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.

@TrustPenguins So you're conflating three things here... cost, taste, and time.

£50 a week is more than enough for most things. Someone got upset with me on another post (lol), because I essentially made a Huel-like meal that fed someone for a whole year for less than £300, completely fortified!

You are really saying that people eat unhealthily because they're a) lazy/don't have the time to make something, and/or b) addicted to crap.

Couscous and chick peas (with a vitamin pill and a few cod liver oil capsules = £20 for 300 each) is pretty much your whole daily requirement done in 5 minutes. Throw in some peanut butter if you need more fats and you're covered. So cheap and quick.

I don't buy this 'rich people can afford to eat healthier' line... they have access to the same junk everyone else does, it's more of a choice not to eat it. The only real difference is that they can eat ten chicken breasts a day and not gain weight (high protein low carb), and 'poorer' people have to have a lower protein diet and will fill up on carbs. It's more about self control than cost.

I don't think this is fundamentally about cost or time. It is more than possible to make cheap, wholesome food that is quick to prepare.

It's about education, mental energy, having a proper food culture and being helped to make better choices while shopping.

Most people really want their comfort and treats when life is hard. It's a bit like asking why the poorest people spend money on their hair or nails or fags and booze, it's because when your life feels shit you feel the need for these boosts more than ever.

But why do we see the crappy UPF as comfort and treats? Many people have been programmed into thinking this.

This comes back to a lack of food culture. In other cultures, your homemade chicken soup could be your comfort and treats could be homemade also, or just simpler and less full of rubbish.

We should try to address this idea that share bags of crisps / sweets are there to make you feel better.

Because it's quick and easy and I suspect if it wasn't UPF it would be something else.

its not the norm here. There are very few obviously overweight children at my child’s school.

The drive to eat is not just driven by hunger, it is also caused by appetite which is affected by other homeostasis processes such as energy levels. I teach this stuff for a living, I promise you if it was so easy to simply eat the right amount at all times there would not be a billion dollar diet industry, and food companies wouldn't bother spending billions on advertising and packaging. And I never said smaller portions were restrictive eating?

But parents don’t need to include fizzy drinks, crisps and chocolate bars in their weekly shop. Instead have them as an occasional treat for special occasions.

When I was a kid, a couple of chocolate digestives would have been considered a treat. Not that they're perfect either, but they're a lot less loaded with calories and junk than standard treats nowadays.

@Parker231 you've cracked it, obesity crisis solved

An interesting question is coke, chocolate and fried potatoes have been around for easily a century- what's changed that we've all become fat in the past 40 years?

Another factor that's changed over time is children spending time with non-resident parents playing at "Disney Dad" or grandparents with the means to indulge grandchildren that wasn't so avaliable in previous generations. This can add challenge to parents attempting to regulate their childrens' health if they're regularly undermined by excessive treats.

Contact time can also affect ability to commit to sporting activities too.

It's another piece of the jigsaw of social change. Not a huge one but does affect many families.

One very basic point, regularity of consumption.

We had Coke once in a blue moon in my house as a child. Special occasions only.

I remember crisps at children's parties. Definitely not something that was available all the time.

So true. And when people say “You can make a delicious chickpea curry for 4 people for 72p” I think we have varying definitions of “delicious”. I force lentils and pulses down because they’re healthy, but hand on heart I never enjoy them. They’re a cheap, nutritious filler but not what I’d call ‘nice’. Luckily I’m fortunate enough to be able to afford to get my kicks elsewhere, but if food was my only pleasure in life I could definitely see that my diet would be less healthy than it is now.

I'm so ancient, I recall being excited about Pop and my Grandmas.( once a year)
Crisps, never. Food not made in the home, very very rarely. Eating out, once a year possibly? A piece of birthday cake, a massive treat.
Coffee, none available.
Seems strange now. I'm overweight.

@TheKeatingFive they were treat foods for us too. In my family fizzy drinks were for things like visiting relatives and also only after 3pm for some reason. Chocolate for holidays, crisps yes other kids' birthdays or at home occasionally for a Sunday barbeque.

A better question is WHY they have become everyday foods for many. I wonder if the price has come down.

When are you talking about? I was born in 1974 and we always had crisps in the house. So did my grandmother who was born in 1910 so I assume she grew up without crisps.

the pop thing is interesting. We had Corona pop maybe once a week for Sunday dinner. a one litre bottle and it was for all 4 of us with some left over (mum had a second glass when washing up)

About pulses- I've absolutely loved them my whole life, make lentil soup as a go-to to soothe an upset stomach, can eat an entire tin of chickpeas for lunch, etc. When I'm on holiday I miss them and eat extra when I get back to make up for lost pulse-eating time.

HOWEVER even I can't live on freaking pulses alone, plus a few carrot sticks (only 10 cents!) and rice from a 10 kilo bag, it's just not feasible

1980s. We did not have much money growing up at all, which for us meant these things were rare treats.

Ironically our diet was far better than most kids today. Our meals were simple, but very wholesome.

I personally would find a big bag of revels more comforting than chicken soup.

Chicken soup is foid. Revels are for fun.

Coming from Denmark it is really very noticeable how many children are overweight here. But also how people seem to be used to it. Complex reasons and no I personally wouldn't blame any individuals. It's cultural/societal. Danes are not especially healthy or have especially high self control. They like everyone follow the pack mostly.

Differences are that school really focuses on activity . Not necessarily sport. But children seem to have a knowledge that movement and physicality is important not only for health but growth and strength and happiness. Eg. In school playground I'd find my child along with other dragging an old Xmas tree round the field. I ask if they are building something they said 'no we're in training to be tall and strong!' Of course there is football or other organised sports also but it's the focus of the educators that set the culture within a school around physical activity. It's about building a healthy life in the present not only learning in an academic sense. Around food, the children eat rye bread. They bloody love it. Go wild for it. Every child every day. It gives energy and they can feel it I think.for lunch they all have rye bread, lots with fish, cheese or ham, or just alone(in a lunch box). And then they eat school fruit. That's it. Parents don't send in anything else. Just rye bread. Cheap, easy and nutritious. Obviously I'm not suggesting British kids could or would do this. Like Danes people follow the pack. So for me it's about building a healthy culture or society for the majority (not a heath obsessed subcultures which do exist obviously probably everywhere)

Junk food advertising has a massive influence too. We are bombarded constantly- on TV, billboards, social media, through gaming etc etc. Access to all of this has increased significantly in recent years. Everything is 24/7 too. We struggle to get away from it even if we tried.
Anyone else's bus ticket advertise Burger King on the back??

Who doesn't love Revels? But it's not a good strategy to rely on them for emotional regulation and I don't see people from other countries do this to the same degree as the UK.