To not be surprised our kids are so fat

[Babycham1979]

When they're fed utter crap like this;

www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/food/article-2957301/What-school-lunches-look-like-world.html

No wonder obesity rates are so high,mand no wonder so many British children are incredibly picky when they're fed processed shite as is evident in these pictures. Imagine some of the pickiest UK children being handed a bowl of miso soup, or prawns, or plantain?!

Is the issue budgetary, or culture? Either way, we're failing our children.

Yes it plays a role fatlazymummy, no-one can deny that.

But if Coca Cola disappeared tomorrow, people would still be fat due to their over consumption. Even over consumption of healthy things.

Coca cola is just one item worra
The fact is, there are some steps that can be taken to help people not to become obese. To use the smoking analogy, it's much easier for a person to give up smoking nowadays. (I'm an exsmoker). Fewer people smoke, public buildings are smoke free, cigarrettes aren't advertised, fewer children see their parents smoking, etc. A smoker still has to use their will power and self control to quit, but not quite as much as the old days when people were freely smoking around them.

This is why I think it's too simple to blame the food industry rather than over consumption by individuals.

and blaming individuals is too simple as well.

Just think about it. The change from 40 years ago, when everyone was a lot slimmer, isn't that we are less responsible now. it's the availability of crap food.

I agree that we should all be more responsible, but that solution has to some extent been tried. We all know we should be more responsible. one problems is that some people know that but can't then carry out the next step, which is to produce healthy meals.

what we haven't tried is hugely curbing the access to crap food. there are ways of doing that without being draconian (crap food tax, or subsidies for veggies). there are suggestions of treating the food industry like the tobacco industry. Notice in the case of smoking, the way we reduced smoking (and we have reduced it substantially) is through a campaign of education aimed at the smoker, but also massively curtailing the rights of tobacco companies (where tobacco is sold, how it is advertised etc).

So out on the high street today at lunchtime.... Where can I eat?? And what can I eat?

Kids eat too many calories and burn too few. They are tempted by supersize this and family size the other. We have lost sight of what a normal portion is. Eg Pizzas that would have fed a family in the 70s are consumed by one individual child who then retires to their Xbox for the evening.

Actually talking of normal plate sizes we've just cleared out my grandmas house, she sadly passed away last month.

We came across many things including her good dinner plates which were a wedding present circa 1950s. My mum said she would like me to keep them. I brought them home and to my amazement the dinner plates are the same size as our denby side plates and my grandmas side plates will only fit a small slice of cake or two small biscuits were as mine would take cake, biscuits and a slice of pie. My dinner plates are huge by comparison and I often feel the need to fill them.

Sorry if I'm repeating as i haven't read every comment. I think a lot of the of the problem is mixed messages and conflicting information.

My boys brought home a leaflet from school about about swapping out sugar for low calorie alternatives, yes too much sugar is bad, but is filling our bodies with chemicals a better option?

I am a member of Slimming World and am regularly told to fill up on low fat yoghurts etc, again full of chemicals.

Oh yes, the infamous muller lights!

I think they would be happy for you to live on them - SW must have shares or something!

I did a course in nutrition a while back, obviously very government led as to pass I had to swap people's full fat diets out for low fat chemical versions etc. What's wrong with just consuming less?

The other problem is kids are lazy, they don't want to help walk the dogs, go to the park etc and tough love works to a degree but can often just cause a riot!

dinner plates
Yes my mother had some Jamie Oliver dinner plates that were so enormous she put them away in the end because they were causing everyone to serve themselves much bigger portions.

DP in the co op the other day could buy one Bounty bar fir 89p or 4 fir a pound! It's nuts. And yes he bought four!

I think there is also a normalisation of eating really crap food. I mean you only have to look at some of the threads on here eg. 'Oooops I just ate a whole jar of lotus spread/5 creams eggs' or whatever, with posters gleefully swapping tales of overeating. Anyone who comes on and says 'ummmmmm....' Is accused of being a killjoy etc.

I find myself reading those sorts of threads and think 'well if that's what other people are eating then I must be doing ok', even though my own diet is far from perfect.

And I can't be arsed to argue with people who think that saying that obese people have a much higher risk of developing diabetes is 'fat shaming'

Just out of curiosity - who picks sugar or sweetener? Or are some of you hardcore and cut it both out?

Correct me if I'm wrong but I always believed fat and protein filled you up and kept you full for longer.

So full fat cream cheese and avocado sandwich on seeded bread served with a handful of nuts and roasted chickpeas would be a better option than low fat cheese with lettuce leaves on white bread with crisps. The first will fill you up and keep you going stopping the in between desire to snack. Also with more whole food ingredients.

I try and apply this when I feed me and the dc, like I said earlier our weight is fine and we excercise frequently but I'm always wondering what the right approach is. I love food and read about it lots but honestly it is so confusing.

I've been looking for smaller (cheap) dinner plates everywhere. Apparently we can lose 18 pounds a year just by swapping from a 12'' to a 10'' dinner plate. No other effort required.

The BMI chart is also ridiculous, I'm 5ft 1 and my "ideal" weight is 7st 7 or there abouts. I'm sorry but I want to look womanly not like a teenage boy!

foxy if your weight is fine and you are healthy there is no need to worry. You are getting it right (sounds lovely, by the way)

Sugars we eat agave nectar because it's expensive so we use less. I actually only have jam sugar in the house, I bought too much last autumn when jam making.

Oh we eat jam in porridge and on tea bread I sweeten the tea bread with dates and banana.

So we do eat sugar. Probably more than I think we do.

I'm constantly arguing with myself over which to choose, the same with "no added sugar" drinks and low fat versions

My DCs school dinners are generally totally crap, and to my shame I still pay for them to have them 3 or 4 times a week, as I work ft and its easier . Also DS is a particularly picky eater and is probably more likely to eat the type of food served for school dinners, than lentil stew , and DD is ridiculously responsible and balances her meal combinations well (e.g. will have fruit for pudding most days).
Particularly terrible meal combinations include Burger (no bun), beans (that's the veg) and spaghetti hoops (apparently that's the carbs ). Some of the meals are OK, but the combinations end up being very odd and often carb-heavy - e.g. tuna pasta bake with potatoes and beans (always the beans!).

I have no problem with the puddings. As mentioned, DD mostly has fruit. DS always has the stodgiest puddings but is a skinny Minny who spends all playtime running round in circles.

Wind: it depends how I'm feeling.
Don't have much soda, but my teeth are bad enough, so diet version better for them.
Full fat version: I tend to prefer the taste and I just have smaller portions if not sure. I would go for low fat version if afraid of the full fat version being too filling. I tend to presume that items labeled 'low fat' are probably tasteless so turn nose up with them, give me smaller portion of full fat version .