Obesity is offensive apparently..

[Twenty Inch]

On the same day, Alder Hay Children's Hospital, in Liverpool, announces that obesity is costing it millions of pounds a year in treatment costs.

 

[summerdays]

I've known two anorexic's (one was just a child in my year at school, the other I'm still friends with 20 years later) which I guess is a lot fewer than the number of overweight people - I didn't say it was a rational fear. Yes we sit down and eat together, and I cook all the meals from the ingredients - some of which we grow ourselves. It doesn't stop the one who would be most food obsessed being the first to grab the biggest plate or help herself to more roast potatoes the last time we had a roast dinner.

 

[Twenty Inch]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/panorama/hi/front_page/newsid_8615000/8615795.stm

Obesity is offensive. It's offensive that parents don't look after their children's health, that food producers have been given free rein to sell crap to people, that retailers move out of town forcing low-income families to rely on crap from the corner shop, that schools don't have proper exercise facilities or PE teachers, that good food is expensive and shite food is cheap.

 

[Andy in Sig]

It doesn't matter what you call somebody who is fat as they are still going to be fat unless they do something about it.

"Fat" is one of the few pejorative terms which people can't really grumble about as fatness is largely a self-inflicted condition. OTH it is rotten to put labels on people who can't help something about their appearance.

 

[Twenty Inch]

I don't think that you can regard fat kids as "self-inflicted". They don't know better, they eat what is put in front of them, and live the lifestyles their parents choose.

 

[addictfreak]

I don't think that you can regard fat kids as "self-inflicted". They don't know better, they eat what is put in front of them, and live the lifestyles their parents choose.

Could it letting your child become over weight due to diet and lack of exercise, be labelled as a form of abuse?

Now im not talking about some one with a medical condition. Im talking about those who never feed a child fruit and veg.

 

[ChrisKH]

It seems quite a few on here have plenty to say about childhood obesity, despite several not even having children. No one seems to have anything productive or positive to say about how parents or families tackle an existing unhealthy weight issue. It's easy to say my kids aren't overweight, aren't I wonderful, etc. Let's hear from those who are overweight and whose children do struggle with obesity.

I would recommend the "Mend" programme for families who have weight issues (childhood or otherwise). It is an ideal starting point and the positives of exercise and good diet are reinforced over a period of time.

http://http://www.mendprogramme.org/

People need help and advice not criticism from skinny people.

 

[Twenty Inch]

I'm overweight. I was always chunky, and was encouraged to clear my plate, and to have seconds, as a child. I am currently losing weight gradually (again) by overcoming my natural impulse to eat loads.

My son is 2 1/2 years old. He eats what we eat, which is good healthy food cooked from fresh ingredients. We eat as a family as often as possible. Desserts are rare. Sweets and biscuits even rarer. He gets loads of exercise, is interested in cooking and helps me prepare the evening meal, and loves helping me on the allotment.

We are lucky. I can grow food, we have enough income to access good food, we can get good information about health, we are interested in being responsible for our health and wellbeing, and are interested in doing the best for our child. Many other people are not in that position. I have talked to midwives and community health professionals who despair of the burger classes' unwillingness to take responsibilty for their own behaviour. When that is allied to market models, advertising, and communities that are obesogenic, it is a toxic mix.

I've looked at the MEND programme, specifically the recipes. They are rubbish. They're all very delicious and healthy, no doubt, but expecting someone to go from take-away pizza to Garam masala chick peas, or Cous-cous baked vegetables is a leap of the imagination too far.

 

[tyred]

Speaking as someone who is overweight, and has been since my early teens, I don't find the terms used offensive as that's what I am. I have never been the type to sit around and watch TV or play computer games (always read a lot though) and have always been reasonably active. I just eat all the wrong foods. I know that, I just have always struggled to stop doing it. A major effort in the past few years has me around four stone lighter than I was when at my heaviest but temptation is always lurking, queuing in a shop looking at all that lovely chocolate, walking past a take away...it would be very easy to put the four stone back on again. I think people who are naturally skinny don't realise just how difficult and how much self control is required to lose weight. It requires a major lifestyle adjustment.

