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.

Really good point curryeater, and yes I think your figures are pretty much right. I am currently trying to restrict myself to a plain hobnob (87 calories)for late-afternoon snack as opposed to a Pret chocolate cookie (381 calories).

The labelling of calories in US fastfood shops is very enlightening - I had no idea until going to NY a couple of years agohow many calories were in a simple bread roll.

Fruedian. I eat all sorts of weird concoctions too but have never managed to convince my children to do the same! They just look at me weirdly!

So is the tuna cold? Peas hot i assume. Peppers? My children love peppers but only eat them raw and not mixed with anything else (going through the fussy stage). One of them will eat salmon and white fish sometimes. The other one ate a fish finger the other day and i was overjoyed just to get some fish in him! I was so happy! (he won't touch nuggets or other foods usually enjoyed by kids, actually he won't touch much)

Ah but then you have the conundrum of not wanting to eat an engangered species

oh shit!

th trial of the middle class housewife! it's a minefield!

This is one thread that is going to be permanently on my 'Watch' list. Contrary to what someone said at the very beginning, this is not going to tip already overweight/obese people over the edge of self-loathing.

In fact, after a few pages reading this thread, i have resisted the cake thats been calling out to me since this morning . Its helpful to look at the wider picture, instead of just talking endless diets and New Year resolutions.

they also have in (sansburys tate the difference more fish that others I have had) wheat flour, wheat gluten, salt, sugar (wtf), yeast , sunflour oil, paprika, white pepper and to,top it off spirit vinegar
They are 70% fish, breadcrumbs 22% the 8% is what I am unsure as above I would have thought was from the breadcrumbs

tinned tuna has tuna, olive oil/sunflower oil/spring water and salt (some quite high in salt)

I really should be doing my essay ......

I went to Disney in Orlando in October for a week and was dreading it from a food point of view. But I managed to lose 2.5lb. Okay, part of that will have been due to the extortionate amount of walking you do around the theme parks, but I made every effort to chose my food wisely and didn't eat between meals (not even an ice-cream or lolly).

I found the restaurants to be incredibly accommodating. I don't eat white flour and cheese which was a problem when everyone opted for an Italian restaurant in Magic Kingdom. I did find a starter I could eat, and ordered that along with a starter salad (minus the croutons and feta cheese). The waitress didn't bat an eyelid about this which is not the experience I've had in this country when trying to modify an order.

I live in a fairly well-off area (Surrey/Hants border) and overweight people are very unusual. Children and teenagers tend to the skinny and athletic and many people, young and old, can be seen every weekend and evening walking, running, cycling and horse riding. Many people grow their own food and shop in markets and local butchers, greengrocers etc.

Travel 20 miles away to various run-down ex-military towns and you will see a very different picture: large numbers of overweight and obese people and a virtual food desert: no independent stores, large supermarkets with decent food inaccessible to those without cars, and fast food shops and Iceland the only option for many people.

Education plays a role, but I suspect the biggest indicator of obesity is poverty.

I wonder if pickled herring still has omega 3? I had that for lunch. What do they do to tuna that takes away its magic omegas?

fuckadoodlepoopoo I don't get what you mean about not getting coke in tins.

I make a basic tomato sauce onions tin toms some herbs paprika peppers peas the add tuna just before serving (not my taste lovely with chicken though)Or cook the peas drain them dice pepper and mix with drained tuna sometime mix with a little mash potato to make tuna fish cakes

The women I live with, about twice or three times a week, gather in one or the other's rooms to eat crisps, sweeties, biscuits, tins of coke

Still not getting it, sorry.

Maybe because a normal kids diet over here consists of: beans, fish and chips, more chips, sausage, mash, more chips, pizza. This is the usual school dinner fare and once kids get used to it it's hard to wean them off it. It's like pub grub for kids and generally considered acceptable food for them.

Having grown up in rural Canada I can say, comparatively, that we don't do a great job of feeding kids fruit and veg over here. Plus exercise and getting kids walking anywhere or riding their bike is pretty rare.

Please don't look at every big person and think that they gorge themselves because take it from me, we don't.

I saw a BBC article last year that stated most overweight people in the UK only eat 10% more than the number of calories they should.

To point that into context: 10% of a diet which should be 1500 calories is only 150 calories.

Thats hardly stuffing your face at all. In fact it suggests there is a very, very fine line between the 'right' amount and the 'wrong' amount.

@freudian sorry that sounds disgusting.

justaholyfool. I think its me being weird. I would call it a can of coke and a tin would be like a tin of quality street etc so i was imagining them drinking coke out of large quality street sized tins.

You see, me being weird!

Need a coffee!

Oh right.

Indeed, if it takes 3500 extra calories to put on a lb in weight, that would be a weight increase of about a stone a year just from those extra 150 calories a day. Far too easily done unless you are careful.

what goes in the fish fingers or my tuna dish

point being I know what is in what I have cooked from scratch. I have even better recipes ds loves salmon with creme fraiche and spinach is vey nice sounds horrible though

williaminajetfighter that's so true - beans, fish and chips, more chips, sausage, mash, more chips, pizza... And if you go in any restaurant that has a 'kids menu' that's what's on it - pizza and chips, fishfingers and chips, sausage and chips. That's 'kids food' - ie cheap food. As if they matter less.

the tuna dish. Sorry but bleugh. Those flavours just don't 'go'.

ibizagirl, I know, I believe you.

bigboobiedbertha, yes I am astonished about Australia and NZ.

In Sainsbury's they display the calories, and everything is a lot. There is hardly a single main meal under 1000 cals. you do see a lot of big people eating there, except the old people (who maybe only eat once a day, eat 1000 cals at lunchtime and then don't have to cook? Hypothesis).

There is some torturous wording relating to the kids' lunchbag: something like "every element has within recommended allowance of fat, salt, sugar," or something. In other words, the whole thing adds up to nearly 700 cals and that is too much, I'm guessing (though I have no idea in cals what kids are supposed to eat, and of course it will vary enormously with age and size). I never buy them because my kids couldn't make a dent in one, but then again, they are very young, so maybe they are suitable for older kids.

DP and I have this conversation every time we go to a place with a kids' menu.

"Shall we get this? kids' starter, main, pudding, drink for £5.95"
"Why? They usually split a kids' pasta, if we start them off with starters etc they won't eat anything else. Also they usually drink tap water. If they say they want pudding we can order that later"
"OK"

Every time. Every time. So we order them a small main to share, maybe some ice cream to share afterwards, and it is never cheaper than the deal with all the dough balls and squash etc. So yes, you do have to go against the grain to eat to appetite

ds likes it

agree with you too sweet for me. is nice with chicken. I experiment with food

becstarlightstarbright, you are so right about kids menus in restaurants. It's all chips, pizza and burgers.