worried about sugar...

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Bob1892
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Re: worried about sugar...

Post by Bob1892 »

NM - you better read this thread! :lol:
piggys
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Re: worried about sugar...

Post by piggys »

I think it is untrue that our elders were vastly more healthy; if you research the numbers of people who smoked, for example, in the 50s and 60s, it is vastly higher than it is today - in the UK at any rate. I do agree, however, that obesity is a real problem. In my younger dd's school there are some real fat families and I have noticed where the child is fat, one or both of the parents are fat too. There is one family where the dad is so massive he cannot work. All the children are huge, including a 15 year old girl who literally can barely walk. It is tragic and unnecessary. This is in a pretty affluent part of N London.

In my opinion, a lot of childrens' obesity and unhealthiness is because of the convenience led society we now live in. Everything is about ease and minimising effort and time. Parents are far too happy to sit their children in front of computers, televisions and the like and the expense of physical activity. Ready meals and fast food has replaced cooking from scratch. Their is a crisis of indolence and time saving which has gripped our society, in my view. It means that our children are fat, have high blood pressure and incapable of sustaining their attention properly (the correlation between sugars/E numbers and attention span has long been established).

Advertising has a lot to answer for; when I was in waitrose yesterday buying food there were masses of child-oriented snacks which look like they contain nothing but chemicals - cheese strings? dried fruit laces? cheese dippers? who actually buys this stuff? parents do, because the advertisers focus on convenience and ease. Don't bother doing any actual cooking, just open a bag and be lazy! It makes me angry as well as concerned. So called 'low fat' yoghurts which are loaded with sugar.
salsa
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Joined: Tue Sep 03, 2013 10:59 am

Re: worried about sugar...

Post by salsa »

A sugar tax is to be implemented. Well done to all who signed the petition. I signed it although I was of the opinion that more education was the key. I hope the tax is used to inform people.

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Yamin151
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Re: worried about sugar...

Post by Yamin151 »

piggys wrote:I think it is untrue that our elders were vastly more healthy; if you research the numbers of people who smoked, for example, in the 50s and 60s, it is vastly higher than it is today - in the UK at any rate. I do agree, however, that obesity is a real problem. In my younger dd's school there are some real fat families and I have noticed where the child is fat, one or both of the parents are fat too. There is one family where the dad is so massive he cannot work. All the children are huge, including a 15 year old girl who literally can barely walk. It is tragic and unnecessary. This is in a pretty affluent part of N London.

In my opinion, a lot of childrens' obesity and unhealthiness is because of the convenience led society we now live in. Everything is about ease and minimising effort and time. Parents are far too happy to sit their children in front of computers, televisions and the like and the expense of physical activity. Ready meals and fast food has replaced cooking from scratch. Their is a crisis of indolence and time saving which has gripped our society, in my view. It means that our children are fat, have high blood pressure and incapable of sustaining their attention properly (the correlation between sugars/E numbers and attention span has long been established).

Advertising has a lot to answer for; when I was in waitrose yesterday buying food there were masses of child-oriented snacks which look like they contain nothing but chemicals - cheese strings? dried fruit laces? cheese dippers? who actually buys this stuff? parents do, because the advertisers focus on convenience and ease. Don't bother doing any actual cooking, just open a bag and be lazy! It makes me angry as well as concerned. So called 'low fat' yoghurts which are loaded with sugar.
My children are terribly fussy. They are thin, wiry and healthy, do lots of sport and are also small, genetic reasons not malnourished! This does mean however that they are not being driven by a frame which needs to make 6ft to eat all tehy can, so very often they are not very hungry, but sugar bypasses appetite doesn't it? Consequently even the relative control we exert over the sweet snacks and sweets that we allow them, with school and friends etc, they still get FAR more than I am happy with. I despair at rugby, where whenever a snack is brought in for post game, it is always cupcakes or mini chocolate bars, it drives me crazy. I'm not expecting mung bean burgers, but why not sausage rolls or something that at least gives them some protein and nourishment and, in runining their appetite for lunch shortly after, is not meaning that all they've had is sweet stuff to keep them going.
Education is crucial, but as much for the parents. Resisting peer 'enjoyment' and temptation as a teenager is necessary but difficult, so I do think making sweet drinks more expensive will help with that.

The other thing that I feel very strongly about is the 'normalisation' of overweight children. There are several ads on the tv at the moemnt that feature a family that is meant to appeal presumably to the 'masses' and as such they feel its good to use overweight children. How can this possibly be right?? I don't agree with shaming them, or exposing them to derision, but surely we can feature a 'normal' family without normalising fat children within it?
salsa
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Re: worried about sugar...

