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.

The percentage of overweight and obese kids has not changed for at least 15 years. Lockdown has nothing to do with it. Parents have a lot to do with it.

Yes fruit contains calories. Children are not getting fat because of fruit though.

I definitely think exercise plays a huge part in it. Ds (7) does a sport a few times a week but it's watersports so we tend to stop in November as it gets colder until April. He's put quite a bit.of weight on in that time, far too much being honest. Need to replace that activity with something else for winter time I think.

We are also guilty of using the car for the school run, and although we spend a lot of time outside usually obviously it is weather dependent.

Add to that the snack culture, processed food, fruit juices marketed at being healthy and its a never ending battle. I had a gentle conversation with him last night about making better choices with food and he got upset. Ive told dh (he does most of the food shopping) we really need to cut down on what sweet treats we have in as ds can't seem to regulate very easily and dh also feels upset that I was critical of him.

Sigh. Food and diet is so emotionally loaded it is difficult to have even gentle conversations. But as I told dh it is better a conversation with me at home, than being bullied or called fat by kids at school.

@HeyGirlHeyBoy

6 eggs a day seems a lot! Isn't there a cholesterol issue there or has that advice changed? I do think not being able to say no is a big part of it, not just the passing on of adult habits. Most in my dc's class have fruit juice or cordial in their drinks bottle each day because 'they won't drink water' etc. I was a total pfb and v on it wrt food but my 2dc are very different, one will eat anything, the other v restricted but at least good stuff. It's not always easy and especially as mentioned in lower income areas, it's much more difficult.

This is part of the problem.

If you were to google " are eggs good for you?" you'd get a variety of responses.

The cholesterol thing is also not straightforward. Most recent research is in agreement that eating cholesterol rich foods such as eggs does not impact the cholesterol that is in your blood. Cholesterol comes from the liver not the foods you eat. And shitty fats are what the liver will have a problem with. If you look up the incidence now of NAFLD (non alcoholic fatty liver disease) then that is a serious concern - it is estimated 1 in 3 people in the UK have early stages of this.

I am an obese adult, struggled with food as emotional crutch all my life, lost the weight a while ago and had 2nd baby so put it back on, now looking to lose it again. I have a 4 year old and I vow to not make the same mistakes that led to me struggling with body image. I cook fresh healthy meals every day, they do not cost a fortune, they are not time consuming (slow cookers are gods gift) and for snacks I have fruit, cucumber and the occasional cracker for them. My 4yr old is an endless pit of hunger but I simply don’t buy rubbish so they can’t eat it anyway! I’m disgustingly busy, full time with young baby, 4 yr old, partner works 12hr days and no support around me. It’s hard but it’s not impossible, people are lazy and need to be taught how to cook.

I dont know my 6 year old eats for england and is still very slim, i was the same as a kid though, might be genetic.

I have 4 DC, 1 is 85th centile, 1 is 50th other 2 around 25th.

The 85th centile child is DC3 the most active including at school as not in mainstream.

Interestingly (well to me!) they're similar to their birth weight centiles, the eldest nearly an adult now.

DH and I are both obese.

In the 80s, when it wasn't school I was running around with my mates from a very young age on our own getting up to all sorts. Nowadays there is no way I'd let my dd6 out on her own, now I need to pay for her to attend sports clubs in her spare time. That's the difference.

One parent at my sons school had a shit fit because the reception height weight check showed her daughter to be obese.

She said "I just don't see it myself"

Which staggered me, cos well...

She then said "she can't be overweight because she's vegetarian"

But what annoyed me more was seeing the number of others who tripped over themselves to say 'there's nothing wrong with your daughter's weight' 'ignore them' blah blah blah.

Which I do get to a certain extent with some kids. Not this one. She has noticable size and diet issue which needed addressing.

I think it’s ever increasing portion sizes of calorie laden but low nutrition foods being given to mostly sedentary kids. I also agree that kids are rarely allowed to get hungry - I know because I personally am very rarely hungry but eat out of routine or boredom.

DH and I are both fat but none of our three boys are. They all have excellent self control when it comes to food - being almost forced to have a clean plate has really done a number on me, I hate leaving food even when I’ve the one that’s made it! Not to say that’s the only issue of course but it definitely adds to it. We are very open with them that a balanced and healthy diet is important and that we are clearly not very good examples.

Oh I tell a lie actually, one is one point into ‘overweight’ on the BMI scale - he’s almost 13 so I expect it’ll drop off during a growth spurt but as it happens we’ve moved an extra 20 minutes from school so the daily walk has increased a lot which helps!

I feel so sad for children who carry extra weight from their earliest years.

At a time when they should be able to leap and jump and not have to give their bodies a second thought.

I think the availability of snacks is at the heart of all this.

My middle dc is disabled and eats a range of limited foods and doesn't move very much. Allowed to eat snacks in the quantity he wants too, makes him overweight. If I limit snacks and he eats a standard breakfast, lunch and dinner, he is fine.