 

[Paulus]

Speaking as someone who is overweight, and has been since my early teens, I don't find the terms used offensive as that's what I am. I have never been the type to sit around and watch TV or play computer games (always read a lot though) and have always been reasonably active. I just eat all the wrong foods. I know that, I just have always struggled to stop doing it. A major effort in the past few years has me around four stone lighter than I was when at my heaviest but temptation is always lurking, queuing in a shop looking at all that lovely chocolate, walking past a take away...it would be very easy to put the four stone back on again. I think people who are naturally skinny don't realise just how difficult and how much self control is required to lose weight. It requires a major lifestyle adjustment.

Well said. Could it be that some people are either too lazy, or stupid or both to concern themselves and their families with the life style they lead?

 

[ChrisKH]

Thanks 20 inch. My son of ten is overweight. He knows it. We know it. The advantage of attending the Mend programme, is that for all the poor recipes there are some good ones and it has given him more of an awareness of what he should and shouldn't eat. Previously he would clear his plate regardless, now he has been taught to eat what is good for him until he is not hungry and to tell himself "I don't need anything else". It is working but it has taken a fair amount of time to change his attitude to food and resolve some underlying health problems which got him where he is in the first place. I won't deny there may have been an element of cupboard love, as he suffered from quite the opposite as a baby and wasn't eating enough. Just goes to show you don't really need to worry too much about what kids eat as long as it is healthy and nutritious and there are three meals on offer a day.

We are also lucky. I can afford to put healthy food on the table including a lot of different fruit and salads which both children love and are being used as dessert substitutes. Some people are not so lucky.

For what it's worth, my second son is as skinny as a rake and has a natural tendency towards fruit, vegetables, brown bread and rice (which he prefers, in fact he will not eat white bread or potato) and he only eats until he is no longer hungry.

 

[Twenty Inch]

Chris that's great, and I hope your son doesn't go through the episodes of embarassment and self-loathing that regularly afflicted me from about 10 until about 5 years ago. I'd suggest though that you and I are not representative of the vast majority of the overweight, who are by-and-large drawn from the socially deprived, marginalised, poorly educated who would previously have made their lving from semi-skilled work, which combined with income constraints, walking/cycling to work, and different types of entertainment and recreation meant that they were thinner and fitter.

I know several people locally who simply can't get to the big supermarket with the fresh food and fruit, and wouldn't know what to do with if they did. The SureStart centre has been colonised by the middle class, as the burger class won't go, and the SureStart centre has to get their user numbers up. The only shops on the estate are a Chinese, a chippy, and an off-licence. Those that can, drive everywhere, as public transport is expensive and infrequent, and walking is too far, and cycling....well, let's not go there.

Food is cheaper than ever before. It's more prevalent than ever before. Every corner shop sells salt-and-fat-laden sandwiches. There're can't be a carpark in the country that doesn't have a van selling shite-in-a-bun to people who can't wait 20 minutes until they get home, or eat an apple. Schools are compelled, legally, to have chocolate and soft-drink vending machines in their premises, and are compelled to contract school catering to private operators who are only interested in taking a profit. And on, and on, and on....

The answers are too multi-faceted and long-term to be addressed or delivered by any one initiative, or simplistic answer of the sort that "it's all their own fault".

 

[Mark_Robson]

Chris that's great, and I hope your son doesn't go through the episodes of embarassment and self-loathing that regularly afflicted me from about 10 until about 5 years ago. I'd suggest though that you and I are not representative of the vast majority of the overweight, who are by-and-large drawn from the socially deprived, marginalised, poorly educated who would previously have made their lving from semi-skilled work, which combined with income constraints, walking/cycling to work, and different types of entertainment and recreation meant that they were thinner and fitter.

I was with you 100% until you posted that twaddle. I like a lot of people was brought up on a council estate, coming from a mining family who weren't exactly rolling in money. We still ate a healthy varied diet because my mother didn't work so she had the time to shop daily and prepare good food. Good food in those days was actually cheaper than the processed rubbish and I still believe that to be true.
Having obese children has nothing to do with being working class but more to do with lifestyle choices and taking an interest in you childs welfare. You could argue that the main factor for child obesity is that we don't give our kids the time that they deserve. We are now so materialistic that we focus far more on making money than focussing on bringing up our kids. Lets face it we all buy convenience food to some extent. My kids hadn't seen a full carrot or a full lettuce before my wife gave up full time work because she always bought the bags of pre-chopped. That didn't mean that pre chopped veg and salad isn't healthy though, just more expensive and more convenient.

