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).

Italy

*@minifingerz Something I found out on a sensory course for People with ASD. it probably IS linked to your son's autism. People with ASD, as you will know.... either enjoy the sensation of eating esp certain foods and have no off switch or hate the sensation,texture and smell and have no interest like my son-I still have to feed him and he would live off cashew milk and brioche(but only one brand) if I let him...
I can't remember who posted about the rationing and food abundance of the 80s
But I have read previously that the generation that grew up with post war rationing went on to have my gen in the 70s and spoiled us with sugar as it was off limits to them..plus as things became mass produced it was cheaper and more accessible . creating a bunch of sugar freaks(myself included... I am obese but a sugar addict, my habits were after I left home as my mother was very strict with things like that so i rebelled and moved in with a fat friend. The ready meals started in late 70s &80s as microwave became popular and mums started working instead of sahm so didn't have the time to cook from scratch and portions have doubled since then (as seen on a BBC programme about family life through the century-can't remember the name of it)
I am very obese myself and hate to see overweight children as I know first-hand the misery it causes

Snacking in between meals, addiction to screens and seated entertainment, and cars reigning supreme - not only are we addicted to cars but we’re also afraid of our kids cycling because of the traffic - and personally I hate jogging because of the fumes....👽
When I lived in Amsterdam trams and cycle lanes were everywhere- meaning far less car traffic than any British city, and far healthier looking locals

I am always struck by how incredibly cheap high calorie food is in the UK. Cakes, biscuits, doughnuts, crisps, chips are the cheapest food you can find. It's really hard to resist picking up a pack of doughnuts for a quid or a whole cake for £1.50 - the same price as a bag of salad! I have never seen comparably cheap prices in other countries for this type of food, even in the US.

In my nearest supermarket, five doughnuts cost 65p....less than the cost of five apples.

Lack of outdoor culture vs. somewhere like, say, Australia where being outside and doing sport for fun is an important part of their culture.

Sorry if this has already been mentioned (I haven't RTFT) but Australia is the second fattest country IN THE WORLD.

A lot of British cuisine (yeah har har, whatever) came about in the industrial revolution - it’s stodgy because it needed to be - people were miners, factory workers, dock workers etc working absurdly long days in very physically demanding jobs. There was also no central heating and you burn a surprising number of calories by being cold all of the time. No gadgets to make chores easier - if you wanted clean clothes and sheets you had to wash them by hang and wind them through a mangle; if you spilt something you had to sweep it up with a dustpan... but now the UK is deindustrialised with a service-based economy so a lot of people drive to their desk jobs etc
I’d guess that this is one of the reasons why there is more obesity up north - that’s where most of the manual labour used to take place, so their food culture is more geared towards sustaining people working 14 hour days and moving non-stop, and that doesn’t happen much any more.
With regards to children specifically, people on average now have fewer children and buy them more stuff, so indoors has become a lot more entertaining than it used to be. An iPad and an XBox are much more exciting to most kids than some dolls and meccano, so they’ll be less inclined to go outside and entertain themselves in more active ways.

I think what you find with a lot of overweight children is that their parents experienced food insecurity when they were children themselves. So in their desire to ensure that their own children don’t go hungry, they might overdo it a bit.

I can see how this can look like Brit bashing
When I go to south Europe you can also see that the poorer demographic have the same issue .

But fuck me I am always quite shocked when I leave London . It’s kind of scary and depressing (London has obesity yes but we are a richer demographic in general and pretty image conscious to boot)

I think that schools are really trying actually . They are teaching kids what’s right and wrong

But I do wonder what will happen in the next few years as surely the Govt are going to have to take a harder line when we tip
To 70% obesity

And I think actually poverty and education IS behind much of this actually . Pretty shameful

The counties with less obesity seem to be the socialist ones. Again not the massive rich poor gap

Obesity rankings 2017:

renewbariatrics.com/obesity-rank-by-countries/

I live in a fairly posh part of Paris. Hardly anyone is overweight. No one is obese. Most of the kids are really skinny...

