To have found this blog about childhood obesity intensely smug and annoying?

[MalenkyRusskyDrakonchik]

agirlcalledjack.com/2013/06/13/dont-blame-poverty-for-your-childs-obesity/

Is it just me ... what kind of la la land does she live in, where everyone who is struggling for money lives in a nice house with a cooker and has plenty of time from not working two jobs to bake bread?

What she is describing is the sort of sensible cost-cutting I would expect most people who're struggling for money but not absolutely on the bones of their arses could do. I get what she's saying, I do, but the smug tone coupled with the failure to realize that quite a lot of very poor people don't actually have good enough cooking facilities to do what she describes is getting me down.

Am I being mean?

Plus the 'chicken to feed a family for a week' makes me slightly suspect her of embroidered truth.

[Quangle]

Not sure where this leaves me cos I love chick pea curry, but preferably made by someone else (ie the takeaway)

I'm obviously disgusting, but rich.

[expatinscotland]

I use tinned pulses.

[FasterStronger]

www.amazon.co.uk/Not-On-Label-Really-Plate/dp/0141015667?tag=mumsnet&ascsubtag=mnforum-21

manufactured bread is generally lacking vitamins home made bread contains. www.amazon.co.uk/Not-On-Label-Really-Plate/dp/0141015667?tag=mumsnet&ascsubtag=mnforum-21 this book explains the science behind this fact.

(all the nutritious stuff is fed to cows, leaving the crap stuff for people!)

[LeGavrOrf]

I agree with you malensky. Incredibly smug and written from a rather middle class ivory tower. I like you anyway, who did you used to be?

[Kiriwawa]

How exactly is she helping people by telling them they're fat, poor and stupid?

[imademarion]

And a lot of people don't want to learn..

IMO it should be as compulsory as literacy and numeracy.


No, it's not going to taste like a takeaway.

Thank fuck. .

[Elquota]

Switched off after "Enter me, stage left, mother of one Small Boy that eats about as much as I do"

[BaconKetchup]

Kiriwawa

Can't see where she's calling people stupid in there.

She's helping by explaining that there ARE ways of eating healthily on a small budget which people might not have thought of before.

[meglet]

Her kidney bean and carrot veggie burgers are good, although I added an egg to bind them.

[ubik]

DP makes a fabulous chickpea curry.



The fact is that the population is getting fatter. Poverty is factor but so is the abundance of food available everywhere. Many middle class children are fat as well- there's just loads of food about and we are programmed to eat as much as poss.

[Kiriwawa]

Don't you think this is implying people are a bit stupid?

But there seems to be an attitude among my generation, and some of the generation before mine, that you can stab some plastic with a fork, put it in the microwave for three minutes, and entrust your health and wellbeing to whatever happens to be in that plastic carton.

I?ve got news for you all. Supermarkets do not create their ready meals with your health and wellbeing in mind. They use them as places to harbour all of the trimmings and ugly things that you absolutely wouldn?t buy from a supermarket shelf in their natural state (testicles, eyeballs, horse, chicken pumped with water and bread full of chemicals, and sweeteners that are used as a chemical weapon in some quantities) and put them in a box labelled I Will Save You Time. And, ?Look How Easy Dinner Can Be? and ?Takes 7 Minutes In The Microwave?.

It's incredibly patronising and it's not going to give anyone a lightbulb moment.

[LeGavrOrf]

She is probably one of those tiresome people who would say to an overweight person that in order to lose weight they need to 'eat less, move more' like they are some kind of Oracle and nobody has ever said that before.

[ShadeofViolet]

If food prices are increasing, how does she manage to spend £10 on her food shopping now, if in that BBC article £10 didnt buy her anything?

There is another website with a meal planner to feed a family of 4 for £50 which is much better imo.

[DoubleLifeIsALifeHalved]

personally, i think she has indulged in a bit of simplistic thinking and played into the hands of the overarching discourse of 'the poor do it to themselves'. I really hope this is not her actual opinion, as it seems such a waste of a good role model - few and far between.

I dont think anyone on this thread is saying 'yes 'the poor' will be obese and lets give up on that'!

The reality is that there is an obesity problem, yes, and also, yes, its possible to eat more healthily than a lot of people do even on benefits. However that does not and should not result in a blame the poor attitude and tell them off, which is being used to excuse a lot of dreadful things at the moment.

The skills gap is clearly an issue, in cooking, and also menu planning, nutrition and budgeting.

