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.

I'm sure it has, doesn't have to be a short time for people to take American stuff and apply it to the UK like they're the same country.

Of course there are people who live a bit far from a grocery store and can't drive. But it's no where close to American food desert scale and like other poster said it isn't a significant factor for obesity of British children

And everyone else's? Nope - others are aware of these issues. You've just never seen it yourself.

You're right that there will be some people that this affects, but not enough for this to be part of a significant contributory factor in why obesity and child obesity has soared

And just as an aside, we are using overweight and obese interchangeably in this thread, people who are overweight have increased in the UK too

You lived a 15 minute journey from Tesco (A BUS RIDE!!) and you think you're hard done by...and you also only only had to get food for one person 🙄

When I was growing up my mum didnt drive, we were smack bang in the middle of two main areas (South London) so it was about a half hour walk in either direction to the shops. She dragged us kids on foot, she didnt drive, to the shops, used a shopping trolley. Carried shopping back

I dont think people put themselves out nowadays like that. I rarely see shopping trollies but you see them abroad a lot used by all ages.

See them all the time round here.

That wasn't the question I was answering, though.

They sell a wide range of designs now as so many use them not just elderly people.

Yes another example of excuses. Min online delivery spend is £40. Supersaver delivery charge is £1.

There are very few people who don't have any supermarkets within reachable distance and can't make £40 shops once in a few weeks to stock up on healthy food to cook. If not fresh fruits/veg then at least frozen. Exceptions shouldn't be used for justification of a concerning trend.

I'm not in the UK, but I've noticed that people seem to be eating and snacking when out and about much more than used to be the case. Fizzy drinks too. I think a lot of it is boredom.

On the bus, train, in the theatre, and the cinema. Waiting for the bus. Someone brought a whole pizza on the train. It just didn't used to be like that.

Perhaps it's the same development in the UK?

This location issue is a non issue when it comes to the countries obesity crisis.
Obesity numbers in cities is huge.
I wouldn’t expect people living so remotely to be obese anyway with all those beautiful remote walks to enjoy. They must be super fit.

How old are they?

What are you talking about from immigrant families? Most other cultures have healthy cheap food they cook that is far healthier than much of British and Western cuisine and they often cook from scratch with fresh ingredients. It’s only when they adopt western food cultures that they became obese and have similar issues. This is not something that you can blame on immigrants - this is firmly a home grown problem.

There are points well made about affordability of providing healthy food. But you see lots of overweight children in environments that wouldn’t suggest poverty, e.g expensive theme parks, water parks, football matches. I think it’s seen as something that they’ll grow out of. And it is socially acceptable.

I shouldn’t tell you this especially given the subject of this thread 🤣🤪 but you can buy them now.

It depends on the culture though doesn't it?

India for example is ranked in the global top 3 for obesity and I'm not sure how much British and western food cultures affect them really.

Having said that, I've no idea why the PP brought up immigrants because I'm sure they don't particularly affect British obesity statistics??

Everyone should read Ultra Processed People by Chris van Tulleken.
His point about 'it's not you, it's the food' explains a lot.

Yep I can’t open it either @Riversideandrelax

Look, I get it, it's hard to understand. But if you've got a tenner to get some food, £40 minimum and £1'delivery is still out of your price range. And I've made no justification for a worrying trend!!

I never said it was.

We got one not long ago as a hilarious walk down memory lane / to impress the kids.

It was totally underwhelming 😂

No-one's making their family fat if they're spending £10 a week on food shopping...

What exactly do they sell in Poundland that's not going to contribute to obesity?