And yet in the park after school they eat utter crap. Sweets, oreos, bread with chunks of chocolate,...

One of the skinniest lads I know eats less for lunch than my 4 year old (he's 7). But I see him eating oreos for breakfast everyday on the way to school.

But the adults don't snack here. When we go to coffee mornings at the school the plates are piled high with croissants etc and hardly anyone touches them.

At work one day I took in some leftover chocolates from Christmas (unopened) to a meeting which ran from 10.30-12.30. Out of 10 people only 2 ate one. And only 1 person had a second one.

BF rates are very low here. You are weighed every month of your pregnancy and told if you're putting on too much.

Children are weighed at every Dr visit, which is at least every year. Medicines are given to D.C. By weight, so parents always know how much they weigh.

Outside of Paris the people are fatter though.

When I was at school we were taught to cook from scratch ffs to my kids at senior school and they had one term of "cooking" which meant buying prepared pizza bases and putting toppings on etc. Many can't cook these days so take out/ready meals are the go to.

Before 1960 children were looked after and fed proper food by their mothers while dads went to work.
Now feminist have decided to change that and said that is not how it is going to be now.
Hence children are farmed out to child care, mothers no longer cook proper food, and our kids are fed on ready made crap.
No surprise children now are fat and unhealthy.

Kids eat and drink crap. How many people cook from scratch yet it's cheaper. Walked 10 miles with my family yesterday saw 3 people. Nobody exercises. Kids don't play out they sit for hours on screens 8/9 hours plus my kids friends.
Too many McDonalds, Greg's, KFC etc.

Damn women! Leaving the kichen! Who do they think they are?

Sadly VogueVVague, your entire thread is based on a falsehood.

The new WHO report, presented Wednesday at the European Congress on Obesity in Vienna, indicated that of 34 countries in the European region, the countries of Cyprus, Greece, Italy, Malta, San Marino and Spain had the highest rates of childhood obesity. In these countries, approximately one in five boys was obese (18% to 21% of boys). Rates of obesity among girls were only slightly lower.

On the other hand the picture for women is not so rosy!

My personal opinion is that real homemade cooking isn’t taught in schools and that’s an issue. Don’t get me wrong it is a parents responsibility too but if those parents don’t know how to cook...it’s not a great situation!!

“Before 1960 children were looked after and fed proper food by their mothers while dads went to work.
Now feminist have decided to change that and said that is not how it is going to be now.
Hence children are farmed out to child care mothers no longer cook proper food”

Erm are we in the 1950s? Last time I checked kids had two parents. Guilt bashing mothers who dare to want a career is a pretty low blow. Now we seem to be responsible for childhood obesity because we dared to aim for equality. Words fail me.

Considering that Britain reportedly has too many SAHM compared to the rest of Europe, I don't think "feminist" is to blame for childhood obesity in the UK.

www.lifesitenews.com/news/eu-chastises-britain-for-having-too-many-stay-at-home-moms

But...
NEITHER CHILDHOOD OBESITY NOR ADULT OBESITY IS THAT MUCH HIGHER IN THE UK AS THE REST OF EUROPE. It's in the same ballpark and it has been increasing in other European countries and catching up.

Its the snacking in my opinion! We are OBSESSED with offering our children snacks before they have even mentioned being hungry. I started a thread on here about this and was basically shut down in a load of hysteria about low blood sugar, kids becoming completely feral if they don't eat every single hour of the day and how I don't understand ASD

We lived in Holland. Diet not necessarily better but I agree in comparison we are very "foodie" in the UK.

also

fresh produce from Local markets
Daily shopping particularly bakeries
More outdoors lifestyle
No culture to overeat
Take aways way less common
Taxation on cakes and sweet things
smaller portions in restaurants

Places in europe tend to have more "homegrown produce which helps to keep costs down, miss it terribly!

I think a big reason for child obesity is mainly political we have a culture where must the majority of jobs are so low paid both parents are forced to work. Governments have created a situation where kids are being left alone for increasingly longer periods of time and literally left to their own devices. Lots of kids off get dropped off at breakfast clubs and after school clubs,very sad really!!