Fight obesity like tobacco

[demi]

Not meaning to sound nasty but parents with fat kids are obviously doing it wrong. Its the parents who feed their children, they are responcible for their diet. My kids are skinny, we eat healthy food and keep relativly active, its not difficult!

[berry]

Not meaning to sound nasty but parents with fat kids are obviously doing it wrong. Its the parents who feed their children, they are responcible for their diet. My kids are skinny, we eat healthy food and keep relativly active, its not difficult!

my son (probably) is a unique case. he has special needs and is - as far as the stupid bmi thing is concerned - over weight for his age. this is a boy who walks two miles in total to and from school everyday, happily spends a day in the woods and last year walked 6 miles in a day!! he is only 5! we regularly go out for walks yet he is still being hassled by the school nurse for his "weight issue" yet a specialist has said he is normal.

yes parents can and will choose the easy way out. is it no wonder when we are working all the hours in the day? i struggle as it is on my own and working and the only 'junk food' we have is a ready made pizza on a friday night. yet the boy is still over weight but seriously active.

[berry]

No really, it is clearly the responsibility of the parents to educate their children sufficiently that they understand that a cup of pop is probably not fruit or veg. How many more thousands of healthy children need to suffer ill health before idle parents stop blaming the government and industry for their short comings?
If television is the only education the children have after school, well that is just plain bone idle, lazy, don’t care attitude from the parents. When will people just stop blaming everybody else in the world for the fact that just don’t care a hoot about their children. It’s not like it is difficult, even ten minutes a day with their children could make all the difference, everybody has ten minutes, or even ten minutes a week. Why both having them in the first place??

i mean for parents, some only pick up what they know from those tv programs for parenting etc because they have been parented badly themselves. as for kids, yes they pick up a hell of a lot too. tv is a big part of most peoples lives.

as for industry, they should have a responsibility too! promoting something as 'healthy' when its known to rot teeth and raise the risk of diabetes etc when consumed regularly - and a healthy promoted drink (or other food stuff) will end up being consumed regularly as those messages will stick in the mind!

im not laying the blame on one specific person or saying parents arent at fault but when it comes to children i honestly believe everyone has a responsibility to protect them. be it from obvious risk - cars etc- or from false/misleading and damn right confusing advice!

If that means we need to start giving the parents of fat kids grief, force them to be educated on healthy foods then we must also tackle the other issues and stop the misleading advice being given. especially when it contradicts the Doctors/health service advice.

[demi]

I agree a ban on advertising junk food, vending machines and fost food in schools ect would be a positive thing. Along with lowering tax on fruit and veg and other healthy foods and increecing the tax on junk foods. But it is the parents who are the ones responcible for controling their kids diet, no matter how much junk food there is out there. Its the parents who buys and cooks food for their kids and they should be the ones making sure their kids eat a healthy diet. It is essentially the parents fault if they choose to feed them on junk food, they are the ones risking their childs health, they are to blame. Kids arn't born addicted to junk food.

[oldjerry]

OK,so let's follow that line of reason a bit further....some people aren't smart enough to have kids, sterilise them.
You don't have to be dim to be taken in by advertising(just a tad busy,as Berry points out ) Were the people that invested their pensions in Equitable Life just being stupid?

[safronsue]

clearly that's not the answer OJ but i get your point and it's a scarey one.
If i could just add that whilst agreeing advertising and lack of education are obviously related to obesity they are not the full picture. what about people that just can't control their weight through god knows what reason but they just can't??? some close family members of mine are like this. high end foodie types with all the gadgets and a compost heap and organic boxes delivered, cook everyday types, who are just always on a diet or miserable about their weight? My mother was one of these people and to be honest out of her four offspring i think i am the only one not neurotic about my weight or obese. if I had their lifestyle would i be fat too or manically running on a treadmill whilst staring at a screen?

[demi]

I have had issues with binge eating and extream dieting since i was in high school. My weight has allways yoyo'd up and down. Iv got a really sweet tooth and for that reason cannot keep anything sweet in the house as i find it impossible not to eat it all in one go. Even so iv managed to avoid becomming really fat, not including pregnancy, and my BMI has always been within normal range with the exception of post pregnancy.

My point is, advertising has never triggered me into a bindge. I eat for pleasure, it makes me feel good at the time, and guilty afterwards which makes me feel bad and feel like there's no point in trying to stop myself so i just go all out and finnish off the whole kitchen then im trying frantically afterwards to reverse everything.

