Ewa Chodakowska: The situation is dramatic. Polish children gain weight the fastest in Europe

Ewa Chodakowska has been inspiring Polish women to take care of their health and condition for years. Her workouts are very popular. A healthy lifestyle expert admits that Polish children need help now. In a pandemic, their situation has dramatically worsened.

1. Remote learning, lack of contact with peers and extracurricular activities result in the fact that Polish children gain weight
2. Overweight and obesity are more and more common problems in Polish children – according to the National Health Fund data, 20% are overweight. girls and 31 percent. boys
3. The culprits of this situation are many: from online classes, to the lack of PE lessons in remote mode, to an unhealthy diet. Ewa Chodakowska says directly: – Nothing will happen by itself, you have to act
4. You can find more such stories on the TvoiLokony home page

“Polish children gain weight the fastest in Europe and are among the world’s top obesity rankings”

Agnieszka Mazur-Puchała, Medonet: The fact that adult Poles gained weight during the pandemic is being said all the time. And how has the situation of children who have been sitting at home in front of computers for almost a year changed?

Ewa Chodakowska: Unfortunately, the same applies to children. Their lifestyle has also changed dramatically. Closed kindergartens and schools, no extracurricular activities, no meetings with peers, limited exit from home. In addition, remote learning, which chained them to computers, and yet they used them too intensively before. For years, experts have been alarming that the young generation is not active enough, which may have negative consequences for their development and health in the future.

In August 2020, after the first lockdown, a lady from Be Diet Catering conducted a study on the nutrition and activity of young people during the pandemic. As it turned out?

We asked about the children’s eating habits, family lifestyle, participation in PE classes, the level of children’s activity and the changes brought about by the pandemic. The results of our study confirmed the predictions of experts – in the age group 9-13 already 61 percent. children are overweight or obese. The problem of excess weight increases with age. As much as 89 percent children between 14 and 18 have an overweight weight.

The situation is dramatic. Polish children gain weight the fastest in Europe and are in the forefront of obesity rankings. The World Federation of Obesity forecasts that by 2030 there will be one million children with excess body weight in Poland.

You cannot be indifferent to such statistics. 10 years ago I started my mission to carry out a revolution of healthy lifestyle in Poland. Now is the time to take care of the future of the youngest. My mission for the next decade is to get the young generation moving. Take care of his long, healthy life.

For years, I have regularly received messages from women who are looking for ways to activate their children. They have already fallen in love with a healthy lifestyle, are active, care for a balanced diet, but encouraging the rest of the family to do so can be a challenge. Children do not want to try new flavors, they love unhealthy snacks and fast food, and prefer active surfing or games to any form of exercise. While parents face the greatest challenge, the problem affects us all.

68 percent kids don’t even have remote PE

I will ask about these PE lessons, because they were not talked about well even before the pandemic. And what does it look like with online PE? Do such classes have a real impact on the condition of Polish children? Or is it rather a waste of time?

I have been creating online trainings for years and I know what effects they can bring. I have real confirmation from hundreds of thousands of people that such a tool, properly designed, handed over and used, is extremely effective. Just as indicating the correctness of the exercises performed, it is equally important to have an appropriate approach, to instill a passion for movement in another person. Here, a huge challenge is faced by PE teachers who have not had any experience in conducting online training so far. They have no tools, they feel a lot of pressure and resistance on the other side. Dry swimming, researching the history of a given sport and jumping over the home table – there are many absurd examples. For this reason, in most cases, PE is either canceled or the children do not attend these lessons anyway. According to the parents’ declarations in the survey, as much as 68 percent the children did not have PE classes.

Although there are also positive examples of teachers who try to activate children remotely – they create various challenges using mobile applications, use online trainings prepared by instructors, but this is still a minority.

And were these pre-pandemic lessons effective?

For years, there has been talk of mass, unfounded dismissals from PE by parents. There are many reasons for this: lack of conditions, equipment, uninteresting program, lack of sanitary infrastructure providing comfort, lack of acceptance of the body, children’s fear of judging others. One of the factors was also the shame related to one’s appearance, caused by, among other things, excessive weight. It’s a vicious circle.

What kind of training for children? How often, how long should they last?

I wonder what forms of activity are the most effective in the case of children. It seems to me that it is actually not talked about. We know that for adults, pilates or running, for example, are fun. And for children?

The answers I have to our survey show that as much as 46 percent. the children do not play any sports. Pre-school age constitutes a large percentage of young people without physical activity. This is not good, because already then habits related to a healthy lifestyle are formed. If exercise is a natural part of every day in a child’s life, it will likely be so in later years. For the proper development of a child, virtually any type of movement is positive. Every extreme is harmful, both training beyond the toddler’s abilities and lack of exercise. It is worth trying different types of activities, simple exercises and movement games to see which are the most fun for him. Finding the favorite one will help encourage your child to move.

