Be supportive

·Tell your child that he or she is loved, is special, and is important. Children's feelings about themselves often are based on their parents' feelings about them.

·Accept your child at any weight. Children will be more likely to accept and feel good about themselves when their parents accept them.

·Listen to your child's concerns about his or her weight. Overweight children probably know better than anyone else that they have a weight problem. They need support, understanding, and encouragement from parents.

Encourage healthy eating habits

·Buy and serve more fruits and vegetables (fresh, frozen, or canned). Let your child choose them at store.

·Buy fewer soft drinks and high fat/high calorie snack foods like chips, cookies, and candy. These snacks are OK once in a while, but keep healthy snack foods on hand too and offer them to your child more often.

·Eat breakfast every day. Skipping breakfast can leave your child hungry, tired, and looking for less healthy foods later in day.

·Plan healthy meals and eat together as a family. Eating together at meal times helps children learn to enjoy a variety of foods.

·Eat fast food less often. When you visit a fast food restaurant, try healthful options offered.

·Offer your child water or low-fat milk more often than fruit juice. Fruit juice is a healthy choice but is high in calories.

·Do not get discouraged if your child will not eat a new food first time it is served. Some kids will need to have a new food served to them 10 times or more before they will eat it.

·Try not to use food as a reward when encouraging kids to eat. Promising dessert to a child for eating vegetables, for example, sends message that vegetables are less valuable than dessert. Kids learn to dislike foods they think are less valuable.

Diabetes means that your blood glucose (often called blood sugar) is too high. Your blood always has some glucose in it because your body needs glucose for energy to keep you going. But too much glucose in blood isn't good for your health.

How do you get high blood glucose?

Glucose comes from food you eat and is also made in your liver and muscles. Your blood carries glucose to all cells in your body. Insulin is a chemical (a hormone) made by pancreas. The pancreas releases insulin into blood. Insulin helps glucose from food get into your cells. If your body doesn't make enough insulin or if insulin doesn't work way it should, glucose can't get into your cells. It stays in your blood instead. Your blood glucose level then gets too high, causing pre-diabetes or diabetes.

What is pre-diabetes?

Pre-diabetes is a condition in which blood glucose levels are higher than normal but are not high enough for a diagnosis of diabetes. People with pre-diabetes are at increased risk for developing type 2 diabetes and for heart disease and stroke. The good news is if you have pre-diabetes, you can reduce your risk of getting diabetes. With modest weight loss and moderate physical activity, you can delay or prevent type 2 diabetes and even return to normal glucose levels.

What are signs of diabetes?

The signs of diabetes are:

·being very thirsty

·urinating often

·feeling very hungry or tired

·losing weight without trying

·having sores that heal slowly

·having dry, itchy skin

·losing feeling in your feet or having tingling in your feet

·having blurry eyesight

You may have had one or more of these signs before you found out you had diabetes. Or you may have had no signs at all. A blood test to check your glucose levels will show if you have pre-diabetes or diabetes.

What kind of diabetes do you have?

People can get diabetes at any age. Type 1 diabetes, formerly called juvenile diabetes or insulin-dependent diabetes, is usually first diagnosed in children, teenagers, or young adults. In this form of diabetes, beta cells of pancreas no longer make insulin because body's immune system has attacked and destroyed them.