Obesity is offensive apparently..

[Mark_Robson]

There's lots of reasons why children are getting fatter. They aren't allowed the freedom that we were allowed when we were young, so they aren't out playing all day. They would rather spend an hour on the PS3 than spend an hour kicking a ball around and Sky spoon feeds them kids TV 24/7
Another reason that kids are getting fatter is due to dietary changes. Most of us eat more than our parents ever did.

I will probably get flamed for this but here goes........You often see fat families now and it's because the parents are giving their kids what they believe to be "normal portions" and think that there's no harm in spoiling them with sweets etc. This mentality can cause weight problems to spiral out of control very quickly. The same mentality applies to lacing food with salt. Parents believe that you can't possibly eat food without salt to taste it so they salt their kids food as well. You could actually argue that overfeeding kids is a form of abuse, that's probably one of the few things that Jamie Oliver and I would agree on.
I remember when I was at school there would be one or two fat kids in a year, now there are a lot more than that. I realise that the problem is more complex than the easy reasons for obesity that I have highlighted, ie comfort eating caused by depression or bullying and other medical conditions. But I think that the medical conditions only account for a fraction of the problem

As for a politically correct word for fat, it doesn't matter how you dress it up it will still be used to describe fat people.

 

[summerdays]

I realise that the problem is more complex than the easy reasons for obesity that I have highlighted, ie comfort eating caused by depression or bullying and other medical conditions. But I think that the medical conditions only account for a fraction of the problem.

I agree its only a small fraction - just wanting to point out that sometimes its not as it looks on the surface.

 

[darkstar]

Yes but I'm not convinced you're comprehending Summerdays point correctly. I have 3 sons and the eldest is very slender yet does the least physical activity and eats the most, by far. The middle boy is also middle for physical activity but is significantly heavier and of different build. The youngest is thin but spends his days in perpetual motion, almost enough to give you motion sickness just watching him The middle boy is the most food orientated of the three but they all receive the same sort of balanced diet. If he ate the same as the eldest did at his age he'd become very overweight, yet he's a lot more physically active.

We work hard to counteract this without making it an issue or creating any stigma. If we fed them all identically then someone's going to be overfed or someone will be underfed.

Well get them outside if they are not doing enough physical activity? I understand some individuals have a slower metabolism but the simple fact is there are more people who seem to be blaming their/their children's weight on this now than ever. It can't be the fact people are eating more fatty food, drinking more unhealthy drinks and generally sitting on their arse watching TV? of course not, it's all in the genes...

 

[twentysix by twentyfive]

Well get them outside if they are not doing enough physical activity? I understand some individuals have a slower metabolism but the simple fact is there are more people who seem to be blaming their/their children's weight on this now than ever. It can't be the fact people are eating more fatty food, drinking more unhealthy drinks and generally sitting on their arse watching TV? of course not, it's all in the genes...

Not forgetting sitting on their arse in cars.

 

[buggi]

I don't think its entirely the parents though ... there must be some element of genes/personality to it: none of my 3 would come under the obese heading but they definitely carry different levels of fat, from skin and bones to slightly chubby/curvy. .

The human body is designed to hang on to fat. Fact. But the problem we face now is all the processed food that is so readily available coupled with the lack of exercise. A lot of children carry "puppy fat" but everyone knows the difference and when you're child is morbidly obese then it's down to the parents to sort it out with a balanced diet and getting the kids out and about.
mostly tho, the parents are fat too and they can't see the problem with it.
my mum told me she saw a fat little girl in the shop with her grandmother the other day. the grandmother had a trolley and the girl had her own basket, filled to the brim with pop and sweets. She said she had a hard time controlling herself not to say something to the grandmother.

There are also children with medical conditions which can cause their children to put on weight due to the drugs affect on their appetite - my cousin piled on the weight when he had a heart condition diagnosed and put on medication, and I know a small child who piled on the pounds after being put on medication to control seizures.

there are cases but they are few and far between. The sad thing is that nowadays it's mostly the other way round and it's the weight problem that causes the illness!

 

[Debian]

The vast majority of cases of being overweight, whether children or adult is due to eating more than they burn, plain and simple. Eating less and moving more would solve 99.9% of problems.

I work at a private school that serves decent breakfasts and lunches to all the (approx 1200) children and promotes physical activities and sports of all kinds. The school has a good swimming pool and gym + extensive playing fields, rugby pitches and a cricket ground. I'm hard pressed to think of one single pupil who stands out as looking overweight.

 

[montage]

Welcome to the Age of Gluteny.
I wonder how much we will be scoffed at in future years for allowing our society to get in this mess

 

[MacB]

Well get them outside if they are not doing enough physical activity? I understand some individuals have a slower metabolism but the simple fact is there are more people who seem to be blaming their/their children's weight on this now than ever. It can't be the fact people are eating more fatty food, drinking more unhealthy drinks and generally sitting on their arse watching TV? of course not, it's all in the genes...

