To think some people on here make too many excuses for parents feeding their kids unhealthy food to the point they become overweight or even obese?

Where do you draw the line with this thinking? If someone’s beating the crap out of their child is that just their business because it’s their child? Not giving a diabetic child their insulin is just the parents business? I take it your mother fed you a relatively healthy diet and you do not have saggy loose skin due to what you ate before you were old enough to know what “calories” meant?

Social services is a thing because children’s safety isn’t just their parents business

Nobody sane is calorie counting their children.

Nobody.

I actually weighed my son a few weeks back, because the paediatrician needed his weight and he wouldn’t let her do it, so we did it at home.

When I mentioned it to my sister, she rightly said that under usual circumstances - people aren’t weighing their kids. They don’t know their child’s weight, and they don’t encourage them to develop food complexes.

Adults are messed up enough, let’s not pass it on to our children.

No I’m still not understanding.

Being a fat kid is physically unhealthy, for sure. But that’s not your fat kid is it?

His future saggy stomach won’t be your business either. It’s still not yours.

Which brings me back to it not being your business, because neither the food, the child nor the future problems are yours to do anything about.

Parents should have a ball park figure of what a child needs calorie wise, that is not difficult or controversial. The child does not need to know.

Jesus, even the vet has posters about calories for average sized pets and warnings about portion size, snack sizes, snack calories for us owners.

It is my business, being a fat kid is physically and emotionally unhealthy, not being able to run and play with friends, teasing, I know people who were fat kids and lost the weight as soon as they were old enough to control their own diet. Guess what. They have loose baggy skin hanging from their stomach which they cannot get rid of and are super self conscious about.

I am not talking about you or your son. I’m talking about the son of a woman I used to live with and he was visibly morbidly obese. Her cupboard was visibly full of junk food as well as her side of the fridge. There really was no excuse.

My aforementioned ex partner had never heard of a UPF. We had (I'll correct myself I tried to have!)a conversation along the lines of healthy diets etc etc and I had to explain to her what something processed was, what foods she ate that had the most calories/saturated fat etc etc as she was trying to lose some weight.

She simply did not get it.

@Llwenbaukler "Forgive my French but she was also a complete cunt" genuinely made me laugh, and I have had a crap day, thank you😆

Someone a long time ago (completely forgotten who) told me that with foods, if it has to be advertised, your body does not need it.

I am sure it is not valid in every single case, but for the most part, I agree with it.

What on earth do you mean 😂

You would potentially think by sight that my son is obese. I can confirm that he isn’t, he’s plain old overweight - because I know his height and weight measurements, and you… don’t.

I get the feeling the reason you dislike this woman isn’t anything to do with her fat kid, because even you’re aware it’s none of your business. He’s not your kid, and it’s not your fridge full of fruit shoots. Mind your own and focus more on her being a “cunt” and less on her child.

He was visibly morbidly obese! As for your snarky comment in all honesty I probably could have weighed him if I wanted to I literally lived with her and she was forever leaving him alone

When did you weigh someone else’s toddler, and pop their info into the paediatric BMI calculator?

Yeah there’s always an excuse on the internet “you don’t know their life”

well I lived with one. Same house same kitchen same bathroom. The only privacy was our bedrooms. Her toddler was morbidly obese. Her cupboard in the kitchen was full of nothing but chocolates and biscuits and crisps. Her section of the fridge nothing but junk food like chocolate yogurts and fruit shoots. Forgive my French but she was also a complete cunt. And yes she was responsible for her toddler being obese

I am interested in what food is available in your house, if there’s no UPFs, no sugar, nothing unhealthy ever.

Are your kids ever allowed an ice cream at the beach? Or a chocolate bar as a treat? Everything they ever eat is home made, and has absolutely no sugar in it ever? Do they eat exclusively pulses?

You must have some very compliant children, and an awful lot of time on your hands.

'It’s also controversial but having two working parents and the ease of things like takeaways, deliveroo, (admittedly not everywhere), ‘fast’ food, stuff that can be microwaved in two minutes etc, the food noise in every single space, social media…. It’s all too much.'

This is true but if you're a parent in the cereal aisle we all know absolutely that oats and muesli are healthy whilst Kellogg's rice crispie choc bars and Coco Pops are not yet many choose the chocolate crap. We have posters on here bleat that it's all hidden upf and no one knows or they can't help it. They do and they can.

'If you want to see change, you need policies which are based in facts and evidence, not opinions'

Such as healthy eating advice everywhere, food labelled clearly and plenty of encouragement both online and in the media not to feed our kids crap?

I haven’t RTFT but it is a complex and nuanced issue, and don’t forget that at the other end of the spectrum some of us are dealing with children with severe restrictive eating disorders like anorexia. I see the childhood obesity issue (and the rise of eating disorders in children too) as hugely multi faceted and complex.

For a start, the sheer volume of choice in supermarkets, the marketing of foods (not just junk food but ‘health’ foods too). As mass production of food has grown, marketing and technology has grown, the amount of ‘stuff’ in the world (not just food but clothes, electrical goods, beauty products and stuff) has exploded. I’m not sure why, for example, there needs to be 50 cereals (at least!) on offer in supermarkets. Well, actually, I do, because brands need to push products, product development and marketing create jobs etc etc. There is an argument to say that if we simply got rid of most ‘unhealthy’ foods the economy would collapse.

It’s also controversial but having two working parents and the ease of things like takeaways, deliveroo, (admittedly not everywhere), ‘fast’ food, stuff that can be microwaved in two minutes etc, the food noise in every single space, social media…. It’s all too much.

And like with many things, it’s often the ‘worried well’ middle classes who are fretting over whether their bread counts as ‘UPF’ who really don’t have much to worry about, vs the mum struggling to feed her kids.

For me personally, I have 3 kids who couldn’t be more different. One suffering with severe anorexia who’s ’recovery plan’ includes stuff like Kit Kats, ice creams, crisps etc, one who is sporty, eats anything, would as happily eat edamame beans and hummus (I know, I know) as he would a doughnut, and one who is autistic and has a very limited variety of foods. Like I said, complicated.

I know. Slippery slope to insulin resistant/epigenetics/hormone fuelled/ upf/ not my fault/ no one told me there was SUGAR IN IT victimhood isn't it?

Not dessert ?! 😮

There's plenty of scope to allow for personal agency and responsibility while also recognizing that people live in an increasingly obescogenic environment (in terms of food and physical activity) and that there are genetic differences in how people respond to that environment.

It's not either/or but understanding the context (biological and evrironmenal) in which these choices are made.

I'm a huge fan of being evidence-informed and data-driven rather than just pointing the finger and shaming. If you want to see change, you need policies which are based in facts and evidence, not opinions.

I suggest we keep to the topic that many parents overfeed their kids based on their own very bad choices then hide behind 'it's not my fault it's my genes/insulin/ hidden sugars not forgetting my hormones' as parroted on this very thread.

Please don't mock and call obese people fatties.

'Why don't you care about protecting people from exploitation? Why don't you care about protecting children?'

Well that's a bit of a leap isn't it. You're like a tabloid reporter taking what someone has said and twisting it .

People have free will and free choice, if they really think eating a load of ready meals and desserts is ok I can't help them . The fact is they know it isn't.

Anyone who has kids should feed them healthily but many don't. Some off to McDs as soon as they're onto solids. People know its isn't healthy. It's those unhealthy and obese parents that don't care, not me.

But the fatties are just GREEDY you know!

I'll take that as a no then. You don't understand.

In this chat forum on obesity you're making assertions regarding genetics without any undrestanding of the most basic biological concepts involved! This is why you're wrong I'm afraid. You are not grounded in science.

I suggest before you become opinionated about whether genetics and environment interact with regards to obesity and dismissing and mocking the whole idea, you should understand the fundamentals at least.

It's a chat forum we aren't doing ALevel biology. There's maybe a forum for fans of epigenetics?

It absolutely hasn't remained constant. Fruit was not widely available all year round when we were kids.

Yes I agree cafes etc and 24/7 shopping all add to people over consuming. Their choice obviously. The idea that sugar is all sneakily hidden and people have no idea what they're overeating is crazy. They know, they just think they have a medical condition and cant help it as demonstrated by some folk on this thread.

The availability of fruit and veg has largely remained constant.

What has changed is the availability of fast and processed food. The high street is becoming little more than one fried food and cake, sorry "coffee", shop after another.

This is compounded with our increasingly sedentary lifestyles, and you have the perfect breeding ground for fat people.