To have come back from Lanzarote feeling geuinely shocked at how fat the British tourists were?

[Illgetmycoat]

I'm not talking slightly plump, I mean seriously, morbidly obese. A whole different race to the German, French and Spanish tourists.

What is going on? When did our country become like this? Whenever you heard a british accent, it would be accompanied by a 3ft wide backside. And whole families, too, all swollen to gargantuan size, with the poor kids unable to put their feet together because of the rolls of fat on their legs.

How has this happened? What the heck are the Brits feeding their children to get them so large? How can you feed an eight year old you love so much food that they become morbidly obese?

It can't just be blamed on poverty, because it's not cheap going to Lanzarote.

I was shocked.

Pixel - thats what a lot of childrens livescare like now I dont think much has changed from when I was growing up

I think a combination of factors ontributes to this.

One is the prevalence of convenience food. There is no respect for proper food, it has to quick and cheap.

When I grew up, on the continent, my mum always cooked proper food, home made biscuits, and my dad cooked twice a week. They even made their own bread. Nothing was " forbidden" as lng as it was quality food. So no cheap and nasty chocolate, no fizzy drinks ( but 1 glass of juice a day was fine), crisps only at birthday parties. And lvely homemade cakes.

To offer the family good quality food requires dedication and time, whoch most couples do not have as both work.

I am grateful to have been raised with an appreciation for food, and therefore craving those same proper foods I had in my youth ( minestrone soup, home made lasagna, beef stroganoff, lots of wonderful salads, the big treat that is panfried piece of fish and fresh spinach). I am almost imune to junk food as a result, it does not hit my pleasure buttons.

This is not just some personal remeniscing. food companies know that people crave what they ate in their youth, and target kids.

Interestingly, McDonalds barely makes a profit on their happy meals, however, it teaches kids that mcD is a treat, and they will crave it when older! It is their long term strategy. It seems to work. I am not making this up.

It is like the, for foreigners, incomprehensible passion Brits have for Cadbury's, a very mediocre poor quality chocolate, that they like as that is what chocolate was like when they were kids.

Partly, we are being played by large corporations who have done thorough psycological research!

Yanbu. I think its really sad, I'm not sure why people are so fat but perhaps it's a cultural thing - more and more fast food and convenience food? Perhaps as its getting more common people feel its the norm to be big?

I grew up in the 70's and I only remember there being two overweight children in my entire primary school. I live near a primary school now and would say that easily 25% of the children who go there are overweight.

I would blame it on lack of exercise (more cars, more television, more neurotic parents who dont let their children play out) and a crap diet.. (takeaways were virtually unheard of in the 70s and the chip shop was an occasional treat for most.. very little processed food, pizza, ready meals etc.. we all ate a much healthier and basic diet).

I actually DON'T think its the chips, crisps and chocolate
I actually think its the things inbetween that that people think are "healthy" opions: fruit shoots, cereal bars etc

at least with chips, crips and chocolate people know it's not great, IMO the big problem is that so many people in the UK think they're being really healthy if they have a fat free (sugar/sweetner filled) yogurt, cereal bar and "sugar free" drink for lunch, or a processed "healthy"/"diet"/"fuller longer"/WW ready meal - it's all crap, but it's deceptive crap and I'm constantly amazed at how many otherwise intelligent people buy into it!

I agree.. its all the "healthy snacks".. you dont actually need to eat them in the first place...

and a phobia of perfectly healthy in moderation whole foods just because they're high calorie (but filling and "good value" nutrition wise), like full fat milk and nuts etc

@ pixel and meglet.
Oh yes, I have seen those threads too, where posters get flamed for making their children run. Humans are supposed to run! And when it's your mode of transport, you can't always dawdle.
Agree with oldebaglady about the "healthy" snacks.
Petit filous, cereal bars, cheese strings. It's all junk. Cake is fine if you make it yourself, especially because when you make it you know that you put shedloads of butter in it, and it makes you a bit more wary!

I have lost 81.5lbs over the last 8 months. I still have just over 2st to go to get to the top of the healthy BMI range (I HATE being so short!). Now people are starting to tell me that I shouldn't lose any more because I'll be too thin. Yet I still register as obese (only 1lb to go to be 'overweight'). So I think people have over time adjusted in their mind what they consider to be 'normal'.

Congratulations Willow and of course you should keep going to a healthy BMI!

I agree will WillowFae, and super well done on losing so much weight.
I am small (5 feet) and was a size 8 and looked OK, but according to weight charts I was overweight, so with eating well and lots of exercise I lost a stone and now I'm in the top quarter of healthy range, I could do with losing a couple more pounds to get to the middle of healthy. Yet I keep being told don't lose more, you'll be too thin, the sense of what healthy weight looks like is warped beyond belief.
My Dd is tall and heavy, on the charts she is only a smidge off obese, and the doctor kept telling me she looked good She looks lovely to me too, but I know she's overweight. So all snacks are gone except fresh fruit and veg and juice once or less a day, lots of water and she's already very active. I just hope she'll grow height wise into the weight.

SquinkiesRule I had exactly the same with my DS2

He was fairly slim but with a visibly large belly and when he took part in the National Weight and Measure Program in year 6, his BMI was within normal range.

But you'd have to be blind to see that he wasn't getting fat...therefore DH and I made sure he got a lot more exercise and we cut back on the unhealthy snacks.

We knew he was the least 'mobile' of our 3 DS's because he never wanted to play out with his brothers and he didn't like PE or any kind of sport... preferring to read and play his violin/guitar.

He's in year 9 now, very slim and healthy...but we could quite easily have hidden our heads in the sand and said "Oh well, we have proof his BMI is fine so not to worry".

