to think that people who feed their kids junk to the point they are obese should be visited by social services?!

[sawdusty]

It makes me so angry when you see these morbidly obese children (fat from food, not any other medical reason) waddling around and there mums buying them more bars of chocolate and packets of crips, wtf are they DOING?!

I think the rising obesity is an important issue that is really getting brushed under the carpet as people are too scared politically correct. It now rivals smoking for the biggest cause of health problems in the UK and is starting to affect more and more children, alarm bells anyone?! It's not about fatty bashing but addressing important health issues.

ronshar totally agree

ronshare totally agree. If you can cook, you take control of what you eat. It's cheaper too!

My dream : every kid leaves school able to
shop to a budget and cook 10 basic meals - soups, stews, stir fries etc etc. How about getting in local chefs to offer help and inspiration?

Never going to happen is it?

I haven't cut out any food, and have no intention of doing so, I just no longer have things lying about the house. They are bought and eaten there and then, mainly on weekends.

I really think it's worse to have to constantly say no, and possibly explain why and create that negativity around the 6 pack of crisps/pack of biscuits/loaf of bread, than just not to have them there and say, 'we haven't any crisps, help yourself to fruit and we'll buy some kettle chips/bake cakes/go to the bakery on Saturday if you like'.

I haven't mentioned DD's weight or size to her, it's not a massive issue now, but I think would be if I didn't act.

I'd rather do this and never have to mention it, than let it get to a point where I do, or worse someone else makes an issue of it.

I bet they could cover the costs if they stopped paying out for gym memberships!
Maybe they should make an NHS workout DVD instead?!

muggglewump sounds like a good plan to me, glad it's working well

Mugglewump. I want to say to you that I do exactly the same with my DD1. She is 11 now but she would quite happily sit and eat all day. Anything she can get her hands on she would eat. She knows about healthy eating. They have covered it extensively at school. (shows what a waste of teaching time that is)

I try not to nag but now just dont have stuff in the house.

Some people just dont have an off switch. It isnt a reason. It is an excuse.
So is the nonsense about having a low income. It all comes down to an inability to cook a meal from scratch. Knowing which cuts of meat are the cheapest and most tasty.
EG Neck of lamb. Cheap and easy to do all kinds of things to!

I suppose it isnt as easy as popping open a bag of crisps and shoving a ready meal in the microwave!

I actually agree with mugglewump's approach. I think it's better to let children have a free rein in what they choose to eat, but with limited choices in the cupboards (so, not lots of crisps lying around, not bread if she feels her daughter just eats and eats it, not lots of choccy bars). The alternative is to have all that fattening stuff in the house, and let those children who find it difficult to regulate their portions or know when they are full just munch away on it and become really overweight. As long as she can have some of these foods on the weekend and they are not 'forbidden', just not what you eat daily, I don't see the alternative if you have a child who just eats and eats and IS gaining weight.

I don't think all limiting of food choices at home is 'controlling'. I don't have forbidden foods at home, but I try to have as much choice around good snacks as possible, so nuts, fruit, bread (mine don't eat too much), the odd bowl of cereal. But the latest thinking on nutrition is that large quantities of bread and cereal are very fattening and I think our national average BMI reflects this. Limiting those foods a bit and encoraging eating more protein seems to me sensible and not 'controlling', that's how lots of thinner people stay thin (I know, that's how I used to stay thin!)

Since when did control become a bad word?

Self control has alot going for it!

Totally agree, I think it's about what you have available in the cupboards and what you cook for meals rather than having rubbish in the house and denying it to your child, it doesn't need to be a big deal and often all it takes are a few small lifestyle alterations

I also think if people are too afraid to put out only reasonably healthy food in front of their children for fear of being 'controlling' or provoking 'anorexia' then it's a massive over-simplification about what it means to have anorexia. You can't be slim without making healthy choices (i.e. I'm not going to eat takeaways every night, I'm going to only have chocolate occasionally or whatever). This isn't a restriction, it's finding a path within the opportunities for endless consumption of crap food. You have to do that, otherwise you do just get overweight at some point in your life.

I'm sure there are families in which food is a massive issue and comes under the 'overcontrolling' banner, but people criticize parents who overfeed, feed junk, try to limit the choices to healthy, it's hard to see how parents can win in this situation as they appear to be blamed for their children being overweight adults, whatever they do!

over weight people need serious cardio training, i dont know if you could do that too a child

Let's just put them all in the stocks. That'll learn them.

In fact - let's throw things at them in the street.

For your information - my gym membership is paid for by myself, I refused subsidized ones just because of obnoxious attitudes like some on here. I avoided even HAVING a GP for over a year - lest I got accused of wasting resources. Are you refusing help the NHS wants to give YOU because of the way you're judged - or is that just for the overweight too?

