Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

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:
26Point2Miles · 19/02/2015 16:28

Where's the research link?

And isn't this what was recently on that BBC programme about weight? Where they had different types of eater put into different groups?

Also. Protein in that lot? When you googled, did you google a child's size portion?? Coz I have NEVER seen highly processed hotdog sausages recommended as a healthy source of protein!

HedgehogsDontBite · 19/02/2015 16:28

Worra I believe some people are more in tune with their bodies than others. I have autism and I know it's particularly difficult for people like me to recognise what my body is telling me. I'm currently having treatment for this very problem. I have difficulty knowing when I'm hungry and when I'm full and I can't tell the difference between hunger and thirst at all (I now have an alarm bracelet that vibrates at regular intervals to remind me to drink). It's not just food, I don't recognise changes due to health issues either until they're quite severe. DS was born in the street because my brain tuned out the labour pains until it was too late. I was 12 weeks pregnant before I even realised because again I couldn't read what my body was telling me.

I realise that with me it's quite bad but that others may well have similar issues to a greater or lesser extent.

IceBeing · 19/02/2015 16:33

worra you can't fool the system with exercise - that just moves how much your brain is telling you to eat.

If people deliberately under eat for a few days they actually stop fidgeting as much.

Because your body is trying to maintain a specific balance! If your body is wrong about the exact balance point then it is either much harder to gain weight or much harder to lose weight.

WorraLiberty · 19/02/2015 16:34

That must be tough Hedgehogs and yes it is recognised that a small minority of people are overweight/obese due to medical issues.

Broadly speaking though, this is not the case for the majority of overweight/obese adults and children in the UK.

26Point2Miles · 19/02/2015 16:36

I've heard that a lot of the time hunger is mistaken for thirst

I'm very active at the moment but have seen no increase in my hunger patterns really. Even when my garmin tells me I've burnt 1800 cals, add that to my allocated 1400 and it's just too much to eat. I just can't do it

IceBeing · 19/02/2015 16:37

apparently around 1 in 6 of the population are affected....so not a rare thing!

WorraLiberty · 19/02/2015 16:38

So what's the solution for those people IceBeing?

Is there anything that can be done for them, or are they certain to become obese and live a shorter life?

It sounds awfully bleak unless there is a cure?

SuburbanRhonda · 19/02/2015 16:38

I've RTFT but can't see anyone criticising the huge lump of Brie on the plate from the French school, alongside a slab of red meat. How on earth is that healthy?

blendedfamilygrinch · 19/02/2015 16:43

Aah suburban but that is protein and therefore not the poison that is sugar which is what we now call corn & potatoes

26Point2Miles · 19/02/2015 16:43

What French school?

26Point2Miles · 19/02/2015 16:44

Oh in the link! See it now sorry!

Plonkysaurus · 19/02/2015 16:55

Rhonda meat and cheese are fine in moderation - and certainly in comparison to a meal full of transfats.

There's been an awful lot in the news lately about how the low fat diet message that the NHS and various diet 'gurus' have been bleating on about for the last thirty years. There's a bit in the book 'In Defence of Food' by Michael Pollan, where he discusses French families who typically eat meat, cheese, bread and drink red wine within a well-balanced diet. And they aren't obese. Why? Because the portions are small, and those foods aren't actually unhealthy in comparison with, say, the standard American diet.

Hedgehogs that sounds quite tiresome, having to be reminded about when to drink. I think so many people suffer this to some degree, but your case really does sound quite extreme.

Worra the effectiveness of exercise varies so much from person to person. Don't they say abs are made in the kitchen?

blendedfamilygrinch · 19/02/2015 16:55

26 miles I think I overestimated on the hot dogs but here you go
Protein in 2 hot dog sausages - 5g
Protein in 100g beans - 5g (half a small tin)
Protein in a small baked potato - 4g
Protein in half an ear of corn - 2g
Total 16 grams - so if my 5 year old drinks a glass of milk or eats a bowl of pesto pasta that's his protein requirements met for the day....

OllyBJolly · 19/02/2015 17:05

Ice - you seem to be implying that people are genetically programmed to be overweight and that is just not true. With the exception of a fraction of people, it is because they don't manage their calorie intake. The research you quote only demonstrates that some people will feel hungrier than others, but that isn't really different from any other preferences that people might have.

We have choices. We can exercise self discipline, and set an example to our children who then learn to control their appetites, their behaviours, their needs. If we all followed what you seem to be suggesting then there would be no hope for the human race!

Ubik1 · 19/02/2015 17:09

The French thing - there is also huge social pressure on women to be slim in France.
It's not just about diet - women watch their figures in a way that British women do not. A French friend would go to an all you can eat pizza place with her boyfriend and have a green salad. No sacrifice in her view. Her waistline was more important.

amicissimma · 19/02/2015 17:14

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

IonaNE · 19/02/2015 17:18

Ubik, I am not French but I actually also think that your "waistline" (meaning weight) is more important that stuffing the absolute maximum amount of unhealthy food your stomach can hold into yourself in an eat-all-you-can place. I don't consider not eating a ton of pizza a "sacrifice" either.

bumbleymummy · 19/02/2015 17:19

Re hotdogs as a good source if protein - I actually had that very conversation with someone in school when I was complaining about the quality of the school dinners. Apparently a hot dog in a white roll is a perfectly healthy meal Hmm

Ubik1 · 19/02/2015 17:20

There just wasn't so much snack/junk/fast food around in the. 70s.

You didn't get huge lattes and double choc muffins and croissants and burgers and deals on huge bats if choc.
Take railway stations - at most you could get a cup of tea and a scone if you were having a treat. Now there's a dazzling array of food and it's the norm to eat it.

Have you seen the calorie counts on the stuff being sold by Costa?

WorraLiberty · 19/02/2015 17:21

Worra the effectiveness of exercise varies so much from person to person. Don't they say abs are made in the kitchen?

They say a lot of things though don't they? It doesn't necessarily make them true.

Never mind abs (unless you really want to exercise your way to an athletic looking body).

Portion control and exercise is a hugely effective way of not becoming overweight or obese, for most people.

Ubik1 · 19/02/2015 17:21

I agree Iona
But lots of people feel differently.

WorraLiberty · 19/02/2015 17:26

The thing I don't understand about the genetic cause is that overweight and obesity was incredibly rare in the 1970s. Yet we can't all have changed our genetic make up in so short a time.

People ate less
People walked more (2 car families were rare)
High street takeaways were rare and didn't deliver
Crisps/chocolate were rarely sold in multi-packs
3 TV channels
No household internet/computers/ipads etc
No Starbucks/Costa every few steps that basically sell a bowl of cream with a handle.

So even if people did have a genetic problem, they still ate a lot less and moved a lot more.

Ubik1 · 19/02/2015 17:32

That Costa muffin you scoff on the train has 490 calories. Even a croissant is around 300 cals. A full fat coffee is 200 cals.
You can easily eat almost half of your calorie requirements waiting for a train.

BiscuitMillionaire · 19/02/2015 17:33

I saw these photos on facebook. Please note that they're FAKED. They are not actual photos of school dinners from those countries, but mocked up by the people who took the photos in the US. They got the info from people's phone pics of their lunches plus government info on what they AIM to feed schoolchildren. So take it all with a big pinch of salt [ironic].