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 did see on the news the other day that European children are also putting on weight - i lived in spain early 00s and there were fast food restaurants packed full.

I guess that has gotten worse over the years too.

Go on holiday and see what other nationalities have at meal times.

In Ireland we are seeing a similar trend of obesity. Part of it may be a lifestyle change. Now it’s the norm for the majority of children to be driven to school where in the previous generation we walked. Processed food is more available than ever.

I also feel that when we look at children who are by definition overweight we see a child who is normal weight and not overweight. Often a child who is actually medically within the healthy weight range looks too light in many peoples eyes so maybe overweight is the new norm?

@The80sweregreat
I can only speak for france but i have seen people getting bigger over the past decade - directly in line with more options.
Used to be there were no burger kings here. Now there are 2 within a 15 min drive from where i live. So i guess its cultural but maybe fuelled by the free market.

French children don't, on the whole, snack between meals. Food is much more important in France and families will always sit down together. It is the norm to eat a salad as a starter, followed by a nutritious main, followed by a piece of fruit, yoghurt or cheese. It may have changed in recent years as I have not lived there for 10 years.

Parenting with sugary snacks.
Both parents having to work full time to keep a roof over their heads so less meals cooked from scratch.
Parents are more neurotic about kids playing outside.
Kids ferried everywhere in cars.

I disagree that nutritionally shite food is cheaper and that lower socio economic groups don't know the basics e.g. that a microwaved potato is healthier and cheaper than a pile of fries.

We are lazy and feed our kids shit.

As a nation. Not my kids neither is fat

@Gottalovethesummer
Well they do have their goûter but even that is pretty small and tame compared to our multipack culture!

Vogue - fair point. M&S “invented” them and they were successful and considered “aspirational” so normal people could afford them from other supermarkets who got in on the act. I believe it started a shift in attitudes to how we eat and what constitutes cooking. I believe it is very bad for health.

M&S started it. I also have a real dislike for other things about their business so I am just picking on them really. Unreasonably, of course! But I do think that they started the culture that we have now.

@Undercoverbanana
Interesting, thanks!

People don't understand health and nutrition. I saw someone on here say that orange juice was just as bad as coke because of sugar. That sounds ludicrous but some people genuinely have no clue

Supermarket culture penetrated the UK grocery market earlier and more efficiently than it did the rest of Europe. Supermarkets enable processed and packaged foods to flourish at the expense of fresh food. Processed and packaged foods, of which the British eat far more than say the French or Italians are obesogenic.

But it’s true - Tropicana orange juice and Coke are nutritionally much of a muchness.

Don’t know about other nurseries/schools but our local one gives chocolate milk and cake as “a treat”. My DD doesn’t like that so I send her in with a healthier snack (even though it’s private and I pay for the snack anywaY). They asked me to try and make her eat what the rest of the children eat at snack time because it would “help her fit in”.

I’m finding another nursery, it’s ridiculous!

I blame my children's grandparents. Both sets of grandparents were poorer when we grew up. Junk food was a luxury that was only given as a treat. The grandparents are much better off and just cant seem to resist buying junk food in bucketloads. My kids aren't overweight, but only because I take all of the junk they are given and ration it.

It's surprising how many parents don't know how to cook real meals. Dinners like super noodles and chicken nuggets are what constitutes a cooked meal in many homes.
I attended a cooking class for kids a few years back when DD's home economics (or whatever it's called these days) wanted to bring parents in.
There were 8 kids/parents in each class. Astonishingly, 6 of the adults in my class were completely and utterly clueless. Cutting up a chicken breast was an absolute farce. One woman kept laughing and squealing when touching it. They couldn't even chop the garlic. They had no idea at all about basic cooking.

All I could think was "no fucking wonder kids are getting unhealthier".

@user1499173618
But what im wondering is - why in a british supermarket are you faced with these wall to wall options of incredible junk and you just dont get the same in europe?
For example in france, even in the hypermarkets, im underwhelmed by their crisp aisle.

