If you're poor and you have boys, read this.

[user1477282676]

www.theguardian.com/society/2016/oct/11/obesity-soar-boys-girls-poorer-homes-deprived-backgrounds-overweight-2020

I am sorry if that sounds offensive. But I am so, so angry about the state of things right now in terms of inequality in the UK (and the world!) and I have started another thread along the same lines...but this one is slightly different.

According to this article in the Guardian, obesity among boys from the most financially strapped families is going to be rising whilst obesity in wealthy children will fall.

How is this even a thing? We know what schools do in their attempts to "educate". They weigh, they police lunch boxes...but that doesn't fix anything it would seem!

I am so cross that children...and it would seem boys especially, are going to be suffering.

Also maybe not relevant? When I worked in rather affluent part of London as paediatric nurse saw a few cases of children/ babies being given semi skimned milk etc who were probably under weight....

The poster who referenced Maslow's hierarchy of needs is spot on. There were multidisciplinary studies done about 5 years ago proving the same thing; given limited financial resources, human automatically start to focus on short term goals over long term ones. It's human nature and it has massive implications for how those experiencing long term poverty view things like food and diet.

In other words, if you took a very typical cross section of upper middle class families and plunged them into poverty (real poverty; no end in sight and no family safety net), they would in all likelihood adopt the same spending and dietary behaviours as we see in the working class poor.

The rich have always been utterly frustrated by poor people's refusal to do poverty 'properly'. This is a possibly because they tend to forget that human beings have needs beyond food and shelter.

How do not knowing what a pear is and not having a tumble dryer make you obese.

I'd be surprised re many children not knowing what a pear is. Primary children in the early years get free fruit and it's quite varied. Pears are often included.

Doobydoo I lived in the arse end of birmingham for 6 months and there were 3 major supermarkets including Aldi and farm foods less than a bus ride away. If you're doing the weekly shop at the garage or 7/11 type shop there's something lacking in your motivation. I've done it in an emergency but really you can't blame them for sticking to what they know will sell.

Well believe me BadKnee plenty was said to me. And i know there are other MNers who have been through the same.

And sexism comes into it too because although some came from women there were lots that came from men, many of them overweight themselves who probably think healthy eating is just for da wimmin who owe it to them to look good for them which brings us full circle right back around to the title of this thread.

Also, most of the comments on here (my earlier ones included) have focused on main meals. I'm willing to bet that between meal snacks have a lot to answer for. I can afford to keep a fridge full of out of season fruit and other healthy but tempting treats for my children to help themselves to. You could cook a whole main meal, with money left over for a packet of biscuits, for the cost of a supermarket punnet of decent strawberries this week.

SitsOnFence I totally disagree with you, having been in exactly that situation, income dropping by £50,000 a year. We still ate properly

(And I know a bag of apples is significantly cheaper, but kids gets bored of apples all the time)

I know what you mean. I think i was shocked as this was a supermarket chain.We were lucky as had transport. V depressing all the same.This was 16 years ago! and i still remember the shock.

Yeah theres absolutely no social pressure BadKnee thats why ive just seen on the news that slimming world and weight watchers are going bust

I don't buy strawberries( waaay too expensive) they're not a right. Why are in between snacks a necessity?

You're not disagreeing with me Newbrummie, you're disagreeing with a multidisciplinary study.

How long were you in poverty for? Where did you live? What were your living conditions like? Did you have an end in sight?

I work and am not in the poverty I was when leaving exh but we have just had no washer for the last nine months. I am lucky we were able to use a relatives once a week. We live in a flat, no outside area, we have storage heating not central. My parents have just passed on their old washer to us. We cannot get clothes dry easily still.

In our old house while fleeing exh, we had no fridge, no freezer, no washer and no microwave, a friend bought us a mini fridge so we could at least have milk.

We were at one point living off £20 child benefit a week, I don't know which part of that people don't get when suggesting people save up £95 for an appliance.

Tough shit Sits. My DC go without and survive just fine. If they're hungry they'll make do with an apple.

Well I sympathise, broken.
I live in a village and we only have a co op
I'm lucky in that I have a car and can get to Aldi and Asda.
I got a bag of pears for 39p at Aldi on Monday....probably costs that for 1 at the co op

They're not a necessity green. I was just showing how not being poor means you can get away with lax parenting.

And if i was to link every fat shaming thread there has been on this board previously into this thread.......it would fill it up.

One of the guys who used to bully me in the street actually asked me out when the weight came off not realising that im married. Twas VERY pleasurable saying NO!

SitsOnFence if by poverty you mean on benefits, not long but it's not the point it's the here and now of the situation. We arrived back in the uk with literally nothing but 4 suitcases of clothes and bedding. Emergency accommodation. I received the same amount of benefits that everyone else gets/got and I don't recognise any of the horrific sounding situations being described here. Yes I knew it wasn't going to be forever, it was long enough though.

Agree sitsonfence food becomes one of the few pleasures for (some) poor families. There is no holiday, new car, days out to look forward to or no other affordable way to treat the family.

I have berries on my weetabix Greenginger Not as often now but occasionally recommended as part of the SW plan.

Was quite funny, the neighbors thought I was on the game because I could buy the kids olives and feta

I'm sorry you went through that Newbrummie

"Yes I knew it wasn't going to be forever". That's kind of the point.

And ive also had ppl who never said anything to me before tell me what a balloon i looked before.
Believe me there is nothing like losing weight to find out what people are really like.

SitsOnFence - I know what you're saying, it would grind you down years and years of it but I don't believe I would have lost all my values and started serving smiley faces no matter what tbh

That's interesting helena.

My current lifestyle is very upper middle class and being fat is a real rarity, let alone obese, amongst the women. Being very thin is perfectly normal.
The men get away with far more pounds. Though being an obese man would be unusual.

The real would be to have fat children. The tiny minority of fat children are noteworthy.

This is markedly different to the culture where I am originally from and where my extended family all still live.

There, fat men and women are part and parcel of everyday life. As are fat children. There's little horror of it.