to ask what can or should be done about childhood obesity?

[Bakingtins]

Prompted by this article of which I think the worst bit is not the headline grabbing 24 stone 10 yr old, but the figure that 20% of children are now obese. It's something that I have increasingly noticed at my son's swimming lessons (and those are the kids whose parents do take them swimming) and at school.
Current weighing kids at school and 5-a-day, change-4-life campaigns don't seem to be working. What do you think the government, parenting organisations, the BBC etc. could or should be doing to reverse the trend?

Do you honestly see a lot of overweight children? Either I live in skinnyville or I am walking around with my eyes closed. According to the data in the article 1 in 5 of the children in school with my DC should be obese, and I am pretty sure that they are not. Is there a particular demographic skewing these figures that I am not coming into contact with?

I agree that school 'healthy eating' education is rubbish, or at least can be. My 4 year old son told me that he had been taught that pizza is unhealthy. We make ours from scratch and use at least half wholemeal flour and make our own sauce. MUCH cheaper and definitely not unhealthy, especially when served with salad!

I think we need more exercise? PE in schools, more local swimming pools( our local one has just closed) and more heavily subsidized sports facilities for kids. Our nearest leisure centre cocts me about £16 for a family swim for one hour, roller disco costs us £25 for 2 hours. Surely not many families can afford that on a reguar basis. We walk as much as possible and I encourage cycling, but my 12 year ols son is still on the chubby side. My other kids are skinny and they don't eat any differently so I think there is clearly a genetic issue.

jemima I think kids don't always look overweight but going by bmi they are.

I think kids don't always look overweight but going by bmi they are

But wouldn't a child with a high BMI look a lot larger than a child with a low BMI? An adult who is obese looks considerably different to an adult who is a healthy weight!

The problem comes with what we see as overweight though Jemima, I think we have got so used to seeing children with "a bit of puppy fat" that we no longer see children as being overweight unless they are very overweight.

My friend got a letter from school screening to say her son was overweight. It upset her. He simply doesn't look it

I'm 6ft almost and recently lost weight. Nobody believes me when I give details as I am told I 'carry it well'

Think we have all become used to seeing obesity and don't see the truth, that's my theory anyway

Cross posts sirzy

Hmm, maybe...

But I am used to seeing the lower end of healthy weight children as two of my DC are on the 25th and 2nd percentiles (they are almost 11 and 7). Yes they are slim but they aren't that small in comparison with their friends, which surely they would be if 20% of their peers were obese?

My 14 year old dd is obese. :-(

(Clinically - but if she didn't have 34G boobs her weight might come up as 'overweight' rather than 'obese').

I'm completely at a loss of what to do about it. She was a totally normal weight growing up as are my other younger dc's.

She loves healthy food but sadly, likes junk food and fizzy drinks more, and it's these which have piled the weight on her. I know the answer is to deprive her of pocket money/birthday money so she can't spend it on crap, but it's really hard o do this with a teenager. I CAN'T get her to exercise for love nor money........

Even paediatricians find to hard to eyeball overweight kids. It's one of the reasons they measure them and do the calculations.

Jemimamuddledup "Do you honestly see a lot of overweight children? Either I live in skinnyville or I am walking around with my eyes closed."

You probably live in a relatively prosperous area. In dd's school year, there is one child I would say who is overweight, and she I know has health/sight problems. There's also a couple of boys who are rugby-playing-farmer shape ie solid but all muscle not fat, and that is it. Go 20 miles down the road to the much poorer county town, and you will see loads of overweight dc.

I have no idea what should be done about individual dc, but on a nation-wide level I suspect if you tackle poverty and inequality, you will see obesity levels fall.

From what I have seen, it's processed food which is to blame. Sugar and corn syrup are terrible and people are woofing down food which is full of this. If people stuck to natural foods which have not been altered or added to in ANY way then there wouldn't be such issues.

Fresh meat, fish, veg, fruit, grains and pulses are all that we need. Even dairy is not strictly necessary...I understand that not everyone can breast feed...I couldn't...but once DC get older there is a big misunderstanding about where they can get calcium from...dairy is not the only source at all.

Dairy isn't great for us either when eaten in large quantities. Cakes and treats don't have to be very unhealthy either...better to make your own than eat the rubbish from supermarkets.

Sugar is horrendously addictive and the sugar substitutes are not doing us any favours either , it's eye opening checking the ingredient list and frightening how sugar mounts up.

To really get grip on this obesity epidemic will require millions of pounds to fund literature and publicity akin to the war on fags if you like.

Add in a row between government and teachers over how to fit physical activity into the .9-3 curriculum and it'll be years before something meaningful is committed to.

I can't imagine how a ten year old can be 24 stone tbh, dd is ten and is barely four stone, I can't imagine how even if a child was six inches taller they would have enough of a frame to carry 20 stone extra.I've no idea how you'd address this because it seems so far removed from reality to me.
Funnily enough contrary to recommended advice all mine were fed in a strict routine but none of them have ever been overweight and I have never banned any food. But I've never given snacks routinely and still they only eat breakfast, lunch and dinner and they don't eat sweets (three don't like them at all and the other two wouldn't spend their own money on them and I don't buy them to have in the house).
We try and eat together round the table most days, home cooked food mostly made from scratch like I was fed as a child really only I never comment on whether they have or haven't eaten much whereas as a child I would be expected to eat it all.

Mini I really feel for you and DD. It's so hard with teens because they live in the present so much...when you're obese all your messages are mixed up with regards to food...low energy makes her think she wants crisps or fiz when in fact she doesn't.

In your shoes, I would consider drastic action such as a trip to somewhwere in the middle of nowhere....two weeks should do it...camping even...no shops nearby and only healthy food to eat. Her stomach will shrink and she will re-train her brain to eat the right sorts of foods....it's not possible for everyone of course...2 weeks is a long time to go away and it's expensive...and then it might not work because she has to want to change too.

Classy I agree...and pricing is all wrong. It should be VASTLY expensive to buy a pack of frozen eclairs or some processed pies...and massively cheap to buy fresh veg and fruit and fish.

Mini I'm sorry you and your dd are having a tough time.

It's breaking that sugar habit isn't it, it really is a shit addiction. I have it with ds1-18 , not with a weight issue but a skin one, he had awful spots and he won't give up the foods which hamper him.

It's a huge battle, I wish I could give you a good answer.

There is lots of research that has shown grazing is a much healthier way to eat.
boy oh boy do I want to see the medically peer reviewed link for that ....

Minifingers
all I can suggest is that you and your DD start a challenge : see who can go for 5 hours between eating the most times (the fridge will tell the truth) in a week
as interestingly moving away from grazing / snacking makes your body use the calories much better
also ask her - even now - which slebs she wants to look like at 30 : as if she has fizzy drinks every day it ain't gonna be the skinny ones

(PS my profile pic shows what I look like at 48 and the other shows what I looked like at 33 .... it can be done)

Talkin Exactly...our dentist told us not to let the kids graze as it buggers up their teeth. However....a teenage girl going for 5 hours without eating is just an eating disorder waiting to happen. Silly idea that.

Well done talkingpeace v inspirational .

Btw I have v slim children, who are extremely active and graze constantly, but eat relatively small main meals, don't drink anything except water and no crisps or biscuits at all at home, hate fizzy drinks. Snacks are nuts/fruit type things. I am trying to wean them off breakfast cereals and toast with jam/honey, and onto eggs or porridge. One is v resistant, but given that he's solid muscle with all ribs visible, I don't know whether to just leave him to it! I'm not convinced individual anecdotes about eating patterns tell us much.