Spent the weekend with slim people and I now see why I'm overweight

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After having spent the weekend with slim people, it appears that they:

a) don't need as much food to feel full,
I couldn't believe that after X amount of food, they were full - I could have happily carried on eating.

b) can go much longer between meals without eating,
At one point in the afternoon, I was ready to gnaw my arm off, I asked if anyone wanted to stop for a snack (thinking they'd be starving) but no, they were happy to keep going

c) don't crave sweet stuff in the way I do.
I I need sweet things as pudding, I was almost desperate for some chocolate, whereas again they just did not seem to feel that urge.

I am a size 14 and they are 8-10 and now I can see why. It's led me to wonder is it something innate, something physical? Are you just born like that, not to have the appetite or the sweet tooth? Am I simply fighting a losing battle in the vain dream of being a size 10 one day?

Given that this is a forum for parents, can I ask whether people are actively trying to keep their children away from pasta, bread, potatoes, rice etc.

Are children to be given three meals a day? Or can they manage perfectly well without food if they're given sufficient fluids?

If what mothers eat and what children eat is significantly different, how often do they sit at the same table eating the same meal? If the mother eats different food at different times, what messages does this send and how is it likely to affect the childrens' future attitudes to eating?

ProperLavs pasta is a LOT better than bread from a blood sugar point of view (as long as it's cooked al dente)

It sends a message that different people have different nutritional needs, and as an adult I'm making a decision on how best to meet those needs for everyone involved.

Host children are growing, adults are not, it's not surprising their nutritional needs might be different. To use an extreme example - I can only imagine how huge I'd be if I fed on breastmilk all day

Most slim people I know don't follow any fads and just eat in moderation. I am not scared of pasta or bread. I think the reason for the obesity crisis in Britain is fizzy drinks,ready meals and wine.We are a slim family. We eat 3 meals a day and none of us snack, but I love eating a chocolate croissant for breakfast. I cook most things from scratch and would never eat a ready meal or a take away.

That's interesting minipie- I haven't seen that in any research I've done. Could you tell me where you read this?
I have heard that the starch is less easily absorbed in reheated pasta and rice though .

Host - it’s a really good point

My DC are 11 & 14 and we eat together every evening

"It's been shown that brown pasta/rice/ bread really is no better for you than white. "

Link to support that, please?

I give my dcs more potatoes/rice/pasta than myself, but only because they eat more than I do. I don’t need it, I’m full on what I have. They wouldn’t notice though so we’re all eating the same.

My dcs wouldn’t know if I didn’t eat breakfast though, we all help ourselves in the morning and I eat mine in bed anyway.

I'vegotbills
Intermittent fasting has health benefits far, far greater than weight loss.
When MM "invented" it, weight loss was not the goal (he was never overweight)
his goal was to reduce his risk of heart attack and alzheimers
that will do for me !

It's interesting, when I once moved back with my parents for about six months, I did most of the cooking. My mum said she was losing weight as a result! I'd never thought of what she cooked as particularly fattening, and I eat an awful lot of pasta and cook pretty much everything in olive oil, so I didn't exactly feel like mine was low-fat. I think possibly the key difference is that left to my own devices (i.e. not cooking for fussy kids) I'll do one-pot meals that are made up of at least 60-70% veg, so even if you have a gigantinormous portion, it probably isn't that calorific.

Talkin

Yes, that’s why I was interested, but saw advice against it elsewhere in the net if you’re borderline underweight. I have a chronic condition which might be helped by fasting but if it flares up I can lose pounds in a week, so I’m unsure of the balance of risk.

You don't eat all meals with your children. I ate pretty much the same as the kids did. There would be a change in portion sizes as they got older. It's not unusual to have different things to eat

As a child we had breakfast, usually cereal with milk, lunch at school, and an early evening meal. Crisps, chocolate bars, biscuits, sweets and takeaways were (very) occasional treats. We rarely had fizzy drinks or coffees.

When I was a kid, pasta and rice were still fairly unusual - I grew up in 1970s/80s in rural uk.

I think cereal is a rubbish breakfast choice. Too much sugar and milk for me.

I think there's an interesting possible connection between a mother's 'healthy' diet and children's 'fussy' eating.

If a mother is saying explicitly or implicitly that some relatively ordinary foods (bread) for example are bad, and that she is not going to eat toast because it is really harmful, it's hardly surprising if children decide broccoli is bad and they're not going to eat that....

Or the logical extension of everybody having different nutritional needs and knowing best how to fill them is either one person cooking four different meals, or four people doing their own individual cooking/microwaving....

So it all seems a bit complicated to me.

Or it's a four year old deciding that he only likes pasta, even though he has me eating a wide variety of food across all food groups. My two year old has a far more varied diet than he does. Again, brought up in the same environment.

It really isn't complicated, and it should be used as another stick to beat mothers with. Because did you not know that having overweight parents is also bad for children? www.nhs.uk/news/obesity/fat-mums-have-fat-daughters/

Oh sod that. One meal for everyone. Optional extras for variation. E.g. chicken for meat eaters, quorn/eggs for veges, same meal otherwise.

Just avoid bread and pasta whenever possible.

Why? Bread and pasta can both be part of a healthy diet.

Dear god, I had no idea so many people fuss about so much with food. It's just food! Use your common sense. I've never had a weight problem, had picked up some as I got into my mid-40s and so stepped up the exercise and laid off the crisps, but man, avoiding whole good groups just because (I have been lactose intolerant throughout my life so avoid dairy only for that reason), counting every calorie, etc. No wonder some people's eating is so messed up.

I've never had a weight problem

Well seeing as you've never had a weight problem, there's no excuse for others is there? Good for you.

Exactly expat!

The way that slim people are spoken about on this thread by some - like some other-worldly being!

I think there are lots of posts saying pretty much the same expat.

Yes but I don’t have the time nor inclination to name check them all!

Saying "I've never had a weight problem" is so smug. You wouldn't dream of saying "well, I've never had a problem with alcohol" to an alcoholic would you?

And the blaming in fact that you were told to finish your plate as a child. ... really?

Surely as an adult you just realise that you likely moved a lot more as a child so your diet adapts accordingly.

I suppose it’s easier though to blame your parents.

Former - expat was saying it as a statement of fact. You have interpreted it as smug because you want to be slim.

And yes, of course one could say in a discussion about alcoholism “I have never had a problem with alcohol”. Again, a statement, but an alcoholic may interpret it as smug simply because they’re jealous.