To think people (especially children) don’t need to be eating constantly?

[constantlyeating]

NC because I am going to get flamed for this.

I’m wondering whether this is why we have an obesity crisis. We are all constantly snacking!

For children it seems to have become: breakfast, morning break snack, school lunch, snack on the way back from school, dinner and then another something before bed— if not more often.

Does anyone have just 3 meals a day anymore? What ever happened to food only being eaten at the table?

You have a serious lack of critical thinking OP if you think it’s snacks alone causing obesity.

@Mombie2021

You have a serious lack of critical thinking OP if you think it’s snacks alone causing obesity.

Absolutely

I don't see how seeing ribs doesn't equate to thin so are we saying that seeing a child's ribs is not the definition of thin? It is not 'skinny' but it is surely 'thin'. I don't agree about this normalised perception. My 14 year old is not average percentile at all, he is tall and around 5th percentile for weight. He is no doubt very thin, he is super conscious of his lack of arm muscles and wants to be 'bigger'. Loads of girls around here are skinny especially as we edge towards secondary school. Matchstick legs etc. And my DD is only 10 under 20 percentile for weight and about 40th for height but she looks thin is thin it is an objective thing not perception. My main concern at the moment is the skinnyness with the girls in her class is held up as source of pride and the Mums are the same.

I agree - people in countries with a culture of proper meals and no snacks tend to have slimmer populations.

Yup, it's morally superior to eat 3 meals a day and not snack

I'll continue to eat the way that suits me thanks. If I get fat, I'll reassess.

Agreed, OP, but I would say ‘especially adults’. Another thing is people eat their evening meal later than forty years ago, so there isn’t much fasting time at all.

Yup, it's morally superior to eat 3 meals a day and not snack

Couldn't have said it better!

My son has breakfast, lunch and dinner with maybe one snack and some wholemeal toast before bedtime.

I think that's pretty balanced.

YABU. I’ve always been a little and often eater and I weigh 8st. Snacking has never done me any harm.

Omg this! I'm slightly overweight and only ever eat 2 x a day ! Sometimes once .. we don't need so much food !

It just isn't the case though, I realise I'm referencing anecdotal evidence but we (ne, brother, friends) grew up in 80s 90s and snacked quite a bit, had snacks high in sugar and fat and even had chips or Chinese deep fried stuff at lunchtime as we were allowed out at lunchtime as teenagers and we were all thin! My Mum's generation grew up in 50s 60s had less convenient food but still had puddings and cake, again her school photos show all thin girls. I am just wondering how helpful it is to focus on the snacking if ultimately this isn't the reason for the obesity.

@gunnersgold

Omg this! I'm slightly overweight and only ever eat 2 x a day ! Sometimes once .. we don't need so much food !

Speak for yourself...I eat 6x a day and it hasn't made me overweight yet 🤷‍♀️

Body builders eat 6 times a day to get single digit bodyfat and maximise muscle protein synthesis so it's clearly possible to be slim and snack if you eat the right things.

Of its so very french to have snacks twice a day and no one accuse them of being fat. The degustation is generally chocolate.

I sort of agree OP. I don’t remember having snacks all the time, I was at primary school in the ‘80s and we weren’t allowed to eat after school as “you’ll spoil your tea”. We did used to have maybe cereal or toast when we got in from high school and were a bit older.

I remember being on the train one weekend, 35 minute journey to central London and a family got on the same carriage as me. As soon as they sat down they started opening Tupperware and asking their DC “What do you want to eat?” Just why? Could they seriously not have lasted half an hour?

@gunnersgold

Omg this! I'm slightly overweight and only ever eat 2 x a day ! Sometimes once .. we don't need so much food !

But you're overweight... So eating twice a day isn't exactly working I eat 4 or 5 times, BMI has always been between 20 and 22. I think some people just eat too much - I'm amazed at buffets how much some people take, genuinely 2 or 3 times what I would eat.

A modern malaise, wrought by incremental conditioning - short attention spans, instant gratification - underpinned by now- well - established fake choice.
Constant grazing, the sound of humans imitating cows chewing cud has made cinema going exceedingly irritating.
As a 70s child, I have watched as we gawped at America's obese population, bloated by aisles of ersatz food: & as the same fat appeared over here, encouraged by the celebratory embracing of the worst fast food.
Vegetarians & vegans back in the 80s (when I, at 13, finally refused to 'eat up, there's starving kids in Africa') we, conversely, had little choice-mocked as cranks (hence the restaurant of same name!) and consigned to 'health food shops' as if our resistance of McDonald's, our revulsion at a 'cheeky' (ffs) Nandos, made us revolting killjoys at the Thatcherite party.
Snacks are part of the capitalist system's need to find ever-new things to sell us, or new ways of selling us old stuff.
If people stopped for a minute, to listen to their appetite, to question what 'choice' really is, and to teach their children delayed gratification, exercise, & to identify wants as separate to needs... we may reverse this spiral into ever-accelerating, ugly, literal, constant consumption.
And silence the chomp. Chomp. Chomp.

YABU - It's nothing to do with the frequency, and all to do with what type of food it is.
My kids have breakfast - muesli and 1 piece of wholegrain toast, snack - piece of fruit, lunch - pasta/baked potato/soup, snack - raisins or another piece of fruit, dinner - variations of lunch, evening snack - small yogurt or something similar.

They are active and don't eat much sugar. They're not fat.

Some kids might have 3 meals a day and be fat because it's all high simple carb, high fat and high sugar laden foods.

YANBU. People seem to be continually shoving food and drink in their mouths wherever they are. I guess it's the availability of everything which we didn't have when we were younger.

i think a snack of some fruit or a small biscuit is ok if your kids are actually hungry and need a pick me up! The boxes i see parents put together on Facebook are shocking saying, 'i put this out and thats all the snacks they get for the day'. Someone of them are a bag of crisps, yogurts, lollies, a cake bar... i cant see why anyone would need to eat all that between 3 full meals a day, but thats just me!

Some people are naturally grazers and it can be good for metabolism. It needs to be 6 small meals though really not 3 decent sized meals plus snacks. Lockdown didn't help. My dd takes double the snacks she used to take to school since lockdown.

She hasn't put on weight though the jammie git

My DS is stick thin and has a high metabolic rate. He simply cannot go for hours without eating. He gets emotional and cannot concentrate. School lunch portions are pretty small too.

Food is important for children - they are growing. What's important is what they chose to eat. DS will take a banana and yoghurt in for morning snack. Other children will have chocolate or a packet of crisps. Today he's got a packed lunch of two ham, tomato and salad rolls, container of grapes, one apple, and a homemade oat muffin. He will be starving hungry by the time he gets home. But then he is running around at lunchtime and break and cycles to and from school.

Who decided 3 meals a day was the best eating strategy? Probably employers who didn’t want people stopping work to eat.

Different cultures and countries have different eating habits. As long as you get the right amount in and put the right energy out, does it really matter how many meals that is?

I don’t think snacks are a new thing! My mum is nearly 80 and talks about post swimming bakery snacks, chips on the way home from Guides, something at break at primary etc etc on top of the 3 meals (which always involved cake) at home.

It’s great if you have 3 meals and nothing else, but there’s nothing wrong with a biscuit mid afternoon or the kids having something when they come home from school.