Children, start eating

Rajkumari Sharma Tankha

Eating less or skipping a meal, earlier associated with teenagers, has become a fad with younger children, especially girls of class 5, 6 and 7. Just the other day, a friend of mine, Mridula, told me that her daughter has become very picky eater, and she is in class 5!
“I have been noticing my daughter who is class 5 since some days. She avoids having lunch after coming back from school, and gives me some reason or the other every day,” Mridula told me. “Initially I didn’t pay attention though it did bother me. After some days, I did a little prodding and she told me, ma I do not want to become fat. I am flabbergasted, I don’t know how to deal with it, as my daughter is very stubborn and no amount of reasoning has helped,” she says.
So for all the children out there who think that eating food will make them fat, this article is for you. I have listed some of things that ‘not eating’ will result in. It certainly won’t make you slim if you are a little plump. But one thing it most certainly will do is make you weak, sick and diseased.

It weakens your body
When you don’t eat, you don’t get enough nutrients and it makes your immune system weak which means that you will have cough, colds and infections more often than your friends. This means you will have to miss out on school days, letting your friends have an edge over you, both in academic and co-curricular activities happening at the school.

It strains your body
Your body needs lots of energy (more than your parents or other adults) because you are growing up. So you need to have a balanced diet, at least three times a day, with healthy snacking in between. Skipping a meal puts a lot of strain on your body as your body is not getting enough calories that you are consuming while doing your daily activities. This in turn puts a lot of pressure on it.

You lose energy
If you make skipping meals a regular habit you will have less energy to study, play, watch TV or talk with your friends as you will always feel weak. And another scary thing is after some days, you will start looking pale, you will lose your beauty.

Sudden weight gain afterwards
Another thing is if you eat less for many days, and then suddenly start eating more, believe me you will feel like eating more and more. And that is much of a jolt to the body. Do you know what happens when you hit a bump on the road? You fall down. That’s what will happen to your body too.

Internal organs get damaged
If you make skipping meals a regular habit your internal organs will get damaged in the longer run. I am sure you have read about heart, lung, liver, kidney, intestine etc in your science classes. Each of these organs needs energy to function, which is supplied to them when you eat food regularly.
Trust me you will never gain weight if you are eating the right kind of food (not pizzas and burgers though), at fixed times and also playing daily. What’s more: If you have a healthy diet regularly, you will also start looking more beautiful.