Post by salsa »

Funny you say that about normalising. The true is that the new normal is overweight. I have also noticed that in animated American films.
Yamin151
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Re: worried about sugar...

Post by Yamin151 »

Its PC gone mad.

its not normal to be overweight, its dangerous. Don't get me wrong, I love and/or respect lots of overweight people, I don't ever want them to feel shame, but its statistically an undesirable way to be. For an adult, its up to them to make a decision, but for children, their parents have a tough job, but a necessary one, to try to bring them to adulthood at a healthy weight. It not an easy job, goodness knows, but its not helped if we pretend its a perfectly normal state of affairs.
ginx
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Location: Warwickshire

Re: worried about sugar...

Post by ginx »

Where would my TYPE 1 diabetic daughter be without sugar?

She doesn't tend to use sugary fizzy drinks but drinks fruit juice or has dextrose tablets (sugar!) when low. However, plenty of diabetic people drink fizzy drinks, often Lucozade, when their blood sugar is low.

Parents on another forum, for parents with type 1 diabetic children, are very angry at this. I think they have it out of perspective.

It is always important to distinguish type 2 diabetes from type 1 diabetes - which is not related to diet.

My four children, dh and I all consume too many sweet things, but fortunately not fizzy drinks.
Yamin151
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Re: worried about sugar...

Post by Yamin151 »

I think they have it out of perspective too. As you say, its important to distinguish between Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes. However I think as you say, there are many other ways of getting "emergency" sugar in than fizzy drinks, an awful lot of them very cheap, and its not a reason to not put a levy on the enormous amount of sweet fizzy drinks consumed by a massive non diabetic population, who then run the very real risk of developing Type 2 diabetes, possibly in early adulthood which is appalling.
ginx
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Joined: Mon Jul 04, 2011 2:47 pm
Location: Warwickshire

Re: worried about sugar...

Post by ginx »

Thanks, Yamin. I wish Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes had totally different names, as, forgetting sugar for a moment, the comments people make are unbelievable.

Some people assume dd has diabetes because she is obese and/of unfit. She's thin as a rake and does eat limited sugar (ask the dentist!) I try very hard to control the amount of sugar we eat as a family, we eat chocolate and ice cream, but very few sweets. But that's not really any better?

Some people assume she will "grow out of it". Others ask "is it bad?", and so on. :(

I still dread sleepovers and residentials - sweets are always smuggled in. She doesn't get invited on many sleepovers, I think parents are wary of the responsibility. I am glad!

The diabetes forum are very worried they are going to lose disability living allowance for looking after their children. I can understand that is far more important than the sugar tax. I don't claim it myself, for many reasons, but I can understand why parents are angry.

Sorry, back to sugar! I can rant and rave about attitudes to diabetes for hours!
Proud_Dad
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Joined: Fri Oct 11, 2013 9:55 am

Re: worried about sugar...

Post by Proud_Dad »

Yamin151 wrote:The other thing that I feel very strongly about is the 'normalisation' of overweight children. There are several ads on the tv at the moemnt that feature a family that is meant to appeal presumably to the 'masses' and as such they feel its good to use overweight children. How can this possibly be right?? I don't agree with shaming them, or exposing them to derision, but surely we can feature a 'normal' family without normalising fat children within it?
I agree with you that we shouldn't be normalising obesity and showing that its acceptable to be overweight. The other side of the argument though is that if advertising and the media only ever portray people as being slim and beautiful this can result in people (particularly young women) having body image problems, developing eating disorders like anorexia, undergoing unnecessary cosmetic surgery etc.

Perhaps it should depend on what the advert is for? If an advert is for something unhealthy like a fizzy drink or fast food, would it perhaps not actually be better to use overweight actors in the advert? I have fond memories of the 'flake' adverts which were on TV in the 1980's (as I'm sure do many dads of my generation! :wink: ). In hindsight though I'm not sure they gave a particularly helpful message. I'm pretty sure that those gorgeous, slim models didn't get to look that way by lounging around in the bath scoffing chocolate! :mrgreen:

Finally regarding the sugar tax, my understanding is that it will mean a can of coke will go up by about 8 pence. So I wouldn't have thought that should be too much concern for diabetics, but likewise is it really going to persuade overweight people to change their drinking habits? And even if it did they might just switch to diet drinks that contain artificial sweeteners which some people reckon are just as unhealthy as sugar in different ways. :?
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