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.

Orlistat doesn't do much for most people tbh. I think it is shown to help people lose 7lbs which isn't really cutting it for someone who is obese.

Its a discussion forum, so people are talking about it. LIke someone might start a thread about the price of bread, or car noise, or pot holes or any other thing.

Post like yours just seem to come across as 'shut up, this is uncomfortable, I dont want to talk about it/ignore it'

So ok, dont come onto this thread then.

Jamie Oliver absolutely did the right thing, he didnt get my back up, but the problem is suggesting anyone to come along and be a champion, all you'll get is responses like yours dengrating any attempts to discuss this and change things.

I didnt know that was the average amount.

A friend of mine got given it probablly about 20 years ago, we were out for a walk one day and she literally shit herself. I was all up for asking my own GP for it until that happened.

It wont cut it for those that are stones and stones overweight.

I have a primary school class photo from the same year. There were a couple of girls that I remember as being fattish - when I look back at that photo, the other girls are pretty slim/skinny, and the two "fat" girls are only a size bigger, and would now be seen as slim.

My daughter left primary 15 years ago. I vividly remember an event in her final year when all the kids and parents were present. By that point I didn't really see them all together much, but as a group, I was shocked to see how many 11 year olds were already badly overweight. And of course, they all had overweight parents.

My 8 year old is bang on 50th percentile weight for her height and whilst she doesn't have much spare fat she doesn't look scrawny....she looks healthy.

There are a lot of obese kids around, obviously there are some medical conditions that cause this but the vast majority is caused by over eating and lack of exercise. Sadly so many parents don't have a clue about healthy eating. And being fat has become normalised.

Oh, my goodness - I'm not surprised that put you off!

That's OK you honestly don't have to apologise 🥰

No. The £250 was his spending money🤯 for whatever he wanted. The school recommended £60 a term which is what my kids were given.
I know £250 is madness guessing his parents had no idea how much things actually cost here

One of ours loves brioche. He sits and practically takes it out if your hand with his paw- not interested in any other bread or pastry.

Ours only allowed deliveries once a week on a Saturday and only for older kids.

Of course kids can go out shopping when not during school hours, it’s not prison 🤣🤣🤣.

But are empty calories

I'm well aware that it's a forum, I've been here a while. Long enough to know that anybody can post what they want - including me. I'm sufficiently interested in the thread because I recognise that this is a huge problem.

If my post makes you uncomfortable then feel free to ignore it. Navel-gaze all you like but don't tell me where I can and can't post.

@Cormoran that's interesting because I stayed with a french family as a child (with my parents, the dads were friends) and every morning their kids had chocolate croissants with a bowl of chocolate milk. They didn't snack but the portions were massive, 4 courses regularly and not just because we were there. One lad was tall and quite skinny, another was very overweight.

We met because in a restaurant one night, the lads were running around and knocked into my brother's chair.

I know it's only one family but honestly I always think of this when mn fetishises how amazing all french children eat and behave, like they're all one entity 🤣

Where I work, what the kids (2-4 years old) bring for packed lunch if SHOCKING! Obesity rates don't surprise me at all. The healthiest children mostly have non English parents (Romanian, Bulgarian, Polish etc) plus a couple of English kids with very intense mums. But by far the majority is actually quite scary. This is a typical lunch:

• dairylea lunchable packet
• chocolate croissant
• 2 frube yoghurts
• packet of crisps
• chocolate biscuit
• babybel
• jam sandwich (2 slices of white bread)
• packet of party rings
• an apple, orange or banana (never eaten)

Of course it doesn't all get eaten but generally the worst stuff gets eaten. Crisps always.

Absolutely. We eat croissant ( from the bakery not wrapped in plastic) or baguette with butter and squares of chocolate. But we don’t snack. We don’t have “ treats”.

Are there overweight kids in France or is everyone skinny and glamorous? Of course there are overweight kids but as a
nation, food quality is important.
I don’t see this in Australia where I live now. I hate how people are feeding their babies and kids here. Pure rubbish.

So why are almost half the population of France overweight?

I got nectarines from the local co-op the other day (went for strawberries but they didn’t have any) and they were delicious. Sweet, juicy and perfect. However, I almost didn’t buy them because every time I’ve bought peaches or nectarines for the last couple of years they’ve been dry and tasteless. Apples are the same. If you are lucky you can get a good pack but often they are soft, dry and tasteless. I’m thinking of trying a fruit box from the local grocers. It’s more expensive but they were good during lockdown.

Plus there are multiple words for snack

The book ‘Why French women don’t get fat’ is interesting, high quality food of all types, small portions. Cheese etc def on menu. It sums up the French I know.

@Threeboysadogacatandakitten agree it's really frustrating as nothing cheap these days . Buy a whole melon leave it a good few days cut it all up and tastes like watery crap

To change this I think the food industry needs legislation. UPFs are constantly advertised and promoted, we are time poor and knackered in this nation and it’s a temptation.

I went to Italy and was taught to make pasta. Their tomato sauce is simmered practically all day. Who in this nation with everyone working gets to stir a sauce every so often? Barely anyone. There’s no slow food here, just filling our stomachs fast with lower quality ingredients (Brexit means even our fresh produce is worse).

The levels of obesity in display at the festival I went to recently were notable. And it was adults of all ages as well as children.

The queue for the burger and chips wagon that be was flogging over processed crap was consistently far longer than that at the Middle Eastern food truck, serving chicken wraps with big piles of colourful fresh veg.

Children are primed to eat wrong and not do enough exercise because the behaviour is modelled by their parents and grandparents. And it’s all of our business because our taxes pay for the extra healthcare these fatties will need.

Ah, I see! But yes, still madness!

Oh, wow! This is what our cat is like with Quorn deli meat!

Ha! Yes! That makes sense - but at home you keep an eye on what they're buying and wouldn't allow too many takeaways. I find it hard enough with my DD being able to eat rubbish at lunchtime at day school!