Why is it normal/OK to be obese in Ireland?.

givyjoe

Nettle Soup wrote: »

Wow, bullying a mother and her kids...stay classy.

I can't help commenting on the bizarrely frequent and inaccurate claims of abuse in this thread.. now it's bullying. How on earth is that sarcastic comment bullying the poster, never mind her kids who don't know what boards.ie is, never mind this specific thread!

ceadaoin.

LirW wrote: »

Why is it always an either/or? Yes some people feed their kids crap to no end, others are especially particular about the food for their children. These are two extreme groups. But what about the people in between that do cook a lot, pack the kids nice lunchboxes yet on occasions give them a glass of sprite or a plate with chips and sausages. I don't like either extreme and I think with either kids can't learn a healthy approach to what's an exception, what's good for them and what they like and what to avoid on a regular base.
Kids are ridiculously good at eating what they want in secret, especially once they start getting pocket money.

Exactly. I cook from scratch, my child has fruit and veg in her lunch box every day. She also eats McDonald's once a week after her swimming class, pizza if we go out to eat, ice cream, chocolate and *gasp* the occasional fish finger. The only thing I don't let her have is fizzy drinks, besides sparkling water.

She eats until she is full, I don't force her to finish her plate and she is perfectly healthy and even a bit on the skinny side.

pilly

LirW wrote: »

Why is it always an either/or? Yes some people feed their kids crap to no end, others are especially particular about the food for their children. These are two extreme groups. But what about the people in between that do cook a lot, pack the kids nice lunchboxes yet on occasions give them a glass of sprite or a plate with chips and sausages. I don't like either extreme and I think with either kids can't learn a healthy approach to what's an exception, what's good for them and what they like and what to avoid on a regular base.
Kids are ridiculously good at eating what they want in secret, especially once they start getting pocket money.

Or go to parties or friends houses.

Hammer89

Nettle Soup wrote: »

Wow, bullying a mother and her kids...stay classy.

I'm no bully - and I'm certainly not bullying her kids. Do me a favour. This woman has been taking subtle jabs at parents of overweight children and suggesting she is the superior parent. "My four-year-old has never even seen a chip and won't until he's 18 and old enough to know the dangers of them." As I said, certain strict parenting styles are utterly counter-productive when it comes to combating obesity.

LirW

pilly wrote: »

Or go to parties or friends houses.

This, they either eat in secret or won't have friends at all because kids are fairly unforgiving when other kids are obnoxious as hell.

My MIL was a foodnazi with my partner, he ended up putting a fair bit of weight on in his late teens because he ate in secret.
I know, anecdotal evidence.

My point is, having food as a meta topic at home can have unknown effects on your kid and seriously make them sick. It can turn out well or backfire. I hope for no-one ever to backfire because it's nasty.

meeeeh

People really are their most obnoxious selves in obesity threads.

Anyway someone call social services I'm currently putting some pizza into the oven for the kids.

whoopsadoodles

LirW wrote: »

Why is it always an either/or? Yes some people feed their kids crap to no end, others are especially particular about the food for their children. These are two extreme groups. But what about the people in between that do cook a lot, pack the kids nice lunchboxes yet on occasions give them a glass of sprite or a plate with chips and sausages. I don't like either extreme and I think with either kids can't learn a healthy approach to what's an exception, what's good for them and what they like and what to avoid on a regular base.
Kids are ridiculously good at eating what they want in secret, especially once they start getting pocket money.

Yeh definitely there has to be a balance.

I do think educating kids on why healthy food is better is the biggest thing though. Not simply putting broccoli on their plate but telling them why broccoli is so good for them and explaining to them why sugar should be kept to a minimum but not to be completely excluded either because kids definitely should enjoy the odd curly wurly!

Romantic Rose

pilly wrote: »

Or go to parties or friends houses.

This is sad because it has become the norm here.

Shock horror, I was at a birthday party where most of the food was made from scratch including the cake and chicken nuggets. There was also fruit there unbelievably.

I also saw a friend who had the coolest cake I've ever seen for a 1st birthday party. A watermelon volcano cake.

Could have taken the easy option and just opened another 24 bag of crisps.

We really need to re programme our attitudes to food and diet in this country.

Demonised for promoting health and balance.

whisky_galore

Nettle Soup wrote: »

You were much more active.

You did not have an XBox, tablet, phone, Ipod, 100 TV channels etc etc

Yep, only 2 channels, small boys in the park...jumpers for goalposts.

