Are your children fat? Why are they fat?

SVJKarate

Danonino. wrote: »

But its something that's not really talked about.

Said poster #211

Actually I think it is talked about far too much, and not acted upon nearly enough. Get them to exercise if they want pocket money! Get them to exercise for 10 minutes for every hour on Playstation / XBox / Laptop or they have it taken off them.

And of course, don't feed them rubbish, no matter how much pressure you're under.

Tarzana

The other fella wrote: »

1 organic cucumber - €2.10

Tesco frozen chips (1.5 kilo) - €1.15

What does a non-organic cucumber cost? Would be a better comparison.

coffee_cake

leahyl wrote: »

It's down to both diet and lack of exercise. I know a woman who bought a tablet for her 2 year old daughter recently...it's designed for kids but seriously - a 2 year old?! .

What has that got to do with anything? Sounds like a great way of helping her learn to read, use computer stuff, etc

RollieFingers

Luke Shaw's folks have a lot of explaining to do!

pq0n1ct4ve8zf5

bluewolf wrote: »

What has that got to do with anything? Sounds like a great way of helping her learn to read, use computer stuff, etc

Kids sitting on their arse inside is a big part of the problem. Keeping active and not getting fat in the first place is a lot easier that getting active and losing weight. I'd try and keep tablets/consoles/TV as small a part of kids' lives for as long as possible, because once they're in, they're in, and the arse-sitting increases exponentially.

lightspeed

Piss Poor Planning permission has a lot to do with it. I live in balbriggan and nearly every second shop/business in the town is a fast food outlet. The rest are pubs and bookies.

There is a McDonalds near the new tesco in balbriggan. I even seen a sign up on a window of the outlets of the shopping centre just to the left of McDonalds for planning permission for a take away. People would literally have to drive by McDonalds just to the right of them to get to this take away.

Im quite amazed how willing people are in this town to open take away business next door to each other and no worry of competition.

That is telling in itself. If their is such a supply of fast food outlets, why are more not going out of business due to competition? Clearly there is such an overwhelming demand to meet the supply.

For the past few years in one of the local takeaways here, you can get a 12 inch margarita pizza and a can of coke/fanta for €5.00.

I noticed some of the goodfellas range of pizzas in tesco were priced in excess of €5.00.

I seen an advert in the town last week for the same place. €10.00 for two of the above 12 inch pizzas plus i think they were giving more ****e with it such has chips and dips.

Inefficient gubberment policies at both a local and national level are to blame along with people eating cheaper sugar rich processed food more often than ever before.

I cant understand how and why there are so many diet fads that exist. Its like exercise and proper diet is still to this day viewed as a theory and not a scientific solution to the problem.

4zn76tysfajdxp

beks101 wrote: »

Or food being used as a reward as a popular tool of parenting.

Or people rewarding themselves with a takeaway and maybe some brownies or buns after work. Every day.

dub_skav

Lyric Beautiful Firefly wrote: »

Or people rewarding themselves with a takeaway and maybe some brownies or buns after work. Every day.

Hey, I earned those brownies, sitting on my ass eating crisps isn't easy

takamichinoku

Tarzana wrote: »

What does a non-organic cucumber cost? Would be a better comparison.

Plus the electricity to cook 1.5kg of chips, gotta be about 50 cent at least!
Everyone always leaves out the cost of electricity in these calculations and it really adds up ...unless I'm just somehow terrible at cooking chips*


*I know it's the latter, they always take about twice the specified length

Nanazolie

Kids are fat for a simple reason: they eat all day, and so do the adults. Have you noticed that whatever time you go out to shop, people are eating? Cakes mid morning, cakes mid afternoon, a chocolate bar, a pack of crisps, etc. You go to any newsagents and there are more treats than magazines. You want to have lunch at 3pm in the afternoon? No problem, all cafés and restaurants are open non stop between lunch and dinner

My kids went to creche and now they go to after school and it's the same pattern: breakfast - snack - lunch - snack - tea - snack -.... They don't need that many snacks. When I sent them to France last summer, they were staying in full board familly hostel, they had breakfast - lunch - snack - dinner. End of. They didn't starve. If anything, they adjusted pretty quickly and had a bigger breakfast. And they were pretty active all day

osarusan

My kids aren't fat. They get sweet stuff basically every day, but small amounts of it.

In terms of actual meals, they eat very healthily. Today's dinner was grilled salmon, broccoli, tomato, carrots, avocado and rice (although my son won't eat tomato). They had some ice-cream after it. We don't really see meals as different, so they're just as likely to eat that dinner for breakfast on another day - no breakfast cereals, basically.

Lots of exercise whenever possible. My daughter gets that in school anyway, and my son will be out for walks and stuff like that.

Most of the above just came about naturally, without much focus on their weight. The one thing that really was a conscious decision was to seriously restrict the amount of soft drinks they get.

4zn76tysfajdxp

Nanazolie wrote: »

Have you noticed that whatever time you go out to shop, people are eating?