As someone said above, a 5'7"" woman has to be 11st 7lbs to be in the overweight category for BMI. That's pretty generous. I am 5'7"" and was fat at 11st 5lbs, despite being pretty athletic. Not fat as in "not looking good in skinny jeans" but fat as in "spare tyre and that shelf of flab above my butt".

BMI normal range of 20-25 is basically the "being this weight wont have any negative effect on your health" not the "this is an ideal weight for you" category.

BMI above 25 may have negative health impact. BMI above 30 may have serious health impact.

However, how these categories are being perceived, plus the multiple excuses around them mean that people stay in denial - "Well Jonny Wilkinson would be obese according to BMI"- Yes but are you sculpted out of twisted steel? No? Right then.

So we as a nation need to lose weight. That's an undeniable fact. But, the other interesting thing is how, despite being fact, we demonise it so much, which is really unhelpful and can only perpetuate the problem of disordered eating. I am reading "How to be a Woman" and Caitlin Moran makes a really interesting point about women and overeating- how it is the "responsible person's addiction". If you're a crack addict or an alcoholic, you're going to struggle to get the kids to school on time, go to work, etc etc. But if you overeat, you get the same hit/comfort without the "can't help you with homework cos I'm passed out on the sofa" side effects.

Also, I cant help but think that the number of people who no longer smoke has something to do with it- not that I'm advocating that he all get back on 20 Bensons a day, but perhaps we've just swapped one crutch for another, and one public health problem for another

I think you tend to notice your own 'type' when abroad especially the fat/loutish/drunk/sunburnt Brits abroad. There were probably equally as many fat Dutch or German tourists who didn't feature on your radar.

I am always amazed by how many parents on MN refuse to let their children have school dinners, because the portions are too small.

Now I'm not saying that school dinners are the be all and end all of healthy eating, but they are assessed for nutritional content. Perhaps that is exactly what a normal size portion (for a primary aged child) is meant to look like.

I'm not convinced that the contents of the lunch boxes are much healthier, because I think that the majority of packed lunches are full of processed foods.

I agree it's got lot to do with people not walking much. Saying that....I'm in Oz atm and it's been 7 yeaars since I last came. There has been a massive growth in overweight people and here nobody has EVER walked anywhere....I notice though that the portion sizes are HUGE and that there are many fast food places....its a bit like the USA.

I went to get DD a packet of crisps and there were only family bags available...cans of coke are huge at 375mls and a bowl of chips in the pub that we ordered as a little snack came in a washing up bowl sized dish. Literally. 2 adults and 2 kids only made a hole in the pile.

LucilleBluthThu 10-Jan-13 12:09:54

We lived abroad for five years, we came home last year.

One of the first things that I noticed is how large people had become in the five years we were away. I used to be walking down the high street and it seemed like every other person was busting out of a pair of leggings or jeans......now this is obviously just my personal observation and in no way intended to offend

And what hit five years ago?!!! Oh yes ...the recession.

tulipgrowerThu 10-Jan-13 19:55:37

Our local Christmas market was visited by schools groups from all over western Europe. The UK kids can easily be identified by their size.

Interestingly the UK OAP groups were usually slimmer than their other European equivalents

Ah yes the UK OAP groups. The group who has been most protected from the cuts. Coincidence??!!!

what do you expect, you went to Lanzarote?
there was an article in the press recently stating that Britain had the most number of obese people in all of Europe.

Dont know why posters were accusing OP of fat bashing. Its true. When living abroad, i felt like a birrova porker at size 10, every time i came back here, felt like a sex godess. We moved back and were stunned. But our diet has changed massively subce we came home, eating far more stodge.

Its so much easier to eat properly in europe, fish and veg are far cheap and better quality there. And mcDonalds will set you back eight quid, no bad thing.

I honestly don't think it's "recession".

I think it's probably more to do with the giant portions and crappy food outlets on every street corner. I believe Belgium has one, maybe two Gregg's ? NL has none as far as I know.

My nearest Starbucks is in another country - that's what? 800 calories on a drink & muffin?

I roll off the ferry in Dover and sometimes stop on the motorway for a coffee and de-stress - the donuts are the size of a plate!

Both my sister in laws are overweight. I recently spent Xmas with one and she kept saying 'oh I never touch chocolate' the next minute she had consumed a box full.
A lot of people just lie to themselves I think about how much they eat.
We went to Disneyland Paris last year and I'm afraid I won't be going back. The sheer gluttony of Brits at Buffett meals made me embarrassed. Obviously no regard for how foods taste together on your plate just sheer bloody quantity. It's euro camp for us this year and civilised mealtimes.

DOlomites, LOL at Belgium only having one Greggs...

That may be true, but one of the things I love about Belgum is the chips ( fried in beef dripping) with full fat mayo, and lots of beers...it is not exactly a healthy eating paradise ( we go there specifically as a treat because of all the food, beer and chocs! The chocs!)

There is no point having Greggs in Belgium as there are far better options

I had a depressing trawl through the shops yesterday for some school trousers for DD (12). She is slim and it is very difficult to find trousers long enough and slim enough for her. M & S tend to cater for the chunkier child. BHS has loads of "larger size" trousers, but no slim fit. Asda are always too big and Next don't keep school uniform at this time of year. They are obviously catering for the average sized child, who these days is a lot larger than DD is.

I will have to go to a specialist school clothes shop.

For jeans and casual trousers DD wears an adult size 6, but I can't find any adult size 6 trousers suitable for school. I also find that a size 6 is smaller than most trousers for 11/12 year olds and upwards.

I'm afraid that I agree with the OP that in general when we have been on holiday abroad the English visitors tend to be recognisable by the fact that they are larger than their European counterparts. And we tend to holiday away from the traditional tourist destinations and avoid AI holidays like the plague.

I see a lot of obese people in our local town, but not so much where we live, which is a fairly affluent area.