Walked/cycled to friends' houses, not shuttled around the place in Mummy's troop carrier.

givyjoe

Romantic Rose wrote: »

This is sad because it has become the norm here.

Shock horror, I was at a birthday party where most of the food was made from scratch including the cake and chicken nuggets. There was also fruit there unbelievably.

I also saw a friend who had the coolest cake I've ever seen for a 1st birthday party. A watermelon volcano cake.

Could have taken the easy option and just opened another 24 bag of crisps.

We really need to re programme our attitudes to food and diet in this country.

Demonised for promoting health and balance.

Where are you being demonised for promoting health and balance..? Definitely not here.

As for balance, I really don't think balanced would be the best way to describe your attitude to diet.

Electric Sheep

WhiteRoses wrote: »

Nutritional education could really do with being improved upon in this country. I didn't eat particularly badly growing up, but I remember for my Debs (only 8 years ago), I decided to go on a diet and use the food pyramid for inspiration. I had special K cereal for breakfast, brown ham sandwich for lunch, and chicken and pasta for dinner every day, with a few other fruits and veggies thrown in. And I was genuinely baffled as to why I wasn't losing weight. I now know I was eating waaaaaaay too many carbs, but that was what was advertised by the government as healthy at the time.

I know we've come a long way since then but I honestly think educating people into making better decisions will make all the difference.

We used to learn nutrition in Leaving Cert Home Economics. The problem is that the nutritional recommendations seem to change every few years, so the nutritional education we received becomes outdated quite quickly.

There is no shortage of information about nutrition and food choices on the internet. Anyone who is interested can find it and apply it to their life. Anyone who is not interested will not allow themselves to be "educated" by the government.

Nettle Soup

ceadaoin. wrote: »

Exactly. I cook from scratch, my child has fruit and veg in her lunch box every day. She also eats McDonald's once a week after her swimming class, pizza if we go out to eat, ice cream, chocolate and *gasp* the occasional fish finger. The only thing I don't let her have is fizzy drinks, besides sparkling water.

She eats until she is full, I don't force her to finish her plate and she is perfectly healthy and even a bit on the skinny side.

There is nothing wrong with occasional treats once children have a balanced diet, are educated on good/bad nutrition and are physically active. The lack of physical activity in recent years is probably the biggest cause of the obesity epidemic.

Zubeneschamali

Kids parties are not this issue. I used to go to parties 40 years ago - the food was all party rubbish and the kids were all thin. We ate chocolate, we ate crisps, cakes were solid sugar and we drank what passed for fizzy drinks in those days like cadet Orange, TK Raspberry or Cream Soda.

It is the amount they eat on normal days that does the damage, not party food.

Nettle Soup

whisky_galore wrote: »

Yep, only 2 channels, small boys in the park...jumpers for goalposts.

Walked/cycled to friends' houses, not shuttled around the place in Mummy's troop carrier.

Yep, it was a different world alright.

You ran in for the A-Team and ran out to play again as soon as it was over...

whoopsadoodles

Nettle Soup wrote: »

There is nothing wrong with occasional treats once children have a balanced diet, are educated on good/bad nutrition and are physically active. The lack of physical activity in recent years is probably the biggest cause of the obesity epidemic.

To be fair, if mine ate the amount of food she eats without the amount of exercise she does she'd probably be the size of a house.

bennyineire

Stonedpilot wrote: »

A genuine question.

The amount of people that are gargantuan on this Island is so high I'm surprised the island doesn't sink. It's seen as like a disease by many. I remember living in a houseshare with Eastern European girls and they often commented at how absurdly fat they thought Irish women are.

It's bizarre to me that in other countries it's seen as a problem and thus people try and sort it but here the people whom are tremendously overweight are seen to have an ailment,disease, are poor unfortunates etc like its the same as leukemia or something.

I remember Katie Hopkins was on the Late Late Show making the point you can't be happy and fat (I don't know I don't care frankly) but they cut to a obese lady in the audience who had only just opened her mouth and the audience were in rapturous applause. No matter what she said they would have clapped.
Katie asked the question 'Why are you clapping?. Are you clapping because she is overweight is that it?.'

That kinda sums up the attitude here. Being fat, unhealthy and obese is something to be proud of and God forbid anyone point out it's lunacy to be the size of a manatee.
Strange. Now I will say I have all the respect in the World for people who do something about it work out, eat healthy, get involved in classes, long walks etc. Fair play to them and well done. But then there are other folk whom see it as a God given right to be obese and to be angry with everyone, and to take up a seat and a half everytime they sit on a plane,bus or train squishing whomever is unfortunately beside them.
Had a few incidents recently where I seen very overweight people be angry with total strangers.

