Obesity and fast food - is there no hope?

Oh, sorry teetime, I hadn't read your update! Whoops!

However, I do not withdraw my coments about judgmentalism. That is what many posts on this thread seemed to me to be full of.

Half the punters on Secret Eaters are foodies who cook everything from scratch, but they don't seem to realise that the reasons why they are fat are:

1) They eat healthy food as well as the chocolate and cream cakes, rather than instead of them.
2) They think that healthy food is about who cooks it rather than what it contains.
3) They don't read the labels.

Ben Goldacre was on the telly the other week saying that there is no such thing as an unhealthy meal, only an unhealthy diet, which seems pretty much what thatbags is getting at.

This made I larf.

crun

My grandson is allowed a Happy Meal now and then and all he seems to care about is the free toy that comes with it! He is slim [thin actually] and healthy, so nothing wrong with some fast food now and again. If children are virtually living on them, that's another matter.

As I have no idea what else the child eats during the rest of the day, let alone the rest of the week, I can't see that I have any reason to disapprove. However, I do think children should sit down to eat and not run around.

Good old absent. Never changes!

Yes indeed, crun. Succinctly put, though I was rather, ahem, "getting at" what jings used to call the stuffed-shirtiness of some gransnet posts as well

'Oh things were never like this in OUR day!'

I'm not sure what your comment implies jingl. If children – and, for that matter, adults – sit down to eat and do not do other things at the same time, they are far more likely to recognise the body's signal that says "replete" and respond by ceasing to eat. If, however, their attention is elsewhere and, rather than paying attention to what they are eating, they are simply shovelling in fuel, over-eating becomes more likely.

absent. I think you do it on purpose. . No one sounds that pompous by accident.

"... I can't see that I have any reason to disapprove"

Who exactly was seeking your approval or otherwise?

The other reason that children (and adults) should sit down to eat, rather than running around, is that they are less likely to choke on whatever it is they are eating.

Crun Thank you for the link by the way

jingl The entire thread, including the title and the OP, is about disapproving of the child's eating a Happy Meal. Why should I not comment? Your interpretation of posts is often extraordinarily idiosyncratic – and quite discourteous from time to time.

Oh dear. Sorry.

- it's just the way you put it...

Unbelievable!

Or not, of course...

Quite!

Absent - I don't know why you keep trying to behave like a grown up in a playground of badly behaved children

I occasionally go to Macdonalds with my grandchildren. I have whatever veggie meal they do and my grandchildren have the fillet of fish or a cheeseburger. I realise it's not an ideal food but I don't think that the occasional "lapse" is going to cause too much harm. Both of them take plenty of exercise and are not overweight.

Having watched what amounts to a PR exercise in the linked video I was pleasantly surprised to see that the fries are actually made from potatoes - I thought they were made from some other starch product. So, from the video it didn't seem too bad.

But then I saw a video entitled something like "If you watch this you'll never eat a Macdonalds again". It was quite enlightening. Apparently Macdonalds only use long thin potatoes - generally Russell Burbank - and they must be absolutely perfect with no little spots caused by aphids. In order to ensure this, they apparently have to use a particularly nasty pesticide. "Corporate" cooking also apparently differs greatly from home cooking in that much higher amounts of salt, fat and sugar are added - which creates what the industry calls "snackability" or "craveability", more acceptable terms than "addictability".

I'm now wondering whether we should eat even the occasional Macdonalds given the environmental and ethical implications. However, I expect these issues are also present with other forms of fast food, such as pizza, fried chicken, etc. I do my best to do the right thing but sometimes "stray".

I agree with absent that children should not run around while eating - for the reasons that she and others have mentioned - and also it's bad manners.

I had to laugh at Anya's reference to Vesta meals. My mum did cook proper food, although her repertoire was somewhat limited. When the Vesta meals came out we thought they were the height of sophistication and tried all the different "exotic" offerings. I suppose it made a change from mince, Sunday roasts, omelette, etc., but I'm sure they were full of all sorts of junk.

I can't see the problem with the occasional Happy Meal. Likewise I can't see the problem with the occasional pizza,fish and chips,Indian takeaway etc. none are exactly health foods are they ? but as a treat now and again are perfectly fine. Also do we all not eat most of our daily calorific intake in our "main meal" of the day, whenever that might be? My DGC like (and are used to) home cooked dinners, however they also like the occasional McDonalds too (sometimes after swimming on a Wednesday actually). They are all perfectly fit and healthy and if anything a bit on the skinny side as they are very active children.

I don't think the OP was saying that having the occasional Happy Meal is 'wrong' per se. In her short 2-line post I detected the irony of the situation that this was given at a Slimming Club.

I read it like that too anya hence my flippant remark up thread. I too thought it was more ironic!