Obesity linked to poverty

EllanVannin

A lot of schools hold "outgrown" clothes which parents take along so that they can be taken by the children whose parents can't afford uniforms. A brilliant idea and a great help to the parents. Free of charge.
It's a start at least and will give more lee-way to buying food instead of the added worry of having to purchase uniforms as well.

My children never went to a school with a second hand clothing shop. School uniform is sometimes available on local selling sites, but there usually aren't many boys' items because they're much harder on their clothes than girls.

How do people explain the strong correlation between obesity and areas of deprivation, if the two aren't linked?

Gagajo that was about one thing I could make as it was my job! For some reason we always had white or cheese sauce with cauliflower and with stuffed marrow and I had to make it from about age 11.

I did a little experiment last year to see if I could eat on £1 a day, for a month. I took it in £7 weekly blocks.

I didn't go hungry. It was monotonous. It did involve a lot of cheap carbohydrate. I don't think I was short of protein.

Obviously I couldn't afford "treats" or ready made food. Even a Macdonalds burger would have been a whole day's allowance.

But the other thing I really couldn't afford was fresh fruit and a variety of veg. Even if I took advantage of the 49p offers I couldnt give over half my days allowance to some carrots or a whole day's allowance to a cauliflower.

I didn't have a freezer.

It was an eye opener. Anyone else like to give it a try?

Some posters here seem very smug about their ability to manage on twopence a week, whilst feeding the 500 and singing as they go.
Not everyone is resilient. Many struggle with mental health problems, including addiction. One school I know of had a large number of children removed from home during lock down. Their parents simply couldn't cope.
No one is defending neglect but a bit of compassion wouldn't go amiss. Times are tough and this covid crisis on top of the stresses and strains some people live with has tipped the balance.

I confess to feeding my children some junk food when they were at home because that was all I could afford at times.
Turkey drummers were a favourite and Angel Delight another one. Not every day though.
I wouldn't give them to my DGC now.

My DC were and are very slim.

Firecracker sadly a lot of funding meant for parts of Scotland didn't reach it ..it was rerouted to England.Thats because in Westminsters minds ENGLAND is far more important than Scotland.Ask the farmers about EU grants meant for them that were rerouted to English areas where there was flooding ...and many more instances.Maggie Thatcher decimated the employment opportunities in our area.It never recovered there are NO jobs to be had ,apart from seasonal hospitality and thats not available at all because of the pandemic .Open your eyes ,this is life for millions in the UK

It's often cheaper to buy multi packs of crisps etc (especially in pound shops) than buy a bag of apples and many parents have never had a cooking lesson to learn how to cook a cheap,nutritious meal from scratch due possibly to their parents working and the fact that they have only been taught how to cook beans on toast and pizza at school, before the "food technology" lessons were taken off the curriculum.

Illte

I did a little experiment last year to see if I could eat on £1 a day, for a month. I took it in £7 weekly blocks.

I didn't go hungry. It was monotonous. It did involve a lot of cheap carbohydrate. I don't think I was short of protein.

Obviously I couldn't afford "treats" or ready made food. Even a Macdonalds burger would have been a whole day's allowance.

But the other thing I really couldn't afford was fresh fruit and a variety of veg. Even if I took advantage of the 49p offers I couldnt give over half my days allowance to some carrots or a whole day's allowance to a cauliflower.

I didn't have a freezer.

It was an eye opener. Anyone else like to give it a try?

I agree. The body needs calories and the cheapest calories come from refined carbs and fats, which are the least nutritious of all foods. A person can survive on them, but all sorts of other nutrients will be missing. A growing child needs protein to grow.

The trouble is that the body knows it needs more so people eat the only think available - more carbs and fat. "Good" carbs and fats such as veggies and fruit or nuts are expensive.

I never had a food technology lesson at school. My mother was an appalling cook. Like most other people, including men, I learnt from necessity. I think food technology in schools is a distraction.

12:36growstuff

Firecracker Cheap basic cereal is junk food! It contains refined carbs, therefore calories which stop people starving, and sometimes fortified with a few other micronutrients, but it doesn't provide any of the other nutrients needed.

Porridge, BranFlakes, Weetabix, Shredded wheat all healthy options.