The resources gap is also clearly an issue. If you don't have a cooker, or alternatives such as a slow cooker/ grill/ bread maker etc, or constant source of electricity to use these... then no matter what your skills, it will be incredibly hard to keep your family eating healthily.

Same goes for having money for an initial outlay of pans and equipment, spices and store cupboard items. If you start from absolutely nothing, then the barriers to getting yourself into a position where you can cook smart are high. Councils used to give start up bursaries to buy things like cookers etc, but as with so many things, this help has been cut.

Also add in the mental and emotional strain of being in a dire situation day after day. As someone else has said on this thread, doing this for a week is not in any way the same as living like this forever...

Then think about the environment in which people are living in poverty, the damp, and the cold, their food needs are different from someone living in a warm dry pleasant and healthy place. If your house is foul and virtually unliveable in, then you spend as much time out of it as possible, if you are permanently cold and your children too, then you look for hot and instant food to alleviate the misery. If your life is miserable then why not 'treat' yourself and your children with cheap and 'fun' food? Not saying this is a long term way of living, but I can see how the short term benefits can lock you into an unhealthy way of life.

I think someone who manages well in these circumstances is to be applauded, and held up as a great role model. I do not think that that one person should then become the benchmark of what everyone else should be expected to do or else... turning the exceptional into the base standard is not in any way helpful.

[expatinscotland]

The what is helpful? Because hand-wringing and excuses aren't.

[FasterStronger]

takeaways etc. provide instant gratification. healthy foods generally don't. delaying gratification is an important lifeskill that plays a major determinant in outcomes for children, at income levels.

if your parents don't teach it to you, I don't know how you learn it though.

[FudgefaceMcZ]

It's smug, and also a bit delusional to pretend that poor people are eating egg mcmuffins every day ffs. I have seen the blog before and noticed then that the costing was not done properly as it only counts the portion of something used, not necessarily ensuring no leftovers or waste so in fact the cost may well be higher. It's also not a good diet for a preschool child, any more than a McTakeaway one is, because it is far too high in indigestible fibre and low calorie-density. There's a reason the NHS advises full fat milk/dairy for young children- and in fact one of mine was still underweight on that, so although I have no personal experience of childhood obesity, I have experience of the other side of it where a child can need to be supplemented with high-calorie foods which is not possible on £10 a week. Not that anyone in a rich country like the UK should be living on £10 a week anyway, and it's disingenuous of her to claim poverty has nothing to do with obesity when inequality is in fact one major causal driver of it (see The Spirit Level, much better researched than some daft blog). Of course it's good to eat as healthily as possible, but it's also important not to pretend this can be done on fresh air and window herbs, because it can't.

[BaconKetchup]

I agree, expat.

[FudgefaceMcZ]

expat: What is helpful is stopping supporting poor-bashing rhetoric and instead moving towards a more Scandinavian, equality based system. That's much easier than pretending to be fine on £10 a week, and the people who can do it are in more of a position to take action too.

[FasterStronger]

Scandinavian countries are moving towards the uk.

they also have a contributory benefits system with some people qualifying for higher benefits than others.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unemployment_benefits#Sweden

"Unemployment benefits are divided into a voluntary scheme with income related compensation up to a certain level and a comprehensive scheme that provides a lower level of basic support. The voluntary scheme requires a minimum of 12 months membership and a certain degree of employment during that time before any claims can be made"

[Trills]

What would you think to having Jack in for a webchat? Then you can ask her these questions "in person", as it were.

[BaconKetchup]

Fudgeface right...
I think Jack wrote her post with the current situation in mind, helping those who actually are poor right now, rather than just wishing we can magically be like Sweden.

[DamnBamboo]

It's very smug, almost patronising post and many of the issues she raises and makes comments on, I doubt she has much knowledge of at all.

I like a lot of what she has done/is doing though so will read her blog with interest to see how it progresses in light of 1) her new found fame and improved wealth and 2) the wrath of mumsnetters

[BaconKetchup]

I have a sneaking suspicion that the 'wrath of mumsnetters' won't make the slightest bit of difference judging by how well she's done so far.

[Oblongata]

I'd rather see some actual help being given (early education? bursaries? planning laws changed so there's more than a petrol station shop in a huge built-up area) than people writing, once again, 'oh ffs poor people, if I can do it then it stands to reason that you don't because you are lazy and possibly stupid as well'
Which always plays well to one sector of the population but is actually just narrow-mindedness masquerading as common sense.