Doctors say childhood obesity is neglect - do you agree?

[mylittlefreya]

The article is here

I think it's interesting the comment about undernourished children being automatically a cause for concern, but its almost not politically correct to say the same about overfed children.

I also think peoples perceptions can be quite distorted - there is a big difference between chubby, and obese, but often I don't think people see this.

At some level this worries me and at another it relieves me.

What do other people think?

I think that, for a sizable group of people, you may be right. Our culture is out of step with reality.

I teach kids science, and healthy diet is part of that. I have 2 70 minute lessons in three years of school. Counter to that are the hundreds of adverts for junk food.

I well remember being told by a girl with florid gum disease that she ate a 'healthy diet' because her mum bought her Sunny D.

The girl was quite serious, and I'm sure that her mum had bought the Sunny D in the honest sassumption that it was 'good for' her dd.

The lack of basic understanding of some families cannot be over stated. And it isn't their fault.....we don't teach enough of this stuff.

Those who don't work can't afford the luxury of making their own biscuits either though.

That's nonsense, you can get a book from the library!

Advertising had an awful lot to answer for eg Sunny D.

Yeah - but not everyone reads and not everyone is happy going to a library. If you've dropped out of school you see a library as not the sort of place for you.

this will enlighten you to why Feckless Poor People don't run up their own fecking pesto

It sounds like its the parents who you should be teaching not the children.

MI - can't get link to open

Eat less, move more.

But there are people who wouldn't think to go to a library as they don't think it is a 'place' for them.

I teach kids (NT and not with SEN) who cannot tell you that Autumn follows Summer , and these were 12! Somehow I don't think that trips to the library were high on the list of things that their families did.

I always remember Jo Brand joking that the reason she was so fat was because one hole was larger than the other!

And then there are the people stuck in the council estate where DH used to live.

Oh, yes, LOADS of healthy, low cost shopping available at the tiny Kwik-Save!

Supermarket?

1.62 miles away. I know that because I walked it often enough to get healthy, relatively cheap foodstuffs to make for us because I was lucky enough to have had a good education, fit enough to walk, and didn't have small children in tow.

work? www.jrf.org.uk/knowledge/findings/socialpolicy/SP66.a sp

Victims of marketing I guess, so do you think poor diet is related to low-intellect?

Of course there is Kwik save sell veg and meat.

It's linked to poverty, lack of access to good education and crap housing NOT intellect.

Do you think it's natural selection?

Reeling - no but I do think that much advertising is misleading and there is alot wrong with the way food is presented.

Lack of access is a huge problem - if you don't live anywhere near a shop selling fresh produce then it is going to be difficult

Our ancestors didn't have all these components and managed a healthier diet. It's cultural.

Our ancestors didn't have access to large amounts of high sugar/ high fat/ low cost food. Also they all learned basic cooking skills at home and preprepared food wasn't easily available!

They also didn';t get bombarded with advertising.

We have so much food to choose from and the rubbish is advertised very heavily.

Yes - and much of the developing world has a better diet in as much as the balance of it. I think it is a huge socioo-economic problem which is going to take some hard work and massive investment to turn around

agree with Expat. We are selling kids short at school.

And for those kids who don't get the info at home, they lose out and another generation grows up on crap food