Fight obesity like tobacco

[merlin]

I don’t know about other places, but where I live there is absolutely no state intervention of that sort. Not a penny of public money is spent on visiting parents that are abusing their children as a result of their own ineptness or otherwise. No, just like everywhere else, people are free to stuff anything they like into their children and free to blame everybody, and anybody else when they get sick. Trust me, when a pensioner get £30 a month (if they have paid in their 40 years of insurance), the last thing the government keeps an eye on is people over eating!

[demi]

Of course its unrealistic to punnish parents in any way for fattening up their kids. Its their choice if they want their kids to be fat and develop multiple weight/diet related illnesses and get bullied in school and not be able to get a boyfriend/girlfriend. Plus the govenment will probably never throw money into it. Who cares about them really, as long as me and my kids are never fat and continue to lead relitivly healthy lifestyles, at least we'll be alright! Take care of your own, F**k the rest of them. If their bad diets negitivly effect their lives its their own faults anyway.

[The Riff-Raff Element]

OJ - you're quite right. The responsibility of the State can only ever be to present the information and advice. I suppose there might be some extreme cases where a child's diet is so bad and doing so much damage that it counts as abuse (we'd certainly expect intervention if a child were being systematically starved...) but, beyond that, people's life choices must be their own and that includes how they feed their children.

Of course, their children could sue them later in life in what could be a bonanza for the legal profession.

[oldjerry]

If you brought up your children to be entirely self reliant'they'd teach themselves law,and then they could sue you themselves!......I think you 've found a serious flaw in my arguement.

[merlin]

This is a link to an article on the Bulgarian news. When I moved here in 2004 it was a totally different story, but now, we are all free Europeans. Just like free Americans, all being really sensible with the lives we create. http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=135917

[demi]

This is a link to an article on the Bulgarian news. When I moved here in 2004 it was a totally different story, but now, we are all free Europeans. Just like free Americans, all being really sensible with the lives we create. http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=135917

Its the same story in Macedonia. Junk food is realitivly new here and people are unawear of the health risks. Its like living in the past. I see so many fat kids when im out with my kids. I met an old women in the park in the summer with her grandson in a pram and i was with my son also. Her grandson was twice the size of my son, extreamly overweight. I asked her how old he was, she told me "7 months" and asked how old my son was, "he's 13 months". "Ah", she said, "my grandson is a bit bigger". "Yes", i said, "just a bit".
Whenever evyone comes to visit someone with children it is custom here to bring somthing for them. And of course everyone allways brings gient chocolate bars. I politly take them and stick them in the firdge. I use them if i make ice cream or cakes, which isnt that often, or i usually end up eating them myself. I have been known to throw them in the bin in a fit of rage too! If no body gave me chocolate id never buy it myself because i know i will eat the whole lot in one go.

In Brittan the docters recommend that you don't give babies under 1 year old any salt or sugar. Here they give them everything. When i was registering with the docter when we got back here after having our son in the UK, she asked me what he eats and i said "everything without salt and sugar". She said very good then offered my 7 month old a sweetie! I said "but thats sugar and he could choke on it!" and she said " oh, no, no, its ok, its only a caramel!" Even the docters here arn't properly informed. They learn from outdated text books on outdated equipment using out dated methods. Its hospitals are appaulling, hence why we've always gone back to the UK to have our kids! I'm helping some firends of mine who have had babies and have not recieved ANY help or advice for breastfeeding. The docters tell just about every mother that they don't have milk and should not botter and just bottle feed! The formula companies no doubt pay the docters to promote their product. Everything it corrupt here and very badly regulated, if at all. Im thinking of setting up an NGO to help mothers with breastfeeding. Breastfed babies have the healthiest start in life and are less likley to become fat. Bottle fed babies are highly likely to become fat either as babies, or later on in life.

[The Riff-Raff Element]

If you brought up your children to be entirely self reliant'they'd teach themselves law,and then they could sue you themselves!......I think you 've found a serious flaw in my arguement.

My eldest daughter wants to be a judge. You can do that in France - a degree in law, followed by a more specialist masters followed by a competitive exam and three years in judge school.

Judging people aged 25.

That's not even properly past puberty.

[merlin]

Good grief! Here you need to be a lawyer, apply for the job and hope your application is successful

[oldjerry]

Whereas here you need to have been thrashed at the right school,belong to the right club,and have political opinons somewhere to the right of Kublai Khan.

[boboff]

This is an interesting thread. Been away for a few days.

The point that I seem to have missed being made is Children like to eat sweet things and "junk" food, they LIKE it more than veg.

If they eat that and are overweight then you are making the parents make a choice, let the children "starve" to stay slim or let them eat what they want.

I could put a salad and water in front of my daughter, and she would NEVER eat it, literally she would rather starve than eat it, and if she tries to eat it she actually GAGS.

We decided to let her eat what she wants, she eats the same food as us, but normally the meat and potatoes, and or picks out the veg.

She is 12, and aware of her weight, we weigh in each week, and we encourage her too, we don't want her to loose weight, but over the 11 months of doing it, her weight has stayed the same, but she has grown about 8 inches, and therefore is allot slimmer. This has encouraged her to exercise to be trimmer.

I am not stupid, I just choose to let time, sence, and my daughters own desires and body image alter the way she eats and exercises.

