Mindful Eating Activities for Kids
Childhood obesity is a growing problem, especially in the US, where twenty five percent of children are overweight and 11% are considered obese. [1]
The Body Mass Index (BMI) is a range of values that compares a person’s height and weight to “broadly categorize a person as underweight, normal weight, overweight, or obese.” The BMI of overweight children is between 25.0-29.9 and children with a BMI over 30.0 are considered obese. [2]
Untreated childhood obesity can lead to adult obesity and other health risks, such as heart disease, diabetes, mellitus, and even premature death. Prevention at an early age is critical to avoid these future health complications.
According to an article on family-based mindful eating approaches:
“Parents have a key role in their child’s health as role models to their children. In general, the family's social-emotional environment, including family connectedness, prioritizing of family meals, and a positive family mealtime environment, are positively associated with higher self-esteem and body satisfaction and inversely associated with unhealthy weight control behaviors among at-risk-for-overweight and overweight youth.” [3]
What risks do kids face because of childhood obesity?
Obese children suffer a wide range of adverse effects including bullying, isolation, poor mental health, and negatively impacts a child’s social life at school.
“A large group of studies show that children with obesity are at increased risk for being targets of weight‐related teasing, nonweight‐related teasing and bullying, and other forms of victimization (e.g., physical and relational aggression). In fact, a recent cross‐national study of almost 3,000 adults found that they consider weight‐related bullying to be the most prevalent type of bullying among youth." [4]
Children who face victimization by their peers are also at a greater risk for self-harm and suicide. [5] Children who are bullied tend to have fewer friendships and are more susceptible to loneliness, depression, anxiety, and low self esteem. [6]
Is mindfulness an intervention for childhood obesity?
A study by Project EAT found that body dissatisfaction predicts weight gain over time. [3] Meditation is an effective method for cultivating self-esteem, an effective coping mechanism for preventing the development of maladaptive coping behaviors like overeating, and it can be taught to young children. [7]
The definition of mindfulness is, “the awareness that emerges through paying attention on purpose, in the present moment, and non-judgmentally to the unfolding of experience moment to moment.” [3]
By paying attention to the present moment, we develop a sense of self, which leads to an analysis of our habits, the good and the bad. Practicing mindful eating patterns in the home can help thwart childhood obesity.
What is mindful eating?
Mindfulness can be used while eating. Intuitive eating is “an eating style that relies on physiological hunger and satiety cues to guide eating, rather than externally driven emotional factors or dieting behaviors.” [3]
Put more simply, mindful eating uses hunger and satiety signals such as stomach rumbling and fullness to inform eating rather than emotional factors like stress, anxiety, depression, or body dissatisfaction which can lead to overeating, binge eating, or inappropriate dieting.
3 Mindful Eating Activities for Children
Teaching kids about mindful eating and healthy behaviors is influenced by family and culture. Here are some suggestions for incorporating mindful eating into your family's daily life.
1. Prepare Food As a Family
One way to practice mindful eating is to prepare food together as a family. Teaching kids how to cook healthy foods is a skill that can be used in the future.
Instead of ordering takeout on command, children can apply these skills to cook healthier meals at home.
If finding time is an issue in daily life, perhaps scheduling a designated time for this to take place, such as Sunday evening, could be more feasible. Certainly some time in the kitchen together is better than none.
Parents can make cooking at home more enjoyable by letting children measure, pour, and mix, or taking on the fun activities such as tearing salad greens or mashing potatoes with clean hands.
Here’s more information on how to encourage children to make healthier choices.
2. Teach Your Child Where Food Comes From
Another healthy activity families can do together is go grocery shopping. Even better is a field trip to a local farm or farmer’s market.
The closer you can get to the source of the food, the better the more likely the child will cultivate a mindful relationship with food. Establishing healthy connections with food and knowing where it comes from.
Here are some mindful eating activities you can do with your children:
If your family drinks milk, take your children to a local dairy farm to see the cows.
If your family eats eggs, go to a local, free-range farm to see where eggs come from.
Drive to an orchard and pick apples, or go to a farm to pick strawberries.
If you live in the city, search out a local farmer's market.
Spend extra time in the produce section to introduce children to new foods.
Ask your child to pick out a new food and learn to cook it together.
In this way, children become active participants in what they eat and learn that healthy food takes time.
3. Express Gratitude Before your Meal
Expressing gratitude is a way of appreciating someone or something to add more positivity into one’s life and the lives of family, friends, and acquaintances.
Some of the benefits of gratitude include enhanced well-being, deeper relationships, improved optimism, increased happiness, and stronger self-control.
As shown, the benefits of gratitude extend way beyond its personal impact and creates a trickle effect of positivity into others’ lives as well.
Before you eat, think of or say three things you’re grateful for. Take a minute to appreciate your food before eating to instill patience and control overindulging.
If GLY is part of your family, listen to a one-minute gratitude meditation to cultivate appreciation and thanks before eating.
Childhood obesity is extremely prevalent in society today, and it negatively impacts children’s mental health and school performance.
Mindful eating helps combat obesity through acknowledging the root of this problem and solving it with conscious awareness.
References
Dehghan, Mahshid, et al. “Childhood Obesity, Prevalence and Prevention.” African Journal of Food, Agriculture, Nutrition & Development, vol. 12, no. 2, Feb. 2012, pp. 1–16. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1186/1475-2891-4-24.
Fisher, H., Moffitt, T., Houts, R., Belsky, D., Arseneault, L., & Caspi, A. (2012). Bullying victimisation and risk of self harm in early adolescence: Longitudinal cohort study. BMJ : British Medical Journal, 344(7855), E2683.
Harrist, Amanda W., et al. “The Social and Emotional Lives of Overweight, Obese, and Severely Obese Children.” Child Development, vol. 87, no. 5, Sept. 2016, pp. 1564–1580. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1111/cdev.12548.
Jeanne Dalen, Janet L. Brody, Julie K. Staples, and Donna Sedillo. Childhood Obesity. Oct 2015.
Puhl, R. M., et al. “Cross-National Perspectives about Weight-Based Bullying in Youth: Nature, Extent and Remedies.” Pediatric Obesity, vol. 11, no. 4, Aug. 2016, pp. 241–250. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1111/ijpo.12051.
