I think this family looks podgy, pasty and generally unhealthy, yet...

[Anna8888]

the article describes the girl as being "in perfectly good health".

Opinions?

Colditz your pics are lovely!!
there is definitely some rosiness in there!!

emma - it's interesting that you say they look normal. Our perceptions of what is normal has changed over the past twenty/thirty years, in accordance with a population that has an obsity problem.

Belgo you live in Belgium, no?

Here in Holland this family would not look "normal" but -sad to say- every time I come back to the UK I see more and more tubby children (and adults) like them. That's not meant as a jibe against bigger people, just a comment that people ARE getting noticeably bigger. I agree with Belgo. You notice it more easily when you live abroad.

yes that's tru Jane. I do notice people int he UK are getting bigger. They are also getting bigger though in Belgium as well.

I'm a size 12-14 and I'm one of the biggest mums standing at the school gates here in Belgium.

Though I do think French / French-Belgian women go way off the other end of the scale! Eating everything but only ever half portions etc...

I thought the original article was about health rather than socially acceptable weight and appearances. As others have said it is possible to be healthy and not be a size 10. Equally it is possible to be a "healthy" weight and actually be very unhealthy. A woman who uses the gym I used to go to is a perfect size 10 and has a lovely healthy glow..she uses sunbeds and has an eating disorder. Appearances can be deceptive.

Many of my flemish friends are very concerned about watching their weight, and most of them are a size 8-10.

I would put on weight though if I lived in England. The supermarkets are filled with cakes and crisps and ready made meals far more then in Belgium supermarkets.

kiddiz - good point - sunbeds are very popluar in Belgium, and I think smoking is more common here too.

Flameboy is a glowing white at all times (well, except for last week when he was glowing white with a very pink back ).

When he is ill he is pretty much translucent.

Have added a pic to profile to demonstrate

On holiday I find that the French have a highly cavalier attitude to tanning, especially regarding children. It is almost as if they have never heard of skin cancer or sun cream.

My DC's are very fair skinned and I keep them well covered in suntan lotion - so they look almost neon white. But they do not lack outside play time at all - far from it!

Colditz, your children are gorgeous. But I think mine will beat yours in whiteness competition. They have my fair skin. We just dont tan. But there is a big difference between being white and being podgy/pasty. You can clearly see a fit and healthy white child, with rosy red cheeks and a muscle tone on their bodies.

This family seem to be lacking in muscle tone. How can you build muscle on such a diet? I dont complain about their looks, but for health perspective, neither looks particularly healthy, and they dont look like they are getting enough fresh air and exercise.

I wonder what they were feeding the child before she got scared of food?

They don't look pasty or unhealthy - but they do look overweight imo.

Will watch the programme next week - I have a fussy eater (nowhere near as bad as this girl) and agree with what Dr Harris says.

My DDs have olive skin, dark hair and eyes.. when overtired or poorly they go a revolting shade of green/ white and look dire. they are well nourished and healthy though..

I also wonder how you get to the "melted choc stage'.

I once had child on my caseload who would eat 'nuffin but marks n spencers prawn cocktail sandwiches - wiv the prawns taken out cos she don't like prawns'.

On a serious note, my kids all have foods they don't like (one doesn't like meat, another fish, another cheese.....ffs), but I cannot imagine ever indulging prawnless-prawncoktail marks sandxiches, or melting choc for cereal....

Belgo- I too live in Holland, like Jane, but don't agree that the UK is more full of unhealthy things (live on Belgian/Dutch border, so see both....)

The UK's supermarkets are sooooooooo much more full of choice, and healthier option foods- they are thrust at you. But then, supermarkets are just bigger in general so I suppose there is just more of everything.

I don't think you can blame the supermarkets in the UK though for the increasing size of people living there.

I find it damn near impossible to find decent baby-friendly yoghurts here, they are all covered in smarties or sugary e-number nuggets. And baby snacks, finger foods, again, far far far far more choice in England.
Organic foods, more in the UK, information on what is in the stuff you buy? Better in England. Etc etc etc.....

yes smarties in Belgium contain E numbers, but smarties in England don't. And Hema is sweets look positively rasioactive.

But in Belgium vegetables are very well eaten, and many people grow their own, and make home soup.

So Belgium and Holland: possiby not so overweight, but not necessarily much healthier, if at all.

'Hema is sweets look positively rasioactive.'
should be:
'Hema's sweets look positively radioactive'.

Yeah, I cannot imagine a programme like the first Jamie Oliver one a couple of years ago, where you saw children in classroom being shown a CARROT, and not knowing what it was......!!!! Just can't see it here, children would know what different vegetables looked like.

I think home-cooked meals are more common, therefore food preparation, and therefore children's interest in foods and where they come from, and eating a variety, is then more ingrained, and healthier- on the continent.
Yes, true, less microwave meals over here, certainly.

They do 'look' unhealthy but then I look healthy and am in the worst health ever but am just mighty vain when it comes to skin care(and i don't eat masses of crap)

I didnt know what celeriac, chicory or fennel were before moving to Belgium.

healthy weight children would not have arms like that

Haha - I see your pasty children and raise you mine.

Considering I'm mixed-race with dark brown hair and eyes I'm not sure where his blanched white skin, blond hair and blue eyes came from

I too wonder why these kids manage to be phobic to anything but chocolate/McDonalds/chips - why is it never broccoli or strawberries that they can only eat?

they all seem to have odd arms?