To be shocked at how many overweight kids there are here?

[glasgowsfinest]

Have got my fireproof hat in place, here goes...! I'm currently at a Butlin's-type holiday park on the south coast. As you can imagine, it's jammed full of kids of all ages. I'm genuinely shocked at how many of them, from pre-schoolers to older teens, are significantly overweight. I don't think puppy fat can be used as an excuse for all of them. Thinking back to my childhood, overweight kids were the exception, not the rule, but now it seems the opposite. I have two children who by no means have a perfect diet, and eat more chocolate and watch more TV than I thought I'd allow, but they're active too and don't seen to have any fat on them at all! Maybe they're just "lucky", I don't know. But the sheer numbers of chunky kids made me feel quite sad.

And how would some one living in a b&b
Or a shelter cook this joint of ham or store left overs?

And who is paying for the gas/electricity to cook it?

This is not about poverty anymore - I live in a relatively wealthy area and people are overweight here too.
I read in the new scientist once it is a perfect combination of events coming together:
High fructose corn syrup is a cheap sugar additive
Central heating (so our metabolisms slow down as we don't have to keep ourselves warm
Portion sizes
Technology
Cars
Lack of time
Modern life is making us all overweight!

It is possible to still eat shit and not put weight on. The problem is not in the food as much as how much people shovel away and then don't burn off. Gluttony and laziness are the two biggest problems.

Gas oven costs £9 per year to run, so pennies to cook a joint.
It is difficult to free oneself from the marketing pull, granted.

It is sad seeing kids at such a young age who will probably have health issues in the future. My 3 do not sit still and are very sporty, however I got a letter home from school checks to tell us that my youngest was obese and inviting us to parenting classes. He is 6 and is heavier than his two older brothers, 7 & 8. He is very broad and a totally different build to them. Eats very healthily, although does have treats from time to time and to look at is very slim. No noticeable fat. I was concerned and took the letter to the GP when I was there with my son for a different reason. 'His exact words were so me a favour, take that letter home, rip it up and put it in the bin!' I do agree there are a large proportion of kids who are obese but I also think letters worded in the way this one was can make people worry unnecessarily. They had literally gone on weight and height with
No idea of how active he was or what his diet was like.
I don't know what the answer is apart from education and trying to help those stuck in the poverty trap, if it is true that statistically there is a link between obesity and poverty.

£9 a yr to run but hundreds to purchase in the first place.

Makes no difference if you can't afford to top up the gas though!

And the freezer room so stop all the hundreds of slices of ham going off before you get to eat them.

There is lots of research linking obesity and poverty, from all over the planet. Guardian link with anice bit of blurb to go with it. Google will give many more, especially if you are willing to read research papers.
Also signs of heart problems from a very young age.

Well I guess if you leave the kids at home when you flee your abusive partner and carry the oven on your back like some kind of deformed snail you at least won't have to worry about feeding them..

YNBU at all. It's so sad to see so many overweight children these days, parents are becoming lazier. It makes me so annoyed when people say it's low income families thats why there are so many obese children. Its not, its that people can't be bothered to cook from scratch. As a single mother with a food budget of not more than £100 for both of us a month, we eat freshly cooked meals every night. Good healthy food can be cheap if you bulk cook & freeze meals.

I'd be interested to know how much of the obesity crisis is being created by the lack of mental health care at the lower levels. If you are suffering from depression, getting out of bed can be a challenge. Spending an hour cooking a healthy meal from scratch just isn't going to happen.

But surely this all existed in the 1930s etc with even less recognition and understanding.

With food sensory issues - do African dc amidst a famine have this issue? I know that sounds harsh but it's true. They'd simply die if they didn't eat what they were given. Perhaps that's the bit comic relief edits out?

Seriously, i have yet to meet a low/ no income family without a fridge or cooker, single, childless people, well yes obviously, this is not catered for by the state.

Breast-fed babies develop differently than formula fed. They are leaner and muscle development is slightly more advanced. They move more and can sleep better or something about the sleep? can't quite remember. Some health centres classed babies as underweight when they weren't. They were using the formula charts.

I think it's related to not feeding on demand not the formula itself.

Feeding a variety of mashed up, unseasoned homemade food instead of using ready made babyfood introduces a range of textures and tastes. This is said to help raise non-faddy eaters.

I think parents need help in the early years. We need a nanny state because clearly we are not capable of sorting it out ourselves.

Then user

Why don't you enlighten everyone as to the secret.

So many people struggle. What is it the people you meet do differently?

Do they live in areas with good and reasonably cheap bus services?

Are there budget supermarkets easily accessible?

I think more education about cooking would help.

I would never buy a joint as I wouldn't know what to do with it but I can afford to go to the butchers etc I do batch cook for the kids to ensure they get balanced meals but I have a large freezer, electric blenders, etc which definitely makes it easier.
I really don't enjoy cooking, baking on the other hand...

When dp and I first moved in together and money was tight we were able to get furniture/white goods from a local church group really cheaply. Was a massive life saver.

Maybe councils/drs surgeries or whatever could inform people of local.organisations where they would be able to maybe buy themselves a fridge or a freezer etc

It's also harder to bulk buy cheap healthy food if you are on a zero hours contact or paid weekly rather than monthly.

Though I did judge someone who gave their daughter a large burger and chips on the way to school. The school does a breakfast club and there was a Tescos next to the burger shop so they could have had something healthier.

Thing is goalposts are always being moved when it comes to poorer people.

The Grenfell resident who owned the fridge where the fire started ended up (and still is) getting vitriol on twitter for owning an old fridge.

Oh god helena your kidding? :(

My DS is 2.5. I googled how much exercise he should be getting recently and it's 3 hours a day. There's no way he gets that every day, I know they play in the garden at nursery but I don't think he can possibly be running around for 3 hours. He might get 2-3 hours at the weekend at the park or soft play. I imagine it's the same for lots of people.

How can kids get three hours of exercise.

So much homework for starters.

Small Northern ex heavy industrial area, a backwater decimated by 80's policy. Nice fells, lakes and sea tho.
But yes, people walk, sometimes one mile or so, perhaps two for the better deals.
Kidding aside, it is not so hard to eat healthily, whatever that means today. Its probably time to prepare versus instant satiability.

Im not There has been a lot of racist and classist abuse towards them on Twitter. One abusive account got suspended but he just opened another one to continue the abuse.

There have been quite a few ppl on there being abusive to those from and around Grenfell and the account i mentioned has also been abusive about social housing tenants in general. He was Rex-Oper Now Wex _oper