Making Healthy Choices to Prevent Obesity

Date: 03/21/25

According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), 1 in 5 adults is living with obesity. Obesity is a long-term disease which comes from being overweight and can lead to other health problems. We’ve gathered a few tips to help you make healthy choices and prevent you or your child from becoming obese.

There are several risk factors that can cause obesity:

Genetics. Some people are more likely to be overweight because of their family history.
Not being active. If you are not getting enough physical activity such as walking, swimming or other forms of exercise this puts you at higher risk.
Unhealthy eating habits. Eating foods high in fat or sugar, like candy, can increase your risk.
Being stressed. Your body can respond to stress by increasing how hungry you are, causing you to gain weight.
Not getting enough sleep. Regularly getting less than 7 hours of sleep makes you more likely to overeat.

Obesity is linked to other health problems like heart disease, type 2 diabetes and depression. Making healthy lifestyle choices can reduce you and your child’s risk of obesity and these health problems. A few choices you can make are:

Exercising as a family. Encourage the whole family to take walks together or do another activity that gets your heart rate up.
Being an example when it comes to diet. Eat healthy foods in front of your child and serve your family healthy foods. You can view the MyPlate.Gov brochure on healthy eating on a budget to find meal ideas and information on which foods are better for you.
Getting on a sleep schedule. Set a bedtime for your child, and yourself.

For more information on obesity and how to make healthy choices, visit the resources below: