22% of 4-5 year olds are overweight? How?!

[changing221]

Can someone explain to me how we are living in a society of overweight 4 year olds? I'm not trying to be goady or holier than thou, I'm genuinely interested.

What is the cause of these fat 4-5 year olds??
Where is it all going wrong for these children who are now likely to be overweight or obese well in to adulthood.

FWIW I have a 4 year old. We have McDonald's takeaway regularly, sweet treats (danish, cinnamon bun, chocolate, biscuits, cake) daily. Lots of cheese and yogurt, healthy fats, jacket potatoes etc. And she's still on the 25th percentile and a string bean.

Carbs, carbs and more carbs.

Not enough protein, not enough healthy fats.

@LadyCampanulaTottington

Carbs, carbs and more carbs.

Not enough protein, not enough healthy fats.

You mean like crisps? Or pasta and potatoes?

Or carbs from cake and biscuits?

Even still, they must be eating HUUUGE portions of the stuff if they're overweight at 4 😳

Morally bankrupt food companies who painstakingly researched the ultimate combination of salt, sugar and fat to pour into their alluringly-packaged processed foods to get people hooked. It's called a 'bliss point' and lights up the same part of the brain as cocaine does.

Shops full of the stuff in the most prominent places including right next to the till.

Adults get hooked on this stuff and eat it in front of and share it with their children.

You may not do but a large minority do.

People are time poor, cash poor and energy poor
Crap food is cheap and easy

Maybe lockdowns, my kids went from being out for 6-7 hours a day to only 1-2 running about

Lockdown?

Also carbs. One day it will come out that this abundance of carbs and demonisation of fat is 100% the root cause of obesity.

Also... most people don't know what a healthy child looks like. I used to get constant comments on dd1s weight but none at all on her younger sisters. Dd1 is perfectly healthy (despite being able to see her ribs) and dd2 was overweight.....

It's the same problem as for adults really, a lack of knowledge re portion size for small children. Lack of movement and we've become quite snack obsessed as a nation and as PP said, the ultra processed food rammed with all the crap stuff.

Ultra processed food. Your body burns fewer calories of it. So you'll get fat if you eat the same number of calories in highly processed chicken nuggets rather than plain chicken breast.

@Cucumberpitta

Morally bankrupt food companies who painstakingly researched the ultimate combination of salt, sugar and fat to pour into their alluringly-packaged processed foods to get people hooked. It's called a 'bliss point' and lights up the same part of the brain as cocaine does.

Shops full of the stuff in the most prominent places including right next to the till.

This

@Cucumberpitta

Morally bankrupt food companies who painstakingly researched the ultimate combination of salt, sugar and fat to pour into their alluringly-packaged processed foods to get people hooked. It's called a 'bliss point' and lights up the same part of the brain as cocaine does.

Shops full of the stuff in the most prominent places including right next to the till.

Can't the parents say no Or just not buy it?

If my DC come grocery shopping with us, they'll ask for a treat and they are always allowed to put a packet of biscuits or crisps or donuts in the trolley, but they're still slim kids. One biscuit or small pack of crisps isn't going to make a difference, but these overweight DC must be getting bought this stuff daily?

Have we failed parents around the messaging of bad foods?

Lack of exercise. A lot of children are driven to school.

Parka were teaming with youngsters when I was a child. I can take my dogs to a park on a lovely day and see no one.

Have we failed parents around the messaging of bad foods?

“Bad foods” is an unhelpful message. Rarely eaten foods is better.

I agree with PP about lockdowns being part of the problem!

Why does your four year old need a biscuit or a danish or whatever daily though?

As an adult I don’t eat that daily because then it’s not a treat. It’s great they’re a healthy weight but it’s not a great habit.

Not doubting you, but out of interest, what's your source for this figure @changing221 ?

One biscuit vs one danish is a bit of a difference in calories. I have some sort of small snack every day. Crisps, small choc bar, couple of biscuits. In the context of an overall healthy diet, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with something little like that regularly.

Lockdown hasn’t helped no going to the park etc no soft play, no nursery lots stuck at home while parents are working, leisure centres shut. These have been 2-3 since it started. There’s also a lot of fear about children mixing

I think the snacking culture is very different from when I was a kid in the 90s. A snack was an apple for me but I see kids eating very processed snacks. I also used to play out more and life was more physical. Even if we made fairy cakes they were a lot smaller than big cupcakes now.

Too much bad food and too little exercise is the reason. The causes of this are a bit more complex I think.

Also a snack on the way home from school. We never had that, it wasn’t a thing. I’m a nanny and I’d get disowned if I didn’t turn up at pick up with the snack.

If my DC come grocery shopping with us, they'll ask for a treat and they are always allowed to put a packet of biscuits or crisps or donuts in the trolley, but they're still slim kids.

Adding to my post above lockdown / carbs / lots of people equating skinny to ill to say:

You might also be underestimating how much genetics plays a role. Like I said I have two girls and I let the oldest eat pretty much whatever she wanted to whenever she wanted because that's basically what I do and we both just seem to self regulate. She's very small and I hover between a 6 and an 8.

But my other DD (different dad)... in the nicest way possible, every female in her fam from Dad's side is obese. And she just doesn't self-regulate like we seem to. She is ALWAYS looking for food, or thinking about food, or asking me when it's dinner time etc.

She seems to get something from food that her sister and I just dont.

Wether it's genetics or something else I don't know?

@ArblemarchTFruitbat

Not doubting you, but out of interest, what's your source for this figure *@changing221* ?

The governments own website.

https://www.ethnicity-facts-figures.service.gov.uk/health/diet-and-exercise/overweight-children/latest#:~:text=Based%20on%20the%20NCMP%20measurements%2C%20it%20is%20estimated,to%2011%20year%20olds%20were%20overweight%20in%202017%2F18.

If my DC come grocery shopping with us

One thing that leaps to mind (and not saying this is the case for you) but taking the family shopping nowadays normally means piling into the car and driving to a large supermarket.

In my young childhood (70s/80s) 'doing the shopping' meant walking to town and back or possibly getting the bus if it was raining. So as soon as you were out of your pram, you were getting the exercise of walking; at least twice a week due to limits on what your parent(s) could carry home in one go.

And there simply wasn't the abundance of choice to tempt you in those days. The main supermarket you'd go to (at least, in the provinces - might have been different in a big city) was about the size of what we'd now call a 'Tesco's Metro' or equivalent. Food was more boring, so you ate less of it.

Thanks for source, OP, will have a look.