Hi i know i always seem to be on here,but i seem to have alot of questions as i get older i think i forget how to deal with the day to day problems we all have as mothers.My daughter Vivienne is 4 1/2 she is constantly at the fridge

 Ok, a lot of this information i am getting from a book that is a resource in my husbands personal training course. it is called the experts weightlss guide written by Dr Garry Egger and Dr Andrew Binns.

this book defines hunger as the biological drive to find and eat food.

APPETITE INCLUDES HUNGER, BUT ALSO REPRESENTS A CONDITIONAL DESIRE FOR FOOD, OFTEN IN THE ABSENCE OF BIOLOGICAL HUNGER.

this hunger and appetite thing is often overlooked. hunger is responding to internal signals with a need to to find and eat food.

appetite is psychological. it is a want or desire to eat and drink.  these habits can be learne through conditioning such as early experience and can be triggerd by such things external to the person like a clock, socialising, the smell of food etc.

the best way to stop snackin is to make teh child aware of the difference between appetite and hunger, and apply this in every day life.

With obese children it is really hard to break the habit, as the external triggers are ever present. if they continue to indulge their appetite they are more likely to lose the ability to recognise the external and internal signals and recognise hunger.

you can help by keeping a journal. everytime your child eats or is hungry, write it in the journal on a scale of one to ten. a before and after is always a good indicator. 10 is beyond full and feeling ill, and one is ravenous. before they eat get them to rate theiur hunger. and when they are done get them to rate it again.

You want them to generally by in the 4 5 and 6 range, being slightly hungery, not hungery and satisfied (NOT the same as being slightly full or full). if they are at this range when they want a snack, they really dont need one. slightly hungry is ok, they arent going to get hunger pangs or anything like that. if hey still insist on having something give them a small peice of fruit, something healthy.

 discuss the results at the end of the first day with your child. you will probably see they are most hungry around breakky lunch dinner and afternoon adn morning tea times. the other snacks in between wont really fit the pattern. after a week discuss the overall results. continue for about a month. if your child is still snacking and not seeing any results in the amount of food or able to tell the difference between hunger and appetite you should seek medical help.

Diets arent the best way to combat this. over eating and obesity can be dangerous to your childs health, and should alsways be taken seriously.