Here’s How Your Kids Can Stay Fit While Watching The IPL

Are your kids spending long hours in front of the TV watching the IPL? Here is something you can do to make sure their health isn’t compromised.
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Tis the IPL season and every household spends their evenings catching up on the game and their favourite team's performance. The nation's favourites Dhoni, Kohli and Ashwin are pitted against each other and the face-offs are turning interesting with each game. It has become routine for us to catch the day's game as we sit down to dinner. With learning the various terms in cricket kids are also picking up other habits.

Celebrity nutritionist Rujuta Diwekar says it can spell trouble for your kids. As much as I love watching the game, I am uncomfortable with the fact that my girl stays up late till the last ball is bowled. She ends up losing precious hours of sleep, and goes to school as a sleepy head! For kids where the school hasn't closed yet for the summer holidays- IPL at this time of the year is a bane, no doubt. 

And not to mention the junk that all of us tend to munch on- from namkeen to popcorn to soft drinks and downing it while being engrossed in the game? With more than half of this routine setting in- whatever happens to healthy eating resolutions as a family?! Knocked out of the park, for sure! 

She recently shared some interesting tips for all of us to stay fit while watching our favourite game! From getting our posture right to eating the right foods as a night owl, we loved what Rujuta has suggested in this useful Insta post. 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

A post shared by Rujuta Diwekar (@rujuta.diwekar) on

 

The mad, mad world of advertisements:

The number of brands entering your drawing room, even before you notice in a day's match is mind-boggling! From VIVO phone's taglines to dancing to JIO ad jingles, the ads are a mainstay of the IPL experience and kids seem to love it! But do we really have a cap on the quality of ads entering the TV space? How stringent are the ad policies when it comes to prime time TV viewing like during IPL matches? 

Snacking- make it a healthy choice: 

An occasional pizza or popcorn while watching your favourite shows together with the family is okay- but if every match night is going to take a toll on your child's nutrition- is it acceptable? For match evenings or weekend specials- make sure you add a healthy twist to your child's TV time.

In the past celebrity nutritionist, Rujuta Diwekar wrote an article for The Time of India, and as a parent, I couldn't agree more with what she said. The impact of the advertisements- that come between every overs, every wicket fall, every innings break and of course during the strategic timeout. And what do we see in these ads? The major portion of the ads is dedicated to junk foods and beverages that captivate the young audience with their engaging ads and popular brand ambassadors. 

Here are 5 things we liked most in the write-up by Rujuta that questioned the absence of discretion in these ads:

1. The alarming stats

Indian kids are getting fat at an alarming rate. We may end up having 17 million obese kids by 2025; that puts us right at the top of the table, just below China as far as childhood obesity goes.

2. The wrong message these ads send to the kids:

While sport sends out a positive message about health and fitness, strong visibility of junk food during games sends out a confusing message, to say the least. Eating right is a basic step for staying healthy, one that every kid can understand. What they don’t understand is what a burger logo is doing on the jersey of their fav team. What we don’t understand fully as parents is how this leads to cued eating in a child — the demand for junk food, even when their stomach is already full.

3. Regulating what kids see:

Of all the cricket tournaments, they watch IPL the most. Advertisers know this; they also know that kids watch with both parents, allowing them the opportunity to influence buying decisions. I’m also calling for self-regulation by the advertising industry on junk food marketing to children. While the Advertising Council of India website has a general code for self-regulation, I didn’t find one specifically for children. 

4. Role of parents:

As parents we should help our children understand celebrity endorsements. Very plainly, we need to tell them that their favourite cricketer is eating something on screen because he gets paid for it, or their favourite team’s jersey has a junk food logo because they get paid to place it. Teach them to separate business from health.

5. What we can do to battle junk food:

The fact is we live in an obesogenic environment and it will take a multi-pronged approach to change that — more open, greener spaces, safe footpaths for kids to walk to school, changes in pricing and government policies (not allowing Rs 5 packets of chips to be sold, for example), regulating the number of junk food ads on TV (like Jamie Oliver’s recent #adenough campaign), etc.

 

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