Sitting on a bench in the park near my house, I observe a group of kids playing soccer on the playground of the recreation club.
My gaze lingers on one of them in particular, always a little late compared to the others, tired in his movements and visibly sweaty. I hear his name because his playmates take him back several times, scolding him. The boy is called Luigi, he could be around 10 years old and he is definitely overweight. Luigi plays and does not seem to give too much weight to the words of his companions, but in reality I see in his eyes a sort of sadness and frustration that he tries to mask with his bursting laughter. A few minutes later, a man and a woman approach the entrance to the pitch and, in a decisive and peremptory tone, call the boy back: perhaps they are the parents. I notice that they too are obviously overweight. I lower my eyes and, with some regret, I think about how much our diet in recent years has been enriched with refined foods, rich in sugar and hydrogenated fats.
A diet lacking in nutrients, artificial, high-calorie and toxic. I close my eyes and see Luigi, and I think of the aggressive marketing adopted, at times, towards children: advertisements that use famous characters or cartoons that recommend the purchase of products that are not always so healthy such as: fries, snacks, biscuits, carbonated and sugary drinks. A whole type of food that, in addition to having no beneficial physiological function in the child’s body, can cause a profound metabolic and hormonal alteration over time. Its organic functions, especially at the hepatic and enteric level, can be altered, bringing the child into a steatotic-like condition (due to an excess of ingested sugars) and intestinal dysbiosis. Increasingly, these alterations lead to significant weight gain. In Italy, the statistical evidence leaves no doubt: overweight and obesity in childhood are certainly not a rare phenomenon.
In fact, in our country the percentage of overweight and obese children and adolescents increases every year in a worrying way. The main risk factors of excess weight among children aged between 6 and 17 are: familiarity, a sedentary lifestyle and an unbalanced diet. But there is also another important factor: the health of their gut microbiota. Yes, because it has been found that the intestinal flora of an obese person differs considerably from that of a person of normal weight. This means that intestinal dysbiosis contributes to making us fat! In fact, the intestinal bacteria of obese people are more efficient in extracting calories from food: when the undigested food reaches the colon, the “hungry” bacteria pounce on it, accumulating calories that will add to those normally taken with the digested food . This extra calorie intake and accumulation of fat will produce weight gain. There are intestinal bacteria that promote weight gain and others that help us keep us at normal weight.
The same goes for children as well. The reality is that intestinal bacteria react according to the type of diet we have: the “good bacteria” love a diet rich in fiber and nutrients; the “bad bacteria” thrive on a diet rich in sugars, refined carbohydrates and harmful fats. The intestinal pathogens, when they take over, produce toxins that are released in the intestine, damaging its wall; they penetrate into the bloodstream and are found here by the immune system which, reacting to them, activates a low-intensity inflammatory response also called “silent inflammation”.
If this is repeated over time, due to nutrient-poor, high-calorie meals, weight gain will be inevitable. Keep in mind that many intestinal pathogenic microbes, such as candida, feed on sugar and use it as fuel to reproduce and thrive. The problem is that pathogenic bacteria, fungi and parasites are also able to manipulate our behavior: nervous, compulsive hunger, attention deficit, anxiety, irritability, etc. After all, our intestine is directly connected to the brain from which it receives and to which it sends signals through nerve impulses. Many children suffer from intestinal dysbiosis. Proof of this is not only their obvious overweight or obesity, but also their behavioral disturbances: irritation, insomnia, lack of concentration, over-agitation and inability to socialize.
Unfortunately, it must be said that family eating habits heavily affect our children’s tendency to overweight. It is very important that parents are the first to realize that there is a right “food education” which should be part of a balanced lifestyle. Very often, psychological and emotional factors also hide behind the weight gain of a school-age child: a sort of inability to manage not only social and family relationships, but also the emotions themselves.
The problem is that our children, from an early age, very often come up against both family and social problematic situations. Experiences that cause psycho-emotional traumas in them, which very often force them to close themselves in “emotional cages”. Thus they begin to hold back anger and disappointment, to harbor fears. They hold back tears or joy, they don’t share their disappointment with friends or family. Or on the contrary, they have outbursts of anger and violence. Kisses, hugs and physical contacts become almost inappropriate attitudes! Everything is reduced to silence and so, to silence the inner turmoil of their emotions, very often they throw themselves on food, the only one capable of giving them immediate gratification.
Many scientists define the new generations: an army of children intoxicated by excess sugar and blocked in emotions. We could speak of a sort of “emotional dryness”, which finds comfort in food and which will transform them into adults unable to manage their emotional, social and relational life. Children listen, observe, imitate, they are “sponges” that absorb everything. They are a continuous development and need rules and right teachings. They are completely dependent, both physically and psychologically, on their parents. Epithets or negative judgments, too often repeated, bad examples or wrong behaviors can cause confusion, guilt, frustration, complexes in the child.
How much a wrong word, an inappropriate reproach, a hasty judgment or an unjustified punishment can weigh on the mind and heart of a child!
The child needs love as much as a flower to bloom, he needs light, water and sun! The “experts” say that up to three years of life, the child needs direct contact with the people he loves: to be close to his mother’s chest, feel the beating of his heart, breathe the scent of his skin. It seems that it is at that particular period of his life that he forms his character.
Growing up then the detachment takes place, the fasting of affection and caresses, so in the absence of love, pampering, attention, smiles and sweet words, the little ones learn to hold them back as if they had perceived that it is wrong to give them and many of them do. they throw on “sugary” food. So let’s not underestimate how unhealthy eating habits and an unbalanced lifestyle can negatively affect our children.
It is essential to teach them a good “nutritional education”, because a well-fed child will become a healthy and balanced adult both in body and in mind!
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