In my experience (admittedly limited, I have one child who is 3) people seem to feed their kids constantly. Want a treat? Food. Need a reward? Food. Want them to be quiet/sit still/comply? Food.

My own child has what I would consider a poor diet. He eats beige freezer Food, way too much processed stuff (organix oat bar type snacks), doesn't eat vegetables (unless i can get a sweet potato waffle into him), will eat crisps and cereal until the cows come home. Will occasionally eat ham, cheese and crackers. Does eat fruit.

He is autistic and food is a big ìssue. I refuse for mealtimes to be a battle though and he is provided with food he will eat at whatever quantity he wants. Some nights he'll eat a cooked meal of 5 chicken fingers, a waffle and half a tin of beans, followed by a yoghurt and a bowl of cereal. Other days he'll eat a yoghurt and be done. He's never bribed, cajoled or persuaded to eat, nor is he expected to eat all his meal.

He's a healthy 3 year old, healthy BMI, and I'm sure it's because he eats what he needs when he needs. Both his father and I are significantly overweight so it's not due to genetics or learning good habits from us!!

I think genetics plays a part both in processing calories and eating tendencies.

My DD doesn't eat if she's not hungry. She can be eating her favourite (unhealthy) treat but stops when she's had enough - some people don't have an 'off' switch and some people do.

@Bobsyer

I think it’s ever increasing portion sizes of calorie laden but low nutrition foods being given to mostly sedentary kids. I also agree that kids are rarely allowed to get hungry - I know because I personally am very rarely hungry but eat out of routine or boredom.

DH and I are both fat but none of our three boys are. They all have excellent self control when it comes to food - being almost forced to have a clean plate has really done a number on me, I hate leaving food even when I’ve the one that’s made it! Not to say that’s the only issue of course but it definitely adds to it. We are very open with them that a balanced and healthy diet is important and that we are clearly not very good examples.

Agree re empty plates. I had my nose held when I was a child so that I would eat what was in front of me. I hate leaving food on my plate now.

I think it’s portion size. Am amazed by the huge portions other peoples (over weight) kids can eat.

I have been utterly lambasted on here but I never graduated my young teens onto our large dinner plates. The 3 of us have smaller dinner plates. Keeps all our portion sizes down. Two lovely slim healthy teens.

DH & I are in a healthy BMI range and are active. 3 year old DD is chubby. We eat healthy food made from scratch but DD is unbelievably lazy, barely moves, doesn’t even run with peers. Every bit of exercise is met with tantrums and meltdowns honestly don’t know what to do anymore.

1. Constant need for snacks. We never ate between meals, it just wasn't a thing. Possibly an apple but I can't remember a time I ever reached into the cupboard and helped myself to treats.

1. Sedentary children - most kids I know get home from school and sit in front of the tv/screen for hours. Some of that time is homework (on a screen) and the odd after school activity but there's no knocking for a friend, riding around on bikes, walking to the shops etc. Add the woefully lacking PE provision in most schools and much higher reliance on cars, and we have become a nation of lazy fuckers

1. More working parents = less time so processed convenience food is more realistic than cooking from scratch plus unsupervised kids going to the shops, helping themselves at home etc

1. Poverty - unhealthy crap is cheaper than fresh foods plus higher prevalence of single parent families so less time at home more time at work (see above)

It's terribly sad and needs a multi-pronged approach to actually change anything (which will never happen )

@Kookookachuu

Trampoline park?

Maybe just get rid of the pram so they have to walk?

The 2 overweight kids I know are fed sweets instead of meals, snack. All the time (think huge bags of sweets), refuse to eat dinner and don’t get told no to sweets or educated. One particular child is 6 and weighs around 5.5 stone.

I also feel schools should do far more PE, my reception age son has 1 PE lesson a week which is usually 30’kids in a small sports hall wondering around::: at this age they should be doing 3 hours a day!

This is interesting, the problem started a while ago and has escalated rapidly.

The majority of food bank donations are tinned or longer-lasting food, not fresh healthy foods or even fridge items.

But as Ozanj said tinned veg is just as good as fresh and cupboard foods like instant noodles can be made healthier by adding veg and reducing the portion size.

Honestly I think it's just the sheer quantity some kids eat.

DS is 5 and there is an kid in his class who can't wear uniform as it only goes up to aged 8 or something.

This kid just doesn't stop eating. First thing he does at pick up is demand food and his mum/dad/nan hand him over supermarket sandwiches or pasties or similar. Thing is, this isn't unusual. Vast majority of kids walk out of school eating something.

I was really worried as I thought I was doing something wrong by not bringing a snack to pick up but he wouldn't normally eat at that time and has his tea about 90 minutes later.

Between my first born in the late nineties and my last in 2006 I noticed Snacking at activities had gone from rare (and at the end) to on demand.