To think we need more back to basics education about food, cooking, etc

[Notcontent]

Just this morning I was reading yet another article about doctors calling on the government to tackle rising childhood obesity. It's obviously a serious and growing problem. Yes, in some cases medical issues or genetics may play a part, but for the most part it's to do with the food we are consuming.

My view is that while things like the sugar tax, etc. are a step forward, ultimately it's about people understanding what might be a healthy breakfast, etc. I think that unless something changes, we are heading for disaster in terms of diabetes, etc.

I think this documentary should be made compulsory viewing for everyone, showing how late capitalism has triumphed by sending pet food fodder from one country to another to be marketed as a 'treat' food. Shocking.

unreported world

Unreported World: Obesity in Paradise review – fighting fat on Samoa
Having rejected local food in favour of processed western junk, nine out of 10 people on Samoa are overweight.

The problem is that crap food is cheaper than good food. And crap food often doesn't need cooking.

Of course people know a banana is better : two cheese pasties for a quid, or lug home loads of veg, on the bus, on the rain, and cook a stew on the hob you've no money to heat anyway?

Aye, reet.

This was also an interesting programme which was on last month.

Despite having the word obesity in its thread title it wasnt as fast moving or as much posted on as other obesity threads on MN.

I wonder why

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/telly_addicts/2901174-Obesity-how-prejudiced-is-the-NHS-bbc2-9pm

I had home economics at school and both my parents cooked and I have taught my children how to cook. My daughters have no friends that know how to cook other than the basics. They stopped home economics in schools so if the parents don't cook how are they supposed to learn. I did have a letter from my daughters school once asking if we would like to attend an adult nutrition course. I know education should start in the home but I grew up in the 80's where most young girls didn't care about learning to cook so now their kids don't know because they didn't learn at home.

I think there does need to be a wider education about things such as banking, cooking and so on in schools. As others have said if the parents are not knowledgeable in these areas how will their children ever learn without help. However, what aspects of the curriculum get pushed to the side in order to teach and address these issues?

I also agree with those such as steppe who have said that poor nutrition is a complex issue centred on socio-economics: not having the finances to feed the family healthily; not having the means to access the food or the equipment needed to cook the food (not an oven and hob but proper utensils); not having the time because you're working 3 jobs to pay the bills and have a half hour to get the kids fed.

Just recently I've managed to get my son to eat more fruit through the use of homemade smoothies (natural yogurt, ice, apples/bananas/berries etc). Not everyone has access to such machines or to the variety of food needed. I'm lucky in that aspect, so is everyone else who does have those options.

I think that this needs to be done at home but that holds a difficulty as some parents weren't taught themselves.

YANBU, its how a common minimum standard is achieved. If we all do it ourselves, no one can assume we have access to the same information. And its harder to keep training up to date.

I don't think it's about education per se. More than 60% of people in the UK are overweight or obese. I don't believe that 60% of the UK population is uneducated about nutrition or cooking. I think it's that cheap, fatty, tasty food is available at every turn in a way it hasn't been in centuries previous and we're biologically programmed to enjoy chips more than spinach and to find it hard to resist food generally.

That's not to say that we shouldn't promote what healthy eating looks like and focus on teaching children and young people how to cook for themselves at school, but it needs to come in tandem with measures which make food which is quite frankly rubbish less freely and cheaply available. Which is never going to happen.

I don't think it's all down to education, there are posters, TV adverts, campaigns and generally information out there that promotes healthy eating, quite possible of course that people ignore these and therefore may ignore any education instilled at any age.
I also don't think it's all to do with poverty either. I would probably be considered poor, as in I struggle to make ends meet at times, and have to stick to a pretty tight food budget. I also work awkward full time shifts, and the local supermarket is not really accessible to a non driver except to set aside a good few hours. I am limited to one local shop, which is a chain but a fairly expensive one. I've noticed that fruit and veg can be more expensive, but as an example yesterday a punnet of plums was £1 (I was mildly surprised by this and expected them to be more) and there's also a bag of chocolate for £1 - same price and ime the plums will last longer! I'm careful about fuel too and in this respect my slow cooker is a life saver! A £5er from a charity shop and yesterday I put 2 chicken thighs, some potatoes and frozen veg in it with gravy, full meal for me and dd with left overs to freeze for another day.
I think lack of exercise impacts a lot too, for various reasons kids don't play out as much, get driven about more and generally spend more time on electronic devices than moving about.

To anyone who thinks overweight and obesity is a simple matter, look at this fascinating interactive map which explains all the influences

I think the biggest influence is the cheaply available crap food. Our local shop does a roaring trade with packs of cookies to school children. 89p for a pack, of course teenagers are going to make unhealthy choices. Oh and the 19p energy drinks.

I couldn't afford a 'healthy' £2.50 baguette when I was at school. But I could afford a £1 plate of chips.

Although I think it would be ideal if people could just be educated and that translated into making better choices I don't believe it will happen.

Very few people succeeded at quitting smoking until the government basically nannied us into it.

I think there is a hidden epidemic of loneliness and unhappiness that is seldom acknowledged with regard to how people eat. People don't just eat to remove feelings of hunger, but also of sadness, frustration, all kinds of emotions that are difficult to deal with.

