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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To not be surprised our kids are so fat

547 replies

Babycham1979 · 18/02/2015 10:47

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.

OP posts:
bumbleymummy · 23/02/2015 07:15

Over eating *

Figmentofmyimagination · 23/02/2015 08:34

Chocolate is too cheap. Bring on the sugar tax.

26Point2Miles · 23/02/2015 08:39

Eats not so much chocolate that's the problem as far as I see it

Junk food is all you can buy on the high at. Even subway is full of rubbish. A basic salad in a restaurant costs the same as a pile of pasta. You can't win

Half the aisles in the supermarket are processed tins/packets/food with an advert

You have to struggle to find good clean food.

WindMeUpAndLetMeGo · 23/02/2015 09:06

Yeah - tax the sugar so even the cheap shit is too expensive, great idea that!

SarfEasticated · 23/02/2015 09:14

I think the food industry is to blame, and also the lack of education on healthy eating. The parents you see giving their children junk, toddler eating milk buttons, wotsits, squash, will all be thinking they are giving their kids 'children's food'. That's what the ads tell them and how the food is marketed. I hate the fact that it is called a 'treat' too. If it's actively bad for you, it's not a treat. I think teaching cooking from junior school is important, and banning junk food advertising too - not that that would ever happen. I took my DD swimming at the weekend, and there were no overweight kids there.

sugarman · 23/02/2015 09:39

To generalise broadly, I think we have lost our senses with regard to food.

It is an emotive subject and no one likes to be accused of poor parenting, but honestly, so many parents are deluded about how much their child needs to eat.

I work in education and children's menus have been prepared by a dietitian. Morning and afternoon teas are fresh vegetables and fruit, homemade scones, muffins or banana bread.

Lunches are rice and dahl, chop suey, tuna or vegetable pasta, sandwices with grated carrot and hummus, egg salad, tuna or baked beans.

It goes out on platters and the children serve themselves. Milk is provided to children who attend long hours, others have water.

There is never pudding. Never.

It is good food prepared from fresh ingredients delivered daily.

But oh the complaints we receive. Lots and lots of parents are very anxious about food and feel their child needs to eat constantly and in large quantities.

But the children themselves do so well. They sit at the table, take turns to dish for themelves, pass to next person, and set about eating. They pour their own water and remind each other to drink up.

There are always one or two who need encouraging to eat, and always one or two who would happily polish off the entire lot, but in the main the children self-regulate very nicely.

bumbleymummy · 23/02/2015 10:05

Windmeup - I think one of the points is that people eat too much anyway.

WindMeUpAndLetMeGo · 23/02/2015 10:07

Bumble I agree, but there are also a lot of families really struggling and all the shit food is full of sugar etc, even the stuff that's not meant to, and the shit food really is all they can buy. Trolleys full of value shit that wouldn't make it into most dog food - this country is a joke

bumbleymummy · 23/02/2015 10:11

I guess my point was ( in the nicest way possible) that less 'crap food' would be better for you anyway.

WindMeUpAndLetMeGo · 23/02/2015 10:12

In an ideal world people wouldn't eat crap - unfortunately we don't live in an ideal world some people have limited choices

bumbleymummy · 23/02/2015 10:16

It kind of comes back to whether it's actually affordability or convenience.

littleunderdog · 23/02/2015 10:18

I've always cooked everything from scratch, served lots of veg and fresh fruit, been sporty and encouraged my kids to be physically active. My first two were slender and fit, but I've had serious problems with my third. The cause has to be emotional, rather than genetic or to do with food at home. He began to put on weight at 11 when his dad got cancer, and then it accelerated when his dad died. I think he was secretly eating sweets at school and on the way home. I've read somewhere that there's always a trauma in the background of fat kids. Trouble is, once a fat child reaches a certain threshold they get so much abuse and bullying that they just give up on exercise and hide in their room. It's a really hard problem to solve, but I'm still trying.

WindMeUpAndLetMeGo · 23/02/2015 10:20

When you have very limited money you buy the cheapest like value burgers etc even chicken breast is so full of junk when it's cheap that you cook it and end up with a pan full of sugary water. Having to buy cheap doesn't mean convinience food, but it does mean poor quality

bumbleymummy · 23/02/2015 10:22

But you don't have to eat cheap nasty meat anyway. You can probably make a healthier vegetarian meal for less

bumbleymummy · 23/02/2015 10:23

"I've read somewhere that there's always a trauma in the background of fat kids."

No, I don't think that's always the case. I'm sure it does factor in to some cases but definitely not all.

WindMeUpAndLetMeGo · 23/02/2015 10:24

Not everyone wants to eat vegetarian! My DH wouldn't consider it a meal without meat, fortunately we are not in the position we are discussing

bumbleymummy · 23/02/2015 10:40

Well then the argument isn't really that someone can't eat healthily on a limited budget. It's that they don't want to.

WindMeUpAndLetMeGo · 23/02/2015 10:48

You see things very black and white and life's just not like that

Lottie4 · 23/02/2015 10:49

My DD doesn't want school dinners as she says they are not filling enough, she'd rather have a lunchbox and cooked meal in the evening. She also snacks a lot (gets that from me), but is the opposite and actually underweight. The doctor raised it with me last time she saw her. We do have unhealthy things like biscuits (generally only two at a time, some of her friends will eat 6-8 so obviously added calories), chocolate and crisps, but lunchboxes are healthy and she loves veggies piled high on her plate. She knows I like her to have a couple of pieces of fruit a day, so will ask (and does so happily) for them - she even asks when she stays at friends houses!

ChilliAndMint · 23/02/2015 10:53

Agree with bubble.
A good many families don't eat together, preferring to pop an pizza in the oven for the kids and have a ready meal themselves,
It doesn't take much time to make a proper home cooked meal and it costs a lot less too.

Cobain · 23/02/2015 10:56

Emotional eating is a huge problem, but equally the connection society has with food reinforces this link. Have a slice a cake you have worked hard, children rewarded and comforted with chocolate, the emotional link with food is around us all the time. Cinema = popcorn, shopping = coffee and muffins, bowling = burger. There is no reason for theses mental connection with food other than we have bought into the advertisement culture and habit makes it the norm. So yes trauma can alter your relationship food but all around us is the message it will make you feel better.

WindMeUpAndLetMeGo · 23/02/2015 10:59

I'm not saying to not have a proper cooked meal, im saying the ingredients of that meal will be a lot lower quality than of someone financially better off

WorraLiberty · 23/02/2015 11:01

When you have very limited money you buy the cheapest like value burgers etc even chicken breast is so full of junk when it's cheap that you cook it and end up with a pan full of sugary water. Having to buy cheap doesn't mean convinience food, but it does mean poor quality

Yes but it doesn't mean you'll get fat, unless you eat too much of it and take too little exercise.

Even if you could afford to buy super healthy food, you'll still get fat if you eat too much and burn off too little.

bumbleymummy · 23/02/2015 11:13

Wind - I don't see how that comment suggests that I see everything as black and white.

"I'm not saying to not have a proper cooked meal, im saying the ingredients of that meal will be a lot lower quality than of someone financially better off"

Vegetables/beans/pulses are fairly standard tbh.

Personally, I think people eat too much meat anyway and welfare standards are often appalling to accommodate the 'need' for cheap meat. That's probably better discussed on another thread though!

WindMeUpAndLetMeGo · 23/02/2015 11:16

Someone wanting meat with their meal isn't someone not wanting to eat healthy - the person may be accustomed to having a meaty diet then find themselves in financial difficulty through no fault of their own but still wished to continue eating along the same lines

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