We all know by now that children would much rather choose that warm chocolate cookie than an apple. But why is this? Children are allowed everyday to be fed in to a daily routine of eating sugary and fatty foods and drinks. A poor diet leaves one in five adults dead. Adults complain about children not eating their veg or not having their five a day, but the idea of dieting children is shameful? Why? Diets can introduce many life long positives, the daily recommendation for amount of sugar to be healthly consumed a day is 25g. 25g yet a child's breakfast of pancakes with nutella can completely smash this limit. A diet could simply be swapping this unhealthy breakfast with porridge. Now this swapping can work for many other things. Children love snacking, so instead of snacking on a bag of m&m's why not replace that with dried mango which is filled with nutrients and just as tasty. Starting to do this from a young age can stop the chances of obesity and any other fatal problems that unhealthy eating causes.
Should children and young adults be dieting? by Aurora Gibson, RPHS
This article was written by one of our Young Reporters, a scheme that gives 14 to 18-year-old school students a chance to write for a real newspaper. Find out more at the
Young Reporter website.