How many such trainings per week should a child have, depending on age? And how long should they last?

According to WHO recommendations, children under the age of 2 need 180 minutes of various types of activity a day, and the same for 3- and 4-year-olds, while 60 minutes should be moderate physical activity. In older children, 60 minutes a day of moderate to high intensity exercise is a minimum, but the more, the greater the health benefits.

Most of your activity should be focused on aerobic exercise. Three times a week there should be activities aimed at strengthening muscles and bones, training strength, speed and flexibility. All kinds of games, such as football, roller-skating, bicycle and running, will be suitable here.

The gyms are closed, most of the training sessions for children have been canceled, and not every parent has enough knowledge to organize such exercises on their own. Can online training videos help here?

In the current situation of limited possibilities of using various forms of activity outside the home, as well as the enormity of responsibilities of parents who must combine work with simultaneous 24/7 childcare, Online training videos may be your best solution. Children are eager to use new technologies, so we can use them in a positive way. Until now, however, there have been no professionally prepared, engaging exercises for children on the market. Using my experience in creating sets of exercises, I decided to create a tool that will help parents in the fight for the health of the youngest. In June, trainings dedicated to children will appear on my training platform. Such materials are not available not only in Poland, but also in the world.

So, first of all – movement that is a pleasure. Secondly – online training, because it is easily available and is based on new technologies. The only thing that is missing is information on how to encourage these children to start exercising at all.

Children like it to be colorful and fun. They love all kinds of superheroes and take their inspiration from them. You can use it for a good purpose. That is why, together with the team, we have created the Gang of Snacks – four creatures that are to introduce children to the elements of healthy eating and encourage them to move. Children will be able to choose training with me and their favorite hero – Łebski, Gibek, Pyszotka or Silek. All this to educate and engage children in an attractive way, through play. The information about our plans caused a great stir in the comments – thousands of moms admitted that it could help them. Now I have no doubts that I am taking the right path.

How to motivate a child to exercise?

I wonder … Does it matter for a child if we exercise too, eat healthy? Will he want to train if we lie on the couch all day?

Our commitment, lifestyle and choices are decisive. The example comes from the top, so parental education is crucial. It happens that I get photos and videos from mothers whose kids of all ages practice with them. My heart grows. We found out from our study that in a family where at least one parent cares about their diet and trains, the child also pays attention to it. The results show that 31 percent. children of their parents who train changed their attitude to sport for the better. Half of the surveyed mothers of children aged 6 to 13 declared that with the implementation of a healthy diet, the children also began to eat better. Being active together and preparing meals is also a great way to build relationships. There is not a single downside to doing so.

Parents are one thing. What about grandmothers and aunts who secretly give the child chocolate or add more pieces of cake?

This is a challenge my parents point out to me. Both in our survey and in the comments under my posts, there are many voices of mothers who “fight” with their parents, grandparents and in-laws because of a different approach to children’s nutrition. Giving children flavored water, because the child will not drink natural, regularly buying unhealthy snacks, because what a childhood without sweets. All this is often in contradiction to the rules that govern the home every day. As it still turns out, especially among the older generation, there is a myth that a round child is a cute and happy child. Meanwhile, it is often the first symptom of being overweight, which may require consultation with a doctor. It is also irresponsible to give children snacks full of sugar for afternoon tea. Maybe it’s cheaper or simpler, but it’s definitely not healthier. There is much to be done. A dialogue is needed between parents, the school and the institutions that set up curricula. Let’s use all possible tools. In an online age and the huge impact of young influencers on children and adolescents, let’s use it wisely. After all, is there anything more important than the health and proper development of a child?

It is also worth mentioning that simultaneously with the obesity epidemic, the problem of underweight among Polish teenagers, especially 15-year-old girls, is growing. The percentage of underweight girls in this age group is higher than that of obese girls. The phenomenon of incorrect assessment of their body by adolescents, i.e. perceiving themselves as a person with excess body weight with a correct BMI index, is very disturbing. Polish teenagers are at the first disadvantage when it comes to perceiving themselves as too fat.

What happens if, however, we wave our hand at the child’s diet and training, assuming that he will “grow up”?

Yes, a child will grow up, but into an adult with the conviction that neither of them needs to be particularly worried about. Thousands of studies confirm that the lack of a conscious approach to a healthy lifestyle, proper nutrition and activity can lead to abnormalities related to it and, as a result, to various diseases. There is really no discussion with this. Nothing will happen by itself, you need to act so that the pessimistic assumptions of scientists do not come true. I have already started and I want to encourage everyone to do so. My dream is to say boldly in these 10 years – together we stopped the epidemic of obesity among children in Poland.

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5. Conscious eating, or what you don’t know about your diet

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