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

[Anna8888]

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

Opinions?

here here Custardo.

Like what I give you or tough shit.

Really, think about it. Do starving children across the world have 'phobias', or refuse to eat something and only eat, I don't know, bananas? No. They eat what they get, cos that's all there is.
And centuries ago. Same thing. I really don't think you had all these kiddies with phobias about food, and fussing over a sprout of brocolli.

Nonsense.

i cooked just about every baby recipe there was when I had my PFB and he is not fussy at all. I think there about 4 things he won't eat and that is that. DD is a bit fussier and also didn't get quite the variety that her brother got when younger. She also found eating solid food hard so it was harder with her. DS2 is in the middle of both of them really. I wasn't fed as a child so I am not fussy at all.

dd3 had to eat on the go as we spent a lot of time at harefield. she was subjected to hospital food so eats most things.

I agree with Anna, its not that they are white, I am very very caucasian and so is my DH and DS, but I think we do have a healthy look. Their skin looks sallow and the mother is definitely overweight.

I am a bit overweight myself but it is from eating too much of good meat, vegetables, fish, bread, pasta, rice etc and occasional chocolate and naughties. And to be honest, drinking like a fish. I am sure long term that is not good for me, but I definitely look healthier than a size 10 who eats very little and when they do, it is from a chippie.

never mid all that
what about the picture of John Craven at the bottom of the page!
Who knew he was ever (slightly)n hot?

Message withdrawn

Presumably the parents are buying the chocolate that enables her mono-food diet.

I'm afraid I'm with Custy on this one.

I'll reserve judgment itil I've watched the programme. But as the parents of a very fussy eater I'm not wholly unsympathetic. dd had a phase when she would only eat beige food - go figure. And TBH if she does have a true phobia then maybe a little sympathy wouldn't go amiss. Or do you advocate chucking all the agrophobics out into the street and leaving them there for example? If she has a true fear then 'eat what you're given or starve' won't help.

They look podgy to me but this monitor is widescreen and stretches out images so I can't be sure!

Anyway, what do they mean 'perfectly good health' - she might 'look' OK but it can't be good for her physiology.

'By "pasty" I don't mean "not tanned", I mean that they have white cheeks. They don't look like children who run around outside every day.'

I agree with Anna on that - ds1 is very pale (strawberry blonde hair) but he kind of has colour in his cheeks because eats well and plays outside most of the time.

The girls def seem to have more weight on them than most children I know I have to say.

they don't look undernourished pale, do they? Have seen that a fair few times and you tend to get pale/sallow skin plus bruised eyes. Would agree that not in the peak of health either

Interesting our different eyes on the family.
I'd say mum and dad are fat and the two girls tubby. The girl in the black top is the closest to being slim.
What do others say? Just on whether or not they are overweight.

yes, overweight but not badly (esp not the two girls, who could well thin out later on)

I think they are more likely to put weight on as they get older.

Isn't it more usual for skinny kids to 'fill out' rather than for podgy kids to slim out - especially if podgy at 12 and into teens?

Agree with Custy - the two girls look well on their way to becoming fat and the mother looks quite overweight. This fussy eating business is nonsense. Half the world is starving FFS. If all these kids knew what real hunger was there is no way they would refuse to eat perfectly good food.

dunno, I was a pretty solid pre-teen and then thinned out later on (though never skinny)

I don't know what you mean about white anna. Just because some people choose to go in the sun and damage their skin (tan is skin damage) or happen to have a different genetic origin doesn't mean there is anything wrong with how they look. I am very very white even if I go away on holiday. It's a natural English colour for many of us and arguably nice than the darker colouring of Frenchmen even. So I don't accept criticism of people being white.

But I do agree they could all do with losing a bit of weight and certainly give up chocolate.

This sort of thread always pushes all the wrong buttons with me, as I tend to think anyone who says 'fussy eating is down to pandering by the parents.'

Ds1 is a fussy eater. As I said above, I would descibe him as food phobic. As a baby he had problems with feeding from day 1. Weaning - I followed Annabel Karmel to the LETTER. He had a wide range of foods. Which he then started cutting down and cutting down.

