I don’t think it is necessary for most kids to arbitrarily diet. Dieting can be unhealthy and stressful for kids and teens. There are situations where dieting is an important step to take, for one reason or another. So, I thought I would write about what I think about dieting for kids and teens.
I don’t think dieting is a necessary step for most scenarios. There are many situations where it is immediately thought of as the primary cure for obesity or other unhealthy conditions. Here are the only two scenarios where I think it should be considered immediately.
- Extreme obesity. When people see or know an obese person, they instantly think that that person needs to go onto a diet. When it comes to kids, I do not think that it should be the first choice in most cases. Exercising should be the first change for obese children. Most obese kids simply do not get outside and exercise enough. Sadly, many people simply implement a diet plan and assume that will work. Well, if a kid diets but parks his rear in front of a screen all day long, then there is no point in the diet. On the other hand, if he exercises and does not diet, he will probably lose some weight. In cases of severe obesity, doing both is necessary.
- Any time a child needs to lose weight rapidly. I know this sounds unhealthy, but it is necessary for some kids, primarily athletes. I can think of two sports off the top of my head that require weight loss, wrestling and football. Dieting is an important part of wrestling, because you need to lose weight quickly (before the season starts). Not all football requires weight loss, but I know that many youth football leagues have weight limits, so if you want to play at a certain age level, you need to lose weight. This is not true in all places or at all levels.
Although I wouldn’t suggest dieting for most kids, there are situations where it is necessary. Next time, I am going to talk about how you should be dieting.