RAISING children can be hard, especially when it comes to their relationship with food.
As a parent, you want nothing but the best for your little one.
But one expert has warned that we need to be careful when it comes to discussing food around them.
Taking to TikTok, dietitian Kate, who goes by 'WholesomeChickNutrition' said there are five things she would never say to her kids when it comes to their eating habits.
She added that while she doesn't yet have children, she said these are all things she knows 'mess' with kids' relationships with food.
"Number one, I will not under any circumstances put my child on a diet or tell them that they need to lose weight," she said.
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Secondly, she added that she would not go on any diets or pursue intentional weight loss.
This is because this indicates to a child that this is the 'proper' way to interact with food in a restrictive and obsessive way, she said.
"Number three, I will not call foods good or bad, healthy or unhealthy.
"I will refer to them as my play foods or fun foods or nutrient dense or nutritious foods.
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"Using neutral language to describe food removes the morality and lets kids know that it's ok for all foods to fit into their diets," Kate said.
Next, Kate said she would never body shame her child, herself or other people.
She added that if her child was to come to her one day and say that they 'feel fat' then she would respond with curiosity.
"Wondering why they might think that, why they might feel that and be supportive of their feelings, without insinuating that being fat is a bad thing, because it's not," she said.
Lastly, she said she would never force her child to finish all the food on their plate, or restrict food when they tell her they are hungry.
"I will encourage and reinforce it to my child that they know their body best and they can trust themselves around their hunger and fullness queues," she added.
The dietician had previously released the clip to her 144,000 followers, but had recently reposted in light of new recommendations from the American Academy of Pediatrics.
She said that she was 'disgusted' with new measures that would mean childhood obesity was treated with medications and surgery.
"Bodies are not something to be “fixed”, especially with such dangerous interventions at such a young stage of development," she added.
In the last three decades, childhood obesity levels in the US have tripled, experts at Harvard state.
One out of six children is obese, with one out of three also being overweight.
In the UK, 9.9 per cent of children in reception were living with obesity in the combined 3-year period 2018 to 2019, 2019 to 2020 and 2021 to 2022, varying from 4.0 per cent to 13.9 per cent at lower tier local authority level, Government data shows.
The NHS states that if your child is overweight, there are five things you should do:
- be a good role model
- encourage 60 minutes, and up to several hours, of physical activity a day
- keep to child-sized portions
- eat healthy meals, drinks and snacks
- less screen time and more sleep
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However, guidance states that if you child has a medical issue, then this could be causing issues with their weight.
If you are worried about your child's symptoms you should see your GP.
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