What do Breakfast Clubs serve

Cornflakes
Toast
milk

I was at school in mid sixties and was a plump child and there was about four other girls also plump but I do not remember any plump boys. My weekly diet would be toast or cereal before school, and then school lunch. Mother always cooked an evening meal one staple of that was always potatoes plus veg and meat or fish. Didn't have a pudding in the week but if still hungry could have bread and jam.
My two older brothers were both slim and wiry but both eat the same diet as myself.

I am annoyed about all this obesity that Boris is talking about I try hard with my weight but still carry a few extra pounds. My eldest daughter also carries some extra weight.
One of my grand-daughters also loves her food and she is a bit chubby however she is active happy and enjoys life.
I am annoyed that Boris thinks he can have a go at people over obesity as some families struggle a lot to keep the children fed and sometimes burgher and chips, sausage and mash and even a large jacket potato with beans is all that some people can come up with. It is not good to undermine people that are doing their best.

My grandson is a very slender young man. I am overweight and my daughter is too at the moment, although she is dieting off the rest of the baby fat.

DGS loves junk food and is on a vegetable strike, which has been ongoing for several months. He eats a lot of hidden veg that he doesn't know about!

One thing I HAVE noticed about this generation is that for all the mocking of '80's parenting', me and my social circle were obsessive about fruit/veg/low fat/no E numbers. This seems to be less the case now. Only one of my daughters friends (same social demographic as mine were at that age mostly) is into whole food/low sugar etc.

Argh. My social circle and I!

What do Breakfast Clubs serve
Cornflakes
Toast
milk

And? Do you think children eat only one meal a day? If they're given breakfast at the school breakfast club, don't you think they might want another couple of meals as well? And at the weekends? And school holidays? And those children who aren't even in the school system?

It's a complex subject. There isn't one simple reason.
But the government could do more by banning advertising of junk foods and taxing them heavily. And perhaps a system of 3 colours labelling food as eat rarely, eat in moderation and eat plenty. Many people don't know how to interpret the information that is presently given on packaging.

Chewbacca I was replying to growstuff if you took the time to read my post after she said cheap basic cereals were junk food.

People do get money to buy food for their kids from the government whether it is spent on food for the kids is another matter. Next they will want full board as well lol. You have kids OK you might hit hard times but you do have to take some responsibility for them and look after them not expect the state to pick up the bill all the time and cook them a few dinners and get up in the mornings and make them breakfast before they have to get themselves to school, some parents are just lazy.

Junk food isn’t cheap. But it is easy.
As for cereal and toast for breakfast / I was appalled to be offered only that in hospital. Just carbs.
More exercise?

Tragically, the SAD or Standard American Diet of beige, genetically modified, sugar (and all its variants) laced food has become the norm not only with people on very limited budgets but of quite affluent folk.

It's a scandal which is only going to get worse. The Big Food companies, just like Big Pharma, have their own agendas - optimising profit every time over health, adulterating food with absolute rubbish which is highly addictive and has no place in nourishment. It makes me so angry that this weekend Public Health England had the effin' cheek to suggest blame for the obesity explosion lies with US rather than even beginning to tackle the root causes of disgusting quality food.

We could make a start by massively taxing anything containing sugar with the resultant revenue given to subsidise fresh food at an affordable level for all. Will that ever happen? Not in a million...

They should never have done away with all the local fruit and veg shops, the good quality butchers, the local bakery all on the doorstep, and reasonable costs as well.

It was all turned into small little supermarkets and they did not have very good meat and veg either. Now it seems all the children are growing up obese.
All this in the name of modern times who can be blamed for all that.

So, what about the biggest section of obese society?
Those in the 65 to 74 age bracket?

What is the reason for that, does anyone think?

I dont think that sugar is particularly bad in small amounts but people guzzle soft carbonated drinks non-stop, some drinking several cans a day.
Aspartame is worse, causing obesity, high blood sugar and inflammation.
Corn syrup is a hidden additive again causing obesity
Hydrogenated fats can do the same.

Adulterated foods can cause obesity.

3nanny6 I don't think 'blame' comes into it nor does it help anyone. What IS important is to work out how the nation as a whole can be helped to better health. If nothing else, the mortality from Covid is showing us what a negative impact obesity and diabetes has on our ability to survive. The NHS will simply not be able to cope if rates of Type 2 diabetes (with all its attendant co-morbidity) continue to escalate as they have been doing.

MissAdventure I would guess that it is progressively impaired glucose tolerance combined with a less active lifestyle. Only an educated guess mind......

Lockdown hasn't helped