkey bacon

– lunch: 2-cheese pizza

– dinner: chicken lettuce wraps or buffalo chicken chili

– dessert: frozen yogurt with fresh fruit and crushed walnuts & almonds toppings or chocolate protein pudding

 

Exercise
Exercise is the second factor to having a healthy lifestyle and preventing diabetes. The lack of activity forces our body to reserve whatever calories and fat that is inside. That fat is stored and accumulates to make our body obese. It’s important to stay active so our body doesn’t think that we are trying to preserve energy. It will boost our metabolism and start burning calories.

I love to get involved in family activities, and my cousins really have gotten into it too. For example, we love riding bikes around our local park, having silly dancing sessions (we even use the boys’ gaming console to play Dance Dance Revolution!), and playing sports that involve a lot of running – specifically, kickball, soccer, capture-the-flag, and tag. Most often, simply getting off the couch, going outside with your kids, and finding something to do will provide enough physical activity for you and your family.

 

It would be better if you can get your family into a routine workout at least three nights a week for 30 minutes each night. Cardio exercises are what you want to do to help keep the heart and lungs strong. If the weather is bad outside, try doing Pilates, Yoga, or Zumba together!