But im CERTAIN that if they were given the option french consumers would go for it.

So basically - why do french supernarkets control what the people eat and british supermarkets give them free rein?

Obese children are more common in Britain than e.g. in Sweden.

Various reasons for this:

Different working culture, less work presenteeism and more acceptance of workers needing to get off work on time means more time and energy for parents to cook.

Different food culture. Jam sandwiches and crisps are NOT regarded as a meal option in Sweden. Crisps are party food only, giving them to a child on a daily basis would be regarded as close to child abuse.

Sweet drinks, again, are seen as something you serve at parties or with snacks, not for lunch or dinner, unless (I suppose) there are genuine SN needs. Children get used to drinking milk and water from a very early age and don't expect to have coke for everyday.

The fact that all school meals are free means it is easier for schools to stick to a healthy diet and ignore children's preference for fatty and salty foods: very few parents are going to want to pay extra money just for the privilege of feeding their children junk food.

Children start to learn preparing food in nursery and there is a cultural expectation that cooking at home is just something you do.

As far as I am aware, cookery lessons are still adequately resourced and timetabled and very much about learning techniques rather than fancy presentation: they certainly were in my day. All the Swedish children I know know how to cook.

There is much better access to the outdoors, partly for geographical reasons, but partly because parents genuinely believe that it is unhealthy to stay cooped up even if the weather is bad. They prioritise good outdoor wear before many other expenses because it seen as a must-have. Nurseries help here too, as they have a policy of taking children out to splash in puddles or roll in the snow.

I think it’s becoming the norm to be overweight. I lost weight a few years ago and had loads of comments about how I needed to stop and how I needed to eat more. When I went to France I was still a larger size than most French women.

Convenience foods are also the norm like the corner shop processed foods example above. Takeaways and processed meals are normal and there’s a perception amongst many people that healthier foods are ‘elitist’. Linking with a lack of trust in ‘experts’ - what does Jamie Oliver know? My grandad ate pies his whole life and lived to be 95!

People don’t have active jobs like they may once have had. They work long hours and don’t have much spare money. Time is precious, exercise has become an extra thing to do rather than just part of life.

I think outdoor play/activity is really important in keeping children at a healthy weight, and it seems to be reducing in all aspects. The first is that children do seem to "play out" less, as a child we would spend hours at the weekend and a fair chunk of the evening time outside- this could be because more families have two adults working and there is consequently less down time. Second, I also think that playtimes at school seem to be cut down, I appreciate that not all children would spend the time being super active but they would be on their way to getting an hour a day.

I'm sure diet plays a part but my diet in the 80s was fairly appalling. It was pretty much stodge and sugar. I think though that there's so much choice now - and snacking is much more prevalent which must play a part.

laziness and lack of knowing how to cook nutritious meals - knowing how to put ingredients together to make a meal and knowing how to use utensils.

Years ago we went to a birthday party of a child from baby group. Mum got out a paring knife to cut the cake as 'that was the only knife' they had. The kitchen and in particular the microwave was filthy and the whole thing very off putting.

Barbarian, how does that 'I blame the parents' work when you have a family with one or two overweight children, and one who's built like a whippet, who all sit down for meals together and have the same family food culture?

Would add that in the UK the people who have the most physical jobs - manual workers, care assistants, shop staff, catering staff, have much higher levels of obesity than those in sedentary professional jobs.

There isn't good evidence that exercise is effective at controlling weight in the general population. This article explores the issue: www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2010/sep/19/exercise-dieting-public-health

That’s appalling, sospboxmum. Trying to coerce parents into making their children eat junk food. I would put it in writing to the owner.

Kids don’t walk anywhere. I live by a school and they recently did a walk to school campaign for a week and even with the campaign only 50% walked to school, most of these children live in the roads surrounding the school. Same children go to the local shop and buy massive grab bags of crisps.