Childhood obesity strategy "lite"

I don't know about under-eating in France Maggiemaybe but I think it would mostly be women in larger cities - the same ones people describe as dressing elegantly whilst living on lettuce leaves (and cigarettes).
Round here most people are pretty sturdy but it is rare to see the wobbly obesity that you see in the UK and when you do it seems to be associated with poverty.
I think portions are much smaller here and definitely no eating between meals. I was out for coffee the other day with an English friend who had made scones, jam and cream. The French visitors looked really surprised to be offered food and hardly ate anything. I also notice that French friends toy with a glass of wine all evening, while English friend knock back several glasses.

Waitrose not immune to special offers on junk food as spotted earlier.

Jess it was funded through the New Opportunitues Fund (NOF) - I wrote a bid on behalf of the LEA and drew down over £1,000,000 for various projects. We also had some funding from Healthy Schools.

I'm not sure what's available these days to fund such projects, but it seems these initiatives have to start within the communities themselves. There are too many Micky Mouse projects out there and not enough good solid 'give me the skills and I'll move the world' sort of ones.

I genuinely believe that if you invest in communities, at grass roots level, you will see returns.

Yes, we're all familiar with the Fat Family, stuffing themselves with crisps and fuzzy drinks, I was sat beside one such in the fracture clinic the other day, but there are just as many who, given the skills and a bit of a push, will turn things around, I mentioned the pride of these mothers in their ability to cook.....unless you've seen that then it's easy to think these parents don't care. Many, most, of them really do.

PS just a quick reminder that diabetes costs the NHS £1,000,000 every hour - surely prevention is better than cure, not just because of the monetary outlay but the hospital beds and other resources being stretched to the limit.

I've just heard of a family whose diabetic mother has both legs amputated and a wheelchair lift installed in her house. What cost here both to the poor woman and to the tax payer?

I'm still not convinc ed that too much government interference is a good thing - how often do they get these things wrong based on the advice of so-called 'experts'?
People have been encouraged to eat 'low-fat' foods for years - packed full of sugar to make them taste better; hydrogenated fats were sold as 'healthy margarines' supposedly better for us than butter, and aspartame as a sweetener is suspected now of being a cause of obesity as are those hydrogenated fats.

Perhaps that programme 'The men who made us fat' should be repeated and required viewing Mamie!

There are more and more tv programmes about cooking, more and more recipes by celebrity chefs wherever we look, but fewer people are cooking from scratch at home.

Must check my tins of tomatoes dd I didn't think they contained sugar

Anya you say fresh vegetables are cheap, just add meat, fish etc - but perhaps it is the meat and fish that some people can't afford

I'm so glad to hear that it was "a healthy slice of Apple" you almost choked on Roses

Jalima yes, meat and fish can be expensive, but a little can be made to go a long way, and frozen 'wet' fish is especially good value. You don't always have to go for cod and haddock. Liver and onions is cheap and, cooked properly, very tasty for example.

And there are other cheaper sources of protein such as eggs, cheese, beans and soya to name a few.

We haven't eaten liver for years but I used to cook it, the DC always moaned 'oh, not liver!' then ate every bit and said 'well that was nice, thank you Mum'
Every time

There you go then Jalima

I recently rediscovered liver and onions, served with cabbage, as part of a low carb diet. Got so much meat for my money!!

An overweight child has a 95% chance of being classed as normal weight by the parent, and even a 2% chance of being seen as underweight.

Yes there has been interesting research crun in this area - parents just don't see their own kids as fat. Presumably they see them as cute/cuddly/babyfaced. Our own child usually looks like the most beautiful one in the school nativity play...
I think the problem is with objecting to regulation is that non-regulation has not worked.

It would be interesting to see how the parent's weight correlates, I can't see many fat parents describing their kids as fat.

Yes - overweight parents often have kids who are heading in same direction. I sat opposite a mother and daughter on a train last year that fell into this category. The journey was about an hour and a half during which they consumed a couple of cakes (bought in advance) , sweets, chocolate, crips etc at a a rate of one snack about every 15 minutes. This was mid afternoon.

