Childhood obesity

Feels like you're trying to make this a snooty thread, your kid is probably slim just because he has a fast metabolism not because of how much money you have.
I was completely broke till very recently and me and my kids lived in one room in a house share until recently none of them are fat. In fact the street I lived on was 90% house shares there was no "normalisation" of huge buckets of popcorn or any of the other stuff you describe.

The fattest kid I knew growing up (2000s not the dinosaur ages when only wealthy people could afford to eat enough to be fat) was from the rich side of town

If anything not being able to afford a car keeps one slim from having to walk absolutely everywhere and carry bags of shopping home

Your currently slim 8 year won't be pretty soon, no matter what your social and financial situation.

Well, if you are happy with your son's diet, carry on. Not sure what you want from this thread.

There is a lot of views being expressed that nuggets and pizza can be avoided - and this would have been me until I had a very fussy child. I did everything ‘right’ and yet have really struggled with one of my children having a hugely selective diet. We don’t do squash or fizzy drinks, we chose to avoid ultra processed food as much as possible, if we’re having pizza we opt for home made etc but it’s been hard. Alongside I insist on eating fresh fruit and veg - but that’s limited to apples, cucumber, sweet corn and carrots for the fussy kid. My other child eats such a range in comparison! I have tried so hard!

I live just over the border from one of the deprived areas mentioned in the Guardian article where obese children are expected to be the majority. My guess is it’s very much poverty driven as it’s one of the poorest boroughs in the country. It’s also a majority South Asian population with poor health outcomes relative to the wider population. Easy access to fast food, less good access to fresh food, less income for clubs, activities etc.

His breakfast is rubbish. You say you are far more liberal with sweets than other parents you know. Stop buying Nutella so there isn’t any in the house to munch on secretly. Stop giving him junk, you introduced it early on in his life and now he thinks it is a normal part of one’s diet. Why does he need a chocolatey treat every day? He will eat what you give him.

Disagree with this, mostly. As I said, poor immigrants have none of these. They arent even eligible for benefits for the first five years. They eat better than many wealthy British people. Because they don't eat processed food.

To eat well you need to know how
you need money for a decent freezer for frozen veg and the like
I even so calorie for calorie it cost more to eat well
mince the junk diet has started weight gain seems inevitable

when you are poor you are more likely to be very stressed meaning you have less brain power to spend on cooking or saying no - people only have so much they can give . It’s not a moral failing on their part , it’s a moral failing of society that people can’t make enough money form a decent job to enable them to focus on healthy living

When I pass the local primary school, despite the majority of families living within a 5-10 min walk away, the street lines up with cars.

I get the time-poor argument, I've had phases where I struggled... but that loses its edge when it's the cars parked up 30 mins in advance. And there is abundant car parking across the road within a 2 minute walk.

While I don't miss loitering on the playground, I do miss those bursts of functional walking.

I calculated in lockdown that I lost 5 miles a week of functional walking here and there (often at a brisk pace). That was a contribution to my lockdown weight gains as that was a 400-500 calorie burn reduction through the week, and it's not as simple as adding in an extra 5 mile run/ walk to the existing exercise load. Also frequent bursts of movement are more valuable to the body's metabolism for general health than intentional blocks of movement/ exercise to catch up.

Kids don't need chocolate twice a day or even everyday.
Nuggets and pizza can be so easily avoided.

Deprived areas are less likely to have nice outdoor spaces, more likely to have parents working long hours in physically demanding jobs and thus reliant on convenience foods, more likely to have poorly educated people who don't understand nutrition properly or how to cook healthy filling meals. Deprived children are less likely to take part in sports and activities, to have expensive sports equipment and families who are interested and motivated to do sports.

You're setting your son up. Your refusal to do things like go for walks is sowing the seed for your kid. You're bordering on obese because of your lifestyle and the choices you're making, and you're passing that same lifestyle on to your son.