I can't condone a feeding regime for my child which makes them unhappy.

[demi]

I can't condone a feeding regime for my child which makes them unhappy.

No, not at all. Try to avoid food battles whenever possible. But if you start off your baby on healthy foods that you cook for all the family and don't give them junk in the first place then they'll never know what they're missing.

My 5 year old can be a fussy eater at times. And im allways shouting at everyone for giving her crap to eat, especially before we've had dinner. But iv gave her fruit and veg and healthy home cooked meals right from the start and although there are some fruit and veg that she doesnt like eating, i usually blend veg into a sauce so she doesnt pick anything out. And she does like some veg like broccil, cauliflower, various beans and carrots. and she will eat most fruits in abundance. Some days she'll eat something then the next time she gets it she says she doesn't like it anymore. She just does that for attention, trying to push my buttons and see how far she can push the boundries. But if she really refuses to eat something and is making a fuss i just tell her to leave the table while we finnish ours then i go after iv finnished washing the dishes and try to get her to eat somthing from the plate while she's watching cartoons. The threat "im going to turn the tv off if you don't eat somthing' usually works. I would never go buy her chicken nuggets and frozen pizzas just to get her to finnish her dinner every time. Of course they like junk food, its got loads of shit in it to make it taste good so you want to eat it. If you offer them junk instead of real food of course they're going to choose the junk food, but that doesn't mean you should feed them it just because they like it and they will clean their plates. You have to be a responcible parent and offer your kids the right foods. Junk is unavoidable, especially as they are getting bigger and more independant, but if you don't keep it in your house and never serve it to them then they have no choice but to eat your healthy home made food which they should be use to doing anyway from weaning as a baby so it shouldn't be an issue.

[boboff]

It's funny, the daughter I refer too as our first got all the homemade veg puree etc made for her and always hated it, she would only eat solid cheese cubes, ham etc.

The second son, we were much less focussed on feeding the right thing, and he eats all sorts, and has always loved Olives and Brocolli.

I make home made pizza, is that Junk?

I make Fry Light chips, is that Junk?

I make my own Sothern Fried Chicked, but oven bake it, is that Junk?

My kids always eat at the table.

I like the odd mcdonalds and KFC, and I really don't think that feeding it to my children makes me in some way an abusive parent?

The way I look at it, my children make Fairy Cakes and Pasties and Sponges, or Crumble with me, and they understand that most of them have 25% Butter, and 25% sugar in them, they see what ingredients go into the food they like, I wouldn't consider those items Junk, but in reality they are only suitable in moderation.

Anyway, I am glad we have a choice as to how we choose to live our lives.

[demi]

Homemade food is not junk. But high fat and sugar foods should be a treat, not an every day meal.

We sometimes go to Mcdonalds and get take away's too, but its never a regular occurance. I occationaly get cravings for familour chocolate bars like a twix or bounty and fruit and nut dairy milk. But i don't keep them stocked in my kitchen. In the summer i quite often get an ice cream cone when im out with the kids. Junk food isn't completly evil. Its good as a treat or if you're too tired too cook one night, but you shouldn't be living off it every day.

We have an orchard and the house has been filled with crates of various fruits since we first started harvesting the cherries in may. We all eat tones of fruit because of it and id rather have my kids gorging on fruit than on cupboards full of crips, buiscuts and chocolate bars.

[yvette]

I am absolutely horrified at the suggestion that parents be blamed, punished or have their kids taken away for being fat.
I was born a normal weight. By the time I was 18 months old, I was fat. At 5, I went on my first diet. So clearly I was brought up by stupid or uncaring parents, right? Wrong. My parents, like most parents, loved me and did the best they could. My mum had had a very difficult childhood herself and had used food to try to damp down the pain with feeling unloved and abandoned. Her own relationship with food was very difficult, and she was either overweight or strenuously dieting all through my childhood.
I am heartened that there are so many people contributing to this thread who clearly realise that obesity can happen for many reasons, some of them complex psychological difficulties. If obesity was as simple to deal with as some people here seem to suggest, why do so many people struggle?
And incidentally, my greatgrandma was 15 and a half stone and lived healthily till the age of 90. So there.

[Durgan]

Suppose one is 20 kilograms or 44 pounds overweight. To ascertain what this means one could strap a 20 kg bag of say beans to one back and go for a five km walk. The stress on the body must be excessive. Now multiply excessive body weight over 365 days and one can get an idea of the stress involved.

The food we ingest in a modern Western Nation is based on tradition and habit. Given even modest economic means most people can choose almost any foods. To modify or change diet only takes will power and a little effort. It also can be much fun and enjoyment.

In spite of exceptions, I don't imagine anybody is not aware that excessive weight is unhealthy over the long term. Further any person over weight is aware of such.

Most produce and meats are ideal in small portions and without the many additives. Additives which are constantly being offered by advertising in our media. Fat, salt and sugar are enjoyed universally and permeate certainly all supermarket food, and even by the home prepared meals. These typical type of meal are fine on festive occasions, but for everyday ingestion are insidiously undermining the health of nations.

My main thrust is to drastically change one's diet to control weight and to improve general well being. Dieting and eating the same foods that made one heavy seems to be self defeating from where I sit. Moderation is not a very strong human characteristic. "Nothing exceeds like excess" Oscar Wilde