Eating Patterns and Health Concerns of Children

Eating patterns
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Abstract
An eating disorder can be a very situation to children. The eating disorders are affected by the eating patterns that a child is used to. For example, the poor eating pattern will automatically lead to eating disorder. Arresting the situation as early as possible will lead to a successful correction. It will also be a good idea to ensure that we are able to remedy a child’s health. Poor eating habits can easily cause ill health to children. When the conditions are too much, it is advisable to seek professional intervention. Some of the situations are psychological as in the case of adolescents and can be taken care of through various steps such as guidance and counseling. Sometimes, medications are provided. Psychological eating conditions such anorexia nervosa are common among adolescent females with unhealthy eating. There are other conditions such as binge eating that lead to obesity and weight problems. If the pattern is too frequent, then a problem arises just as much as it will if the eating pattern is infrequent.
Keywords: eating disorder, anorexia nervosa, binge eating
Introduction
A healthy eating habit is essential for the health of children. Poor eating habits brought about by malnutrition and lack of enough nutrients in the diet contributes to childhood morbidity and sometimes mortalities. It is the joy of every parent to see their children grow up healthily and with fewer visits to the doctor. At least parents can control young children on what they eat.

For example, infants and toddlers are fed by their parents and cannot take anything unless given to them by the parents. This becomes different from adolescents who can feed themselves. Hence, this research will cover children from infants to toddlers to adolescents. Issues such as anorexia nervosa are common among adolescent girls who are affected psychologically, (Sarafino, & Smith, 2014). The issue is a psychological condition where a teenage girl tends to be conscious of her body and avoid food. She thinks that if she eats she will become fat. The condition goes along to cause the girl major problems. Other poor eating patterns involve large consumption of unhealthy foodstuffs such as junk that causes, however, eating disorders affect both males and females.
Justification of the project
The project is valuable to study and conduct since it will help people in living a healthy lifestyle. The focus, in this case, is children. Childhood nutrition is essential to lead to a healthy population since these children are growing to be adults. It is a very sad state of affair to imagine children having poor diets and eating habits. Such conditions lead to morbidity and frequent visits to the doctor’s office, (Sarafino, & Smith, 2014). Studying this topic will assist me in opening up to a problem that exists in the society. Doing such an interesting research is akin to helping the society in living well. It is actually a humanitarian activity.
Methodology
The project will be conducted via various materials that are in existence. This implies that the internet and various libraries will be very resourceful for the project. Information will be acquired from these sources and analyzed while being summarized. A good point to note is that the main part of the topic will remain, as I ensure no deviations. Analyzing literary materials, it is found that eating problems happen to 25%-45% of all children, (Voigt, et.al, 2014). I will use statistical skills such as qualitative and quantitative analysis to check the findings. This will allow me to present the findings in a clear mathematical way. Qualitative analysis will involve distinct separation of issues in terms of their qualities. In the quantitative analysis, I will employ mathematical usage and formulas to analyze the findings especially if I am dealing with data.
Project summary
From the various pieces of literature, it is clear that the problems occur specifically to children who are in the stages of developing new skills. During these phases, the children get challenges from new foods and expectations from mealtimes. For example, early childhood stages such as infancy and toddlerhood involve children developing autonomy. This urge for independence among children may lead to characters such as rebellion and refusal of foods. During this phase, children tend to want to do things by themselves. When these characters of independence are applicable to food, we see that children become neophobic and refuse any new foods. This aspect sees children insisting to have a specific diet. Hence, they become picky eaters, (Taylor, et.al, 2015). Such a character may develop until a child is in the stages of an adolescent.
A majority of the eating disorders are temporary and can be resolved easily nevertheless, persistent eating problems are a negative aspect to the growth of children. This may affect the children’s and the relationships with their caregivers. Caregivers are advised to look for professional intervention so that the problem with children having persistent eating disorders does not become severe. The environment that a child is in influences the patterns of eating, (Voigt, et.al, 2014). Hence, the caregivers and families can influence the behaviors of children when it comes to eating. It is usually said that a child is like a vacuum and take what they are being given. Exposure of a child to a specific type of diet will lead them to like the diet.
Project outcome
The outcome of the project is all about correcting the eating disorders among children. It is easier to correct young children since influencing them is effortless. However, professional intervention is almost a necessity for older children who are in their adolescent stages. Most of the issues among children can be remedied with little to no intervention, (Taylor, et.al, 2015). However, it is clear that not looking for a professional when the disorder is persistent is akin to spelling doom for the child. This project will demonstrate many of the skills that I have learned in class. For example, my mastery of the content and critical thinking will be put to the test. Conducting a complete research will be a big achievement for since I will be able to display my interpretation of situations and provide solutions.
References
Sarafino, E. P., & Smith, T. W. (2014). Health psychology: Biopsychosocial interactions. John Wiley & Sons.
Taylor, C. M., Wernimont, S. M., Northstone, K., & Emmett, P. M. (2015). Picky/fussy eating in children: Review of definitions, assessment, prevalence and dietary intakes. Appetite, 95, 349-359.
Voigt, K., Williams, G., & Nicholls, S. G. (2014). Childhood obesity: Ethical and policy issues. New York: Oxford University Press.