Not sure what the Op thinks is different about her son compared to other kids. All DC have ‘a sweet tooth’, would eat chocolate before and after meals, and would choose nuggets and pizza over vegetables if you let them. But you’re the adult. He’s not the one doing the shopping or cooking.

This! It’s the fizzy drinks along with a mostly UPF diet that really add up.

It's hard to eat healthily on a budget

Aaaaaah !! No it isn't.

Supper tonight in our house is boned chicken legs, pan fried with garlic and lemon. brown rice and broccoli. Less than £1 a serving.

Then baked apples with crème fraiche, another 30p

My son struggles with food, he is Autistic and has some learning needs, he does not seem to have an off switch when it comes to food and struggles to recognise when he’s full, it can be very difficult to manage and you do have to keep a close eye.

He doesn’t like a lot of activities either, we’ve tried football, athletics, basketball, even just going the park! But he still struggles. Probably because of the social aspect.

I’ve bought him scooters and bikes just for them to not be touched.

it can be incredibly difficult and complex. All too often people are quick to judge though.

It is broadly speaking, high consumption of ultra processed food. It’s addictive, calorie dense and nutritionally poor. I personally think this is the crux of the issue. We’ve dropped most UPF from our household - make healthy bread and eat oats or low processed cereal, and avoid more processed versions of the foods the kids prefer. Don’t get me wrong, we’re still (to my frustration but kids are fussy) a sausages and chicken nuggets household but we’re able to buy organic versions without additives. It’s not cheap though.

Activity helps too. We walk to school and back, walk at weekends at the park, in the countryside and to the local high street and we encourage physical play. We do weekly activities such as swimming and dance, and the kids will likely pick up a sport as they get older - netball or rugby - we tried them both with football but neither were keen. Summer holiday they do sports camps.

Genes also play a part. My husband is super slim and all his family are.My DD is his build. My parents are both obese in their late 60s/early 70s. I had quite a few obese relatives growing up (working class poor) so I’m very focused on a healthy lifestyle as I am convinced that almost all their health niggles would be gone if they just lost weight.

You're just very lucky that he isnt yet fat, its probably just by virtue of his biology/make up, all the things you list are usually akin to people in lower socio economic groups, the dietary intake, the lack of movement, the isolation, so you're living that life anyway. And just like lots of people in those groups, their children are not yet fat but are likely to be over time.

Ticking time bomb (as my own doctor did say)

And also, why are you letting him.on screen "a lot of the time". No wonder he doesn't do much activity. Screens are addictive and replace creativity and physical activity..

You should be limiting the screen time...an taking him out on walks, to the playground, to the woods, sprinkler parks, rivers, race tracks, skate parks, swimming etc he clearly can and does run around at school, so I'm sure you can find something he likes.

We have a small garden too, DD has a small trampoline in there which she uses.

You need to look at portion sizes and amount of food consumed. Yes genetics can play a part, but the majority of people (adults and kids) who are over weight are so because they eat too much food. You can still get fat from over eating healthy food. You could make a lot of simple changes for your child, less screen time for a start would benefit him in more ways than one. Look at some activities the whole family can do together. He doesn’t need 2 chocolate items every day. Eating habits are formed in childhood.

Why does he gets chocolate after school and after dinner? Tell him to choose, one or the other.

You can drain the fat from the 20% beef.

The problem with most of these obese kids is they're having utter junk and too much if it, take away pizzas, kebabs, UPF in excess. Etc

This. It really isn't hard to feed your child a decent diet. I'm a single mum on a budget. Told by hosp to aim to eat 30 fruit & veg a week.

My ds has wholemeal toast with butter, and fruit for breakfast. Tangerines, apples, pineapple, plums, nectarines are all inexpensive at the moment. A different fruit each morning.

School lunch. Supper last night was peppers stuffed with sausage meat, wholemeal garlic bread and peas. DS had three chocolate digestives and a nectarine for afters.

Total food prep time, about 15 minutes. Cost for DS' day's food, about £3.10 plus school lunch.

Fruit & veg in a day - pineapple, whole wheat, peppers, peas, nectarine plus whatever he had at school.