I've seen it in restaurants too.

takamichinoku

Nanazolie wrote: »

Have you noticed that whatever time you go out to shop, people are eating?

Well... what? I don't get this part.


It's what you eat, how much and how frequently. As far as I'm aware there's nothing conclusive in any which way towards a few big meals verses more smaller ones, happy to be corrected here though.
The only times I've gained weight in a baddish way were when I tried sticking to big meals because I was piling in way more than I needed, everyone's different, basically... I think... maybe.


I'd undoubtedly be a diabetic at this point if I wasn't constantly having to do work around the home place and farm cos my sugar intake was off the charts when I was younger. Don't think it was actually expected of me to do half the work I did, but I just got swept up in the busyness of the environment, so leading by example is prolly a big factor.


Anyways, I'm sure it's endlessly said but that's nowhere near enough, kids seem like a fierce ****ing consistently huge amount of work. No clue why so many people are mad keen on having them. Could wax lyrical about all the things I'd do with one but, if it came down to it, I'm as likely as anyone to wind up grooming (not that kind of grooming!) them into being a bunch of static diabetic tubs of lard perpetually in front of a television so I could have a bit of a break.

Nanazolie

takamichinoku wrote: »

Well... what? I don't get this part.

of course you do.... Look around you, how many people do you see snacking on celery and apples? Stopping at cafés while out shopping (most supermarkets are conveniently located within walking distance of a café), surely people are not grazing on lettuce and carrot sticks?

Same at school, there is this 'no junk food policy' but it's quite a joke, kids are out at 2.30pm and the first thing they do is get a snack (carrot sticks, surely...) at the nearby newsagent.

At the creche, the healty food policy involves fish fingers, pizza and chips. For toddlers???

NipNip

No, my child is not. Because I'm not thick enough to overfeed her. Also, she has a natural ability to recognise when she is full! Shock horror! She is involved in several weekly activities which involve EXCERCISE. She is not opposed to moving her ass (especially when she has myself with her moving my ass as company). She gets fruit when she's 'starving' between meals.

Permabear

This post has been deleted.

4zn76tysfajdxp

Permabear wrote: »

This post had been deleted.

Wait 'til she eats it.

Egginacup

It's hard to say. My mother was a good cook and from what I can remember my daily diet since I was 5 consisted of juice (sometimes fresh squeezed, sometime's Libby's battery acid out of that big tin that you had to punch two holes into), conflakes, or weetabix or porridge, always with a teaspoon of sugar, tea, toast and marmalade. Lunch was sambos and milk in school or beans/scrambled egg/spagetti hoops on toast and tea on days off. Evening meal was always boiled spuds, vegetables, meat and gravy, followed by some kind of pudding .....stewed apples and custard, jelly and ice cream, or pears from a can( haha), again followed by tea and biscuits. Sometimes tea (evening meal) was a fryup, sometime just chops, tomatoes, tea and bread.

Often when my mother couldn't be arsed (knackered) she'd send me to the chipper for
all of us so we'd get fish and chips...always consumed with milk. There was no shortage of biscuits, buns, danish pastries, etc in the house as my mum has a sweet
tooth, but there was NEVER fizzy drinks, ever except at Christmas. If you were thirsty your choices were tea, milk, juice or water. Maybe Ribena or Robinson's Barley Water.

We did eat some processed crap too....crispy pancakes, tinned peas, packet soups, fish fingers, etc, but I was a child of the pre-microwave era so it was boil, bake, grill or fry.
Exercise was walking a mile to school and back everyday and football up to age 12. Then it was 1 mile, 4 times a day till leaving cert. Most guys in my class were all pretty much the same build. Come to think of it most lads in the school were. Obviously first years were not as tall as 6th years but I can only remember 2 lads who were a bit beefy and got the odd slag. One was a bit fat but maybe only by 1 stone, the other guy was just big and healthy, strong as an ox, ate like a horse and was a good sportsman so he wasn't really fat, just "big".

Do I have a point? Probably not, but back then nobody stayed indoors on the weekends. There was only one telly in every house and that was monopolised by your oul fella for sports on Saturday afternoon anyway. We did our fair share of staying indoors too back then too, it was just that we weren't playing with an XBox but rather listening to records or playing scalextric in your friend's house.
We certainly ate lots of sweets and bought junk with our pocket money but one thing I notice is that every kid today is drinking fizzy drinks. I see mothers with litres of the stuff in their trolleys. Back in the day it was a luxury to be had on your birthday or Christmas, now it seems a gallon of the stuff is cheaper than a pint of milk and if you get the non-designer brand stuff then they almost pay you to take it.

When I first went to the US at the age of 17 for the summer my aunt made me dinner the evening I arrived and a nice dinner it was too. It's just that I was expecting a glass of milk to go with it but a two litre of Coke and a two litre of Diet Coke were plonked on the table and my cousins just filled up their glasses. I went along with it but roast chicken and veg and gravy tasted weird with cola.

ANYWAY, that's my meandering, droning response. I will say that in my youth everybody walked, cycled or took the bus some of the way to school. Nobody got a lift in a car. One lad in my class used to walk a mile to the bustop and THEN take the bus from Drumcondra to Swords.

