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.

You can't buy class

And you, presumably, are extremely classy?

Apparently class doesn't mean charm.

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

Really!? That's ridiculous!

yes, hire a 'nice' national trust cottage

i've always fancied going to lanzarote - (well travelled) friends who have been say it's an interesting place to go for a sunny break, and it's affordable with three children.

Illgetmycoat all of the Canary islands are fascinating, and in parts very beautiful. But I imagine most posters are referring to tourists who see the airport, view from the coach and then the swimming pool, bar and buffet of their hotel for the next fortnight. And that tends to be the majority of UK tourists attracted by the AI winter sun deals if they are cheap.

It's hard to deny when you visit places like Playa de las Americas in Tenerife. It took my friend and I a good few hours to find a traditional restaurant with fresh fish, and not one selling McEwans lager and a menu with laminated photos of egg/sausage/chips combinations.

We had to hire a car and get out of the town to really appreciate the island.

Oh ffs is this going to turn into a holiday snobbery thread?

LillianGish I totally agree about not calling a spade a spade.

The sooner people start talking openly about weight issues...especially with their children the better imo.

It shouldn't be a taboo subject...weight gain/loss is a completely natural thing, not some dirty little secret.

And talking openly about it, doesn't necessarily mean your child will develop an eating disorder.

Anyway, obesity is the biggest eating disorder that's affecting over half the population.

I'm not sure what the hell this thread is about but I'm booking a flight to Belgium. Mmmmmm.

Mrsbucket. How incredibly ignorant! You clearly know nothing about architecture.

I beleive there are many factors involved, our binge culture, it's ok to be slobby (not saying that evereyone who is overweight is but it's an attitude we have now, i very rarely see people of say 70+ not smartly dressed they seem to be more disciplined in their whole approach to life), our wanting everything
because we deserve it, and of course food being around all the time and it is easy food to eat prepared for us all we have t do is stuff it in our mouths

we have become spoilt and lazy. the I deserve culture, I have no time (but have time to tv be on the Internet and so on and yes guilty myself) manifests itself in so many ways binge eating, not feeding ourslelves healthy homecooked food and drinking is just one of them

Seriously what a stuck up twat! And stupid too! Amazing!

"You can't buy class"

you would know! since a classy person wouldn't have made your remarks about someone else's holiday

the canary islands are incredibly diverse and have a rich history, the resorts are pretty self contained. It's like saying that the whole of England is like black pool

you're just showing yourself to be rude (i.e. not classy) and a bit thick there!

I was in PDLA last year and had no trouble at all finding seafood and traditional Canarian restaurants. Yes the British cafes were there,but there were plenty of good quality restaurants too.

I had a flat mate from the south of France who was surprised about people's eating patterns when she moved to London. She said that where she is from, people at meals at set times of the day - she had never seen restaurants serving food all day like you get here - and you would never eat in the street. I think we have much more of a street food, eat on the go culture, which I suppose can affect how aware we are of how much we eat. I personally hate eating on the go!

To the person that referred to food as an addiction - for some people it certainly is. It is only through tackling that addiction by seeking help that I have been able to lose the weight that I have.

curious. So how does that work for those who work shifts and unusual hours etc? Wouldn't they miss the "meal slot" and then not be able to eat out all the time?

Getting the thread back on track for a minute...

I think it was during the 90's that all the health/fitness gurus were advising people to throw away their scales and to stop weighing themselves.

I think that was very bad advice because where a lot of us wear leggings/tracksuit bottoms/other elasticated waists...and due to vanity sizing, it's easy to either not know how much weight we've gained, or to just live in denial.

Far easier to keep an eye on weight and then make small changes as it creeps on.

It's not a lot of food each day at all. A portion size in Switzerland is usually half the size of a UK one. I have seen UK family members give their children more food on a plate than the Swiss engineers who come over to use our restaurant from their building across the road.

