Canada’s guidelines for raising healthy children upgraded
Posted March 30, 2015 6:41 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – Canadian health experts are asking parents to take on a bigger role in helping keep kids adopt healthier lifestyles as part of new guidelines for preventing childhood obesity. The Canadian Task Force on Preventive Health Care wants on parents to make it a family affair.
The guidelines published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal tell parents to make healthy choices for the entire family including the right amount of exercise and nutritious food.
Chief provincial health officer Dr. Perry Kendall admits that is not easy in today’s world. “Particularly if you have two parent families, both of whom are working. Expecting one of them to stay home and prepare healthy food or take their kids for hour-long walks in the evenings, it doesn’t seem very realistic.” He says it’s a lot harder for parents with little money to follow these guidelines.
The guidelines also call on doctors to measure the height, weight and BMI for kids in their office and track it over time. Dr. Kendall says this could help family doctors get over hesitancy to bring up the topic with parents. “It makes sense to monitor the growth of the child. They say the evidence that it does much difference isn’t that strong, but it certainly can’t hurt to raise that issues with the parents.”
This is the first time in 20 years the guidelines have been updated.
