To be shocked at the level of obesity of British children?

[MEM00]

Having recently come back from holiday I found myself really shocked by the size of so many other British kids at the resort we were at. It was mostly a mix of British, French and German families and I found it impossible to not notice the difference in the British kids compared to others. DD is 8 and I would say average sized, by no means skinny. She made friends with another girl the same age by the pool, and i'm not joking when i say the other girl must have been twice the size when they were next to each other.

Am i overthinking this? Because it really makes me worry for the future.

This isn't intended by be 'fat shaming' in any way btw.

😂

Growing up I never had snacks, just three meals, everything was homemade and we never had pudding unless it was a special occasion.

And that’s pretty much what I do now. I have never given my children snacks because it’s totally unnecessary. I’m not controlling, they’ve been given snacks by other people, but they don’t need them. They eat all of their meals instead.

My friend’s kid begs for snacks constantly, really whinging and tantrumming over it, and she gives in every time. And he never eats his meals. He’s not ‘discerning’ as she insists, he’s full up with processed shit.

I don’t think it’s unusual for teenagers to eat vast amounts - I think there was some research about how teenage boys in particular need far more calories than an adult. Shopping for their own food after school should be part of their learning to both budget and eat wisely.

I think the problem is that the bad habits are starting much younger so when they become teens they aren’t able to make the wise choices

Most secondary schools still serve their main meal offer with salad or veg - it is rarely eaten. If they have a baked potato counter, it comes with a side salad - children either ask not to have the salad or leave it.
Our 3 go to a local first school and they are always given fruit and veg on their school lunch.

Yes, shocked, me too.
I grew up in Communist Czechoslovakia and
just mentioned this yesterday.

The point is the food in school canteens is shit. There might not be pop and chocolate and crisps but there's chips and hotdogs and pizza and sausage rolls and brownies and donuts and cakes and soft drinks. All rubbish. If I was one of the kids I'd think you were highly hypocritical. It's never ok for them to eat the rubbish in school canteens. Why on earth is it allowed? I agree we must act! Get the junk out of school canteens!

@Riversideandrelax not where I teach. There are plenty of salads, wraps, pasta and veg curry. Desserts are limited. There is fruit.

Totally agree! I cant understand how much they must eat and how little exercise they must do to be so overweight. My kids are certainly not denied anything - they love ice cream, sweets etc, but they know they are a treat (and usually accompanied by a long walk). We’ve always spent the weekends on walks, at the park etc (often on my own as partner frequently works weekends and always has done), but its so important to get the kids out and move your body. Walks, the park, the beach (if you have one nearby) are all free exercise for families.

Using the car should be the last option - ofcourse lots of us have to use it for the school run to go on to work etc, but ive never understood those parents that could easily walk it and don’t have to rush off. I think its a luxury on the few days I can walk my kids to school and get fresh air. Its so sad some kids are brought up thinking they cant use their legs to get somewhere!

The school dinners at our high school are terrible, that's after they have scoffed down the pizza slices or other snacks at break time. But I do think the habit of high schools having lunch really late around 13.30 is bad habit forming. As they provide a large amount at break time then lunch, it's like having lunch twice. 😋

But it's seeing the small primary age children really overweight that gets me. They are supposed to be skin and bone at that age not have roles of fat. Most parents do seem to be in denial as well, and I was always surprised at how many sweets DD'S friends where allowed to eat in primary school. The big share size sweets to themselves.

Same in Ireland, it's not a simple case of the poorest children are overweight, it's the children of both one and two parent families where there is time poverty as well as a necessity to work/have two incomes/leave kids with grandparents, get home late and order pizza. Again.

It's interesting the amount of food some adults think their kids need. They tend to vastly over estimate, so they serve up big portions which their kids get used to eating.

A colleague of mine asked what I was cooking for dinner the other day, when I told her i had made a butternut squash soup she thought I meant that was some kind of starter! I explained no it's our meal, and she was genuinely worried my teenage ds would be going hungry!

Kids portion sizes have gone mad. We've all seen the toddler in the buggy with a whole Magnum to themselves! I can't get over that kids have actually died from consuming slush puppy/slushie drinks in such excessive quantities that the glycerol levels became toxic! Generations have enjoyed these treats in moderation. I never heard of anyone 'overdosing' on them until recently.

I think that sugar is the problem.
We don’t fill up on protein and healthy fats…lots sugary, white carbs.
It is a societal problem… but whilst the UPF manufacturers are pushing their “low fat” ( but high sugar) agendas and supporting governments that’s not going to change.
There needs to be better quality food in schools, banning high sugar drinks .

I have to say I think there's something to this.

I've never given any of my children snacks, we just have 3 hearty, healthy meals. I don't snack, so it really just never occurred to me to give them snacks. They don't need them.

It’s not just kids though.

My kids have always been slight so when the HV said I should move them into skimmed milk I ignored. But I do wonder if this push to low fat is also part of the problem? Kids should be getting a decent portion of carbs and fat as part of their diet and perhaps not eating the healthy ones are part of the reason they’re always hungry?

You might be on to something there tbh. When they were babies they weren't supposed to have low fat stuff. It is probably about feeding them the right stuff, at the right time, in the right portions. Together with enough exercise.

The push to semi skimmed milk was an effort to prevent over feeding

The usual general rule which doesn't always make sense in individual cases

My dc have always had snacks when they were hungry in between meals. They have always been very slim and still are at 16 and 18. I don't think you can pin the obesity crisis on one thing (portion size, UPF, inactivity, snacking, loss of cooking skills, stress, poverty). It's a combination of things and probably varoes a bit from person to person.

I think we only had mini milks as a toddler, maybe a small whippy on holiday as a treat. Everything is supersize in comparison to what it used to be.

Same here - there is no need for children or adults to snack between meals, unless it’s a treat for a special occasion. If children are hungry they need more protein at meal times with additional green vegetables .

Well, as one example, this Korean study looks at the link between nutrition and myopia (nearsightedness, which is quite a common condition that would necessitate glasses) in kids 5-12. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38287408/

Interestingly, the study pinpointed high sodium intake as a particular potential culprit. They note that lifestyle factors like time spent indoors and near-work (for example, lots of time on small screens) are also associated with myopia.

In that example though, the kids won't eat their main meals. So something is definitely amiss. And kids being really skinny isn't necessarily an indicator of them being healthy. I had a friend in college who existed purely on Cadbury. She was v skinny. But not healthy by any objective standard.

My kids always had an after school snack - savoury. It always seemed too long between lunch at 12.30 and dinner at 6.30 for little tummies. But I’ve always had the opposite problem with my kids as they veer to the underweight

agree with above poster that there isn’t an easy answer or one thing that will work for everyone

Supersize is the issue more than snacks or anything else.

I had snacks as a child in the 70’s. 2 biscuits and a milky coffee at 11.00am.

The l remember as a student in the 80’s suddenly see huge muffins and cookies. I’d never seen them before. We just had fairy cakes!But a muffin was like 4 x the size of a fairy cake.

The when l was at school in the early 80’s we got school dinners. And l remember a ‘snack’ bar opening, and suddenly we didn’t have dinners anymore we could buy mini pizzas and stuff. In fact l think this was due to Thatcher outsourcing school meals?

And that was the start, the early to mid 80’s.

Then the growth of Macdonalds, pizza huts, Deliveroo. Now you can order a pudding to be delivered

In the early 80’s we had Maccy D’s Wimpey ms that was about it. I remember getting my first McDonald’s milk shake. I just couldn’t believe the size and consistency of it.