It's the three hours between arriving home from school and eating dinner where DD will stuff herself silly if allowed to.
I know she is hungry, but I also know she will overeat, not want much dinner and then want to snack again before bed.
She also will not overeat fruit, most kids tend to find they are less hungry than they thought when you point them at the fruitbowl!
She'll have two or three pieces which is fine and won't ask for anything else because it's not there and she's no longer hungry.
It was becoming a constant battle ground with the sandwiches/crisps/biscuits and I couldn't stand it, so I got rid of them.
There's no negativity around food now, and it was becoming an issue.

She'll then eat a normal sized portion of dinner at 6ish, with fruit or yoghurt available after if she wants.

I don't really think healthy when it comes to meals, I think balanced, not too big portions of the protein and carbs and plenty of veg.

This is our food plan for the week C&P from another thread:
Monday-Roast, stuffed breast of lamb with roast trimmings.

Tuesday- Nigella's salmon and cous cous

Wednesday- Jamie's Piri piri chicken with rice and peas

Thursday- Slow cooker falafel in wraps with salad and yoghurt sauce.

Friday- Nigella's turkey meatballs.

Saturday-Takeaway

Sunday- Gammon in slow cooker with cauli and broc cheese.

Pretty balanced I reckon, and of course there'll be treats slipped in at the weekend if DD asks for them.

Has anyone mentioned MEND and Mini-MEND? I've not seen them here.

MEND is a nutrition and exercise course for children 7-13 with a parent. t's brilliant and you can self refer -or ask a HV or school nurse to refer. I did it with my son and it was fab.
The course is free and lasts a term - usually one to 2 evenings a week. Website is here

I think it's to do with portion sizes too - my DPs family have maaasssive portions, his mum is always trying to lose weight but her portions are huge. They really hate wasting food and I always get funny looks when I don't clear my plate. I'm a short arse so do not need the same amount of food as DP who is 6ft and built like a rugby player.
I don't like it when kids are forced/coeresed into finishing every scrap, I never did it and have never been over weight.
Most of my family aren't either apart from my big sister and she's really hot on clearing her plate and waste not want not.

Agree very strongly with ronshar too re:cooking skills

Sorry - I'm moving into Mugglewump's house! I am intrigued by the slow cooker loving - mine only does soup/chilli/casseroles cos all the recipes are American poo which involves shoving lots of pre-made stuff together!

slow cooker felafel
That's my favourite ever recipe, and if you make extra they freeze well.
The gammon is easy, just bung in, cover with water and leave all day.
I use the stock to make carrot and lentil soup, which is basically bunging onion/carrot/lentils back in slow cooker once the stock is strained and fat removed.
Also leave all day and then blend if you like.
That freezes really well too, and I'll make a carbonara with some of the leftover meat.

Yes, Ronshar, and while we are at it sort out portion sizes (waaaay too big) and then just BAN all that shit the supermarkets sell, especially the stuff 'on offer'

Next time you walk into a supermarket, see what is deliberately placed end isle to tempt you (impulse buying). It is all total shite

I am going to start a campaign: 'Resist the End Isle'

There is no excuse for fat bashing, gay bashing, disabled bashing full stop.

However, eating/drinking crap and not exercising is probably the most pressing health issue around at the moment in terms of sheer numbers of people involved and the potential impact on health services now nd in the future: this applies to skinny people too so I cannot see what's it's got to do with fat bashing.

And children's eating and exercising habits are more under scrutiny because if you have an unhealthy diet and do not do exercise as a kid, it becomes far harder to pick up the right habits as an adult.

Is the NHS response to such health issues adequate? Certainly not. But even if they had a perfect response lined up this would be useless for kids if parents are not willing to co-operate or do not think this is important. In this sense, the support of other agencies could be helpful (through parenting activities etc) - as things stand though I am unsure SS will ever have the resources to do this...

Shit, but it's aisle isn't it?

Resist the End Aisle

Ty mugglewump - will add them to my recipe file if I ever find where I packed it! Love slow cooker stuff - it's an absolute godsend when I'm out tutoring till 8 at night, when something's actually cooked and ready we're much less likely to wimp out and ring for takeaway!

I couldn't cook till I was 29/30... was actually the Jamie Oliver Ministry of Food programme that got me trying stuff out - we'd decided we wanted a kid and assumed one would come along (feel free to laugh now at our naivety) and I didn't want to be the kebab woman on there.

I taught myself to cook when DD was a baby. I was feeding her jars and didn't want to carry on doing that.

I have Jamie's MOF too, I've made most things in it more than once, it's my most used recipe book.

emptyshell I am genuinly curious, what is it you find obnoxious? The fact that I think free gym memberships are expensive for the NHS and don't help solve the obesity problem? That I don't think teh NHS has the resources to deal with everybodys self confidence/self esteem issues? That healthy cooking should be taught in school? That I lost weight by eating less junk and becoming more active? That I think years ago ignorance caused my husbands and fathers teeth to rot and that people have no excuse to be as ignorant nowadays? That obesity is a serious health issue that is putting peoples health at risk?? Please tell me what you find obnoxious.

If you refuse the help the NHS is offering you then of course that is your choice but do you not think it would be better to take on board what your doctor is telling you?!