Personally, I think that's why public health campaigns and shaming tactics don't work. People don't really have the ability to see the third life might be improved with the additional effort of eating stuff they wouldn't automatically choose, and they are very probably right if they don't have a debilitating health condition.

Yeah, we could teach cooking in schools, but in truth, anyone who wants to can learn pretty easily if they have sufficient funds. What schools really need to be focusing on is teaching self care for better mental health.

Agree with MrsDustyBusty. Our psychological and relationship with food is complex and the position is made even more complicated when the various socio economic factors come into play.

Crap food is addictive. Seriously so. I've been there and know that if I'm not careful I will be there again.

V much like the interactive map someone shared further up the thread.

When I was at school in the 70s the girls did "home economics" while the boys did woodworking.. However we were taught nutrition, proper cooking from scratch and budgeting. I remember being given a whole day to plan, shop and cook a meal for a family.
Basic stuff really but not taught in "food tech"

I think that this needs to be done at home but that holds a difficulty as some parents weren't taught themselves.

You don't need to be taught, you need a simple cookbook.

You don't need to be taught, you need a simple cookbook
I think that's a little simplistic. There are huge numbers of young people who have grown up in a home where there is no real cooking done. Food preparation involves microwave ready meals or takeaways. Meals are all eaten at random times.
Many people will see no problem with that, especially if money is not an issue, but such families are unlikely to change and buy a cookery book. Teaching basic financial, budgeting and cooing skills at school seems to me at least as important as PE or Geography?

I think at senior school each year group should be supervised and be responsible for, every day the cooking of the school dinners. From scratch- soup/salad/jackets/cooking meat/preparing the veg etc.

so over the course of a week, they make a variety of meals- know how to tell when something is cooked, how to prepare it etc.

Actual meat- not shit in brown shit. Give them a load of peppers/onions/turkey/halloumi and get them to make fajitas.

A load of mince to make meatballs/lasagne/shep pie. Pasta sauces etc from scratch.

No. I think the info is out there and very easy to find. We need cheaper fruit and veg and more money management classes and better wages.

YANBU.

I have been studying this for some time.

I am one of the few who has a huge problem with Food Banks. I do not feel thry have met a need. Food banks have created a need.

It was only Thursday I had a conversation with a colleague on my opposition to food banks.

The Graun tell us people are starving and Food Banks are vital. The Telegraph tells us that children are obese.

IMO, it is health, education and economic issues that need addressing. This requires a deep dive into socio-economic areas where health issues are much more of a social problem.

I live in an area that is socially deprived, (according to the ONS). Yet there are many services offered to help vulnerable and marginalised client groups. We have poor housing yet not a large homeless population. Poor housing standards are better than no housing. This is an economic issue. There is one HA that has the monopoly on cherry picking the tenants. And we have a poorly managed PRS areas owned by landlords whom are allowed to get away with run down properties and leave people in awful squalor. We have a low job seeking population but a high level of people claiming ESA. Figures wise. It's a sick town.

The high street consists of charity shops, pawnbrokers and Costa. Each town's high street is a good indication of the economy of the area it serves. Poundshops are crammed from floor to ceiling with shit packed with sugar, salt and rubbish. Yet the owners of these stores remain the richest people in the area.

It is a Labour led council and has been for decades. What was once a manufacturing town with proud working class people, has become swapped for poverty, drugs and crime. Communities do not exist here any longer. Largest community gathering is in the Magistrates Courts. People waiting to be convicted of summary crimes such as shoplifting.

Regeneration is needed. Austerity does not produce growth. People need jobs, housing and money. But we cannot just give them this. Food banks are a business. We dangle this in front of people and shame them for it.

Until there is a shift in economic strategies, health and education will not unpack the social issues.

Sadly, it is down to money.

I wondered how long it would take before someone would try and rewrite history when it comes to food banks.

The same has been tried with tax credits when some say they keep wages down.
The low wages came first.

Well with food banks the cuts came first.

Im disgusted that food banks are needed. But that is not the fault of the recipients.

www.gillwatson.co.uk/blog/today-a-tin-of-beans-in-morrisons-sent-me-over-the-edge/

You do realise that its possible to be obese and suffer from malnutrition at the same time.

@HelenaDove,

Food Banks in Europe grew following a rise in the price of food in 2006. Following the financial crash in 2007/8, when people on low incomes suffered financial inequality, rise in food bank use increased.

Obesity is malnutrition. Without a doubt. Gill Watson (your link) presents a very good argument on the use of food banks. I am a follower of Gill"s blog and she has long championed food banks are not the answer.

My position is that food banks are not a solution to what is a national problem. Childhood obesity will not be solved by rhe use of foodbanks. Two separate issues.

My children have bought friends home and you can tell which ones don't have proper meals. One girl didn't know what cabbage was she thought I'd picked some leaves off a tree. One mum told me her DD wouldn't eat roast chicken, well she wolfed it down I ended up giving her my meat she enjoyed it so much. One of my DDs friends doesn't even get any kind of meal in the evening and lives on McDonald's and vitamin tablets it's terrible

I worked in the CAB before food banks were a thing. On average I arranged one ad-hoc food parcel per week through the Salvation Army. Even before cuts and sanctions there was a need.