Is Obesity the new smoking?

[Squiglet]

It seems that the UK government has decided to tackle obesity as its new years resolution. Like many of us, we plan to tackle our expanding waistlines in 2009

Apparently, health wise, it is far more dangerous to be obese than to smoke, yet smoking is demonised far more. Smoking around children has been referred to as child abuse, yet parents snub obesity as not even being a health issue with equal or worse dangers. Parents snub obesity risk

So is obesity worse than smoking? Is it something that the government can deal with? Or is it the government being a nanny state, telling people what to eat/drink/smoke? If you were Mrs Prime minister how would you tackle this problem?

 

[Lou]

Maybe the people who are obese are ex smokers and their families? You do put on weight when you stop smoking, and if your kids eat whatever you eat then....well you can do the math

 

[nori]

I definately think there is a problem with obesity and we are becoming more like america where fast foods etc is more widely available.

I personally feel the problem lies with computer games (so many kids now days would rather play on the playstation rather than go and ride on their bikes) and lack of education at schools (when i was there) We had an option to do home economics but it wasnt compulsary. If i had been taught to cook quick easy healthier meals then i may do that more rather than shove something in the oven.. Saying that i am determined to bring my son up eating healthily and i wont let him sit there staring at a TV all day!

One thing that has amazed me since having Ollie is the fact i hardly ever see anyone pushing a pushchair out walking with their kids. Maybe its the fact more and more mothers work now.. Im not sure what happens in nurserys but is there alot of activity there? Could that be a reason? (as i say i dont know the extent of physical avtivity for children in nuserys)

I think it is a shame that its come to this. I used to love going out playing on my bike, i just dont hardly see that anymore.

I'm unsure as to the best way to tackle the problem but i definately think home ec should be compulsary as should basic DIY and finances. There should be a an overall topic of proper life skills.. i wish there had been something like that when i was at school.. how to cook, how to put up a shelf and change a plug, and to learn about mortgages etc..

sorry.. ive gone abit off topic..

Having typed all this i have a load of kids playing football on the green out the front of my house.. great they are playing but they are too noisy and will wake Ollie in a minute.. go play on your playstation!!

Claire x

 

[kalia]

I knew obesity was dangerous, I didn't realise it was more dangerous than smoking.

I don't have a TV - do they have adverts that warn against being fat like the non smoking adverts?

Before starting school children have a health check and again at starting secondary school. As their height and weight are being measured anyway I think it would be a very good idea if parents were informed in writing if their child is over weight or obese. Perhaps this should then be something that they are encouraged to visit a doctor for every 6 months, to check their child's health. After all, if they were found to have something else that could make them ill, for example low blood pressure, I'm sure they would get regular checks for that. I think copies of the letter should be sent to schools too for the child's personal medical file. This involvment of other bodies may communicate the severity of the risk better.

 

[Lou]

Its true its not really safe for kids to play out anymore like when we were young but that just means that these days parents have to get off their arses and take their kids to the park to ride their bikes

Its just laziness

 

[kalia]

If i had been taught to cook quick easy healthier meals then i may do that more rather than shove something in the oven..

Maybe start with a cook book with either the word 'bloke' or 'student' in the title. Student cookbooks are especially good if you want to cook on a budget. That will give you hundreds or recipes and even with the best will in the world, with the times involved you are unlikely to cook that many dishes in your time at school.


It always concerns me that parents expect schools to teach life skills. I know a lot of parents do, including many here (this is not aimed at you Claire, you feel the same as lots of other people), but personally I feel that although lifeskills should play some part in the curriculum it is a parental responsibility and not that of the government. I think most, if not all, schools do intergrate life skills to the curriculum, particularly in Maths. However, how many individual lessons do you remember from school? You were probably taught masses of a foreign language. Then you will have chosen how much effort you put in to learn it. Then time passes and by the time you go to France for example 5 years after leaving school you can only remember some individual words and a bizarre sentence or 2. I did Higher German. 3 years ago I could remember the phrase 'bad things happened' because my friend and I used to say it to each other to say we had had a good night the night before I could say that I live in Aberdeen and I could recognise odd words. And that's the year I took out a mortgage. Safe to say, if I couldn't remember lessons on a language I had 4 times a week for 5 years I certainly didn't remember if (and we probably did) we had covered mortgage rates, how to compare them and how much it will ultimately cost.

