This chapter addresses the many different ways children consume both food and media, and the diverse effects these consumption habits have. This chapter also addresses how the consumption of these two variables are related and have reciprocal effects, which can be damaging, to one another. The negative effects of certain consumption habits can be detrimental for the child and family as a whole. Furthermore, the author discusses the most beneficial practices for children to cultivate in order to develop an overall healthy food and media diet.
TopIntroduction
The way a child consumes both food and media is crucial for the child’s further development and overall health. These two variables can affect the child in different ways; however, food and media often have intertwining effects. For example, being exposed to media that consistently promotes a thin body ideal may lead a child to want to eat less to achieve that ideal. Conversely, having a high-fat and high calorie diet may contribute to a child living a fairly sedentary lifestyle, typically leading to a higher consumption of media.
No matter what, children will be exposed to both food and media, so it is important to instill healthy habits regarding the two as early as possible in today’s youth. This chapter will discuss the positive and negative effects of the different ways in which food and media are commonly consumed by children. This chapter will also address how parents can establish the healthiest food and media diet for their children.
A Child’s Food Diet
What defines a healthy food diet? There is no perfect answer, since it is different for each individual. However, there are some simple behavioral changes that can be made to help improve a child’s diet. A healthy diet, along with sufficient physical activity and limited sedentary behavior, have been shown to help prevent being overweight and obese, cardiovascular diseases, depression, fear, stress, poor self-image, and contribute to improving the overall quality of life (De Lepeleere, DeSmet, Verloigne, Cardon, & De Bourdeaudhuij, 2013). A healthy diet during childhood and adolescence promotes optimal health, growth, and cognitive development of the child and adolescent, and may contribute to the prevention of chronic disease in later life (Van Cauwenberghe, Maes, Spittaels, Van Lenthe, Brug, Oppert, & De Bourdeaudhuij, 2010).
Evidence suggests that eating habits adopted early in life will most likely extend into adulthood; however, the transition from childhood into adolescence can often usher in unhealthy dietary choices (Van Cauwenberghe et al., 2010). Therefore, it is important to establish healthy eating behaviors early in life, and focus particularly on the transition from childhood to adolescence to ensure the most stable diet over time. Parents play an important role in a child’s eating patterns, and it is encouraged that interventions aimed at improving a child’s nutrition involve parents and/or the entire family in some way.
A Dietary Epidemic
One of the largest nutritional issues facing children and adolescents today is obesity. In fact, almost 80% of 11–15 years olds have multiple dietary and physical activity risk factors of being overweight or obese (Leech, McNaughton, & Timperio, 2014). There are eight early life risk factors correlated with the development of obesity: birth weight, parental obesity, sleep duration, television viewing, size in early life, weight gain in infancy, catch-up growth, and body mass index rebound (Pocock, Trivedi, Wills, Bunn, & Magnusson, 2010). Research also states that patterns of obesity and physical activity levels were found to differ according to age, gender, and socio-economic status. A consistent finding stated that mostly girls, older children/adolescents, and children/adolescents of a lower socio-economic status had high levels of obesity and low levels of physical activity (Leech, McNaughton, & Timperio, 2014).
Fortunately, parents are becoming more aware of what causes obesity and how they can help their children, but it is not always so clear-cut. While it has been shown that parental support of health promoting behaviors can positively impact children, research shows that parents may not recognize the negative health consequences of their children being overweight, and even when they do, may feel confused by the vast array of messages about strategies for addressing the problem (Leech, McNaughton, & Timperio, 2014). Parents typically find that there are various factors that impact their child’s behaviors associated with being overweight or obese, particularly preference for certain foods. Children disliking new foods and being ‘picky eaters’ are considered common barriers to healthy eating (Leech, McNaughton, & Timperio, 2014). Some parents also tend to rely on “fast foods,” because they are concerned that their children will eat nothing else. Parents commonly perceive that the cost of food is also a barrier to a healthy diet (Leech, McNaughton, & Timperio, 2014).