I mean I attended a talk recently and the guy doing it was so overweight he got tired standing up and walking around the lecture room!.

As far as I'm aware no country is as tolerant to obesity as Ireland, no way does France,Italy,Spain etc see it as the norm here.

Odd.

Obviously you have never been to the USA, not excusing the weight problem here but people are either fitness freaks or extremely overweight at the ratio of about 20:80. Fat people in the states are massive, incomparable to people here

Zubeneschamali

Electric Sheep wrote: »

There is no shortage of information about nutrition and food choices on the internet.

A lot of it is complete bollocks though:

Never eat sugar.
Never eat salt.
Never eat carbs.
Never eat fat.
Never eat anything processed.
Never eat anything cooked.
Never eat anything you wouldn't see on the African Savannah.

etc. etc.

ceadaoin.

Romantic Rose wrote: »

This is sad because it has become the norm here.

Shock horror, I was at a birthday party where most of the food was made from scratch including the cake and chicken nuggets. There was also fruit there unbelievably.

I also saw a friend who had the coolest cake I've ever seen for a 1st birthday party. A watermelon volcano cake.

Could have taken the easy option and just opened another 24 bag of crisps.

We really need to re programme our attitudes to food and diet in this country.

Demonised for promoting health and balance.

You aren't being demonised for promoting health and balance. Most people agree with you that a balanced diet is best. It's your attitude that parents who don't spend hours cooking and baking are lazy and that your way is the only way to have healthy kids. For example, your comment above. Opening crisps is the "easy option" rather than making a homemade full party spread from scratch. . Well maybe that is the only option for lots of parents who don't have the time, money or the knowledge to do that. It comes across as judging and sneering tbh. Serving traditional party food once a year isn't going to make kids obese

Nettle Soup

Zubeneschamali wrote: »

Never eat anything you wouldn't see on the African Savannah.

Permabear

This post has been deleted.

LirW

I love me lion steak.


Just recalled a birthday party my boy was invited to in Kindergarten.
It was the party of a little girl where the mom was very particular about her diet. The food at the party was nice and quite balanced but the issue was with the cake.
The cake was a zucchini cake and while I'm not opposed of this, this was vile looking. Not a single kid, including the birthday girl ate the cake. In the end they served the kids the Raffaelo cake they made for the adults.
My god, it's their birthday, let them have a day of eating sh1te. They're running around the whole afternoon anyway, so it really absolutely doesn't matter.

Romantic Rose

Hammer89 wrote: »

I'm no bully - and I'm certainly not bullying her kids. Do me a favour. This woman has been taking subtle jabs at parents of overweight children and suggesting she is the superior parent. "My four-year-old has never even seen a chip and won't until he's 18 and old enough to know the dangers of them." As I said, certain strict parenting styles are utterly counter-productive when it comes to combating obesity.

I never mentioned overweight children. My points are health based and the lack of nutrition that children are getting which is a huge concern. The body needs vitamins and minerals to survive. Not being fed saturated and trans fat on a daily basis.

I have no issue with parent who feed their children a balanced diet but I do have a huge issue with parents who feed their children a mostly junk food diet.

Imagine there is actually a food different to chips that you can feed a child and they will actually enjoy.

Both my children eat like horses. The difference is it is good food they are getting.

One thing I will praise my secondary school and mother/grandmother for doing is teaching me how to cook.

I think that every pupil in secondary school should get cooking classes on a weekly basis. It's a life skill.

Stonedpilot

Romantic Rose wrote: »

A chicken and vegetable stirfry takes 20 minutes to prepare and cook. Not hard to do.

Nutrition is so important for a growing child.

I detest laziness and taking the easy option.

Talking sense Rose but some people here don't want to hear that. Give you a million reasons why it's not feasible but truth be told healthy eating can be as handy as eating crap if not moreso.My experience is a child brought up with healthy food will eat it, (especially if they are hungry after running around all day!) don't know about others experiences. Those that prattle on about a healthy meal taking hours upon hours to cook probably have never cooked one, indeed might be obese themselves.

It's not some exhaustive task to have healthier options for kids.Some Will make out its some massive endeavor and go for the easy option crisps, coke, chocolate.

It starts early and kids are incredibly impressionable and build habits with food.