So we all walked to school and never really had fizzy drinks. But we ate sweets, chips, processed food just the same. And you were given enough to fill you. Sometimes a dinner was made for 2 days (shepherd's pie) and you weren't going to be given tomorrow's portion as well, haha.

Oh, and there was always fruit in the house so if you were in grazing mode you might go through a couple of mandarins and a banana watching evening telly.

End of ramble.

leahyl

bluewolf wrote: »

What has that got to do with anything? Sounds like a great way of helping her learn to read, use computer stuff, etc

I just don't think a 2 year old needs to be introduced to technology....plenty of time for that when she's older, would it not be better for her to be active and play outside, get some exercise, rather than sitting inside on a tablet? You don't need a tablet to learn to read, she wouldn't be learning to read at 2 anyway. It just encourages lazy behaviour when they're older in my opinion.

leahyl

Permabear wrote: »

This post had been deleted.

I didn't say if a child has an ipad that they are going to be fat...? Fair enough if she eats well and gets exercise etc but a lot of the time children who have these devices are not very active which leads to problems down the line. 2 years old is way too young though to have an ipad in my opinion

Valmont

I was just thinking the other day that there are a lot of fat kids around. I don't think people realise just how unhealthy sugar is -- even in small quantities.

Macavity.

People overstate the importance of exercise when it comes to this issue, don't get me wrong, it's great and should be encouraged. But you get fat from eating too much, and a lot of parents are feeding their children more than is required.

DeadHand

Would the whole paedophile paranoia thing be a factor?

Seems like a lot of kids get driven too and picked up from everything now and aren't really allowed to explore their locality free of tight adult supervision as my peers and I were.

gctest50

Valmont wrote: »

I was just thinking the other day that there are a lot of fat kids around. I don't think people realise just how unhealthy sugar is -- even in small quantities.

small quantities would be grand but its piled into lots of things


http://www.techlivewire.com/4051/see-amount-of-sugar-you-consume-with-soft-drinks.html


http://www.sugarstacks.com/beverages.htm

John_Rambo

Nanazolie wrote: »

At the creche, the healty food policy involves fish fingers, pizza and chips. For toddlers???

What crèche is frying chips and baking pizzas?

Just so you know, fish is actually good for you. Most toddlers I know eat fish a few times a week, even if it's in breadcrumbs!

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I cannot comprehend how someone could let their child get to the a state of obesity, just ridiculous!

conorh91

Soft Falling Rain wrote: »

It just seems to me that when some tightly wound muppet sees one overweight child that it gives them licence to rant about an endemic in our society, conveniently ignoring the other 9 children at a normal weight they passed by on that day.

As others mentioned, young adult/adult obesity is far more of a pressing issue.

I quoted and linked to statistical evidence for Ireland earlier.

It's one in four nine-year olds who are overweight or obese, on aggregate.

For nine-year old girls in poorer homes, this figure rises to about 40%.

This isn't about anecdotes. It's data that most people want to ignore and tip-toe around.

Egginacup

Macavity. wrote: »

People overstate the importance of exercise when it comes to this issue, don't get me wrong, it's great and should be encouraged. But you get fat from eating too much, and a lot of parents are feeding their children more than is required.

Simple equation:

What goes in - what is burnt = what's left.

A doctor told me that and she's a nutrition expert.
She also told me that if you are active rather than sedentary then your body is burning calories even when you are asleep.

Nanazolie

John_Rambo wrote: »

What crèche is frying chips and baking pizzas?

Just so you know, fish is actually good for you. Most toddlers I know eat fish a few times a week, even if it's in breadcrumbs!

A lot of them, unfortunately. My friend's son was given mashed fish fingers at 7 months. I know fish is healthy, but fish fingers contain about 50% of fish, so you can guess what the rest is made of.


My 2 kids are actually underweight. They eat very differently. One has very grown up tastes, she eats anything from sushi to cornflakes to strong smelly cheese. She eats her weight's worth in fruits and can go through a punnet of cherry tomatoes in a single sitting. She also loves burgers, sweets and chocolate. We never have sodas at home, though, and desserts are usually yogurts or fruits. She has a tablet and watches a fair amount of TV, but she also spends a lot of time outdoors and walks to school every day
The other one has sensory issues and will only eat white / beige foods, he might eat a fruit or 2 per day, never touches a vegetable, sticks to white bread and butter, sugary yogurt, cornflakes, etc. He eats a fair amount of sugar, not especially sweets but added sugar in cereals, etc. He is hyperactive (whether he eats sugar or not).

Both of them seem to snack all the time (although I make sure that they snack on healthy foods, they also get ice cream, biscuits, etc) On their last visit to the GP, I was told they were underweight, but healthy. Maybe it's all the exercise they do, we even have a small trampoline indoors.

DaveDaRave

Nanazolie wrote: »

but fish fingers contain about 50% of fish, so you can guess what the rest is made of..

Bread ?