ETA: I personally feel (as a teacher) that it is completely unrealistic to expect pupils to learn everything they have been taught. Lets say they start with an hour of Maths and during that time they are learning about how much interest they have to pay on any mortgage and what that means in terms of repayment. Then they go straight to home ec where they forget most the maths as they are now focussed on making scrambled eggs. After break it's English and by the time they have discussed written about what makes a good citizen they can't remember how much milk they put in the eggs and have forgotten about seasoning. Then it's off to PE, heaven or hell depending on their view. Someone on one of the teams cheats and none of them behave like the good citizens they said and thought they were in the previous lesson as a huge argument breaks out about it with shouting and so on. Now at the end of the day they are tired and vaguely remember that a mortgage is lots of money to buy a house, you can cook with eggs though it tastes horrible now as it's cold, old people get scared when you shout and Bob is a cheater. That's all I'd remember anyway

I also wish councils would publish statistics of how many children have been kidnapped that year and every year for the last decade. Lets face it, in most places the answer to this is 0. When children are kidnapped it is a big nation-wide media event. So there is hysteria across the whole country when realistically for some children they are more at risk at home without exercise and with too rich a diet. DD will be walking to school and playing outside. Hopefully she'll have some friends who are allowed to play too though.

I'll get off my soapbox now

 

[nori]

It always concerns me that parents expect schools to teach life skills. I know a lot of parents do, including many here (this is not aimed at you Claire, you feel the same as lots of other people), but personally I feel that although lifeskills should play some part in the curriculum it is a parental responsibility and not that of the government. I think most, if not all, schools do intergrate life skills to the curriculum, particularly in Maths.

I agree its the parents responsibility but i was referring to when i was at school. I wish i had learnt the basics so i could then pass on what i have learnt to my children. I am not the sort of person that wont give things a go but i'm pretty damn clueless when it comes to DIY. Before LO was born i was looking at courses to go on but they are so damn expensive! I just believe that had there been a compulsary subject then it would have helped me in the long run thus helping the future generation (cant beleive i just used the word "thus") lol..

I do agree that the blame should NOT always rest with schools as that happens far too often (especially with bad behaviour)BUT i just think the above would help.

 

[Sammystar]

Its true its not really safe for kids to play out anymore like when we were young but that just means that these days parents have to get off their arses and take their kids to the park to ride their bikes

Its just laziness

Why is it not safe for kids to play out any more like when we were young? What's the difference between now and twenty years ago? THere's more traffic, which I guess poses more of a threat, but what else?

 

[Morganuk]

Its true its not really safe for kids to play out anymore like when we were young but that just means that these days parents have to get off their arses and take their kids to the park to ride their bikes

Its just laziness

Why is it not safe for kids to play out any more like when we were young? What's the difference between now and twenty years ago? THere's more traffic, which I guess poses more of a threat, but what else?

Society as a whole has just got worse.
Crime rates are higher.

Edit, I mean the violence on our streets.

 

[Jade&Evie]

Its true its not really safe for kids to play out anymore like when we were young but that just means that these days parents have to get off their arses and take their kids to the park to ride their bikes

Its just laziness

Why is it not safe for kids to play out any more like when we were young? What's the difference between now and twenty years ago? THere's more traffic, which I guess poses more of a threat, but what else?

Society as a whole has just got worse.
Crime rates are higher.

We just have a wider range of media reporting the crimes. Some of the most horrific crimes happened years ago- its actually very rare for a child to be snatched off the streets and murdered.