DH and I eat quite a lot of fresh fish but it is not cheap and would work out very expensive for a family on a tight budget ( unless of course we are talking fish fingers which are cheap and quite low in fat ) . I can't see many young children enjoying liver . My grandma used to make tripe and onions which I happened to love but not everyone's cup of tea I know.
Decent meat is not cheap.

Homemade Thai burgers for supper tonight with mixed salad on a brioche bun . Just to balance out the healthy with the unhealthy .

There are plenty of cheap cuts of good meat, if you know what to ask for and how to make them taste good. Our grans certainly knew how to feed a big family on a budget.

Liver was only one example (duh!) but kids often do like it....home made fish fingers made from frozen fish are really easy, as are home made chicken nuggets. Just needs a bit of imagination and confidence.

No duck and limoncello gillybob?"
Tomorrow is our village event which starts with a tripe breakfast for the helpers.
I will pass on that one.

This strategy will make no difference.

The causes of obesity are well known. Nutritional information is easily available. People have to want to be fit, slim and healthy. It's hard work, and a commitment, as many of us know.

I suspect that many people simply can't be bothered.

No "strategy" will alter that.

Should we not look at the time at the end of WWII when rationing finished and sweets puddings and cakes were really back on the table. Our parents trained us that surgery treats were rewards for eating all our dinner or being good and as presents. Not such a problem then as we were very active but our teeth suffered.

Now we come to the baby boomers trained to treat our kids with sweet things and serve sugary drinks. Less exercise because of TV then computers etc.

Now we have the added danger of fast foods, working parents with little time to cook and a vast range of high calorie foods and more electronic entertainment.

Not sure how we bring about change. Legislation and pressure groups can help, look how breakfast cereal sugar has been reduced. Fast food stores have introduced healthier menus but we have a long way to go.

How many Grandparentx would agree to stop giving their grandchildren sweets even on special occasions?

Has the sugar in breakfast cereals been reduced ajanela? As in those sugary ones that are marketed to children?
I think human beings naturally like high sugar and high fat foods - which is fine if you are a hunter-gatherer. It is the high availability, high pressure marketing and the seductive range of products that is the problem. Combined with a sedentary life.
But apart from Anya's interesting contribution - what do you think the government should be doing folks?

Um, I don't think they should, as I said in other posts their advisers are not always right.
They may tell us that we should or should not be consuming this, that or the other, then they are proved wrong in a few years' time.

Perhaps what they could do is investigate very carefully and scientifically exactly whatever is added to food or food manufacturing methods that cause obesity, ie aspartame, hydrogenated fats, palm oil, corn syrup etc - and ban them. That would push up price of manufactured foodstuffs but that would not be a bad thing in the long term anyway.

I defend the right of every person to live their own life and make their own decisions but I have a sneaky suspicion that the creeping increase in obesity generally can be traced back to a time when successive governments persuaded everyone that women (yes) should be at work whether or not they had children. It was inevitable that, as the workforce grew, the cost of living grew with it and now, most families find it very difficult to manage on one wage. Couple that with long working hours and the result is tired, stressed parents with all the family responsibilities of cooking, washing, cleaning, caring to do in the evenings and at weekends. Small wonder if convenience foods figure large in ordinary people's diets. There's simply no time for much creativity in the kitchen in many households. So yes, it's the government's fault, but way back and there's no going back. Whatever economic advantages were promoted when women were persuaded they could have it all, the toll it would take on families was not considered, as far as I can see. Sadly, women or men who are financially secure enough to remain at home, or simply determined to do it, and bring up their own babies to school age are regarded as second class citizens. By the way, I firmly believe that men can be caring, stay at home parents.

Good points lizzypopbottle
Ever since the days that Patricia Hewitt stated that 'stay-at-home mothers are a problem' and Shirley Conran told women that they could have it all (then confessed that they couldn't!), sahm have been classed as second-class citizens, whereas in fact they are doing a very worth-while job bringing up the next generation.
Food prices are not really the problem as, relatively speaking, food costs less than in many previous years as a ratio of income, but the cost of housing has forced many women out to work when they may, in fact, prefer to be at home with their small children.

www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-3749791/Junk-food-firms-40-meetings-ministers-tougher-laws-scrapped.html

I am fed up of people coming second to big businesses.