‘Millenniums’ set to become heaviest generation ever

It’s not only obesity is it? Many young children have to have their milk teeth out because of the sugary drinks they consume.
When the government suggest taxing these drinks there is an outcry and they are accused of targeting the poor. Why can’t the children of the poor drink water like my DGS. It doesn’t seeem to do him any harm.

Pamela the poor can't drink water because they feel insecure so need all the things they perceive the middle classes to have. That is pretty much the answer I got years ago when I asked why the children on a video we were shown whose parents were unemployed had brand new bikes when my DSs had second hand ones. I can't remember the answer to the question about why they were vandalising property near their homes.

Before anyone has a go at me, I am not suggesting that all the poor are like this, just saying what was said at a house group I was a member of.

I don't think exercise will solve any obesity crises until people stop eating such large portions of very calorific foods as they do now.

The food industry is a lot to blame in this situation.
It is a harsh thing to say but now people are now eating too much. Cut down on portion size. Cut down on large portions of fatty and sugary foods. Then exercise might just begin to help.

The trouble with saying "big is beautiful" does not account for the serious health issues of obesity.

When I pick my grandchildren up from school, it always distresses me to see so many overweight children at such a young age. The school even sent a note out to all parents re healthy lunch boxes. Evidently some parents think it’s fine to put cold burgers or cold takeaways in lunch boxes .... unbelievable !

When I was in my teens and early twenties shop sizes went up to size 16 anything larger you had to go to specialist shops which were very expensive or make your own clothes from very frumpy patterns. I think it served well as an incentive to keep the pounds off. Also we seemed to walk everywhere buses were for day trips or holidays and getting a taxi usually meant you were in labour!!!

It's very true, OldMeg - I have to pass a nearby sixth form college on my way to the local library and a significant percentage of the teen girls are simply multiple health problems on (huge and badly stuffed sausage) legs!

Their eyes are sunk into puffy cheeks, they carry a beer gut that would do justice to a championship darts player and they possess upper arms like prize hams. God help you if one of them gets on the same bus as you and deposits her two-seat backside alongside you - you don't stand a chance.

But the boys - as a previous contributor remarked - are a stunning contrast. A lot of them don't have even have a half ounce of fat on them and if they turn sideways then you can't see 'em!

I think the instigation of the "Fat Acceptance Movement" from the USA (where else?) is going to cause a lot of health and self-esteem damage, in the long run. Saying over and over to yourself "I may be overweight but I'm healthy too" is dangerous nonsense.

Causes, in my humble opinion:
Lack of education
Lack of money

When I. Go shopping in my nearest 'big' town I always notice the number of young people walking along with a burger and/or chips in one hand and mobile phone in the other. No wonder they put on weight (by eating burgers, I mean!). Oldies rarely do this.

Fat people have always existed even when there was no refined food.

Take a look at the Willendorf Goddess, to whom I am a distant relation. Not as distant as I'd like!!

Many of the early earth mother statues show women who are frankly bulgy, were they a cult of visionaries who foretold MacDonalds and Cola drinks?

1 in 10 women has Lymphodema, hence the big legs.........
I am not sure what the answer is, I am told my Lympodema is progressive and will not alter with diet or exercise.

Maybe there is more to all this than junk food and inactivity???

I accept that there were not fat inmates of the concerntration camps but we don't know how long it took the tubby ones to slim down and at what cost to the rest of their make up. Poor souls did not live to tell us.

Currently there is a fad for 400 calorie a day diets.....and some people are then getting digestive problems.

I am like half a house and never even seen a cronut.

Listen to the Food Programme yesterday on Radio 4. The Government advice has been wrong but they do not want to admit it. The legal profession seem to understand though!

OK Nonnie then we have to push what the secure people do so it becomes the norm for everyone.
Not sure how to do it though?

Listening now intriguing. Not much help to this fat vegetarian though.

In many cases of obesity it is a sign of the times. There are exceptions were a medical condition is responsible and no amount of dieting helps. I was talking to my daughter recently while we were looking through old photo,s from the 60s & 70s and we were commenting how thin everyone seemed to be by comparison to now. No 24 hour television to distract us, no computers and mobile phones, just as well as we would,nt have had the time. Back then we did not have multi-packs of crisps, microwave meals, BOGOFs pizza deliveries, and lots of us did not even own a fridge then let alone a freezer to fill up with tempting foods on hand. A takeaway for us in those days was fish & chips and not on a regular basis either. We did a lot more manual work in the form of housework, no tumble dryer then...back and forth to the washing line praying for it to dry, pushing a big pram with with one baby inside, one on a seat on top and another one holding on to the pram. Nappies then we're terry which had to be washed ...disposables just coming in but classed as luxuries for travelling. Cleaning out the one coal fire which was total heating for the compete house and then on hands and knees washing the floors. Just a few of the reasons we were slimmer then was the sign of the times as it was for us. We could choose to be working mothers or not then. A lot of people now have no option but to work and at the end of the day probably do rely more on convenience foods or takeaways as simply too tired to cook from scratch when getting home. Plus I think we had more small independent shops rather than massive supermarkets like now, I remember a very small Budgens and a small Tesco,s where I used to live, and nothing like the quantities of products they have these days. I think complete change of lifestyle and not just altering your diet has to be the way forward if a person is determined enough to want to change and not everyone does.

