Why are British kids fat?

[VogueVVague]

So time, two parents working, low budget/cost - all these things can result in ready meals being served up etc. but that still doesnt explain why, compared to the rest of Europe, our kids are the fattest.

So whats the reason?

Is it political?
Cultural?

Something must have changed for us and mot the rest of Europe in the past 50 years (doubt kids before 1960 were chunky).

I think there is a bit of a class battle mixed in - ‘no posh twats going to tell me how to feed my kid’ - thinking of mother’s passing chips through the playground bars when Jamie Oliver tried to improve school meals.

'Across the pond you eat healthier? are you actually joking?'

You do realise it's a vast geographical space with a population of over 350m people so they're not all going to be one homogeneous mass? I ate much healthier and exercised more when I lived in Denver, mainly due to abundant sunny weather.

Because people like my next door neighbours drive their kids the 5 minute walk to school every single morning.

Because no one takes their kids out for a decent walk either. My neighbour on the other side was shocked because my youngest could walk 2 miles when he was still 2. She said I was cruel and she takes her 2YO every where in the buggy.

Because there are people out there who are actually incapable of cooking for one reason or another and would sooner have their dinner delivered to their door than God forbid have to cook something. Yes, these are my neighbours again!

It's just a general culture of laziness. The problem is people are brought up by lazy parents, then they're lazy and pass those habits onto their children. It's all seen as normal because that's all they've ever known.

I am overweight myself. My own mother was lazy and an incapable cook. I'm not going to go into all the food issues I got from my parents, other than I'm not going to make the same mistakes with my kids.

expat, in fact I was just thinking that. Life must be very different from state to state...
However, we have an 'American section' in one of our local supermarkets, (for the expats..:))as well as an American sweetshop, and even my teen son looks faintly shocked at the stuff and the ingredients...

There's a British section in a market I visit in the large city where I grew up and it's in no way representative of reality of food here. It's a lot like what you'd expect people who go to Benidorm and expect to eat only so-called British food would buy.

The weather is so terrible kids can’t play outside

On the whole people in the UK aren’t prepared to put in the effort to eat well. That includes learning to cook, planning, shopping for good food, cooking it and then cleaning up after it. A minority of people genuinely can’t do one or more of these things, but the majority of people who eat badly (which is the majority of people) just prioritise other things. No surprise then that their children are overweight. No amount of exercise or playing outside can make up for a highly processed diet with far too many calories.

yeh I can imagine...

there are Brits who drive up and down the Costas in an endless search for baked beans..believe it or not...

wait...aren't baked beans actually American...

My town centre is absolutely full of greasy take aways and there are always children aged 11+ sat in them getting food.

Councils need to stop approving so many fast food places in town centres.

Why on earth would they drive up and down the Costas looking for baked beans? They are in every supermarket. 😀

Someone I know was brought up on the breadline _ Dad was disabled, five children no money for decent food ( I had proper food such as meat and veg and was poor - she didn’t even have this) she was super slim and fit she said/ walked everywhere played outside was starving most of the time by the sounds of things.
She is overweight as an adult as she can now buy the nice things she couldn’t have as a child. It’s not always black and white - lots of other factors involved as well.

It's not just an obesity problem though. Heart disease starts in childhood.

If people want to eat a crap diet that's one thing but they should not inflict it on their kids.

nutritionfacts.org/video/heart-disease-starts-in-childhood/

Snacking.

No longer three meals and feeling properly hungry beforehand.

Every event including food

Imo I think it's also due to being told to eat smaller meals less often.
Those small meals become snacks.
I often think people confuse hunger with thirst or boredom.

I've only just finished my dinner. Jacket potato salad coleslaw and 2 slices of pizza but I'll be hungry again by 8pm and looking for food.

" Why on earth would they drive up and down the Costas looking for baked beans? "

oh lol that was quite a few years ago, when I was doing some training in Spain, and I met this guy who actually used to do that...

A woman I know delighted in telling me about this restaurant she found in Portugal. They went every night cos' they were served these massive portions with bottomless chips. The photos of the food were shocking man v food things.
Her 14 year old entered the rib eating competition and won a t-shirt. The whole family is massive. She is quite thrilled with the gargantuan portions they can guzzle.

Taken from nutritionfacts.org/

nutritionfacts.org/video/heart-disease-starts-in-childhood/

"By age 10, nearly all kids have fatty streaks in their arteries. This is the first sign of atherosclerosis, the leading cause of death in the United States. So the question for most of us is not whether we should eat healthy to prevent heart disease, but whether we want to reverse the heart disease we may already have."

The language is so interesting isn't it. Being worried about a national health crisis has evolved into ' body shaming'

You're not allowed to point out anyone's negative behaviour any more, for fear that they'll be 'shamed' by it. Even doctors have to tiptoe around the issue when overweight patients are complaining of joint pain or other things that are quite possibly caused by their weight.

Jun- this - it's batshit isn't it

It is crazy. My DNiece (year 3) is overweight and both my DM and my Sis won't hear it. They are outraged that I'd mention it but she is visibly overweight. "Fat shaming" is used as an excuse.

I think a lot of it is behaviour which is well intentioned but damaging. DH is off work today. He cooked bacon eggs beans and toast for breakfast for the DC (11 and 13). He gave them each two slices of toast. I took 1.5 pieces off each plate and put them on a separate plate in the centre of the table. Neither wanted the extra but they would've eaten it if it had stayed on their plate. DH says they're growing boys and is trying to ensure they "eat well".

I was so worried about my child being “thin” as others kept commenting I took him to the doctors. My GP was horrified and said children are meant to be slim/ you are meant to see their ribs!!!! He said he would prefer to see more children like that but he sees very little.

its a Europe wide issue though - the EU are quite worried about it. The uk is one of the worst but I think other European countries are in a similar situation. So I don't think we can say Europeans are getting it right.

juneau

Australia has a worse obesity crisis than we do!

So it’s nothing to do with weather and outdoor living.

Parents are just ignorant and lazy and there’s is a culture of ‘treating’ children to fatty, sweet snacks and sugar laden fizzy drinks.

Saying that I drive the kids to school and pass several schools and only see about 3 fat children and this is not a posh area. Where are they all?

My niece and nephew eat so much sugar (breakfast cereal, biscuits, sweets, chocolate, dried fruit every day) and they are both skinny as whips. I don't understand it.