And people say 'just let them go hungry.' But how far do you go? When my skinny child was vomiting bile because he hadn't eaten for 2.5 days do think that was long enough to wait for him to start eating?

I was buying cheese in Somerfield the other day, and the man at the check out said something like 'I HATE cheese. I really really HATE it.' Which struck me as strange. It transpired that he had grown up in a famine hit part of Africa (I forget which country), and the food parcels they got had lots of cheese in them. And he hated it. And would do everything he could to not eat it. But the odd mouthfuls he did have have given him a lifelong hatred of all cheese.

And when people say 'half the world is starving, they aren't fussy' - how does anyone know? Has anyone actually researched that?

Given that my other two children eat perfectly normally, and in fact dd is the most unfussy eater I know, I am convinced ds1's fussiness is just part of him. He is universally fussy - he only likes 1 kind of biscuit, very few cakes, is incredibly fussy about ice cream, doesn't like most sweets or chocolate. And yes, I probably wasn't a perfect mother when he was small and maybe it is my fault, but it's really upsetting when everyone piles in with 'blame the mother, they've pandered to the child'. I have done my best with ds1, have got advice from anyone I could, and he simply will not eat most things. It is hellishly difficult to get him to eat a balanced diet and I manage it, but it is incredibly stressful. But as I said above, when your child has not eaten for 2-3 days, you can count their ribs, and knobs on their back, when their legs go in above their ankles so that the leg is thinner than the ankle, until you reach the knee bone, and the child is vomiting stomach juices through hunger, how can you not feed them something you know they'll like, even if it isn't fruit and veg, but toast or pasta? Which probably does perpetuate the problem. But how far do you go? Do you wait till they are on a drip in hospital?

15 squares of cooking chococlate and 10 choc fingers.....that's loads, nevermind if it's choclate or not.
I'd feel sick.

Any reason why it is cooking hcocolate??

I disagree with saggarsbottom & tortoiseSHELL, although ds eats like a gannet and eats everything, I do appreciate how lucky I am. And I do have quite a bit of sympathy with parents of fussy eaters. Some childrn are just fussy. and not necessarily just about food. However there are tips and techniques to atleast try and help this - there are inumerable threads on Mn giving advice and support.
And I certainly wasn't suggesting chucking "out into the street and leaving them there ".
But for gods sake, as I said before, the parents haven't exactly tried VERY HARD, have they. I mean she is 12 and for 12 years she has eaten nothing but chocolate. Does that sound like a parent who has chased and chased for medical help and assistance ?
Not to me it doesn't. Sounds like a parent who couldn't give a ..... brocolli and carrots, quite frankly.

i agree that some children are just naturally fussy-my dd2 has always been fussy,yet ds2 and dd3 will eat anything i put in front of them pretty much.i still have the 'eat what your given or tough shit' attitude with all of them.

phobias usually come from somewhere in the first place,dont they?i have a phobia of baked beans,i cant stand to look at them or even smell them,but i know when and why it came about.

nobody is born with a phobia.

The whole family are overwieght and the mum is obese. Those girls will never get any slimmer - the reverse, in fact - while that mum is feeding them.

This is harsh, but true,imo.

I find it very worrying that people's view of what looks 'normal' weight-wise is becoming so distorted/skewed.

They look on the plump side to me.

I was quite a fussy eater as a child but my sister was so extreme my fussiness almost went unnoticed. At one stage my poor mother was reduced to slipping raw egg into milk shakes to try to get some nutrients into her! (This was in the days before anyone worried about salmonella, obviously.)

My mother was not sitting around thinking 'hey ho', she was extremely worried and tried everything she could think of or anyone else could suggest. At one point my sister would only eat omelettes smothered in brown sauce. And then came the dreadful day when she said 'I don't like omelettes any more' and refused to eat one.

That was the point where my mother lost it. She went stark, raving mad. And served up the same omelette for two days running at every meal, with an increasingly manic look in her eye. I swear the bloody thing was mouldy by the time my mother caved in!

Anyone who judges the parents of fussy eaters has obviously never had one. And should just be thankful rather than sneering.

Thank you edam! Those last 2 sentences are just what I wanted to say. If your child isn't fussy then you are bloody lucky.