To wonder what exactly middle class and upper class Mums do to be skinny

[Humpy84]

I am a Mum of a two year old turning three July. Not an age that he can be packed up for long walks in buggy.

I have gained weight and feeling overwhelmed by everything.

I have noticed and I think it is obvious that middle and upper class Mums tend to be slimmer.

I want to know if you identify this and if so what is your weekly shopping routine, meal plan, how do you exercise with or without toddler/s, tips and tricks etc, diet plans, etc etc.

"Ingrained healthy behaviours are more common in upper middle class circles."

Yes, it's easier if your parents were the same.
Anyone can buy a healthy eating book, but old habits die hard. It's generally the upper middle classes who are the first to learn about healthy eating and new information then it trickles down to the rest of us. It backfires sometimes though - I heard of a problem with the teeth of middle class children because their parents had been giving them currants as 'healthy snacks'.

"Yes, but what’s that got to do with class? My parents were the same. It was a behavioural thing. Not a class thing."

No sweets before lunch was the norm until quite recently and before that even no eating before meals at all. The snack industry then worked very hard to change that mindset. 'A finger of fudge is just enough' i.e. wouldn't spoil the child's appetite for lunch.

They've now got much worse with 'double' bars and the like.
If you can find it, watch 'The men who made us fat'.

If you want to see the class thing, watch some soaps and dramas. Chopping veg signified middle class or aspiring to be middle class, putting a frozen thing in the oven the opposite.

Or watch Hugh Fearnly whatist go around working class areas and exclaiming at the lack of veg available

Or watch Hugh Fearnly whatist go around working class areas and exclaiming at the lack of veg available

Now that is a factor. I was shocked when I saw that. The lack of availability of fruit and veg for some people locally. I would say, though, most people have access to a supermarket which sells reasonably priced fruit and veg.

Interesting about the sweets/lunch thing. I am literally the only person I know IRL like this. Fancinating to hear it was the norm.

I wasn't describing it as particularly middle class DGM left.school at 14 but did marry well so LMC ?

And not very interesting or tasty. To who? People have different tastes. I don't enjoy most chocolate or supermarket cakes. I don't enjoy bland 'comfort food'. I like fresh healthy food, simple is fine. I think if you just start eating healthily then your tastes can change.

"I wasn't describing it as particularly middle class DGM left.school at 14 but did marry well so LMC ?"

I presume it was the norm across classes, but the snack culture changed.

"I don't enjoy most chocolate or supermarket cakes. I don't enjoy bland 'comfort food'. I like fresh healthy food, simple is fine. I think if you just start eating healthily then your tastes can change."

Lucky you. Pasta with some veg without any sauce sounds really bland and boring to me. I would need some sauce to bind those things together and I also find brown pasta horrible.

Yes, you might be right that our taste can change, but humans have a natural tendency to like sugary and fatty foods and it's difficult to fight against that.

It shocks me how little you have to eat to stay thin.

Turn that phrase round It shocks me how much people eat to be fat, is that acceptable to say?

People who are fat are eating far more than their bodies need or want, your body needs enough calories to work efficiently it does not need to be continuously working to process all the extra calories. People who are thin are eating the right amount.

As a couple of recent posters said as children we never ate between meals, portions were smaller and we were very active. Sweets or crisps were an occasional treat and never a whole packet or chocolate bar at once (and they were much smaller in those days). Same for my husband. We carried on this approach with our own children and they do with theirs as do all siblings on both sides. Family is a mix of WC and MC.

Both my grandad's had allotments and were fanatical about growing fruit and veg in the 70's and we were bursting with veg as was every other kid I knew. We had to like it or lump it. Times and attitudes have changed and that's really worrying. I can only speak for myself and people I know but all the working classes I grew up with had children who were taught to cook by their parents and were fed a healthy, balanced diet.

We were no Nigella's but narry a ricket between us

"Turn that phrase round It shocks me how much people eat to be fat, is that acceptable to say?"

