'€œMy mother says I'€™m too fat, so I cannot eat my favorite foods. I hate that. When my mother is not around, I secretly eat those foods,'€ admits a teenager, as quoted by a bariatric consultant.

Other teenagers say: '€œMy mother often eats junk food. But she'€™s not allowing me to do the same.'€ Or perhaps they say: '€œMy mother buys a lot of diet milk, slimming pills, biscuits and diet sugar as well. My mom'€™s friends do a lot of acupuncture and injections. Which treatment is the best?'€

Grace Judio-Kahl, a doctor and founder of Jakarta-based lightHOUSE Weight Control and Bariatric Clinic, said those were common statements and frequently asked question that she got from clients.

However, Grace says that regardless of their own growth, children need to eat a healthy diet to avoid obesity '€” and that parents give misleading dietary examples to their children, causing those kids to gain more weight instead.

'€œParents nowadays take their children to malls during weekends to dine out and consider it a common habit. And then they give their kids whatever they want, which is a blunder,'€ said Grace during the book launch for Cara Fun & Smart Diet Remaja (Fun and Smart Way to Diet for Teenagers) in Jakarta recently.

The self-help book is written by Grace and psychologist Tara Adhisti de Thouars.

When kids begin to gain weight, parents worry and push their children to lose some weight, says Grace. '€œParents get panicked and tell their kids to lose weight. While in fact children see a bias in such behavior: parents want their kids to lose weight, but at the same time they don'€™t want their kids to eat too little.'€

Invasion: Fat cells (red) surrounded by blood vessels (green) that supply them with nutrients.

Grace said the obesity rate in the US reached 21 percent in 2012, with 20.5 percent of that number comprising teenagers, up from about five percent in 1980s, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

In Indonesia, the Basic Health Research (Riskesdas) report in 2013 said that 10.8 percent of teenagers aged 13 to 15 were overweight or obese, a significant increase from 1.4 percent in 2010.

Before the damage gets worse, Grace urged parents to be more aware of a healthy diet. '€œParents with knowledge of a healthy diet will give a good example to their children by eating healthily.'€

Grace and Tara suggest teenagers eat only when hungry.

Never trust your eyes when it comes to food, say the two in their book: '€œYou see a risoles in front of you and eat it anyway even when you'€™re not hungry at all '€” you'€™ll ruin your health.'€

Stop eating when your stomach feels full.

'€œIf you burp, pass wind or your stomach feels very full '€” if it feels like it'€™s going to explode '€” those are signs that you ate too much,'€ write the two.

For breakfast, Grace and Tara suggest teenagers eat a sandwich, a bowl of cereal or chicken porridge.

As for lunch or dinner, the experts encourage teenagers to eat side dishes such as chicken, tofu, tempeh, egg, fish or red meat along with vegetables and carbohydrates such as rice, potatoes or oats.

For snacks, eat fruit jelly, low-fat yogurt with honey or fruit, boiled edamame, lumpia (spring rolls) with steamed chicken or veggies fillings, low-fat sushi rolls such as California rolls or mini-sandwiches with low-fat cheese or smoked beef.

Besides eating healthy foods, Grace and Tara advised teenagers to stay active and avoid idling for too long in front of a television or game console.

'€œParents, please show your teenagers ways to care about themselves by making them aware of their fitness and encouraging them to consume healthy foods, which is needed by their bodies.

'€œIf having an ideal weight is a way of showing love to their own body, teenagers will hurt themselves by having a poor diet,'€ says Tara.

Too big: The hands of two 18-month- old twins who each weigh 18 kilograms, in Columbia in 2013. AFP /Raul Arboleda