How to Prevent Diabetes in Children
You Must Monitor Your Children's Sugar Intake.
Preventing diabetes in children is well worth the effort because diabetic kids develop severe complications in adulthood and their lifespan may be dramatically short. This occurs when a diabetic cannot properly use the pancreatic hormone insulin. Insulin regulates the amount of sugar in the blood and a spike may threaten life. An ounce of prevention in the early years is smart parenting indeed.
The first thing to prevent diabetes in children is to monitor their sugar intake. Sugar is notoriously present in many packaged food items and fast-food restaurants are by far the worst.
It’s important to know the different names associated with sugar, such as maltose, lactose, sucrose, and fructose for example. These distasteful culprits are present everywhere nowadays. Therefore, when you are grocery shopping read the ingredient list of frozen foods and juice packages and purchase the items that contain five grams of sugar or less.
Have Your Children Eat Yucca Instead of French Fries.
If your children are addicted to French fries, try to serve yucca or sweet potato fries instead. Yucca is loaded with fiber and vitamins. Beware of high fructose corn syrup and cheap filler in foods that are notorious for disrupting enzyme production.
You may feel overwhelmed if your child is already addicted to unhealthy foods and has cravings for candy, cookies, and ice cream. Don’t despair, there is a solution.
You can start slowly opting to bake homemade cookies. There you can choose to use organic sweets like Stevia, where you control the amount of sweetness. The same goes for ice cream. It’s simple to craft homemade ice cream and your children will love the involvement if you include them.
You can serve these as a special treat occasionally, but not as a reward for doing schoolwork. Under no circumstance do you want your children to associate chores or schoolwork with food? Kids should eat when they are hungry.
Which Childhood Diabetic Treatment Do You Prefer?
Watch Out for Bread!
Another item to watch out for is bread. White bread is loaded with carbohydrates and contains little fiber.
Many of the store-bought brands contain fattening ingredients. Therefore, you can make your bread or purchase a more expensive bread package that contains fiber and natural ingredients.
You Must Increase Your Children's Water Intake.
Children can develop diabetes from being overweight and by not having normal bowel movements. I know certain doctors say one bowel movement every three days is okay. This is not good. A child should have a bowel movement every day to flush out toxins and clean his internal organs.
If you’re increasing the fiber intake of your children, make sure they drink enough water, half of their body weight in ounces. If your child weighs fifty pounds, he should drink 25 ounces of water every day.
Your children may not feel thirsty, therefore, it's important to stay on top of this and remind them to drink more water. Of course, they'll want to consume sugary drinks instead. Except, if you don’t keep such beverages in your home, they won’t have a way to drink them.
Serve the Freshest Fruits and Vegetables from a Farmer's Market.
Always Have Alternative Food on Hand for Your Kids.
Make sure your child is eating at least four to five servings of fruit and vegetables every day. Every week purchase different types of fruit and vegetables and keep them handy for snacking. You can cut them up beforehand and place them in small plastic bags in the refrigerator.
When your children need a quick pick-me-up, they’ll opt to eat a healthy alternative instead of cookies or drink soda. If they are not allergic to nuts, you can have them addicted to eating healthy fats such as walnuts. The healthier they eat the faster their taste buds will change, and they won’t crave their unhealthy counterparts.
Make Sure Your Children Are Active.
Another way to prevent diabetes in children is to make sure your children are active. It’s important to have them involved in a sporty activity such as baseball or ballet or take them to the park to ride their bikes and play on the monkey bars.
The more active your child is, the better. This helps to build strong bones with optimal muscle tone. Your child’s brain will function better and not suffer from the spikes of sugar overload. His behavior will also be serene, and he'll become more intelligent.
How to Help Children from Eating Too Much Sugar?
More Ways to Control Diabetes...
- What Parents Need to Know About Childhood Obesity
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Discover how to manage and prevent diabetes by controlling your blood glucose levels, so you don't suffer from diabetic skin lesions.
© 2014 Sheila Craan