OldMeg perhaps some GPs are wary of mentioning a patient's weight and offering further advice:

www.pulsetoday.co.uk/home/finance-and-practice-life-news/one-in-three-gps-have-offended-patients-by-talking-about-their-weight/20033646.article

When I went to Weight Watchers some people there had been sent by their GPs and it had been paid for by the NHS.

We didn't have a car when I was growing up and I can't remember very many people who did until I went to senior school where there were some girls from better-off families or those whose fathers were 'commercial travellers'. We walked, cycled and bussed everywhere. Nowadays many children get taken to school by car and dropped right outside.

JanaNana spot on.

When I left school I weighed 7 stone, 5'7" tall & 36-23-36 figure, size 12/14. I did walk or cycle until I passed my test, good healthy diet as well in those days but there was no fast food except fish & chips as a treat.

I'm considerably heavier, Epilepsy medication which slows the metabolism, "belly button" hernia makes my belly stick out no matter how much I exercise. I am Type 2 Diabetic so I am now careful about portion size, eat fruit (not too much because of natural sugar) & lots of veg. I do struggle to lose weight as my mobility is compromised but I walk to my local shop unless I need the car to go further afield. I have just started a Pilates class.

I smoke 2/3 cigarettes a day, GP & Diabetic Nurse are more concerned about that than my weight although they would like me to lose weight. I do object to Nurses advising weight loss when they are twice my size

Jalima I’m pretty sure you are right.

But no one has taken up my point that GPs are not wary about telling patients to cut down/give up smoking as it’s bad for their health. Neither are they coy about asking how many units are drunk in a week.

So why do they shy away from the ‘you ought to lose some weight because it will affect your health’ issue?

Jenpax hope you get care you deserve now . Good luck for your op ?

The culture has changed a lot since my young days and I can’t see any likelihood of it going back to what it was. We would not have dreamed of eating or drinking in the street, and it was a real treat to have lunch in town when out shopping - and that was sardines on toast in cardomas or a bowl of soup in British Home Stores. Sweets and chocolate were a treat, not everyday food and crisps were only eaten when sitting outside the pub on a Sunday lunchtime waiting for Dad! We had neither the money nor the food to be snacking all the time, so we didn’t get fat. However when you look at the swimsuit models of the day they weren’t exactly bean poles were they?
I often have lunch out with friends these days and there are always groups of young mums with babies and toddlers lunching too. In general there is much more money around than there used to be. I’m a bit chubbier than I’d like to be now, but my millenials are as thin as sticks -without trying!

The pace of life has contributed to food that is prepared quickly. Two parents doing full-time jobs doesn't lend itself to meals prepared from scratch.
But please don't get me started on school-children's breakfasts of crisps and fizzy/sports drinks.

Old Meg. Now isn't that a surprise? Look around today and obesity stares you in the face.The young and the not so young.? There may be too much sugar and fat in the products we are eating but have we lost the ability to control ourselves and look for that which has less fat and sugar, or just eat less of it. and turn to something healthier.? I am of an age to remember the end of food rationing in the UK. As young as I was, no persons that I was aware of had suffered from having their food intake decreased. Could those years of forced upon us restriction be the reason there are so many alive today, actively, in their nineties and early hundreds ?Can't all be down to medical science

We could and should start by making sure that children are taught to cook and to plan healthy meals while at school.
Next on my list is increasing VAT and other forms of taxes on soft drinks, alcohol, anything like sweets and biscuits made with loads of sugar, and reducing VAT on milk products, vegetables and pulses.

That way the next generation will, I hope, be able to make healthy food and able to afford to buy basic and healthy foodstuff however low an income they have to manage on.

I saw this report this morning and noticed a group of teenage girls walking along the pavement. All were munching pastries from a local bakery and all were over weight

My oldest grandson is a lovely, slim, athletic build, but not because he doesn't eat junk!
Like most teens, he sits in front of his Xbox eating rubbish, given the chance.

"I am not suggesting that all the poor are like this"

Nonnie, I hear what you are saying.

There is SO much information thrust into our faces now about the dangers of junk food and inactivity that I cannot believe any parent is ignorant. A packet of crisps and a whole afternoon in front of a screen, TV or a computer or a games console is leading to unfit, fat and unhealthy youngsters. I do feel sorry for young parents that a sedentary lifestyle is so easy to fall into. Having written that, my Mum didn't fret that we ate bread and dripping when we were hungry. It filled us up but after eating it we'd be out playing for hours on end - running about, skating, chasing each other and walking for miles. It was the norm. We worked off the fat if the pastry, potatoes, suet puddings etc were part of our diet. Being so active is not the norm any longer, so it must be very hard to be forever finding ways to feed and amuse children and get them out into the fresh air on a regular basis.

We grandparents often write of an afternoon in front of the TV with something nice to eat - but it would never have been the norm for our parents. Times change and I know to my own cost that it is so easy to become complacent but so hard to get back into healthy habits once the lifestyle is established and the damage is done. Progress - the advent of the internet, social media and a million and one things to watch on TV, is a blessing and a curse as far as healthy living is concerned.