People over eat for a whole range of emotional reasons, and these people's kids are tought that's normal. And that, along with the parents physically giving them the worng foods, molds the kids into a perfect copy of their fat parents.

Overweight people should be offered counceling to try to overcome the reasons they are over eating, along with education on healthy foods and how to cook them.

I know i'm not that fat but inside my head there is a constant battle going between food and my self control. It's mentally exausting and i would happily get gid of it if i could. Iv was seeing a psycologist before about it and i an definetly better now than i wass before. I'v been trying really hard not to extream diet and not to over eat. Unfortunatly its the overeating which is the most difficult thing to overcome and im pretty sure if i wasn't breastfeeding id still be fat. Im still obsessive about food but refuse to count calories anymore, although i know the calorie content of most foods off by heart. I probably will always be that way, but im not acting out on my feelings of discust with myself so often, and i know that if i act upon those feelings that is worse for my body than eating too many buiscuts. As long as i'm not over weight i can control myself to some extent, just as long as im not fat. And i am very concious of healthy food and giveing my kids a healthy diet. We eat everything and my kids eat everything but i minimize how much sweet and fatty foods we eat and im conciously trying to avoid passing on my bad food habbits to my kids. I don't want my kids to be obsessive over food like me. I don't want to be like this either. Before i has kids i was taking speed everyday so i wouldn't eat. It worked and i weight 7st but i couldn't keep it up. When i got pregnant the first time i stopped everything and put on loads of weight and my issues with food and my weight got much worse. That was the point when i asked for help because i new its not healthy and i don't want to negitivly influance my kids relationship with food. Seeing the psycologist helped, although i didn't think it at the time. Maybe i would have gotten better eventually on my own, who knows. I'm just glad im not in the same place now as i was before and i feel much happier with myself and im able to let things go now and not obsess as much over them.

But yeah, its an addiction. Some people can control themselves arround food and others can't. The people who can't could do with some help.

[The Riff-Raff Element]

Not meaning to sound nasty but parents with fat kids are obviously doing it wrong. Its the parents who feed their children, they are responcible for their diet. My kids are skinny, we eat healthy food and keep relativly active, its not difficult!

I take your point, and Berry's too, but I suspect part of the reason children become overweight is as a result of people increasingly trying to cram a quart into a pint pot. People are so busy with their lives that finding time to devote to just being active with their kids or cooking from scratch just go out of the window.

The "convenience culture" is just too tempting, by which I don't just mean convenience foods stuffed with palm oil & HFCS but also the use of the car to get everywhere to save a little bit of time and the all-pervading presence of the video nanny.

In short, modern modes of life encourage us to put more calories in than we expend and that extends to children too.

And what is really worrying is that, despite knowing the causes and the hideous outcomes, the developed world is getting ever fatter. As far as I know, nowhere in the developed world has registered a reduction in the proportion of overweight & obese in the last 20 years, which given the human and financial costs involved, is staggering.

[safronsue]

demi, a heartfelt post from you, and very sensible too. key to your success is just not having the bad stuff in the house from the get go and of course our lifestyles allow this more than the average urbanite's does. it's the same point jon makes too with convenience lifestyles just being too tempting.

[demi]

I understand other people work stressfull jobs with long hours and ready made meals are easier just to stick in the microwave. But parents have the responcibility of providing a healthy diet for their children. The odd take away or frozen pizza when you don't have time to cook isn't bad for you, but eating them every day is. Everything in moderation. There's no excuse for stalking your kitchen full of junk and not giving your kids fruit to snack on. How much time does it take to have fruit for breakfast? None at all. Really, not having ANY time too cook is not a good excuse. You can easily prepare meals at the weekend to freeze for during the week, then just take them out to defrost in the morning and stick it in the oven when you get home from work. I always make too much when i make a meal and i stick the left overs in the fridge/freezer so i dont have to cook later.

[The Riff-Raff Element]

I'm not saying that this is what the situation should be, simply that this is how it is. For a lot of people, eating well is either expensive or hard work. Getting children fed quickly and within a tight budget is their main concern. You and I can moralise as much as we like about what they could / should do, but it won't change the reality of a lot of people. Education is the way, as is policy to make healthy eating more accessible, but it won't be quick.