I know you're young but you could at least apply comprehension with your reading before dishing out parenting advice. At no point did I say my children didn't do enough physical activity. I was trying to highlight how different a body shape can be in spite of diet and exercise. I'm not the only parent on here that's found this to be the case. I'm not making excuses for childhood obesity but merely trying to offer a slightly less blinkered view.

 

[darkstar]

I know you're young but you could at least apply comprehension with your reading before dishing out parenting advice. At no point did I say my children didn't do enough physical activity. I was trying to highlight how different a body shape can be in spite of diet and exercise. I'm not the only parent on here that's found this to be the case. I'm not making excuses for childhood obesity but merely trying to offer a slightly less blinkered view.

I wouldn't and couldn't possibly dish out parenting advice, i know nothing about it! Sorry if my post came across badly, i understand some struggle with weight and often loose it in later years when they grow up. However i still believe the majority of cases are the result of over eating or lack of activity. It may be harder for those whom are naturally chubby to loose the weight, but it's still possible!
Nor offense was meant btw.

 

[Over The Hill]

Gok calls people "Plus Size" while personal ads seem to go for "cuddly" or curvey".
What is the matter with "overweight". It is really calling it what it is.
If that is harsh then "underheight" covers it from the other side.

 

[summerdays]

Its a difficult balance being a parent watching your children's weight. The older two are girls and the last thing I want to do is send out some message that they are fat and must spend the rest of their life dieting. I've never counted calories or been on a official diet, but some of my siblings have and their weight seems to fluctuate madly. Whereas mine tends to sit at the top of the Normal range for BMI and is fairly steady no matter what I eat or exercise.

The eldest is getting concerned about her weight and I'm trying to advocate sensible eating and a bit more exercise, but you are always worried that they may go to the extreme and end up anorexic.

 

[Globalti]

Nobody has mentioned the food industry and the disgusting profits made from converting shiploads (no exaggeration) into edible product industrially. The basic ingredients that you can buy at industrial commodity prices are vegetable fats and oils, sugar, salt, carbohydrate, animal protein and of course water. Add some colour, texture, flavour and you've the basis for much of the brown food that's sold and consumed widely because it's cheap. When I was a child in the 50s and 60s my Mum shopped almost every day, cycling down to the shop and we ate fresh food every day. I remember when freezers began to become common and suddenly cheap burgers appeared in our diet - as hungry teenagers we were always snacking and frying up burgers and other rubbish. That's how it started.

On language; some years ago there was an attempt to do introduce a PC term for disability, I saw a proposal that everybody who wasn't disabled should be labelled "temporarily able-bodied" while the disabled should become "normal". This I found too patronising toward both sides to accept.

 

[JtB]

It's odd how a word becomes considered offensive, then gets swapped for another term which is considered less so. I wonder what euphemism will be the new term for FAT and how long that will remain inoffensive.

I guess the US would go for something like "Gravitationally Challenged".

 

[Mark_Robson]

I guess the US would go for something like "Gravitationally Challenged".

Or big boned

 

[Debian]

The eldest is getting concerned about her weight and I'm trying to advocate sensible eating and a bit more exercise, but you are always worried that they may go to the extreme and end up anorexic.

I don't think that should be the case, and if anything is a little alarmist. Anorexia usually has origins within a deeper sense of feeling "unworthy" in some way, often manifested by a lack of love and care in the home environment as opposed to being encouraged to eat sensibly and to exercise. I don't think many children in a caring and loving family environment will suffer in this way. In any event, if sensible eating and a healthy lifestyle is followed by the parents and undue pressure is not put on the children then they'll normally follow suit naturally, to a greater or lesser extent.

I've brought up a total of six children, all of whom have had vastly differing eating and lifestyle habits, from a total outdoors freak to one who lives for computer gaming and whom I'm almost sure would spontaneously combust if he exposed himself to sunlight . But none of them have weight issues, all of them will happily walk into town and do other physical stuff. We've never done more than to have healthy food on the table most of the time, to cook most of our meals from scratch ingredients, to go for family walks and cycle rides and to all sit round the dinner table of an evening for the main meal of the day. It's all just come naturally for us.

I also had a brief chat with the school Matron about the original story and she is not aware of any child at the school with concerning weight issues. As I said previously, the school serves good portions of reasonably healthy food and has an ethos of sport and exercise but again there's no pressure, nothing extreme and, if they want, there's bacon rolls, sausage, egg and beans, etc available at breakfast so it's not all lettuce and carrot juice by any means.

It's a problem that we generate for ourselves I'm afraid.