Most people would have one piece of bread for breakfast with an egg or slice of ham. A yogurt would also be a typical snack in the morning, not everyone eats a croissant daily, apart from one team member!!

In fact the biggest aisle in my local supermarket tends to be the yogurt one! I had never seen so much yogurt before moving here.

Factor in that the average Swiss do at least 30 mins walking a day strolling round the village as a family nosing into everyone's houses and a lot of sports.

Swiss women have the lowest BMI in Europe. It's a consistent average and most eat properly. Very rarely do you see overweight children. They must be getting something right. There are a lot of SAHM here though, with time to shop properly and prepare food from scratch, if that's a factor.

Can I move to Switzerland?

Good question fuckadoodle, not sure how that would work for shift workers - maybe they just have to home cook?

I do remember that when she made me dinner it was always very filling and healthy and always had different courses with small helpings, starting with a salad. She would sip one glass of wine throughout (me being a Scot would have guzzled mine within five minutes and be sat there with an empty glass, too embarrassed to ask for more!)

The biggest change I made which has led to my weightloss is to cut out the snacks. Second biggest differences was cutting out sugar.

So I eat at meal times and that is that. Three times a day, no snacks. I always thought I needed snacks. 8 months later I know that I most definitely don't.

It's so hard though. From what I read on MN, and from the time I have spent with my nieces and nephews, I know they are constantly whinging for snacks. All the time. How can that be dealt with?

"How can that be dealt with?"
ummmm by saying "no"
"no your dinner will be ready in 20 mins"
"no you just had lunch on front of you and you didn't eat it, so you're not getting a treat"

its mostly habit! when DS is in the car when I'm picked up he always asks for food because he knows there's usually something in my lunchbox I haven't eaten. On days when he doesn't pick me up he isn't hungry at that time of day

marmalade it was going back a few years, when I was young, free and single. I did notice on trip advisor last week that there were a lot more restaurants than I remember, and a lot of impressive hotels. However we were in an area that was cheap and the choices were awful.

Then on the last day of our holidays we found the nice beach and the lovely hotels (where all the Swiss, Germans and Italians were, incidentally). There were very few 4 or 5 star options for Brits at the time.

I imagine with the growth of AI and the tendency for the value tourist not to want to leave the "all you can eat" set up, a lot of these Cafes would have gone out of business now, leaving restaurants that trade on quality for the independent traveller?

The landscape and architecture of Lanzarote is quite amazing. There is also a lot of conversation and the island is also a world biosphere reserve too. There is a lot more to the island than finding the cheapest british bar that does a belly buster fry up, but sadly the majority of UK tourists are completely unaware of it.

I have been going to the island for many years, and love it there, but we explore, we go into the capital which does have some very amazing building if you wander around and actually look..

I don't know to be honest. My two children (8 and 5) never ask for snacks but then we have never given them snacks. We did allow them to have some chocolate coins mid-morning on Xmas day and they were amazed!

Although I was morbidly obese (currently 1lb away from being 'overweight') with really bad eating habits (snacking, eating in secret, etc) I have always been strict with the children. For example, both of them still have their Halloween pumpkin buckets sitting on the butchers trolley in the kitchen. Both still have Halloween candy in them (plus some from Christmas). They NEVER ask for or take anything from them. We do let them eat some occasionally but it is as part of a meal - instead of pudding etc.

As a result DS (8) is very slender for his age (can see his ribs), and DD (5) although not as slender as him, still needs adjustable waist trousers and skirts to stop them falling down, and over the summer I had to buy her age 2-3 joggers from Asda. We are definitely NOT a typical family where mum and dad AND children are obese. DH has also lost weight recently and is not far off a healthy BMI now.

I think kids need to know that they won't die if they don't eat the minute they're hungry.

Mine have asked for a snack before...claiming to be 'starving'. I've said yes, then something will happen to distract them...like a friend knocking a the door or something and they'll forget all about the snack they asked for.

'Starving'? yeah right