Most of the teenagers who get stabbed and shot are part of gangs; but I think we are talking younger than 14/15 in regards to this. At the end of the day; by the time your child is 14/15 they will have the freedom and independance to 'play out' with other kids. It's their upbringing which will determine if they join a gang, just my opinion of course.

I played out, I was encouraged to play sports at school- I was netball captain and lacrosse captain and in the summer I would spend all my time in the park or garden. I didn't have a playstation or my own TV. I think that is the answer!

 

[Jen & Her Men]

I have to say It really gets to me when things like "its just laziness" is said about people being overweight. Its such a sweeping statement to make and really isn't true in a lot of cases.

My mum has struggled with her weight for pretty much all of her life. For her its a deep seated psychological issue and is now an addiction for her, like smoking is. She turns to food for comfort and its as much her enemy as it is her friend. Seeing the struggle she has with it everyday is heart breaking. She has been to so many slimming clubs over the years and is no where near lazy - she walks the dog every day, and runs around looking after my 2 brothers and taking them everywhere including outdoorsy stuff.

I think one of the main problems is that fat people are automatically labelled as lazy and somehow lesser citizens because of their weight. They are often mocked and scorned and its this that then makes them turn to food more and it becomes a vicious circle.

Although my mum is big she brought me and my brothers up with a healthy attitude towards food and although as a family we do have a tendency to gain weight, I think this is more to do with genetics than anything else. We are all active, enjoy sports and eat healthily. We certainly did not grow up on a diet of junk food or fast food.

I do think that in order to tackle the problem we do need to be a bit more understanding of the issues surrounding obesity and not just make sweeping judgements that because someone is fat that that automatically makes them lazy and greedy.

 

[Sammystar]

Its true its not really safe for kids to play out anymore like when we were young but that just means that these days parents have to get off their arses and take their kids to the park to ride their bikes

Its just laziness

Why is it not safe for kids to play out any more like when we were young? What's the difference between now and twenty years ago? THere's more traffic, which I guess poses more of a threat, but what else?

Society as a whole has just got worse.
Crime rates are higher.

Actually, crime rates have been steadily dropping for the last twenty years. Violent crime in particular. (although they expected to rise again due to the credit crunch).

But to get back to topic. Yes, kids don't spend enough time outdoors playing, running, and getting exercise. The public has been brainwashed by the media into thinking it's no longer safe to walk the streets, and parents, due to this and poor education on healthy eating, are keeping their kids at home in front of the TV/Gameboy etc, and feeding them branded junk food in the belief it's good for them.

One thing I've noticed about the supermarkets in the UK, compared to over here, is that there are so many 'ready meal' options which are also cheap. Here, it's both cheaper and tastier to cook from scratch.

Also, where I live, EVERYBODY is into sports. Ski-ing, snowboarding, mountain hiking, roller blading, nordic walking, cycling etc are national pastimes. You're the odd one out if you DON'T have a regular sport habit!

And the kids are free to run and play...........thank goodness

 

[MagicMarkers]

Im one who thinks that althought there are bound to be people out there who have psycological issues and circumstancial issues leading to their obesity there are also people out there who ARE lazy and just dont know when to stop eating, know full well that orange is going to be better for them but still choose the mars bar ! I would go as far as to say the majority is because they want to eat and not for any underlying issue.

Also i dont personally believe in it being hereditory (sp), i know theres alot of things that can be passed dwon from your parents but i dont see a fat gene as one of them

 

[Sammystar]

I have to say It really gets to me when things like "its just laziness" is said about people being overweight. Its such a sweeping statement to make and really isn't true in a lot of cases.

My mum has struggled with her weight for pretty much all of her life. For her its a deep seated psychological issue and is now an addiction for her, like smoking is. She turns to food for comfort and its as much her enemy as it is her friend. Seeing the struggle she has with it everyday is heart breaking. She has been to so many slimming clubs over the years and is no where near lazy - she walks the dog every day, and runs around looking after my 2 brothers and taking them everywhere including outdoorsy stuff.

