This Obesity drive in the news

[Piffleoffagus]

is it the Governments fault?
I understand that it is in the Govts interests to address obesity, as it is obviously a massive drain on the NHS, but is it their fault?
Hmmm... A junk food tax? healthy food VAT reduction?
Why is obesity on the rise? Are people suffering with illlnesses which predispose them to obesity, is it from childhood, is it down to no control?
I'm baffled that people can let it go so far without seeking help. Esp in the case of children.
Am I naive, I am really interested as to me it seems an easy thing to spot and solve, aside from those with thyroid or other problems which need specialist ehlp etc...

Anyone else see last night's Channel 4 news interview with the mother of an obese (their description) 12 year old girl ?

Apparently the girl has been on numerous 'weight loss' regimes but nothing has worked for long.

They then cut to the mother:

'Well, when we go to the Drive-Thru, I'd really like her to pick something healthy like a couple of Nuggets & small fries but she never does'

FFS !!

nice one Twink!

I wonder what she eats then???

We were talking about that poor little girl in the staff room today and we all wondered where the GP, health visitor etc had been all this time? Surely over feeding a child to that extent is neglet in the same way that starving a child would be?
My DS1 is off to secondary school in September, and when we looked round, I was horrified how many vending machines were dotted around the place - full of crap. Friends who have children there already, say that the healthy options for lunch are really expensive compared to the rubbish. So what are they going to choose? Especially if they don't have much dinner money because their parents can't afford it? It should be chaeper to eat healthily, not the otherway round.
I agree that excercise goes hand in hand with being healthy, and the Govt is saying that we should be doing 2 hours a week of PE in schools. I agree, but simply can't find the extra hour in my week except at the expense of another subject, and then I'd be critised for not giving full coverage to the National Curriculum! We have no playing field, there is a swimming pool at the local college, but we can't use it because there isn't the money to provide lifeguards/qualified instructors for us. Plus, because of the high adult/child ratio needed to walk down there, we can't go because nearly all out parents work or have younger children and can't commit themselves on a regular basis to walk with us. It's crazy!!!

It certainly starts early. i was horrified today when I picked Ds up from nursery and he was given a packet of pom-bear crisps. His teacher said they were a "free gift" the company had kindly given to the nursery to distribute. I was too gobsmacked to relpy. I am going to write to the company to tell therm exactly what I think of their marketing strategy. I will be talking to the nursery manager too, how can they do that today of all days with that poor three year old in the news?

It would show us as a pretty pathetic nation if we had to rely on our government to tell us what to eat!

For goodness sake, as adults we are responsible for what we eat and what our children eat. Like most of you have already said it is down to laziness that what should be treats i.e. a McDonalds, sweeties, are given everyday, more than once usually.

My SIL was worried about her ds's (aged 7) teeth, she gives him two Mars bar size bars of candy everyday after school. No wonder his teeth are rotting.

I understand some find the advertising a problem. Everything in moderation though, eh? I am lucky that so far ds twins are too young to bother about all the consumerism. In fact I am very lucky that when they sneak into the kitchen for snacks it is usually an apple they go for(other times it is grapes or whatever fruit I have in.) I have the argument ready for when they are older and they will have to eat "real food" before getting any junk!

Yes they get crisps, yes they get sweets. As treats. Every now and then, not constantly.

If the government wants to do anything then it should see to the added salt and sugar in packaged foods. I couldn't believe it when I found out the amount of sugar in childrens yoghurts! That should be stopped, I give my two the yoghurts where sugar isn't the first ingredient and they like them just as well.

Apart from that they could also make more sports facilities available. We have good swimming pools here and it is quite good pricing. Really though, it is up to everyone to eat properly, get off their big backsides and do something for themselves.

(And I do have a big backside, my fault and only I can do something about it - and I am.)

Should also say, I would have accepted the Pom Bear crisps and let them have them as a treat.

I feel that ds twins eat very well, fruit and veg wise. So won't panic if they get a little junk now and again.

