Childhood Obesity

[barry1010]

This is partly the reason so many children are fatter than children of my generation.

https://www.bmstores.co.uk/products/swizzels-sweet-shop-favourites-tub-650g-377684

When I was a boy sweets were a once a week treat, in a 2oz bag.  If I were lucky a visiting relative would give me a penny for some chews.

We didn't have a snack/treat drawer or cupboard full of chocolates, crisps , sweets and biscuits.

Mother bought one packet of biscuits a week, for all of us to share.  

This constant snacking plus lack of exercise is harming children. 

Should big cheap tubs of sweets be banned? What's the answer to this growing health crisis?

[1ozzy]

Cadbury chocolate factories possibly?

🤔

 

[bhg481]

A bag of sweets is an ideal way for a young mum to keep her offspring distracted whilst she chats to her mates on her cellphone. The length of chat determines the number of bags of sweeties required, hence the obesity.

[davebro3]

I seem to remember (long time ago) that I had plenty of sweets when I was kid*. Sugar had come off rationing & it was a natural reaction to wartime austerity. BUT we were also very active. I recall on my school report age 16 I was just over 6 ft. & weighed 10 stone. BMI about 19.

*teeth suffered badly tho'

 

[barry1010]

I remember sweets coming off rationing too but my parents were strict about sweets.

I did mention lack of exercise. I never 'exercised' as a kid except for PT at school but I did walk everywhere, miles every day. Lots of incidental exercise, rarely sat down in my free time.

[ToraToraTora]

apart from the vast quantities of junk food they consume, they never actually move unless it's electrically assisted. A lot of today's kids won't outlive their parents and their parents won't outlive their grand parants.

[barry1010]

Funny thing that my grandparents and parents ate lots of food we're told to limit today - lots of butter, dripping, lard, fatty meats. Mountains of carbs. Sugar heaped in to copious cups of tea, poured in to porridge and stewed fruit. Heavy puddings, pastry, full fat milk.

All the women in my family lived past 90, mainly healthy.

[1ozzy]

90 pounds or kilos?

[1ozzy]

Or maybe stones🤔

[Old_Geezer]

IIRC my parents didn't have the money for daily bags of sweets. It was a treat to get some. That was sufficient and appreciated too.

[DDIL]

I was not allowed sweets as a child, my mother was extremely strict putting me on diets from the age of 9!

It has given me a lifetime of eating disorders at both ends of the spectrum and I am still struggling!

Sweets need to be in small packets so that it can be given in portion control.

[barry1010]

I agree, DDIL

[naomi24]

I don't think tubs of sweets should be banned.  I'm lucky I suppose insofar as I don't have a sweet tooth but I don't have a love affair with food either which is what I think a lot of people who struggle with their weight have.  I eat because I'd die if I didn't.  Like everyone I have my favourite foods but I think everyone I've ever known who's overweight and trying hard not to be considers some food 'a treat' - and so they treat themselves quite a lot.  I know someone who's been dieting forever.  She knows all there is to know about nutrition and cooks without fat or salt - such bland unappetising food - but for pudding she tucks into cream cakes.  Naughty but nice, she says - never considering that her efforts to cook healthily have been entirely wasted.   I know someone else, type 2 diabetic, self-inflicted,  who despite her lovely family and comfortable  life, says without her huge bottles of fizzy drinks and sweet food her life wouldn't be worth living.  I think being overweight often has everything to do with attitude to food.

[DDIL]

MYTH 2: Diabetes is self-inflicted.

While lifestyle factors have been attributed to Type 2 diabetes, no, you cannot give yourself the disease. And, in fact, the assumption that diabetes is self-inflicted has been generally harmful to people living with it.

As mentioned above, there are all kinds of reasons–some unknown–that people develop diabetes. Blaming its carriers for their own condition can exacerbate the problem, leading to stress, shame, and avoidance. That’s not good for anyone.

 

[naomi24]

Hers is.

[pastafreak]

When I was a child, my parents dud age grocery shopping on Saturday mornings. My weekly treat was a bundle of 7 lollipops...one for each day of the week. Things like potato chips(crisps) and pretzels came out for holidays or when we had "company". I had a small allowance...but not til I was about 10. There was no corner shop I could go to safely. The was a busy road to cross. 

Mum baked...pies, cakes, donuts, cookies. 

I went crazy for junk/sweet food when I was 16 or so.

I don't think banning foods works...we always crave what we can't have. Maybe a bit of nutrition education for both parents and their children might help. That said, there's been plenty of tv series in recent years about how to shop and cook healthy  while on a budget. I suspect only a few actually watch and benefit.

[barry1010]

I agree about banning foods. That wouldn't work but my suggestion was to ban the cheap huge tubs like the one in my link.  Nearly a pound and a half of rubbish sweets for £1.