About childhood obesity?

[imamearcat]

I was reading an article in my closer magazine (high quality reading!) about childhood obesity. It had a section about 'what can you do to help your kids'. It was ALL about diet. Didn't mention once about exercise and activity levels!

I think this is the main problem. I was brought up in the country and we were on the go all the time! Yes we had home cooked food but I had my fair share of fatty chips, Chinese and sweets as well. I was thin as a rail as were most of my friends.

AIBU to think that although diet is important, actually activity levels are mostly to blame? I'm all for a bit of screen time but along with a walk / scoot / bike ride / Bounce on the trampoline etc etc. That they need every single day, multiple times if possible?

It's a combination of both. I think the "80% diet 20% exercise" is probably fairly accurate. So yes we need to be encouraging our kids to be more active, but what they put in their mouths has the biggest impact.

I think the 80/20 rule is true for adults but less for kids. We might go to the gym or for a run a few times a week but I think kids should be active most of the time.

I've got a 2yo and a 4yo who are both a healthy weight. I do focus on their fruit and veg and not eating too much crap but more so I make sure they are active for a good part of the day.

I allow a bit of wild running around in the house. We go on a lot of walks, go on the trampoline a lot.

The calories a human being intakes, at any age, is the main factor as to whether they become overweight. Portion sizes are completely out of control and something we fail as a society to take into account.

So IABU?

Yes, you are BU. Activity level is not mostly to blame. It plays a part, but calorie intake is the primary factor.

Unfortunately I think you are.

We studied obesity, particularly in children and women in depth for graduate studies so reading dozens if not hundreds of academic literature on the subject and it tends to come down mostly to diet - probably 80% versus 20% as said above.

I think children that are naturally skinny may not necessarily be any more active, they may just have a higher metabolism. Or maybe it's a catch-22 in that kids with higher metabolisms want to burn more energy and that kids with lower metabolisms would rather sit around.

They did a program here where they forced kids outside for an hour a day of exercise; after several years their cardiovascular health was better but the weight levels hadn't changed enough to be significant.

Yup. Sorry.

Although exercise does help. And 20% is a fair amount.

I agree with you OP that the 80/20 rule is more relevant for adults than kids. Children should be active! YANBU.

I saw a child today that was probably 5 or 6. I don't even know how to describe it politely, but she just can't have got that way from lack of exercise alone. The adults with her weren't a healthy size either. It had to be a food issue, and tbh was horrible to see. She is going to have a lifetime of problems.

But, more generally speaking, we all need to ditch the reliance on cars and walk/cycle as the default option.

Its a combination, i agree. the numbed of posters who seem to think that ballet once a week is enough exercise for their (usually “sturdy“) kids is mind boggling.
however, diet is crucial - especially in a society in which empty calories are often seen as adequate food (i still can’t believe crisps are seen as an ok bit if any lunch, let alone a child’s!)

Also - and for kids that is a lot - while you exercise, you generally can’t eat. so 3-4 hours running around per day means a lot less calorie intake than 3-4 hours at home ....

I think you are right about exercise my DS eats so much but he's got a physical job and goes to the gym. I sat next to an 11 year old boy at a party last night, he ate 3 plates of party food and a huge piece of cake but he is very slim because he and his family are very active

I think portion sizes are often too big. A couple of times this summer my 5yo has ordered a child's pizza and it's been a full sized pizza the size of a dinner plate. It should be the size of a side plate! He ate about half to 3/4, he loves his food. I try to balance out portion sizes over the day, so if he's had a massive pizza for lunch I'll just give him a little bit of dinner.

Generally I think increased portion sizes in cafes/restaurants have led to us all eating too much quantity, even of healthy foods.

'You can't run off a bad diet.' someone, somewhere said and it's true!

When it comes to weight, diet is more important than exercise. And it's not just about weight, it's about getting the right nutrients and balance too.

But ideally you'd get exercise too, of course! Totally agree with the 80/20 thinking.

I think what makes kids overweight is too large portion sizes, too many takeaways/family eating out in cheap places with huge portions and no healthy options/too much convenience food, sugar fizzy drinks consumed in large quantity, too many snacks and too much time sitting down instead of being generally active.

I agree with 80:20. But all the time the kids are doing physical things they probably aren’t eating ie they’re distracted . So eg if they’re playing outside they are less likely to be eating because it’s impractical. I think it’s the incessant snacking causing a problem for young and old. A lot of it is associated with screen time and boredom.
There are plenty of fat kids at my DD’s gymnastics and at swimming and I don’t mean a bit chubby I mean to the extent that it must be uncomfortable for them
I think Taubes (Why We Get Fat) explains how thin people move more because they are thin, not “they are thin because they move more”

I went in a Hungry Horse type place on holiday - worse than a Harvester, all reheated food and they couldn't even do that well. Everything on the menu was huge, meaty, carby, fatty, deep fried, and hardly a vegetable in sight. It was also very cheap so I can imagine local families going in there quite regularly. I am quite greedy and not skinny, but clearly not hungry enough for a Hungry Horse. I had a starter with a side dish of veg and was completely full. It was a microcosm of "Why we are fat".

