Childhood Obesity

Another slow and unproductive day today sadly however, I did find out that my assignment is due in three days later than I thought which is a bonus. Unfortunately, this means that I am now under less pressure to get it done which is a very bad move. A long and perhaps slightly controversial post today since I started watching Generation XXL on Channel 4 and whilst I know some people will agree with me, there will be plenty who don't so please do not be offended.

Before I get onto that however, it is time for the single of the week and this week I have chosen my second choice from last week - Fader by Temper Trap. They have been all over the radio after the success of their first hit Sweet Disposition but I almost think it has been ruined through overplaying and so I will catch this one in the net before it has the chance to find the same fate. I think the reason this band have become so popular is because they have found their USP (unique selling point) in the sense that the music is quite different to anything else around at the moment. I suppose it comes under the general indie bracket but has a sort of melancholic vibe to it rather than being harsher and more rocky or electronic like the rest of the music of this genre.



Right, the controversial bit. I wasn't going to watch this at first and missed last weeks episode but a tweet prompted me to check it out (actually twitter has been responsible for a lot of extra TV viewing recently...). I do feel slightly hypocritical talking about this kind of thing because although I'm thin, I do hardly any exercise other than moderate walking to and from lectures and I eat junk food on a regular basis. Thankfully, it would seem that my body is predisposed to staying thin - although not for life it would seem as my grandparents found out and my uncle is now just beginning to discover however, I may have another thirty years before that sets in.

My childhood however was quite different and I am lucky that I was raised the way I was really because my brother went through a period of being a bit on the larger size - mainly due to eating a lot of chocolate though rather than any failing on my mum's behalf. I was quite fussy with my food as a child and remember vividly how much effort it took for my mum to get me to finish my meals. I even remember her threatening to take me to a doctor if I continued not eating but thankfully I grew out of that before it got that bad. I still eat horrendously slowly - often to the annoyance of others - but at least I eat and I eat well. That is mainly down to being taught how to cook I think, and gaining an understanding of food and what goes into the things I eat. I still don't eat salad (see related rant here) but I eat fruit and veg - not as much as I should and rarely reach the magic five target, but I attribute that to laziness more than anything. One of my strongest memories of food (don't ask why) is being given a Mars bar by a family friend who had come for dinner and whilst my brother gobbled it down (and more) in one sitting, it took me about three days to get through it and it was years later before I could finish a whole Mars bar in one sitting. It seems pathetic thinking about it now but it really was that much of a struggle.

I think it is because of these experiences growing up and the fact that I have never had to worry about being overweight - more of the opposite in fact - and so I have no understanding of what it is like. This programme differs in that respect however, because it offers a unique insight into the minds of those in that position and what they think of how they look and feel. The surprising thing I found is that most of the children experienced some sort of bullying related to their weight and wanted to change. At that age however, I think there is very little they can actually do to change anything. There were some families who seemed to have a much better grasp of the situation than others. The mum and daughter who went to WeightWatchers for example - they were doing something about it and okay so they were missing the physical activity side of things but they were ticking most of the right boxes. The girl was getting involved in the meal planning and the shopping, she was eating food I'd never even heard of at her age and liking it. Then on the other hand you have the Muslim family who had takeaways regularly, deep fried most of their food, used excessive amounts of oil and salt in the cooking and thought they were doing nothing wrong. I nearly fainted when I saw how much salt that woman put in the pot, thinking that was a normal amount and then wanting to put more on top! They were a family of four and yet the mum was cooking what seemed like enough food to feed double that and the girl was eating rice for breakfast, surely that isn't normal? I don't know a lot about the Muslim religion but surely Weetabix or cornflakes aren't banned foods and would be a bit more suitable. Even the sister - who had moved to LA and turned into a health and fitness freak was worrying about the sort of foods the family ate. When you have people around you genuinely concerned, surely you want to change?

Then you had the odd couple as I like to call them, the geordies who point blank refused to accept that the lifestyle they were giving their children was bad for them. She wanted to keep her kids happy - an excuse that popped up time and time again and yet I can't see any reason why she would be unhappy in the first place and if anything, making her fat will help that. I can understand it is hard if you are a single mum working full time because that is how I was raised and if anything I think it helped me more than anything. I had to learn how to help around the house because my mum couldn't cope with it all on her own but I don't regret any of it and now know that those skills are skills I will have for life and have already given me a wealth of knowledge that a lot of people my age are still lacking. University is often when they first find out because they are living on their own for the first time and are being thrown in at the deep end. At the end of the day, 99% of the time I think the parents are to blame. I know it is an easy thing to do but I haven't seen many examples - short of illness etc where there is anyone else too blame. It actually quite annoyed me to see one of the mums give in so easily when her daughter refused to eat anything other than pasta and dinosaurs (I assume this is the frozen breaded mechanically reclaimed meat rubbish that Jamie Oliver banned from schools). Yes okay so they may taste nice to the kids but that's probably only because that's what they are used to. As a parent, you have the authority to make the kids eat the food, to make them eat healthily. As an example of the opposite, it gave me great joy to see the mum of the tall kid enrol in cookery classes, bring home the food to be told that the kid liked it. If more parents took the time to learn how to cook simple healthy meals rather than the quick convenience freezer fixes then things would be much better. I know one of the main defences of this method is that the single full time parents don't have the time but the BBC's Economy Gastronomy programme showed quite the opposite and that with a bit of effort, it often works out cheaper, quicker and of course more importantly, healthier.

So there are my (significantly shortened) thoughts on the matter, I could rant and rave on about this for hours and hours but I won't, for your sake as well as that of my fingertips!