To think that fucking cartoons on cereal boxes aren't what's making children overweight and parents just need to say no to their kids?

[GoblinGreen]

www.google.com/amp/s/www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-7848217/amp/Supermarket-Lidl-announces-remove-cartoon-characters-sugary-cereal-packaging.html

Ffs, what are they going to do next, get rid of all sweets and chocolate in case the kids pester their parents?

There’s a lot of over simplifying poverty with anecdotal stories of how middle MNs have overcome the situation/ cooked healthily regardless, but the evidence suggests you are not the norm.

Growing up, we ate loads of processed food. Sausages + oven chips + beans were a norm. Bolognese was made with gritty frozen mince and shoo bought sauces. I learned to cook from a jar.

I was lucky enough to go to university and breakout of the same cycle, but it took me years to learn to cook. It wasn’t until I tried to loose weight that I started closely pay attention to food. I didn’t know how rich in calories some of the things I’d been eating were. And even then, I still wasn’t necessarily eating healthily.

It then wasn’t until I had a decent paying job that I started properly cooking, reading recipe books and understanding the real nutritional value of ingredients. Sure, I knew it was healthy to eat vegetables but I didn’t really know how much difference it would make to my health and appearance until I actually started eating them properly.

Poverty isn’t just about not having enough money- poverty tends to be linked with a lack of education which in turn is linked with prejudices (DM’s BF won’t touch anything foreign or anything green) and a dislike of experts (“well it never did me any harm”). Not to mention the problems with sourcing the foods in the first place.

Lose weight*

I work in a shop and children do whinge for the sugary cereal and usually parent buy it. I'm a mean mum and my children only get wheetabix and I don't take them shopping. So I think parent's need to learn to say no.
However I think large portions, fussy eating and lack of exercise play a larger part in the rise in obesity. Lives seem to be busy now and health seems to come low on the list of priorities.

DH was an overweight child (he's now 40). He developed a problem with his knee that the consultant said was due to being overweight. MiL didn't believe that was the cause but attributed his weight to him not being active enough. He then got into sports and the weight came off. This is what MIL told me.

When I relayed this to DH he was in hysterics because he didn't actually get into sports but started smoking (was hanging around at a sports centre).

@rosebel - you think other parents need to say 'no' yet you don't because you don't have to take yours shopping?! Maybe you'd find it hard to say 'no' all the time if you had to take your children shopping with you all the time!

But I did take them shopping when they were young. I still managed to say no.

@UndertheCedartree as a single mum I've always had to take DS shopping with me and I say no to him all the time. I'm the parent, not him.

Rubbish UndertheCedertree as a lone parent to 2 boys, i managed to say no too, as my mum did..

I think I'll stop going into shops, heaven knows what I'm being judged and found lacking in.

@amijustparanoidorjuststoned - I assume you've never had to use a food bank? Not so many 'yummy' vegetables there however hard you look!

@rosebel - would have made your point better if you'd said you did take yours shopping and said 'no' rather than others needed to do it but not you as you didn't take yours shopping!

@Waxonwaxoff0 @Jellykat - good for you! But the point is the poster wrote that she didn't take her children shopping (that apparently isn't true now) so didn't need to say 'no' but criticised others for not being able to!

As a child in the 70s we had roast on a Sunday often pork or lamb as they were cheapest then then cold meat and fried left over potatoes or plain boiled potatoes for at least 2 days. The next day would probably be stew and potatoes the meat so chewy it was hard to get down. I hated this food I was a thin child because I ate very little. Now we have access to nice food from all over the world so we eat food we like as do our children, we eat more and are larger even if we eat healthy food, this at least is my experience.

It’s snacking. It wasn’t a thing in the 80s. We ate food at meals.

Maybe you'd find it hard to say no all the time if you had to take your children shopping all the time!

UndertheCedertree yes good for me, it isn't that difficult actually, and seems your point turned out to be void, aye?.

@MrsBrentford

Extortionate it may be, but where I live it's the only real option for day to day pick ups as I don't drive, and in my village there's no shop, co-op is next village along and has that or MColls which is even more expensive. There's an Aldi about 15 minutes drive, or 2 hours and a twenty minutes walk (on 2 buses) factor in taxi fare and the savings disappear. I also don't have 2 hours spare every day because I work full time and it's in the opposite direction. I am lucky that I can do a 'big shop' and have it delivered once a month, this is a poor area, drug issues, anti social behaviour, lots unemployed and income is weekly for many people, employed or not - people can't afford a 'big shop' and so shop day by day in the village.
I used to be paid weekly and I got into that situation - paying over the odds locally for food but due to paying over the odds couldn't save enough for a big shop.
Not everyone has the same opportunities to shop at cheaper places.