Romantic Rose

ceadaoin. wrote: »

You aren't being demonised for promoting health and balance. Most people agree with you that a balanced diet is best. It's your attitude that parents who don't spend hours cooking and baking are lazy and that your way is the only way to have healthy kids. For example, your comment above. Opening crisps is the "easy option" rather than making a homemade full party spread from scratch. . Well maybe that is the only option for lots of parents who don't have the time, money or the knowledge to do that. It comes across as judging and sneering tbh. Serving traditional party food once a year isn't going to make kids obese

I teach in a class of 34 children. As an example, If you got invited to 17 birthday parties per year from the class and then included birthdays of parents, siblings, cousins etc etc. That's a hell of a lot of junk food to get through.

Not to mention it is gluttony and encouraging children to gorge on a regular basis.

Like I said, it's a complete reprogramming of culture we need.

Do we honestly need to eat that much food, no!

Romantic Rose

Stonedpilot wrote: »

Talking sense Rose but some people here don't want to hear that. Give you a million reasons why it's not feasible but truth be told healthy eating can be as handy as eating crap if not moreso.My experience is a child brought up with healthy food will eat it, (especially if they are hungry after running around all day!) don't know about others experiences. Those that prattle on about a healthy meal taking hours upon hours to cook probably have never cooked one, indeed might be obese themselves.

It's not some exhaustive task to have healthier options for kids.Some Will make out its some massive endeavor and go for the easy option crisps, coke, chocolate.

It starts early and kids are incredibly impressionable and build habits with food.

Thank you. You made your point so well and I agree with everything you said.

meeeeh

Romantic Rose wrote: »

Hammer89 wrote: »

I'm no bully - and I'm certainly not bullying her kids. Do me a favour. This woman has been taking subtle jabs at parents of overweight children and suggesting she is the superior parent. "My four-year-old has never even seen a chip and won't until he's 18 and old enough to know the dangers of them." As I said, certain strict parenting styles are utterly counter-productive when it comes to combating obesity.

I never mentioned overweight children. My points are health based and the lack of nutrition that children are getting which is a huge concern. The body needs vitamins and minerals to survive. Not being fed saturated and trans fat on a daily basis.

I have no issue with parent who feed their children a balanced diet but I do have a huge issue with parents who feed their children a mostly junk food diet.

Imagine there is actually a food different to chips that you can feed a child and they will actually enjoy.

Both my children eat like horses. The difference is it is good food they are getting.

I have two, one is normal weight and the other one is underweight. They get fruit and veg, I cook dinners from scratch, they were fed the same stuff. The underweight one is extremely fussy eater and quite happy to go to bed without dinner if it's not up to her rubbish standards. You can all the right things and they still won't eat properly.

Healthy eating is important but the purpose of this kind of threads is not to resolve obesity it's for people who usually have very little to show for themselves to feel superior about something.

Stonedpilot

Romantic Rose wrote: »

I never mentioned overweight children. My points are health based and the lack of nutrition that children are getting which is a huge concern. The body needs vitamins and minerals to survive. Not being fed saturated and trans fat on a daily basis.

I have no issue with parent who feed their children a balanced diet but I do have a huge issue with parents who feed their children a mostly junk food diet.

Imagine there is actually a food different to chips that you can feed a child and they will actually enjoy.

Both my children eat like horses. The difference is it is good food they are getting.

One thing I will praise my secondary school and mother/grandmother for doing is teaching me how to cook.

I think that every pupil in secondary school should get cooking classes on a weekly basis. It's a life skill.

True, I learned to cook from cook books bought in charity shops and youtube videos (myspace back in the day). It is a life skill (one many people don't possess unfortunately).

It's astonishing the amount of people who think taking a pizza out of the freezer and the box and plopping it in the oven is 'Cooking'.

.......

This post has been deleted.

Hitman3000

Romantic Rose wrote:

Demonised for promoting health and balance.

Nope, I'd say it's the condescending and superior attitude that attracts the demonized description.

Romantic Rose

....... wrote: »

Actually it was Rose who prattled on about spending hours and hours meticulously planning, shopping for and cooking meals.

But then she said she cooks a stir fry in 20 minutes. But I dont think babies eat stir frys so Im not sure how that was relevant.

I said when I was weaning my children in particular and getting themselves into good habits from the minute they tasted food.

I can easily cook a healthy stir fry for my wobbler now. I just don't put as much soy sauce in his. He loves it.

You're right though, I need to stop caring and do what a mother I know did. Weaned her baby on oven chips and cocktail sausages.