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.

Watch Michael Moseleys last 2 part documentary Who made Britain Fat ? He examined why personal responsibility for healthy eating is almost an impossible undertaking when our food environment is unrelentingly toxic.

Will that be the same users who are using the drug for type 2 diabetes? Or does it not have that effect on those patients?

There is nothing wrong with the weight loss medications or surgery or lifestyles which cut out some carbohydrates to support people feeling they can eat less. We simply need to eat less when we're overweight and any tool to enable that is helpful (not for children obviously)

Breakfast for a German primary school kid is typically a brown bread and cheese sandwich, cut vegetables and a piece of fruit. Water as a drink. Breakfast is eaten in school and no added sugar allowed or snack food (e.g. crisps). No white bread, no processed cereals. DC’s school is ‘lenient’ as white bread baked with cheese is allowed if the filling is healthy. Lots of free outdoor play and after school clubs are mainly locally based sport. Not hours commuting.

Hardly buy pre-made food. I actually wish more was available as it would be nice sometimes. Much more local and seasonal produce. Some adults drink too much, smoke too much and eat far too much meat so there is also a weight problem.

DC has never eaten breakfast cereals. IMO some of them are literally toxic.

But people obviously are deciding that it's not worth it. I don't know how you change that.

@MartinsSpareCalculator I disagree with this comment. I love mooching around French supermarkets when we're on holiday there. The variety is absolutely amazing. But there are most definitely aisles dedicated to processed / ready made food in all sections. There is way more choice of ready made there, in cans, refrigerated and frozen.

I do agree with the OP about British kids. It's really sad to see as you know there is a huge chance they'll grow up to be overweight adults and will likely struggle with their weight all their life.

Come off it, OP. You know this is a blue-touchpaper subject and bound to get certain posters frothing away. That's what you wanted, the equivalent of 'likes'.

No defensiveness from me, it's a national situation but it's not your problem or mine to solve. I'm concerned with my own kids and my own family's health as I have zero impact to change what other people do.

I have no problem with 'fat shaming' threads being posted but I'd have a hell of a lot more respect for posters if they didn't pretend to be oh-so-concerned. It looks exactly what it is - fake and disingenuous.

Have a little biscuit to keep you going

you won’t like this, but I feel this is one of the many excuses we often hear for eating too much tbh.

I know sometimes it’s hard not to judge but please always consider medical reasons and don’t comment on other people’s dc. I have a dd who is severely obese but she is on various medications including steroids and we get so many horrible comments from people assuming she’s lazy (still in a pushchair) or that I’m a bad parent and it’s exhausting and draining to feel judged so often

How many children have complex calorie intake needs which differ from the medical researched norm…

and how many are just having 3 donuts when 1 is the recommended portion size 🤔 😂

I've just come back from a trip to Turkey. Most people in our hotel were German or Russian and I was shocked by how much bigger they were than us Brits/Irish. And we were considerably bigger than the Turkish people working there.

Obesity is a massive problem in the Western world generally.

i speak as someone in my sixties whose BMI was 30 5 years ago. During lockdown I changed my diet from relying on ultra processed foods to one based on fruit/veg/salad. I eat very few carbs and have small amounts of protein at every meal. I lost 16kg in 8 months, my BP dropped from high to optimal (which was my primary motivation for the diet change) and my BMI is now 22.

Hard hat on for this, OP! I agree with you and it's awfully sad.

Yet another reason to give up UPFs, for me - the majority of French/German/Italians etc eat in a very traditional way eating seasonal fruit and veg and cooking fresh meals from scratch but we have rolled over to the American model of 80-100% convenience foods and foods packed with emulsifiers and general shite, AND WE ARE FEEDING OUR KIDS THIS WAY.

They are going to pay with it with their health and the NHS probably won't survive it.

THAT SAID - we can all read 'the book' and just refuse to buy that shit any more. If we refuse to buy it, they will stop selling it!

Fingers crossed for a return to bakers/green grocers and butchers on every High Street, thriving and able to keep prices down so we can all afford fresh, quality produce that isn't packed with fillers and shelf-life extenders, and people get back to cooking from scratch.

The evidence cannot keep being ignored.

Yes we do have a toxic food environment, but the only person who can do something about your own weight is you. Whats the suggestion then, we all just get bigger and bigger and bigger until society changes, that could be decades away or never (look at America)

Humans are designed to seek out calorie dense foods and lots of it. Most of us like to take advantage of that, its inbuilt. But if not personal responsbility then what?

Growing up in the 1960s/70s we got used to walking then cycling everywhere, especially school. The car was for weekends, visiting grandparents. My siblings and I still walk everywhere we can, now well into our seventh decade.

There was one warm room, we had hot water bottles and loads of blankets at bedtime. I was never cold in bed. Then waking to the beautiful fern patterns of ice on the inside of the windows, from breath condensing on the cold glass, and thawing a spot to see out, with the tip of a finger.

Dad and I would go for a walk after supper and the house would feel so warm after the cold outside. My parents didn't get central heating and double glazing till I went to university.

None of us were ever fat. I only remember two plump people from school years.

And we weren't well off but everything was cooked from scratch. We ate masses of vegetables. Crisps perhaps once a month, one boiled sweet after lunch each day. Chocolate rarely and usually at my grandmother's house. Homemade cake every teatime, proper pudding every day (pies, crumbles, milk puddings, custard)

Competitive sport at school two afternoons a week.

Less ready meals but the French are not exactly shy of their cured meats and cheeses. Both are delicious but should be in moderation. Ready meals in France tend to be a case of buying a portion of freshly made paella or ratatouille from the hot counter or a whole cooked rotisserie chicken rather then a microwave lips and horse cock Findus approximation of a lasagne

YANBU. We live in Europe and it is always a bit of a shock when we visit relatives back in the UK. There is a distinctive sort of vaguely unhealthy look to so many of the kids. Things like dark circles under the eyes, dull hair, bad teeth, glasses or squinting, and overweight. I don’t know if it’s the climate or the diet or what, but it is hard to miss.

That’s not to say that there aren’t European children with these things, but in the UK they seem to be the norm rather than the exception.

I’m sure in some cases it is. But it is also a fact!

It probably depends where you visit when back

Yes, I’m sure that’s true!

Well then it was a fact decades ago when children weren’t so overweight. Even in the 80’s and 90’s when processed foods were sky high and McDonald’s weren’t using chicken breast etc

It’s not the quality of the food making children fat. It’s the sheer amount of it.

They have these in France.

Totally agree with this. I have a DD who looks underweight, skinny arms and legs, like a bag of bones but she is apparently exactly bang on a healthy weight, right in the middle of the healthy range for her height. Her sister, who looks " healthier" is at the top end , I'm sure due to the fact she has more of a sweet tooth.

Yes, we are finding out that cico is ridiculously over simplified.

There will always be terrible parents, who refuse to take responsibility for their kids health and welfare.

Sadly that will never change.

As a glasses wearer I'm offended and confused at the wearing of glasses being included in your list of signs of unhealthiness.... Bad eyesight is hereditary in our family. Wtf????

‘Why do you care’ is such a shit sad attitude. Even if your own kids aren’t obese, you can still care about other kids and society.

It sucks being an obese child, I know first hand. It’s at the forefront of my mind and a big priority of mine, that my kids don’t become obese. Or have any awareness of body image at all tbh (they’re all under 10 at the mo). Meaning I don’t want to stress the ‘don’t be fat!’ message so much that they go the other way and be too skinny.