It was an observation though from calling in today for bread, a £5 deal of pizza, nuggets, ice cream, wedges and a token bag of frozen sweetcorn on the cob. Then £4.50 for a medium sized chicken, £1.50 for potatoes, that's before you've got veg, gravy etc.
Then £2.00 for a bag of oranges - yet a twin pack of Jaffa cakes for £1.
Anyone on a tight budget is obviously going to choose the cheapest option available every time when they've got a family to feed - it's sometimes a case that the money literally isn't there to buy the healthier options.
If the government were serious enough about it, they'd so something about that and the deals would be on healthy food, not crap.

@namechanged984630 I don’t think you mean me? I wrote the one about causation vs correlation. It’s not at all nasty to point out the difference, I was merely explaining why the op felt the need to point out that being poor doesn’t make people fat.

@UndertheCedartree no, I haven't. You are correct there. I think you are deliberately avoiding my point though and being a bit obtuse. Hope it made you feel better though x

To the PP who said that it wasn't possible for her to even get to an Aldi/Lidl but can buy her kids 2 pizzas for £2 at the convenience store.. is that seriously the only food option in there? I'm 99.9% sure they would sell canned lentils and other goods. I'm not saying that you MUST buy lentils etc, but the point is a £1 pizza won't fill your kids up for long, despite being extremely calorific.

It's science, really. Oh and honestly, buy a chicken and see how far the leftovers go over the next couple of days.

To get back to the point of the OP's message though, I do agree that there is a correlation between overweight kids and poorer families. There are several different factors, nobody is saying it's all down to one thing.

Just remember: protein + veg (which doesn't have to be that expensive!) = fuller, happier tummies.

...and don't cry poverty when you take your kids to McDonald's every night after school. Thank you for coming to my TED talk.

@jellykat - I think it's your point that is void! I have no problem saying 'no' to my children.

The point that you completely missed is there on the thread for anyone to read! Parents were being criticised for not saying 'no' when she only didn't have to say 'no' because she doesn't take her DC shopping. My point was she was being extremely disingenuous so your claim that you were able to say 'no' to your child was irrelevant as was the fact her story changed once I pulled her up on it!

@amijustparanoidorjuststoned - why would knowing all the lovely food you get to eat make me feel better? Knowing you get to feed your children lots of fresh vegetables - it's not making me feel better, no.

Now poor people take their kids to McDonald's every night after school?! Oh yes, of course I do that too!

I actually bought some roasting potatoes, some OXO gravy, stuffing and lots of yummy veg all for under £7 (inc chicken). We had my parents over for dinner, so this fed four people

That's amazing. And where my DM lives you would need to walk 1.5 miles to the nearest bus stop, catch one of the two buses a day going to a large enough town to have an Aldi (or any large supermarket), spend about £6 plus kids' fares on the bus each way. Come back on the return bus in the evening.

Oh but the bus doesn't come back in time for school ending so either you pay for after school care or you don't gog.

What actually happens is the village Spar sells frozen chicken nuggets for a couple of quid, fresh fruit and veg costs a fortune but tinned, packet and even frozen processed stuff is very cheap.

Average incomes for the are are low, mostly minimum wage or less and insecure zero hours jobs.

Go figure with your virtue signalling.

To the PP who said that it wasn't possible for her to even get to an Aldi/Lidl but can buy her kids 2 pizzas for £2 at the convenience store.. is that seriously the only food option in there? I'm 99.9% sure they would sell canned lentils and other goods

My DM would say exactly the same where she lives if she had small children and no car (and the income to pay for parking and do a large shop in one go or pay for delivery).

The idea of canned lentils/pulses in the village spar would have her spitting her coffee all over her keyboard with laughter.

They sell cheap food. The emphasis on cheap. Cheap in a small village shop with modest turnover means no name brands of cheap filling food and basics (actual basics, not waitrose basics)

Yeah Tony the Tiger wasn't what drew me to cereal back in the day, it was the SUGAR in Frosties, which is f*cking addictive.

In my local shop the pizza and chips would be the healthy option. As in healthier than chocolate and crisps. I am fortunate to not have to shop there.