I think one of the main problems is that fat people are automatically labelled as lazy and somehow lesser citizens because of their weight. They are often mocked and scorned and its this that then makes them turn to food more and it becomes a vicious circle.

Although my mum is big she brought me and my brothers up with a healthy attitude towards food and although as a family we do have a tendency to gain weight, I think this is more to do with genetics than anything else. We are all active, enjoy sports and eat healthily. We certainly did not grow up on a diet of junk food or fast food.

I do think that in order to tackle the problem we do need to be a bit more understanding of the issues surrounding obesity and not just make sweeping judgements that because someone is fat that that automatically makes them lazy and greedy.

This is a very good point. There are always going to be genetics involved and in a great many cases no amount of diet and exercise will help. However, it is becoming a more prolific problem, and the reason for that is rooted in society and our attitudes and/or education. The government is right to try to tackle the issue, in an effort to reduce the cost to the NHS.

Remember that program that was on a while back where the woman was feeding her one year old chips with ketchup? It's THAT sort of thing which needs addressing.

 

[Morganuk]

Its true its not really safe for kids to play out anymore like when we were young but that just means that these days parents have to get off their arses and take their kids to the park to ride their bikes

Its just laziness

Why is it not safe for kids to play out any more like when we were young? What's the difference between now and twenty years ago? THere's more traffic, which I guess poses more of a threat, but what else?

Society as a whole has just got worse.
Crime rates are higher.

We just have a wider range of media reporting the crimes. Some of the most horrific crimes happened years ago- its actually very rare for a child to be snatched off the streets and murdered.

Most of the teenagers who get stabbed and shot are part of gangs; but I think we are talking younger than 14/15 in regards to this. At the end of the day; by the time your child is 14/15 they will have the freedom and independance to 'play out' with other kids. It's their upbringing which will determine if they join a gang, just my opinion of course.

I played out, I was encouraged to play sports at school- I was netball captain and lacrosse captain and in the summer I would spend all my time in the park or garden. I didn't have a playstation or my own TV. I think that is the answer!

What come to mind was the recent stabbings.

As a parent it makes you fearful for your kids.

Teenagers have never been so naughty as they are these days.

 

[MagicMarkers]

I know genetics are involved but as someone with a larger mother and grandmother who isnt obese herself, i have to say its not all genetics, im not size 6 becuase i eat rubbish and make very few meals from scratch, but iv yet to hear one obese person admit to the same

Recently, several independent population-based studies report that a gene of unknown function (FTO, fat mass and obesity-associated gene) might be responsible for up to 22% of all cases of common obesity in the general population. Interestingly, this gene also shows a strong association with diabetes.

A combination of excessive caloric intake, lack of physical activity, and genetic susceptibility is thought to explain most cases of obesity, with a limited number of cases due solely to genetics, medical reasons, or psychiatric illness.

From a genetics website and wikipedia, so its only a small amount of people, AND coupled with a poor diet and little physical activity, no-one can blame genetics alone, i think its more likely to be parents not teaching their children about healthy living than genetics



Just edited to add a website with some good points on...

http://ezinearticles.com/?Five-Points-W ... &id=217557

 

[Morganuk]

I know genetics are involved but as someone with a larger mother and grandmother who isnt obese herself, i have to say its not all genetics, im not size 6 becuase i eat rubbish and make very few meals from scratch, but iv yet to hear one obese person admit to the same

Recently, several independent population-based studies report that a gene of unknown function (FTO, fat mass and obesity-associated gene) might be responsible for up to 22% of all cases of common obesity in the general population. Interestingly, this gene also shows a strong association with diabetes.

A combination of excessive caloric intake, lack of physical activity, and genetic susceptibility is thought to explain most cases of obesity, with a limited number of cases due solely to genetics, medical reasons, or psychiatric illness.

From a genetics website and wikipedia, so its only a small amount of people, AND coupled with a poor diet and little physical activity, no-one can blame genetics alone, i think its more likely to be parents not teaching their children about healthy living than genetics

I also agree that many people just have total lack of self control.
While there are some cases of genetic links to obesity, many will use it an an excuse to society to make them not look so bad.

