Ireland's Eye: What's going on in the old sod this week

A look at news from around Ireland

According to leading weight loss and nutrition expert Dr. Eva Orsmond, parents must change their habits in order to educate their children about healthy lifestyle and diet.

Orsmond has carved out a high profile media profile over the past decade, helping the Irish population to learn exactly how to make a positive change, one which must begin in early childhood.

“We cannot change childhood obesity without the adults changing first. In 50% of all cases at least one parent is also overweight, so it is a very rare combination to have two parents that are not overweight and a child that is.

“Often parents are in denial about their child's weight and believe that it is puppy fat that will disappear on its own. Seventy percent of obese teenagers will stay obese as adults if they do not change their habits,” explains Orsmond.

According to the Kilquade, Co. Wicklow, resident, home cooking is a great way to encourage a healthier lifestyle.

“A rough estimate is that a meal you make at home contains half the calories of one you would eat in a restaurant. Of course we want to make food tasty but we need to think of how much oils and the ingredients we are using,” she says.

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Knowing what to feed children can be a stumbling block for parents, especially if they are fussy eaters, but Orsmond says that introducing new tastes gradually can help.

“Most schools stick to a healthy eating policy, but parents perhaps worry that unless they put the treat in the lunchbox their child won't eat and I understand that.
“We don't have the public health structure to offer the information that parents need from the beginning.

For example, even though some fruit juices are healthier than a can of Coke they can have a similar number of calories,” she says.

Wexford People

Taser Needed

GARDAI (police) were forced to use tasers to subdue a troubled young man cutting himself with a knife in a Bray playground.

The youth, who is from Enniskerry, had entered the off-license at Centra on the Boghall Road and stolen a box of Budweiser. When a manager confronted him outside the store he produced a knife and forced him back inside.

A hostage situation ensued for a short time until the staff member managed to press the panic button and Gardai quickly arrived on the scene.

The young man, who had recently been discharged from Newcastle Hospital, made off towards the playground at Schools Road where an hour-long stand-off began.

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Nster.com