The next generation is on the verge of a health disaster, with fat and salt-soaked fast food, and a couch potato lifestyle being blamed for hoards of overweight school children.

Parents are busy and it takes time to cook fresh healthy meals but children under the age of 12 cannot be expected to make educated choices, yet they are being bombarded by advertising that encourages them to believe that eating sweet and salty snacks and fizzy drinks is natural. Parents can only influence their children by example, so if a child sees parents enjoying fruit and vegetables, they may be tempted to enjoy them too. Parents should also work hard to make fruit and vegetables appear appetizing and tasty. It is also important not to push children to eat more food when they feel full. Parents who overfeed young children can lead them to weight problems in later life. Children are very open to education and if you speak plainly to them and suggest good reasons for a healthy breakfast and eating fresh food, they will listen and take note. But it will take time and changes must be made gradually. It is no good at all to say to a child, “You must eat vegetables because I say so and you will sit there until you do”. It is much better to have an open discussion on good nutrition for a healthy body and plan the shopping list for next week with them. Try making your children a healthy, brightly colored fruit salad ready for them to eat when they return home from school. Many children spend many hours a day in front of the television or computer screen snacking on high-sugar foods so avoid letting your child become a sugar addict by banning high-sugar snacks from the house.For some children, obesity brings not just health worries, but a string of problems such as low self-esteem and failure to enjoy sport at school.

Recipe of the week

Shrimp Stir-Fry with Lemon Rice

Serves 6

Ingredients

360 ml chicken stock

360 ml water

280 g long grain rice

70 ml lemon juice

30 g cornstarch

180 ml cold water

55 ml soy sauce

1-1/4 tbsp sugar

1-1/2 tbsp curry powder

40 ml peanut oil

680 g medium shrimp, peeled and de-veined

2 tbsp chicken stock

1 tbsp Oriental sesame oil

260 g snow peas

3 cloves garlic, minced

5 scallions, thinly sliced

Method

Combine stock and water in saucepan over medium-high heat. Stir in rice and pepper to taste and bring to boil. Cover and simmer until rice is tender and liquid is absorbed. Remove from heat, leave covered. Sprinkle lemon juice over rice and fluff with a fork. While rice is cooking, dissolve half the cornstarch in the cold water in a bowl. Add curry powder and half the soy sauce, sugar, and peanut oil. Mix thoroughly. Stir in shrimp and toss to coat. Marinate 15 minutes. Combine remaining cornstarch and cold water with chicken stock, sesame oil, remaining soy sauce and sugar in a jar, shake vigorously and set aside. Heat remaining peanut oil in a wok over high heat. Stir-fry snow peas until almost tender. Discard all but 1 tbsp oil from wok. Add shrimp, marinade, garlic, and stir-fry 1 minute over high heat. Add soy sauce and cornstarch mixture and sauté 1 minute, or until sauce begins to thicken. Remove from heat. Stir in scallions. Serve over rice.

Ask Alva

Q: At this time of year I tend to spend a lot more time in the swimming pool and I find that my fingernails are becoming brittle and they split easily. I’ve tried using hand creams, but it doesn’t help and I wonder if you could recommend a barrier cream to use before I go into the pool? Christy

A: With nails, as with hair and skin, you really need to tackle the problem from the inside, which means that no amount of hand cream is going to solve the problem. Happily, Arden Healthcare makes a supplement called Permea Plus that provides a solution to the problem. Some of the ingredients contain the building blocks needed to revitalize the tissues in both hair and nails that protect their outer layers. But remember that nails grow very slowly (about 1 millimeter a week) so it will take some time for the replenished nail to grow up from the nail bed. As a temporary measure you might want to try Cuticare which you paint onto the nail like a nail polish.