It makes the people who really do have health issues look guilty.

 

[pilkers]

It always concerns me that parents expect schools to teach life skills. I know a lot of parents do, including many here (this is not aimed at you Claire, you feel the same as lots of other people), but personally I feel that although lifeskills should play some part in the curriculum it is a parental responsibility and not that of the government. I think most, if not all, schools do intergrate life skills to the curriculum, particularly in Maths.

I agree its the parents responsibility but i was referring to when i was at school. I wish i had learnt the basics so i could then pass on what i have learnt to my children. I am not the sort of person that wont give things a go but i'm pretty damn clueless when it comes to DIY. Before LO was born i was looking at courses to go on but they are so damn expensive! I just believe that had there been a compulsary subject then it would have helped me in the long run thus helping the future generation (cant beleive i just used the word "thus") lol..

I do agree that the blame should NOT always rest with schools as that happens far too often (especially with bad behaviour)BUT i just think the above would help.

This is slightly off topic and I'm not directly this at you Kalia or you nori...it's just my opinion...

Isn't the case that children do not remember much from school because the vast majority of it isn't actually used in the "real world"?? I haven't ever had one instance in grown up life to need to use Pi or signs, cosigns and tangents...nor have I needed to know what x is if y equals x multiplied by 6... Maybe if children were taught things that they would need later on in life then things might stick in their heads better.

Maybe the people who are obese are ex smokers and their families? You do put on weight when you stop smoking, and if your kids eat whatever you eat then....well you can do the math

I quit and haven't put on weight... but maybe I'm the exception to the norm!

Back to the topic... I do think obesity is becoming a huge problem (pardon the pun). But I'm not sure if it's necessarily worse than smoking. Both issues have their own problems and health implications. Someone smoking in public befouls a social space but someone over-eating doesn't do that..apart from it possibly looking "unsightly" it doesn't affect the health of others in a public space as smoking can do.

There is much more I want to type but my brain hurts too much today... I think the crux of the matter FOR ME is that people cannot be educated enough on both issues.

 

[Jen & Her Men]

I agree completely that genetics are often used as an excuse by people for being big. I don't think anyone can blame genetics for being obese, I just believe that having a certain genetic make up can make you more prone to weight gain than for the standard person and it can also be harder to shift.

My point was that what gets to me is peoples attitudes that its just a simple case of not sticking certain food in your mouth anymore and you wont be fat. If it was that simple we wouldn't have the problem that we do.

Certain causes of overeating are as much an eating disorder as anorexia or bulimia, and can be just as life threatening, but they never get treated in the same way and sufferers are made to feel inferior and just get told to go on a diet and exercise more rather than addressing the underlying issues which cause them to over eat in the first place.

Don't get me wrong, the whole fast food life style is a major cause of obesity - tv dinners, increase in computer games etc. But these are not the only reasons and for some people the lack of understanding afforded to them by others who only see them as lazy contribute to their condition and can exacerbate it.

 

[Morganuk]

I agree completely that genetics are often used as an excuse by people for being big. I don't think anyone can blame genetics for being obese, I just believe that having a certain genetic make up can make you more prone to weight gain than for the standard person and it can also be harder to shift.

My point was that what gets to me is peoples attitudes that its just a simple case of not sticking certain food in your mouth anymore and you wont be fat. If it was that simple we wouldn't have the problem that we do.

Certain causes of overeating are as much an eating disorder as anorexia or bulimia, and can be just as life threatening, but they never get treated in the same way and sufferers are made to feel inferior and just get told to go on a diet and exercise more rather than addressing the underlying issues which cause them to over eat in the first place.

Don't get me wrong, the whole fast food life style is a major cause of obesity - tv dinners, increase in computer games etc. But these are not the only reasons and for some people the lack of understanding afforded to them by others who only see them as lazy contribute to their condition and can exacerbate it.

There is something called Over active thyroid that can make people gain weight.

I don't know to much about it though.