[Durgan]

I'm not saying that this is what the situation should be, simply that this is how it is. For a lot of people, eating well is either expensive or hard work. Getting children fed quickly and within a tight budget is their main concern. You and I can moralise as much as we like about what they could / should do, but it won't change the reality of a lot of people. Education is the way, as is policy to make healthy eating more accessible, but it won't be quick.

Appears to be about correct from where I sit.

BMI 24.1, 180 at 6 feet. Down from 210 from last year. Weight loss was obtained only by diet change and was transparent, more accidental than by effort. No hand grips on either side of the belly button, nothing shakes. Increase in energy levels and feeling of well being, which only became apparent after the weight loss.

[berry]

yes it is a parents responsibility yet we are being given conflicting advice as to what is good and what isnt! Not every one is fortunate enough to be educated to a standard with regards to nutrition and health to see beyond what promises ads are making.

yes veg is good we all know that but when an ad says that this pizza/ready meal/ take away contains 3 of your 5 a-day veg and is promised will taste better than eating the veg alone and you know your kids will eat it what do you do?

You see it in food documentaries. People are asked what they think about a product and these are clearly intelligent people and they all make the same mistakes!

why on earth do you think big companies spend a fortune hiring psychologists to get us to buy things? We can be the smartest people on the planet and still be drawn in.

as for the average family. money is an issue. time is an issue. not everyone can afford to have mum or dad stay home and ensure meals are healthy and home cooked. Convenience is easier. especially when you have to decide between spending an hour in the kitchen or spending time with your family.

it is a big issue and one you really have to start at the top. start with making healthy food cheaper, advertising be removed and decent cooking classes in school for parents and children but it shouldnt end there. There is far more that can be done even with ourselves.

[oldjerry]

as for the average family. money is an issue. time is an issue. not everyone can afford to have mum or dad stay home and ensure meals are healthy and home cooked. Convenience is easier. especially when you have to decide between spending an hour in the kitchen or spending time with your family.

it is a big issue and one you really have to start at the top. start with making healthy food cheaper, advertising be removed and decent cooking classes in school for parents and children but it shouldnt end there. There is far more that can be done even with ourselves.

Nail firmly hit on the head,in a balanced and reasoned way.Maybe I could chuck something else into the mix: I honestly reckon that 99% maybe 100% of cooking programmes are(however they dress them up) nothing to do with basic cookery using real ingredients and more a like a sort of food pornography (and I'm not just refering to Nigel(lla) here).i.e.overwhelmingly people watch them and then eat what they were going to have anyway.I know Delia did something on how to boil an egg,but let's be honest that was as much about creating a talking point around yet another book.Most cooks on the TV seem to be involved with a food brand or Supermarket,and they make the biggest margins on ready prepared food,not on basic ingredients.

My eldest at year8 level does cookery lessons at school,and I suppose that's a start,but sadly her Cookery teacher isn't exactly inspirational(my daughter made her own pasta to take in to make lasagna,and had to point out to the woman that it needed a bit less cooking than the dried stuff she and everyone else had brought). I sent in tactful letter humbly suggesting they might try doing dishes that were seasonal,and got the reply that they already were,the next week (in May) it was Butternut Squash soup.........Berry,you are right,it'll take time......

[berry]

dont get me started on school cooking classes ! mine were terrible and it wasnt until i reached uni i learned how to cook as well as i do now

My siblings are all a lot younger than me and in the youngest's cooking class all they ever do is make biscuits and cakes. a skill yes. enough to teach a child to cook a decent meal, no.

Thankfully son (hes aged 5) is already being taught basic cooking in school. he came home having memorised a recipe for pancakes. last term they were taught (more shown then given a lump of dough to shape before cooking) to make bread.

Seasonal food is a thing we are all lacking knowledge in. I think everyone even some of us here can learn a thing or two about that. come to think of it the only truly seasonal foods in supermarkets now are sweet chestnuts and pumpkins.

As for cooking shows jamies 15 minute meals can do one. hes trying to push an idea thats going to leave even the most accomplished home cook flustered! ultimately give up with any idea of cooking again.

You're right, there are no basic cooking programmes and they are all out to promote a book/show or are full on food p0rn - thats not a bad thing in my book when you love food ;)
the only basics cook books ive seen are aimed at students, they are pretty good but average joe isnt likely to buy it. maybe someone should aim one at real families?