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.

Oh Yes! Eating outside was a big no no. Absolutely, nobody did it ever. You might secretly hide and eat chips, that was about it.

There was a small parade of shops near where I lived as a kid. In the summer occassionally we used to go there to get an ice lolly. My mum insisted we must bring it home to eat and put in a bowl because it was partially melted

And no parent meeting you from school with a snack of crisps or chocolate because you claimed to be starving!

My mum used to give me 2 or 3 squares of chocolate, or two choc biscuits, maybe once a week. If i ate a whole bar daily, she would have thought I was greedy and taken it away! As for emotional eating and using food as a crutch, she would have laughed in my face if I said that.

DD definitely eats more junk than I did- she will eat a whole bar of chocolate when on her period- but not every day.

If you say this on MN, though, you get accused of competitive undereating or a an eating disorder. Eating a bar of crap chocolate and crisps daily is really unnecessary.

I used to eat a Wispa bar and a packet of crisps most days when I came home from primary school in the 1980s, and then ate all my dinner as well, no problem.

Nobody gave a stuff! Heres another one! Aged 5/6 , I walked home from school, about a mile.

Feel like I'm turning into a sketch show here but no trips to shops for treats. No, never.
Thursday evening was designated night for a trip to Buyright.

There are three of us here and we get two dinners out of a pound of mince. Spag bol, with onions, carrots mushrooms and celery. It's plenty for us.

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.

Better off people have access to all the foods, both healthy and not so great.

Those who are not well off quite often do not have access to the better foods.

I think we have over prioritised children never feeling discomfort in any way. Hunger being the easiest to measure

We don't seem to say to kids , you're hungry, wait for dinner.

I live in Norway. We love our sausages here, pastries, ice-cream and other goodies. But we walk a lot and outdoor style is a way of life. Where I live, it rains over 260 days a year, plus slush, hail and snow. We're still outside at any weather. We do a lot of elevation walks and this is how we stay fit. Sorry, but the lifestyle of being static, not moving, using your car everywhere and not walking, not getting out for a hike or a long walk - yep, that's down to laziness, not a matter of health services.

What does an outdoors life style look like each week to you?

I start my day with at least an hour lasting hike with the dog. It's the end of the day and looking at my watch, I have an elevation gain of 65 floors and 19597 steps.
Walking home from the bus stop takes me at least four large and steep flights of stairs or going up for about 15 minutes.
During the weekend, we're rarely home, we start the day with a shorter walk with the dog and then we're hiking etc.
I think it's a pretty average lifestyle over here.

For those who can’t afford transport, have no means to cook and can’t walk to the shops then I’m guessing this is true.

However those won’t have access to any food except what can be delivered or if they can grow veg/fruit themselves.

Given the incredible rise in obesity I’m not convinced so many people live in such conditions and more a case that people are making unhealthy food choices .

The UK is far too car centric .
and we never stop building more and more roads!

I didnt say it was easy, Ive made several posts where I point out how hard it is??

And hunger and appetite again are not always why people overeat.

Our hunger and appetite hasnt changed over the past 50 years but portion sizes, food availability, the inability to say no to children (and to ourselves), a cultural norm of snacking, a cultural norm of 'treats', americanisation of our eating habits, normalisation of eating while travelling/walking along/out and about, that is what has changed. The human body hasnt changed.

And I feel like there's always an excuse.
Oh, we can't walk, too far.
We can't go outside, it's raining.
We're not binge drinking, we just love our drink. You really must be fun at parties when you're always sober.

I was born early 70s and crisps were not normal everyday food. I recall now and then having the smiths crisps where you had the portion of salt that you opened and poured over them.

We didnt have flavoured crisps

We only had fizzy lucozade and that was for illness

We didnt have shop bought cakes but I do remember yoghurt.

It may be about wealth, we didnt have fresh fruit juices either becasue of the cost. I remember school friends later having the fizzy drink maker thing (cant remember what its called) but we couldnt afford one.

@soupfiend hasn’t UPF caused an increase in appetite & feeling of lack of satiety?

It's only been spoken off at my opticians for the last few years but now they always explain now that the children need to be outdoors a lot to stop their short sightedness getting worse and not to hold books too close etc. It's not the only factor but it obviously has some effect on their eye sight.

As anyone who's ever lost a significant of weight and kept it off knows - this is about breaking current food habits and relearning new ones.

Things like learning to enjoy healthier foods (not laden with additives and salt), limiting snacking, addressing potion sizes, finding alternative sources of treats/comfort.

And ultimately people have to want to do it.

"For those who can’t afford transport, have no means to cook and can’t walk to the shops then I’m guessing this is true.

However those won’t have access to any food except what can be delivered or if they can grow veg/fruit themselves.

Given the incredible rise in obesity I’m not convinced so many people live in such conditions and more a case that people are making unhealthy food choices ."

If the access isn't the issue, then you'd probably find that you could make healthier food swaps without increasing cost.
People go on about how shit food is cheaper but the cost of a bag of chips and a bag of nuggets is still a few pounds and you'd probably be able to make something that's healthier. It's just that it's probably less palatable to someone who's used to beige crap.

I must admit I always find it odd when people claim parents don't say 'no' anymore. Next door have a toddler and it's all I hear! 😂 I don't know any parents who don't say 'no'. It's very well known that as a parent you spend half your life saying 'no!'

I think probably poor diet can create a cycle, yes thats true, but this isnt an evolutionary change, its a social change, a temporary change. Our bodies arent different as such.