Eating Junk Food

What is the problem about?

Foods that contain more oils or sugar or are fried or roasted with little or almost no nutritional value are considered junk foods. They lack in proteins, vitamins and fiber. For many parents, helping children develop healthy eating habits is a struggle. Because of their enhanced flavour, children are tempted to eat more of them to the extent of avoiding homemade food. Consumption of junk food has been associated with obesity, heart disease, diabetes and dental cavities in children. Children habitual of eating junk food tend to avoid healthy staple foods like chapattis, rice, dal, vegetables and fruits and miss on essential nutrients required for growth and development.

Signs/symptoms to look for

Children more attracted towards junk food from the market. They avoid healthy homemade food. They avoid fruits and vegetables. They argue quite often that home-cooked food has no taste.

Causes

If you set aside all the negative aspects, junk food contains lots of flavours to tickle the taste buds of children and grown-ups alike. Hence, the root cause of children opting for junk food is the use of this kind of food by the parents themselves. Working mothers find junk food an easy way to silence intermittent bouts of hunger of their children. This saves them from the trouble of cooking the food themselves. Another reason for children yearning for junk food is excessive pampering by the parents and always allowing them to have their way in consuming junk food. Television ads depicting junk food in a delicious and tantalising form also act as boosters for increasing appetite for junk food. Sometimes eating out junk food in a particular restaurant or eatery gives children a false pride among friends.

Solutions

This is more of a habitual problem. Usually it can be eliminated by changing some of your and your children’s habits. However, in worse cases, wisdom from Ayurveda can successfully be applied to minimise eating junk food. It is best to start training children about foods as soon as they can talk since they are most influenced by their family during the preschool years. If children are properly prepared, they are more likely to make healthy food choices once they enter school. They will probably experiment with some junk food, but they will have a preference for fresh foods like fruits and vegetables along with burgers and French fries. Take the trouble of cooking regularly at home and serve home-made food in an attractive way. Try to minimise the intake of junk food yourself as well.