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Currently, with the busy life that everyone lives, not all parents are concerned and manage to maintain a healthy diet inside their homes. So a problem that used to affect adults only, now begins to appear and high cholesterol in children becomes more common than we think. Fast food, frozen foods, snacks and foods with a high fat content , in addition to soft drinks and daily treats often made available in school canteens, are great villains and also responsible for this problem that has grown daily around the world.
Cholesterol causes fat to be lodged in the walls of blood vessels, which in the long run can cause serious damage to blood flow to important parts of the body such as the heart, brain and kidneys. Another factor that can occur is one of those plates of fat, to loosen and move around the body causing a thrombosis or even a stroke (stroke).
In addition to poor diet, the absence of physical activity and genetic inheritance are responsible for high cholesterol in children. In the past children played, exercised naturally and today with the evolution and computerization of childhood, each day the number of sedentary children who in addition to the problem with cholesterol is obese increases.
A very important piece of information, which shocks most parents when a doctor requests tests for verification, is that high cholesterol in children is not only present in fat people. Many cases of skinny children who eat the wrong way can suffer from this problem as well. Many of the cases take parents by surprise, because cholesterol is a silent problem in children, unlike adults who, when levels are above indicated, have physical tiredness, chest pains and high blood pressure, warning that something is not right.
Diet for Children with High Cholesterol
The first step in controlling high cholesterol in children is to improve the food menu, including healthy foods and cutting out those that are not so beneficial to health. Fatty and dairy products should be excluded from the list of foods consumed and should be replaced by cereals, skimmed milk, fruits and vegetables.
Unfortunately, some schools allow the sale of fatty food and no nutritious food in their canteens, which makes it very difficult to control our children’s food. Others, on the other hand, only allow healthy and natural foods to be sold and consumed in the school environment, when neither the canteen nor the food prepared by the school is being offered under the analysis and supervision of a nutritionist .
Foods that should be cut from the menu:
- Whole milk
- Milk cream
- Creamy and yellow cheeses
- Butter
- Fat meats
- Sausages, ham and cold cuts in general
- Stuffed cookies
- Mayonnaise
Sweets such as chocolates, whipped cream, margarine and vegetable creams must be removed from the food menu. Pork, bacon, sausage and seafood such as shrimp, crab and seafood should also be avoided due to their high fat content. Fibrous foods should be added to the daily diet, as the fiber has great power to eliminate fat in the body. Breads should be replaced with wholemeal, yoghurts should be skimmed, cookies and cakes should be based on wholemeal flour or rich in fiber as is the case with oat cake.
Along with the improvement in the diet, new habits such as the practice of physical exercises are essential to restore health. Running, playing, swimming, playing ball are some of the sports or games that can be put into practice easily, without the child feeling obliged. Putting rules and times for the use of video games, computers and tablets can help a lot to scare off sedentary lifestyle and thus your child have a healthier life.
To be sure of your child’s health, ask for a pediatrician’s indication and look for a pediatric endocrinologist who will order tests and indicate the appropriate treatment, if necessary. Bearing in mind that dietary reeducation should not be done only in the life of the child in question, but in everyone around him and family life, thus providing not only a greater stimulus for the child, but an improvement in the health of the whole family.
See also: Food Allergic Reaction
My name is Dr. Alexis Hart I am 38 years old, I am the mother of 3 beautiful children! Different ages, different phases 16 years, 12 years and 7 years. In love with motherhood since always, I found it difficult to make my dreams come true, and also some more after I was already a mother.
Since I imagined myself as a mother, in my thoughts everything seemed to be much easier and simpler than it really was, I expected to get pregnant as soon as I wished, but it wasn’t that simple. The first pregnancy was smooth, but my daughter’s birth was very troubled. Joana was born in 2002 with a weight of 2930kg and 45cm, from a very peaceful cesarean delivery but she had already been born with congenital pneumonia due to a broken bag not treated with antibiotics even before delivery.
