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?

[Talkinpeace]

NeoMaxiZoomDweebie
a teenage girl going for 5 hours without eating is just an eating disorder waiting to happen
_utter bollocks - they do it every night.

[insanityscratching]

Five hours is easily doable I think at home mine eat 7.30, 1pm, 6pm. At school they eat 7am, 12 noon, 5.30pm. They are offered fruit as snacks at school morning break which dd rarely takes at home I wouldn't offer a snack and they wouldn't ask much like they don't ask when they get home from school because they have always only eaten main meals even as pre schoolers.

[Talkinpeace]

Seriously.

You feed them a good protein rich breakfast am 7am (before school)
eggs : milk : yoghurt : fruit : cereal
they eat lunch at school at around 12:30
sandwich : fruit : drink
they come home and have a pint of water
around 6:30 you feed them a big meal of meat / fish / pulses and carbs and veg followed by fruit based pudding

kids at private schools tend to have bigger lunches and smaller suppers

snacks are ONLY needed before 1hr+ of sport

[loopydoo]

I actually think snacking is the main cause. Grazing all day, between meals is now the norm; brought in by the health visiting profession.

We were always starving and really ready for lunch and dinner and couldn't wait for my cereal and toast in the mornings. In autumn at school, they sold us an apple for a penny but other than that, we didn't have snacks at school either.

We weren't constipated like so many of today's children are either; this is because we ran around and were in the fresh air a lot more. I reckon kids of the 70s, 80s are actually quite healthy adults; before play stations and cbeebies on 24/7. Having only 4 tv channels meant we didn't have the choice of watching great stuff all the time, whenever we wanted. We had to play or be bored.

[Talkinpeace]

as all of the people on the 5:2 threads will tell you, my motto is
NO SNACKING

[NeoMaxiZoomDweebie]

Talkin they do it while they Sleep! Not in a deliberate and misguided effort to loose weight. The menu you describe doesn't leave any 5 hour gaps as far as I can see.

[insanityscratching]

talkin that's pretty much how mine eat and when. I think your body gets used to eating at certain times and then doesn't crave snacks. It works for us anyway.

[Minifingers]

She goes all day without eating, then spends her lunch money on fried chicken and a coke on the way home.

If I tell her to take a packed lunch she refuses and eats nothing until she gets home, then binges on cheese and toast. When we go to bed she gets up and makes herself microwave cake in the middle of the night.

She really is catastrophically lazy and greedy and attempts to make her change have caused so much grief I've sort of given up.

She's lying on the floor now demanding a kebab - complaint that the kedgeree I've made is disgusting. She's had crisps and a fizzy drink (at MIL's house) tonight.

[Talkinpeace]

7am - 12.30pm = 5hrs 30 mins
12.30 - 6.30 = 6 hours
maths is clearly not your strong point
as 6.30 to 7am is also a 13 hour gap

[Talkinpeace]

minifingers
then binges on cheese and toast. When we go to bed she gets up and makes herself microwave cake in the middle of the night.
what with if that food was not in the house?
She's lying on the floor now demanding a kebab - complaint that the kedgeree I've made is disgusting.
good oh, she can spend her pocket money on it and then its gone
you do restrict the amount of cash in the house don't you
(playing fair went out with the waistband)

[mymatemax]

Hardly anyone walks to school, everyone drives everywhere. Kids spend too long in front of screens instead of walking to a friends house after Tea or meeting down the park.
So many smaller schools have closed meaning many more children ware bussed etc.
Shope weren't open all day every day
Parents cooked what was in the cupboard
Dessert was a treat after sunday lunch

As a society we are lazier and more static.
Too much convenience & crap food and too little exercise.

Its not rocket science just a change in attitude that's needed

BTW I don't practice what I preach

[insanityscratching]

When did the idea of snacking start? My eldest is 26 and even though you were advised to wean at 4 months the aim was always three meals and a bottle before bed. I was never advised to offer a snack in between.

[NeoMaxiZoomDweebie]

12.30 to 6.30 without food is FAR too long Talkin. It's far better to have finished eating for the evening by 6.30 ish. We don't; need to eat while we sleep so I'm not sure why you're mentioning that.

[NeoMaxiZoomDweebie]

And Talkin what's more as a recovered Anorexic I think I know what I am talking about when I say that encouraging teens to starve for hours in order to lose weight and ESPECIALLY suggesting that Mini makes a competition out of it is beyond stupid...as is asking a 14 year old which "sleb" she wants to look like. Really awful advice

[HeySoulSister]

I can remember my excitement when aged 7 in 1975 my mother ( pregnant at the time) cut an apple in half and we shared it.... We were somewhere between lunch and dinner. And the 'snack' was born..

[UnevenTan]

Mini have you had medical advice about dd? The pattern of behaviour you are describing sounds really concerning

[Talkinpeace]

neomaxi
you are talking utter bilge
most of the world eat supper much later than the British (10pm in Spain), with lunch around the same time and no snacks
much of the world do not eat lunch (regardless of ramadan)

what on earth makes you think people cannot last 6 hours without filling their faces

[insanityscratching]

Why though Neo is it too long? It's what we all do here and what we have done since they were small probably two or three. My reasoning would be that if they were hungry they would ask. They don't ask so why would you give food that wasn't asked for?

[HeySoulSister]

I have 3 teens who happily go without for 5 hours at a time, what's the issue?

[NeoMaxiZoomDweebie]

see who can go for 5 hours between eating the most times

THAT is "bilge" talkin as is Ask her which slebs she wants to look like

Seriously love you sound like a walking talking copy of Heat.

[NeoMaxiZoomDweebie]

It's not the period which matters but WHAT she's eating and drinking. Trying to "help" a child with an eating disorder by instigating another form of control will only make it worse.

The teen needs reeducating physically. Not "helped" to control herself in the way Talkin suggests OR compare herself to celebrities.

[Minifingers]

I need to have cheese and bread and butter in the house - for the rest of us. Cocoa for hot chocolate, sugar for drinks and cooking. I can't lock the fridge. I just want to have a normal family life - I really can't police our food cupboard/fridge all the time, and trying to stop her eating what she wants results in such hideous behaviour and bullying I just can't cope with it. I compromise by not buying sweet drinks, crisps or biscuits (which dd nags and nags me about) and by cooking family meals. I'm careful about portion sizes too.

Really - it's all part of her teenage rebellion and I just have to try not to allow it to get to me. You can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink. Neither can you make a strong willed teen eat sensibly, no matter how hard you try.

[Talkinpeace]

Neo you are an ex anorexic. Your relationship with food is not the same as those who have not had the same psychiatric illness as yourself.

And sorry but you are UTTERLY UTTERLY wrong that 5 hour gaps between healthy meals will lead to anorexia

insanity
snacking was invented in 1972 by the Mars corporation to increase sales during the first big oil crisis. It did not exist before that time.

Three meals a day only came in around 1905 after all.

[Lollydaydream]

Further up in the thread someone mentioned the advent of the pill as having an impact ; can anyone explain this further?

[insanityscratching]

But in people with no eating disorder or weight problem why is going five hours without food wrong? And if you are at work you eat breakfast before you leave, lunch in lunch hour and dinner when you get home so surely many people do exactly that don't they?