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This article reported by the BBC makes depressing news. It is RECOMMENDED READING. Check it out!
BBC News – Rise in child obesity-related hospital admissions.
Surely, it’s about time to increase the rate of tax on fast food in the UK?
Any thoughts?
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I agree fully with the remarks above. It seems most affluent humans don’t have the self discipline to resist putting excess food of the wrong kind in their mouths, so some sort of government intervention is needed. It worked with smoking.
More and more studies show that exercise, especially a sport that the child enjoys, is complementary to good nutrition and importantly, it helps children’s cognitive development, – they think more clearly, achieve better grades at school and grow into more balanced, self confident and happier adults. See http://fitnessforum.us
Child (or adult) obesity is a recent disease of affluence. Many parents themselves are afflicted by it and are obsessed about the difficulty of losing weight, whereas I believe the solution is quite simple. In the 3rd world, it is rare to see obese people, whether adults or children. The latest ‘fad’ diet is probably not going to help. For some people, their metabolism converts food to weight very easily – it is ‘in their genes’ they say and if so, they have an efficient metabolism, because they don’t need much food to survive – they would be one of the fortunate ones in the ‘hunter gatherer’ days! Limiting intake is only a matter of degree.
As a kid, I grew up in New Zealand during the 2nd world war, when food was scarce and rationed. I remember only 2 kids out of 400 at mty primary school who were overweight. One lived on a farm and ate dairy and other foods which were obviously not rationed or at least, were hard to ration by the authorities. The other had no interest in physical activity, but loved eating, particularly fatty fried food. Overweight adults were also a rarity.
I walk along the streets of Balmain in Sydney, after schools are out and most kids are eating ice creams, or consuming sugary drinks, bought for them by their mothers! When I grew up, the standard of living was much lower, but an ice cream or lemonade was a special treat, bought for me rarely.
Controlling a child’s obesity starts at home and parents need to set the example and use some old fashioned discipline. This is not always easy, but the ability to achieve it in a way that doesn’t turn children off is an art that parents can work at for a win/win result. Nutritious meals of a modest size, devoid if possible of processed or fast food is a great start. If the meal size is too large, parents should remove the excess and put it out of sight, as most people, including children (and me) can’t resist eating what is put in front of them.
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Childhood obesity has a number of causes not least of which is the propensity of their parents to provide a bad example by being grossly overweight themselves.
Mollycoddling and featherbedding children to the point where some 3 year olds still suck on teats and cannot walk is another cause of childhood obesity as is driving them to school,picking them up from school, spoiling them and allow them to spend vast amounts of time on social media and surfing the internet from a sedentary position for hours on end.
Schools encourage laziness by not pushing children hard enough and by selling off playing fields which means most of them fail to exercise at school.
Sugar and salt content in all foods needs to be lowered to about 20% of their present levels and E numbers and Bisphenol A which helps to create obesity as well as being carcinogenic, a testosterone depleter, gender bending and gay orientation inducing,needs to be banned.
This means variable taxes on foods with the highest on fast foods and controls over the Alimentarius Commission and their activities which are harmful to health.
Parents, particularly those who come from Socio-Economic groups C1, C2, D and E, who are on benefits, or low incomes need to be taught how to cook properly, grow food and be advised on vitamin supplementation, health, diet and exercise.
A heavier tax on alchahol sold in supermarkets is also needed so that through example, parents in their own person can demonstrate healthy eating and responsible drinking rather than “getting bladdered”, “larging it up” and any of the other euphemisms for drunkenness and boorish behaviour which these sorts of people use.