A few short years ago child obesity was a rare thing, but today it's all to common around the world and especially in the United States, which now has one of the highest rates of child obesity of any country in the world. It is the fault of adults--NOT children, and is arguably a form of child abuse, or at the very least, child neglect.

Occasionally, a child being overweight may be caused by a medical condition, but this is rare. Just as with adults, there are a variety of potential causes for child abuse, most of which are either preventable or reversible. Food is the most important contributor to obesity in children.

Fat children appear in families with fat parents more frequently than not. Studies show that if mom and dad are overweight, all their children will be at least inclined to be, also. Interestingly, obese children are considered healthy and of 'average weight' by their overweight parents.

A fat child around the age of four or five is an indication of future health problems. It's a problem because if a child starts out life obese, they are more likely to stay that way for the remainder of their life. Obesity in children has introduced them to diseases they were never prone to before.

Children who are overweight are at risk of developing high blood pressure, high cholesterol, sleep apnea, gallstone formation, asthma, Type 2 diabetes, and depression with low self esteem. Many of the cardiovascular diseases that are manifested in adulthood may have actually began in childhood. Armed with this knowledge, the biggest help when battling obesity is prevention, ensuring that it doesn't happen in the first place.

Prevention is much better than treatment. But most people are reluctant to change their way of living. The solution is simple: healthy eating habits and more exercise. However, coercing unwilling, body conscious, overweight children into sports or physical activity is likely to make the situation worse by further reducing their participation in physical activity, serving only to fuel the rise in their ever expanding girth.

While nutritionist balk at the idea of regimented dieting for children, all agree that a return to healthier eating is the first step in combating this growing trend of obesity among children. Studies indicate that changes in children's diets seem to be more successful when preparation of familiar foods are modified rather than news foods being substituted.

Following the Glycemic Index (GI) recommendations offers a healthy way for children to lose weight. GI diets recommend we avoid refined carb foods like: white flour bread snacks, processed cereals and sugary soft drinks, instant rice/pasta, and cookies. Instead, we should eat unrefined carbs such as whole grain oats, brown rice, whole grain bread and bread snacks.

Adding a low GI food to a meal will lower the Glycemic Index of the whole meal. Additionally, GI diets also tend to follow healthy eating guidelines and are low in fats, especially saturates. Low-GI diets are easy in practice, using a "This for That" approach, and they do not restrict variety as many traditional diets. Eating the GI diet way is absolutely healthy for the body as well as the mind.