Balance.

I work on a cardiac ward where the vast majoity of patients are obese, diabetic, have high cholesterol, breathing problems and jount problems due to being overweight most of my patients say they eat heathily but some later admit to snacking on cakes etc. seeing people like this scares the hell out of me. I could be callous by saying that this situation keeps me in work but its awful to see people suffering and in pain and need a lot of support. there is a time bomb ticking and the obesity situation is preventable and it should start in child hood. My dd does Pe once a week which is not enough, there is also a sweet shop conveniently opposite her school for the ultimate pester power so every home time is a constant battle to steer her away from it but we have agreed that she can go in the shop once a week and she's just started gymnastics. People are responsible for there own health provided they are given the information to make there own choices( does that make sense I'm very tired now)

'Give schools back their playing fields and make sure they have small enough classes that they have time to build in lots of physical exercise'
Absolutely agree sueW.

I think one of the keys is more regular exercise. I know a healthy diet is important but IME it doesn't, by itself, equal a non obese child. Things are much more complex than that. At least if you build in exercise you know the child is using up calories - wherever they came from, big mac or beansprouts - and speeding up their general metabolism.

Serenqueen, I have been reading public health literature recently and you are quite right. There is a very clear inverse relationship between body mass index and income, in industrialised societies. Researchers working in public health are still not clear why this is the case, but there are several different kinds of theory in the literaure. One argues that it's all about material resources - that eating a healthy diet and exercising properly demand resources, including time and energy, as well as money, that poorer people lack. Another looks at what they call psychosocial factors, arguing that people who are in lower status, poorly paid jobs, or difficult living circumstances, are subject to more, and persistent stressors. These wear down people's ability to take the long view and take care of themselves, encouraging comfort eating (and smoking, of course, which is also negatively correlated with income). A third view argues that it's all about culture - that people on lower incomes grow up in a culture of unhealthy heating and taking little exercise. Of course these theories are not mutually exclusive and I imagine that they all capture some aspects of what's going on.

Just to add something - this literature is looking at studies of whole populations. It doesn't suggest that all overweight people are poor, or the converse. I'm a good example of someone on a professional salary who is overweight!

I have to say I think lack of exercise is as much an issue as what foodstuffs people eat. How many people get in their cars and drive everywhere nowadays? a great proportion I would say. I used to live in a busy town (about a 20min brisk walk from the centre) The majority of people who lived up our old street used to get in their cars to drive to work. If adults set this example children will follow. My kids eat crisps and McDonalds occassionally but neither of them are fat, far from it, their fat is burned off through their abundance of energy and constant exercise

also I think these diet people on the telly who say things like bananas are fattening are silly - kids should be eating bananas and advocados

I dont understand how wealth and eating go directly hand in hand though. We are average income and the majority of stuff is homemade, or a mixture at least. My mum was low income and everything was homemade. My MIL is average income and ready made

I have just opened the Guardian, and found this article on the same subject, by Polly Toynbee here

Fio2: as in my case, the relationship doesn't hold for everyone. Rather, looking across millions of people, this is what tends to be the case.

I know oldiemum! it wasnt an attack on you just in my experience I find it hard to beleive

welcome back victoriapechkam/mamajinks/badmamma whoever you are.

Of course you really, really despise fat people don't you? You've droned on about it often enough in some of your articles.

Lets see how long it takes you to post really inflammatory comments this time shall we?

Fi2 - It's OK, I didn't take it as an attack I was just pointing out that it's sometimes hard to make sense of large-scale data when it doesn't fir with one's own experience. This is an interesting thread, so I hope we can all keep it friendly.

Sorry about all the typos.

Although, apparently Italian children are now the most overweight in Europe with 36% being overweight (compared with 22% in UK and 19% in France) and 10% being obese.
It would seem that they are turning their backs on the traditional healthy Mediterranean diet and eating more junk food. So it's not just us Brits!