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

[Anna8888]

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

Opinions?

that may be the camara angle ggglimpopo.

I would hate to put my kids in the public eye like this to have their appearence and weight torn apart like this.

yes - I agree. I am glad this is not me and mine!

My dds arms don't look too unlike theirs. She eats a reasonably healthy diet...moderation of chocolate, plenty of fruit and veg and no ready meals. She's not a skinny thing by any stretch of the imagination. She definately would be considered well built by some. But her height weight ratio is well within normal range. Where as a much skinnier dc of a family friend, who some on here would consider to be a much healthier weight, lives on a much poorer diet with way too many sweets/sugary drinks and certainly little in the way of home cooked/prepared meals. As I said appearances can be deceptive and I am trying hard not to give dd a complex about her appearance having seen the damage eating disorders cause first hand.

How do you get to the point where a 12 yr old girl only eats chocolate?

I think some 12 year old girls can be incredibly strong willed with regards to what they eat.

I don't think you'd look at them and say 'blimey they're unhealthy.'

Looking at my kids, ds1 is, I would say, food phobic. He has a VERY restricted diet. I don't think it's too extreme to call it a food phobia in his case - trying something new causes him EXTREME stress, leading to vomiting and hysterical shaking.

Dd is a cosmopolitan eater - she eats incredibly healthily, eats huge amounts of fruit and veg.

Ds2 is in the middle - doesn't eat everything, but has a go, and has a balanced diet.

Ds1 is lean, strong, very athletic looking and very tanned.

Dd is solid, more of a 'round' build, but slim and healthy, although she is heavy for her age. She is also very brown.

Ds2 sometimes looks pasty,, hasgorgeous chubby baby legs and arms. He just has a fairer skin than the other two. And whereas you might expect ds1 to be the pasty one, he looks the healthiest of the lot!

I will put my pics up so you can see them.

they look like the majority of families I see these days- I thought the chocolate girl would be a wizened thing,if that's really all she eats but looks quite normal to me ..
ds is small and skinny in comparison with most of his classmates but eats a very cosmopolitan and healthy diet and lots of it - so I think you really can't tell from a casual look at someone.

hey tortoiseSHELL - lovely pictures and very beautiful children - look as though the bloom with good health !

Won't lack of nutrients/vitamins/etc etc show up as health problems later in life?

Just come back to this. Most of the photos on my profile are from our last summer holiday. So this was the children with as much colour as they ever get.

The poor girl has got a PHOBIA! Give her and her family a break!!!

The mum is overweight.

The girls are well covered.

Yep, really hideously overweight.

I am interested about what it says about our eyes and the way we perceive people. Because we live in a society that is suffering from an obesity epidemic, a child that is really overweight seems, either normalish or only slightly overweight.

Interesting that the two they mentioned only ate chocolate or McDonalds. Why not just carrots or apples? That said, I hope they are helped quickly.

Now I have read all the thread I see I am not the only one with that opinion.

there was a point where dd3 would only east fruit and veg.

somehow that doesnt seem as damaging as chocolate and wotsits.

Irrespective of how they actually look, to describe someone as 'perfectly healthy', when they only eat chocolate, ONLY, is beyond me.

They look overweight. I fail to see how the colour of their skin can tell us anything

they are all overweight, especially the mum. they dont look healthy at all.

It may be a phobia, but I would still blame the parents.... there must have been a day somewhere, when suddenly the girl, in toddlerhood perhaps, had a massive tantrum, said all she wanted was a marsbar, parents could not calm her down, understandably gave in- that once.

Then, next day, same hting. Just want smarties. Parents gave in..... and it took years before alarm bells started going off, and they realised it had just gone too far, and now the poor girl has a MASSIVE hangup, where anything else causes all sorts of physical and psychological 'trauma'.

My sister is an unbelievably fussy eater. She's now in her mid 20's. It's all in her mind. She knows this, and is trying slowly, slowly, painstakingly slowly, to 'teach' her mind/body to like and accept foods. Sure, maybe it is a phobia, but had it been dealt with effectively when she was small, the problem would not have escalated so far as to become almost untreatable. It will take years to 'wean' my sister onto all manner of vegetables, and meats, well, most things.

She is the most stubborn and strong-willed person I know, was a toddler/child. I believe it was definitely a control thing in the beginning, as a toddler demanding more attention, but now it's gone beyond.
My parents are lovely, wonderful people, brought us up wonderfully, but it is kind of their fault it went as far as it did with my sister.

She is 12. And this hasn't been dealt with before ??????
She is only JUST getting HELP ? WHAT ????????????

i dont thnk she can be perfectly healthy and the kids are fat not podgy.

they don't look pasty to me though.

I do try and understand mosthngs - but faffing over childrens food is totally beyond me. it seriously is - i try to avoid threads on mumnset about it

i hate even hiding veggies in food - what is the point?

i have one child who is a fussy eater - he gets what he gets and if he doesn't like it tough shit.

this is quite diferent from "i don't like" a couple of foods

most of us can say we don't like certain things

i dont like egg white - i cant stand the way ham slithers in yur mouth - the touch of it.

i can't stand the horrible 'smell' that comes back down your nose as you breath out with some types of fish.

we all have our things

but i dont like most things. err - no. call it a phycological condition if you like - but i can't help but think that the parents pandered to her very early on.

it was eat it or nowt in my house

i was talkingto my son only ysterday and said " if i cave you a ca of benas for tea monday and a can of rice pudding tuesday and alternated it - i could save a fortune"
"you're not that nice" he said

there you go. in some things good parents are not nice. good parents are seen as bad guys by the kids and some parents can't stand the thought of that - probably due to some shitty childhood themselves and thats no excuse either.

my kids love me and like me. they also really don't like me at certain points. tough shit kid get over it.

this pandering bollocks i have little patience for.

the kids in the picture are fat. thats that.

dh has a fear of vegetables. and most fruits.

he will now eat brocolli, apples, oranges and occasionally a banana.

thats it.

no onions in cooking (which is a PITA!).

i actually grate large amounts of carrots in shepherds pie when cooking, just to make sure he gets some extra vitamins.

which i think has made dd1+2 fussy over food as well.

Agree with Custy. Hide the veg ? What the ??????? Just eat it !!!!