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).

Yes re: the car park being full half an hour before the end of the day! So, so different to when I was at primary school.

Sugar, refined carbs, unnecessary snacking and the idea that those things are an essential part of a normal diet. And the inability of many parents to say no to their children. Eating mostly meat, fish, eggs, dairy and veg stabilises your blood sugar and hunger levels and stops you lurching from one sugary thing to the next. For adults as well as children. Sugar and refined carbs are addictive - it's no mystery that kids won't voluntarily give them up. Parents need to take responsibility.

Think there are quite a few contributing factors :

1. fatter parents. Obesity in adults getting more acceptable so thus is being passed down to kids

2. digital technology. More computer games and gadgets and tv channels means kids do less active stuff for entertainment.

3. work life balance. Many more families with 2 full time working parents , so less time and inclination to cook healthy meals and make sure kids exercise.

4. cheap and easy fast food. So much crap available that parents are dragged in never mind kids. Despite what experts with loads of time on their hands preach, it is cheaper and easier to eat unhealthy stuff.

All these things are preventable with effort and hard work , but life is hard enough for families already without this lifestyle battle.

The other thing I notice on the school run is what children from the nearby secondary school are snacking on as they walk home. I remember going into the shop and getting a bar of chocolate or some sweets on thw way home sometimes but what's changed is the amount they are snacking on. They go into the 'express' type supermarket near the school and come out with a sharing size bag of crisps, huge bags of sweets, a whole bag of doughnuts, even boxes of cereal which then get demolished as they walk home.

I am guilty of scoffing a 4 pack of mars bars before now - sugar is addictive - but thinking about it, when you buy one 30g chocolate bar which costs around 60p for a single, that's 2p per gramme, or twenty quid a kilo! For goodness' sake what am I doing! Even the fourpack - 25g bars at a pound from home bargains, comes in at ten quid a kilo. I'm clearly bonkers.

In france / spain they don't really do snack sized snacks - crisps and chocs - you have to buy big packets so it's not really a stuff your face on the way home from school kind of thing. Well you could i suppose... i could 😂 also they don't really graze... i dunno why we do that in britain. Nom nom nom!

Also in france sports clubs are way cheap. And they have a massive selection everywhere.

Years ago you'd have those public infomercials on the telly. They should bring those back with some key messages like

Slay your snacketite with a glass of water first

Or the one i really want to see

Don't swear infront of your kids.

But that's off topic...

Now where did i put that lion bar...?

I remember the weetabix thread somone was giving their kids 3 weetabix

What was that about? I would happily give my DS 3 weetabix...

Unless your DS is a teenager, that is too much.

One thing i have really noticed since becoming a single mum off 3 and being on a tight budget is how expensive some food is. The shopping bill is by far my biggest outgoing, i average about £40 a week on fruit and veg alone, and i usually have to top the fruit up mid week. When you compare that to what a packet of shop brand biscuits costs its no wonder that some people are filling their dc up on biscuits etc as they purely cannot afford to purchase the healthier alternatives!

Brits just can’t seem to do food and drink in moderation, no idea why. Being starved of sugar and treats in the post war years?

The Parisians are thin. Those in northern France, not so much.

Food being expensive and inconvenient is frankly a bullshit excuse for most people. Supermarkets in the UK are some of the most well stocked and cheapest in the developed world. I'm in France at the moment and the fruit and veg aisles here are smaller and witb less variety than the UK equivalent - and that's before you get onto the cost. Food is much more expensive here. It's just as easy to buy fresh food as it is junk food.

There's also the rise of special snowflakes - the expectation was that you are what was on offer, especially at school. This is still the case here in France where it's difficult enough to get a halal or vegetarian meal at school, but in the UK parents would kick up a drink or send in a rubbishy packed lunch.

Lack of activity is a problem - our local secondary is 3 miles away on a quiet road and then off road dedicated cycle path. Haven't seen a single child cycle to school in the 7 years I have lived here.

And ignorance of how to cook is no excuse. People spend hours watching YouTube make up tutorials or researching holidays but can't spend 10 mins watching how to make an omelette?

Supermarkets may be well stocked but that’s only any good if you can get there. Not everyone has a supermarket on their doorstep, not everyone can access home delivery. Some people rely on the poorly stocked coop type shops.

As someone said upthread, it does not take a lot of extra calories to make a child fat. 100 calories a day - that is one chocolate biscuit, or slice of bread, or extra weetabix, every day, will do it.

Also kids seem to have lost the ability to walk any distance. We love walking and do it as a hobby, so my dd has just joined us on long walks since birth and as she’s become a toddler will walk several hours without tiring. But walking any distance is no longer a normal part of most people’s days, including ours. Unless you make an effort to do it you don’t in modern life. I’ve noticed other toddlers we know can’t seem to walk half a mile without whinging that they’re tired, and want to be carried, which in turn probably puts parents off going without prams/slings as a backup, vicious cycle.

And snacking! Snacking drives me mad. Why is it necessary? Every toddler group is full of sugary snacks. I’ve tried to avoid it but if you want your child to socialise there’s no hope, mine is now a fully fledged sugar lover despite me limiting it at home. Although education and poverty is a undoubtedly factor in childhood obesity, I know Plenty of mums who are well educated, ‘middle class’, health conscious themselves who don’t go anywhere without a bagfull of junk to constantly feed and control their kids with (and everyone else’s it seems) and then complain when they don’t eat meals. Again. Toddler fussy eater, parent wants to top them up, offers snacks, won’t eat meals because they are full of snacks. Vicious cycle.

Yes. 100 calories a day can be 10 pounds in a year. I am currently losing weight and despite not wanting to in the past, I know I am going to have to weigh myself weekly in future if I want to keep it off, because it is so easy to overeat by a tiny amount each day.

Actually I suspect not realising that eating small amounts of too much food can make you fat, is a key point. I read on here people assuming that if someone is fat they are eating massive amounts of food. When the difference may be that they have been eating 100 calories too much as day for years and years.
If you assume that being fat means eating massive amounts of food, you may not realise that feeding your child only slightly too much will make them fat. I was a fat child and ate very healthy meals, few sweets, no biscuits, lots of fruit and veg. But was still fat. I suspect that my love of eating lots of fruit contributed.

But this does not apply the children, the point of this topic. Children are growing and whilst it is important to give children appropriate portions, their nutritional needs are different to adults and it is dangerous to apply adult diet advice to children.

When people write about fatness, they always use really pejorative words, like shovelling, guzzling and gobbling. It's not the reality for most overweight people.

Coke - 29% sugar
Oj - 14% sugar so 15% LESS sugar

But still high in sugar. I watched the Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall series recently and a small bottle of Orange Juice contained 8.5 teaspoons of sugar. That is a heck of a lot.

^ Also, that is for a 330ml can of Coke vs a 150ml portion of OJ. OJ is not sold in 150ml portions and the bottle you are drinking probably has at least 2 portions, if not more. The OJ you are drinking has more sugar.

Phantom they do that with slimpeople though "Picking, nibbling, pecking, scrawny, skinny, bony" Any extreme will attract descriptive language.

*Coke - 29% sugar
Oj - 14% sugar so 15% LESS sugar

But still high in sugar. I watched the Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall series recently and a small bottle of Orange Juice contained 8.5 teaspoons of sugar. That is a heck of a lot.*

9.5-10 teaspoons of sugar in a can of coke.

Yes. They do. I suppose the point is that actually one too many pieces of toast or biscuits a day isn't extreme. It's really easy to do and can explain why so many people in richer countries are overweight.