Child obesity - Your thoughts

Devrij said:
Lack of cooking skills plays a big part I think. If you can't cook anything that tastes good or you don't know how to cook, you'll buy pre-made food instead. Most of that is full of rubbish, or if not is too expensive for a lot of people. Cooking healthy food is cheap compared to buying ready meals and other crap. I think some people just never learned to cook so they're daunted by the prospect of it, or when they do cook what they can, it doesn't taste great.

I'm going to teach my kids how to cook so they don't fall into that routine. Scrambled eggs with chilli flakes and spring onions on thick crispy toasted brown bread beats a McMuffin any day, only takes a few minutes and costs nothing
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actually fruit and veg and fresh meat etc is much more expensive that processed food. its one of the problems. since my wife moved in with me we spend much more now on proper food than the crap i was eating before.

chilli egg is a nice meal, but mcmuffin is tastier. its the only mcdonalds i actually like. you know bread isnt healthy, right?

i still use too much salt but when i grew up everyone used lashings of salt on food as it wasnt seasoned whilst cooking. im struggling to cut back as it makes things taste so much better. my wife doesnt even use salt on fish & chips so i hope my son follows suit.
 
maccapacca said:
Lots of information on packets are miss leading, I have a ongoing thread with my wife re Coco Pops, my 4 yr old daughter wants them every week, the packaging is colourful and always stocked at kid level.

The front of the packet says things like high in fibre / grain / lots of green labels yet you need to look at the back to get the %age of sugar which is about 36% the front tells you it's 12% of an adults GDA, it's confusing and you do need to actively look for the right information.

It's not an excuse or the reason but it's a thought
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It doesn't take a genius to see that Special K or Weatabix is probably better for you then a chocolate covered surgery fat bomb of a cereal

When i was a nipper i loved Weatabix!
 
It is bad parenting, but it's a sensitive subject I suppose because it's criticising someone's lifestyle choice.

I find it difficult to comment on without being insulting to fatties to be honest :)
 
Comes down to bad parenting. Yes a child can admittedly snack and stuff outside of school, but parents ultimately control most of their kids diet..

kd
 
At the Derby game last Saturday I noticed on the row in front that the man was feeding his children utter rubbish at half time. A Galaxy chocolate bar, packet of Rolos, a Mars Bar and a bag of crisps each. He himself had a Mars, Snickers and a whole bag of crisps to himself.

They weren't fat. But it isn't really the best example to be setting.
 
maccapacca said:
Lots of information on packets are miss leading, I have a ongoing thread with my wife re Coco Pops, my 4 yr old daughter wants them every week, the packaging is colourful and always stocked at kid level.

The front of the packet says things like high in fibre / grain / lots of green labels yet you need to look at the back to get the %age of sugar which is about 36% the front tells you it's 12% of an adults GDA, it's confusing and you do need to actively look for the right information.

It's not an excuse or the reason but it's a thought
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Very much so. As well as pure ignorance and laziness as mentioned in the thread, misleading packaging doesn't help.
 
They should be denied certain medical aid if their obesity is proven to have contributed to the condition.
It galls me to see fat families. As said, there really is no excuse for it. Anyone with an ounce of common sense will know the difference between the extremeties of healthy and unhealthy food.
You don't even have to be scientific about it, the info is available to everyone everywhere.
 
Banzai_Joe said:
They should be denied certain medical aid if their obesity is proven to have contributed to the condition.
It galls me to see fat families. As said, there really is no excuse for it. Anyone with an ounce of common sense will know the difference between the extremeties of healthy and unhealthy food.
You don't even have to be scientific about it, the info is available to everyone everywhere.
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So you would deny the children medical aid because of what their parents did? Hardly ethical.
Or would you allow the children medical aid but then remove it when they are 18? Hardly ethical.

And what aid would you deny exactly?
 
4T5 said:
For me it's Child Abuse & I really feel sorry for the kids whose parents are big fat ***** who over feed them. It's like giving your kid a handicap & sending them to school on there own to deal with it.
Wrong in every single way.
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I couldn't agree more.

The problem is here that the parents have "programmed" their minds and behaviour at such a young age, it will be near impossible for them to change.

For example, many of us will have been told to "eat everything on your plate" or not leave until your plate is cleared. At a young age, this subliminal type message is quite negative and when adults, won't know when to stop eating when food is front of them.

The best course is to only give children what they need and can realistically eat without ever offering second helpings..
 
In 99% of cases there's only one reason for being overweight; eating too much of the wrong food. For children the responsibility for that lies with the parents.
 
Simply bad parenting full stop.

My kids snack, of course we have biscuits/crisps/cakes etc in the house, and they watch TV, and play on the PC etc. That's not a problem. The problem is the parents just not giving a crap, doing nothing with their kids, and not making sure they balance out the sweet stuff with the good.

We make sure they go swimming at least once a week, they walk to and from school every day, they do dance class, we take them to the park, go bike riding, walks down the canal, go to the field for a kick about... plus a load of other things.

It's also a load of rubbish that eating well costs too much. Bobbins. Vegetables cost a pittance. You can make a stew with fresh meat and veg for less than the cost of a maccy-D's that'll feed a family of 5+ easy!

And not cooking is just lazyness.
 
Kanifee said:
Its bad parenting, children are like dogs if you mind the analogy. they will eat what ever you put in front of them however much you put in front of them because they simply don't know any better
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Really? I'd be amazed if that was really the case. I know it's far from true for my 2 kids.
 
I agree, bad parenting, but also poor education with regard to nutrition and diet.

I would like to say the parents don't know any better because of poor education as it's a nicer thing to think than they are being wantonly cruel to their children. But I could not justify such a stance.

People who are fat know they are fat and they know the risks. Fine if an adult wants to be that way, but to force children to also live in such a fashion is, to me, a form of child abuse.

There is more freely available information about health and nutrition than ever so I don't think there is an excuse.

Unless of course there is some odd medical condition that effects a whole family in the same manner. If the obesity is from body malfunction then fair enough, but I struggle to accept such a condition would effect an entire family at the same time.

However, stranger things have happened! ;)

Buff
 
Morba said:
Really? I'd be amazed if that was really the case. I know it's far from true for my 2 kids.
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I agree. My kids love their food, but they know when they've had enough. They also learn all about what foods are good and bad at school from early on now, all about mixed diets and the like.
 
HeX said:
I agree. My kids love their food, but they know when they've had enough. They also learn all about what foods are good and bad at school from early on now, all about mixed diets and the like.
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Yep and very early on personal preference comes out in children. Takes a while to get kids eating all the things they should.
 
I don't have kids but i wish you would just tell the people you have umbrage with to their faces, maybe it would actually help them rather than coming here looking for like minded sympathy voters, of which on this forum you know you will find plenty. its just a circle jerk of back patting sometimes.

If more people actually stood up and said what they thought you might help these kids in what you are all perceiving is child abuse.

Seriously try it.
 
HeX said:
They also learn all about what foods are good and bad at school from early on now, all about mixed diets and the like.
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And despite what Jamie Oliver achieved what they teach in the classroom and what they serve in the dinnerhall are two very different things. I've seen all the schools in my local area slip back into old ways. No point the schools teaching them if they don't then practice what they preach.
 
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