 

[ColinJ]

I think one of the problems is that a lot of people suffer from the misconception that they have a genetic abnormality that makes them put on weight. They see their skinny friends eating twice as much as them and never putting on weight and wonder why they can't do that. They must have something wrong with them and that's why they are overweight, therefore it isn't their fault, therefore they can't do anything about it.

I have such a skinny friend and I knew that he had a big appetite, but it wasn't until I started going on cycling holidays with him that I realised just how much he ate. He was grazing all day from the moment he got up until the moment he went to bed and he ate a huge amount at the evening buffets. I'm talking three large dinner plates piled high with food, followed by a bowl of fruit and ice cream, then a banana, then... You get the picture. 30 minutes later back in our room, he'd make himself a few slices of toast. After that he'd start on a bag of nuts. I couldn't believe it.

I ate half the amount that he did, rode 700 miles over the same Spanish mountains as him in a fortnight. He came home weighing exactly the same as when we'd set off. I put on 4 pounds!

The people with the genetic abnormalities are people like him! It is natural to put on weight if we eat too much. It's how we store fat for times of famine. If a famine ever comes our way, I might survive it - people like my mate wouldn't!

The thing is - we in the west don't live in times where famine is a problem and we aren't suited to the glut of calorie-dense food that surrounds us. That's what can make it hard work keeping weight under control. We have to face the facts though, that we are only fat if we eat (or drink) too much. Don't blame metabolism for it. We may have skinny friends who are lucky enough to be able to eat what they want - good luck to 'em - but we have to eat or drink only what is good for us.

I don't really agree that eating well is expensive. Well, I suppose that it depends on what you mean by expensive? I spend about £16/week on fruit and veg and about £12 on everything else so that's £4/day. I eat a very healthy diet.

By the way - I am overweight! It isn't due to eating too much food, it is due to drinking too much beer. If I drink beer I gain weight, and if I don't, I lose it. I don't blame anybody else for it. It's not due to my genes. It was my choice to drink the beer and it is my responsibility to get the weight off.

 

[Twenty Inch]

I was with you 100% until you posted that twaddle. I like a lot of people was brought up on a council estate, coming from a mining family who weren't exactly rolling in money. We still ate a healthy varied diet because my mother didn't work so she had the time to shop daily and prepare good food. Good food in those days was actually cheaper than the processed rubbish and I still believe that to be true.
Having obese children has nothing to do with being working class but more to do with lifestyle choices and taking an interest in you childs welfare. You could argue that the main factor for child obesity is that we don't give our kids the time that they deserve. We are now so materialistic that we focus far more on making money than focussing on bringing up our kids. Lets face it we all buy convenience food to some extent. My kids hadn't seen a full carrot or a full lettuce before my wife gave up full time work because she always bought the bags of pre-chopped. That didn't mean that pre chopped veg and salad isn't healthy though, just more expensive and more convenient.

You've inadvertently backed up my point. You and I are from a generation that was encouraged to go outside and play (I am, I'm inferring that you are.) The mines aren't there any longer, nor is the shipyard or engineering industries where I live. Those that have work, work incredibly long hours and reach for convenience food. There were no Starbucks selling latte at 500cals a go then. Nor was a pasty from Greggs seen as a daily meal - it was a rare treat. Those that don't have work simply haven't the income to access the good food - it may be cheaper in some ways, but it's not as available - supermarkets are out of town, fresh markets are closing down, greengrocers and local butchers are things of the past. I agree that many, many people on contemporary council estates aren't interested in their own or their children's welfare, I said that earlier. I went part-time earlier this year, to 8-4, 4 days a week. Best decision I ever made. I spend time with my son, cooking with him, taking him up the allotment, going to the park, introducing him to other people. I miss the money, but he doesn't miss me. You could live off one salary then, so one parent (usually the mother) could do the housework and cooking. You can't now - before my wife started work in September, it was a struggle.