I kind of agree with you but I think things have changed now. As a kid 20/25 years ago I had a very poor diet. I almost never ate fruit, never drank water (only fizzy drinks), 90% processed food.

However my activities included dancing, football, netball, swimming, drama, brownies and riding my bike all day on the weekends. This definitely compensated for what I ate as a young child but in secondary school I wasn’t doing half as much and so put on a bit of weight (not much).

I don’t think young children are on the go as much as they used to be and many parents can’t afford clubs for their children (mine were mostly free). Therefore their diet needs to be monitored more closely.

I agree with the poster who mentioned the increase of cheap places to eat out and regular takeaways haven’t helped.

IMHO it's mainly about snacks. Snacks were invented in the 60s\70s by advertising people. ' Milky Way, the snack you can eat between meals without ruining your appetite'. We don't need them.

As a 70s child I had cereal for breakfast, an apple at break time (sometimes) , sandwiches, crisps and fruit for lunch, then tea. I was ravenous before tea - if I hear the theme tune to 'magic roundabout' or 'Roobarb and Custard' and it takes me straight back to rumbling tummy before the 6 o clock news and dinner. We ate a dinner of meat, potatoes and 2/3 veg (you must have veg of different colours, my mum would say), followed by pudding. Possibly some weetabix with warm milk before bed. Sweets at the weekend, as a treat. Occasional biscuits - two at a time, max. And yes, I know that some kids have a blood sugar thing so they need regular top ups, but that is the exception, and can be handled by a quarter of. Adam sandwich, or a banana , not a giant bag of monster munch or a bar of chocolate.

If we stopped buying crisps and chocolate so that they are just not in the house, and helped our kids to understand that it's OK to feel hungry in the run up to a proper meal then it would have a huge impact on obesity and issues with food. Tiny kids do need a slightly different pattern but bigger kids just don't.

And yes, exercise is key. Just not being sedentary will help. But it's not just about weight, it's about wellbeing-getting out and active is good for social skills, combatting isolation, depression, promoting thinking and curiosity, finding out how your body works, watching and being part of the world - ie all the skills we need as grown ups. There is so much focus on food and exercise, but I really think it should be a more rounded 'healthy way of living' and about getting the most out of being who you are and life in general. Also see my ranty-preachy post on the gcse thread about education . I'm on a roll this morning.

I saw a child today that was probably 5 or 6. I don't even know how to describe it politely, but she just can't have got that way from lack of exercise alone.

I dont know if im going to say this right but I can't stress enough that there are totally kids who are over weight due to their make-up. I know instances of children who do a huge range of activities and are very active ( 1 is a close relative, 1 lives in the houses very close to us and she's always out playing chasing, we meet them on long walks in the park, they go hiking a lot as a family, another is one of the star players in two of the school sports teams) All have mothers that would be from scratch cookers. I honestly know there are many reasons for obesity, but please try not to assume the kids to be fizzy drink guzzling fast food eating kids

I think there is a massive difference between active play and organised activities. My 3 year old does swimming but by the time she’s got into the pool, stood around watching the teacher etc I’d be amazed if she does more that 15-20 mins exercise. If parents are relying on those sorts of classes for toddlers then the children won’t be getting enough. When they’re older and doing proper sport it would be different especially children training competitively.

My toddler eats a lot but burns her calories though active play during her normal day. She does have some tv time (probably too much) but otherwise she’s on the go all of the time- up and down stairs- in and out of the house into the garden etc.

I agree with you. My DC are all like rails at the moment at least, but they thin out every holiday, even though they eat a lot more than they would during term time. I assume it's because they are on the go all the time and out and about.

@stayathomer if those obese children you are talking about are always on the go and eating healthy foods then they are eating too much of it. People are not fat because of their ‘make up’ - they might have a slower metabolism but that just means they need to eat less. Fat has to come from somewhere, it comes from excess calories. Without excess calories their bodies simply wouldn’t be able to make excess fat, so they either need to eat less calories or use more calories.

I agree with you to a large extent OP - I think a huge part of the issue is lack of movement. ‘My child does lots of exercise, they go swimming, gymnastics and to football’ - so 3 hours a week? Kids should be moving all the time, running and riding bikes and climbing on stuff and challenging themselves away from structured exercise lessons. That’s why I think the 80/20 rule doesn’t really work for kids - adults only tend to do structured exercise, you don’t see a 30 year old climbing up the back of the sofa and jumping off just because! So when we count exercise we’re not counting all the other moving kids are doing.

yy user 30 mins of sporadic activity doesn't touch the sides. Kids need to move a lot more.

there are totally kids who are over weight due to their make-up.

Well yes. There probably are a few. But a very few. The vast, vast majority of children and adults who are overweight are that way because they consume more calories than they need. And it is perfectly possible to become overweight eating food cooked from scratch. Large portions of healthy food will cause weight gain if you’re consuming more than you burn off.