Of course.
Unless there is a specific illness, overweight people eat too much. That's obvious. Most overweight people know they eat too much.

hopeful As well as no snacks before lunch - except for compulsory school milk at breaktime, which I loathed or perhaps water or very weak squash mid morning in the summer- we were also brought up with 'two sweets a day only', to be eaten after lunch. And by 'two sweets' my mother meant two boiled sweets, or two little squares of chocolate, or the equivalent. Crisps (with a little blue bag of salt) or twiglets or cheeselets (old version) appeared at birthday parties only.

Afternoon tea, on return from school (we walked there and back - twice - we came home for lunch from primary school), was the time when there might be a slice of cake, or a biscuit or two, or toast and butter and perhaps jam or honey. In the winter, there might be gingerbread or crumpets. Tea was served with weak tea or very dilute fruit squash. In the summer, if we were out and about, a small ice cream or lolly might replace tea, but probably once a week only.

My mother herself had gone to a fairly posh girls school with a mix of day pupils and boarders, and she said that there, at teatime, the rule had been 'bread and butter OR bread and jam, but not both'.

The poster said they eat 3 chips or 1 potato wedge or 1 spoon of rice.

That is a small amount. If she's a healthy weight, then we've been massively lied to as a nation about portions and amounts we are supposed to be eating.

The only time my BMI was in the normal zone was when I ate one meal a day.

So surely the fact we are told three meals a day, a third carbs on our plate is not correct?

Confused

Gwenhwyfar glad you agree but from what I've seen on MN you (and I) are very much in the minority on that.

florascotia2 agreed.
My mum had this little thing that rattled if you opened the biscuit tin. It was meant to keep biscuits fresh but served as an alarm for greedy children. She was like a bleeding pipistrel bat. We were berated for being greedy if we wanted a second biscuit and the rattling was a deterrent. I used to hate her for it but am thankful now.

Can you imagine calling anyone greedy in 2019? It would be tantamount to a hate crime. In the 70's you'd have been shamed and shunned. Not that I agree with that at all but you cannot change the past.

Yes, you might be right that our taste can change, but humans have a natural tendency to like sugary and fatty foods and it's difficult to fight against that
If you could eat all the sugary food you want without needing to exercise, then nobody would be overweight.

Some people prefer to eat 'boring' food that becomes less boring as they get used to it and remain slim, others want fulfilling food and decide that being slim is not for them.

Sadly, its one or the other.

George Orwell wrote about this 80 years ago.

The working classes eating "unhealthy" food.

He was explaining it by I guess a bit of cheap pleasure. Yes, I guess you could eat a bowl of lentils. But how about popping to the chippy for some tasty ha'penny worth of chips to cheer us up?

p.s. lentils, as a member of legume family, seen as unhealthy by some!

I know, as an educated but in-poverty woman over 50, that the only way to be slim is to go hungry sometimes. Even now, watching Scott & Bailey catch up - all the female police officers are under size 10, some of them even skinnier. Not like real life.

actresses

formerbabe the poster also said this in reply to your comment:

I do eat other stuff! Just not many chips, rice or potato wedges. The rest of my plate has meat, veg or salad on it

A number of vegetables come under the classification of carbohydrates.

I am not sure I agree with you about us being lied to on portion sizes and amounts to eat. I frequently hear people scoffing that a, for example, ready made shepherds pie described as suitable for 2 people wouldn't be enough for one person, or that they will die of starvation if they don't have a mid-morning, mid-afternoon and pre-bedtime snack.

former that was me. I've low carbed in the past. I know it works for me but I do like a little bit of potato etc sometimes so I don't deny myself. I don't go short of food. I just eat more colourful vegetables and a reasonable amount of fat and protein. I don't go hungry. People were lied to (sort of, knowledge has moved on from the food pyramid). Look up Jason Fung on YouTube,

So surely the fact we are told three meals a day, a third carbs on our plate is not correct?

Yes, incorrect IMO and many other's.

I think it's the fact that the idea of working class has totally changed too.

So surely the fact we are told three meals a day, a third carbs on our plate is not correct?

This is a very good point and no I don't think it is correct.

I've never eaten this much, not every day and nor do my children.

The big breakfast thing has just been disputed by the lastest research.

Here's one of his lectures: