the HEALTH of our nation

[London Calling]

Just come across these facts from our (Olympic) Sports Legacy team, the obese trend is severly scary.

Only one-fifth of Londoners take part regularly in sport and active recreation (similar to national picture)

Almost half of Londoners do no activity at all (ie. do less than 30 minutes activity in past 4 weeks)

1 in 6 Londoners are obese. On current trends, 50% will be obese by 2050

No Olympic/Paralympic Games has ever led to a sustained and measured increase in sports participation rates

 

[strings]

The health of the nation worries me too - what can the govenment do though? (apart from shooting fatties on sight?)

I partially put it down the the 'sicknote' culture for PE lessons.

 

[Simster]

more accessible land for schools. my kids primary school has bugger all in the way of an outside play area (apart from a playground). The same goes for the nearby secondary school.

 

[Pavilionaire]

I believe that the problem will be reduced if the National Curriculum was changed to accommodate "Health and Nutrition" as mandatory from the ages of 9 to 13.

Based on my day at school I'd cut Religious Education (R.E.) and P.E. altogether, maybe make the school day slightly longer. 1 hour of the day used to be fannying around in "form time" when the register was taken, don't know if it's still the same.

 

[Walkers Cajun Squirrel]

I was nearing obese and I decided to do something about it and only will power helped me. There is no support, if you have no will power then you cant succeed. (ok if parents don't feed you then maybe you will). At schools if you are no good at sport then teachers have no interest in you. They go and play with the good kids and leave you to get on with it.

 

[The Large One]

The health of the nation worries me too - what can the govenment do though? (apart from shooting fatties on sight?)

I partially put it down the the 'sicknote' culture for PE lessons.

The government does try and do things to educate and encourage health and fitness, but then gets accused of 'nanny-state' (another meaningless phrase) politics, gets all coy at the negative press, and gives up until the next, slightly worse, set of figures on obesity comes out. Then they try again, get accused of... etc etc

 

[London Calling]

WE ARE STUNNED.

By the number of first schiool kids who get driven to our school.

We on the very edge of the catchment area - we're 3 blocks away. But I would say over half of the kids are dropped off!

Our daughter aged 5 can run all the way to school, I bet half the parents vcan't do that!

 

[Pavilionaire]

TLO, people don't listen to the government, and why should they after the balls-up they make of practically everything they touch??

Parents are not to be trusted on this one, so it's down to schools to encourage a change in mindset.

As a byproduct of my idea to introduce "Health & Nutrition" into the curriculum they could also include "Sex Eeducation" and remove it from watever inappropriate class it is currently taught in - back in my day it was Religious Education...

 

[DIFFBROOK]

I think its a number of things

playing fields at schools being cut, PE lessons at scholl being cut in the crammed school timetable

Home Ecnomics being cut, therefore a whole generation of kids do not know how to cook apart from a boil in the bag

our long working hours culture and commuting distances, therefore cutting down on the time to prepare and cook meals

spending all weekend playing computer games

parents not taking out/not having time to take kids to parks and play ball.

 

[The Large One]

TLO, people don't listen to the government, and why should they after the balls-up they make of practically everything they touch??

Parents are not to be trusted on this one, so it's down to schools to encourage a change in mindset.

As a byproduct of my idea to introduce "Health & Nutrition" into the curriculum they could also include "Sex Eeducation" and remove it from watever inappropriate class it is currently taught in - back in my day it was Religious Education...

When I say 'government', I mean education through schools.

My partner's school doesn't have a canteen - the kids bring in their own lunch. Part of the introduction pack for parents when their kids first come to the school contains nutrition and health advice as to what to give their kids. When, at times, some parents give their kids something less than healthy, she does politely remind them of the message. Only once do I think the 'politeness' ever turned into a proper headmistress-style 'flea-in-the-ear'.

What you won't have from those kids when they leave to go to senior school is none of them recognising an onion or a carrot.

 

[Gwylan]

TLO, people don't listen to the government, and why should they after the balls-up they make of practically everything they touch??

Parents are not to be trusted on this one, so it's down to schools to encourage a change in mindset.

As a byproduct of my idea to introduce "Health & Nutrition" into the curriculum they could also include "Sex Eeducation" and remove it from watever inappropriate class it is currently taught in - back in my day it was Religious Education...

There was some research out last week (I can't be arsed to look for it, but it was on the BBC) that showed that a large proportion of kids were obese - or on their way to being obese - before they started schools, so there's little point in encouraging schools to change behaviour. Even after the kids start school, they spend more time at home than they do at school.

The schools can do more (although it's hard when playing fields are being sold off left, right and centre) but much, much more could be done by changing the nation's diet. However, as the government would never doing anything to upset the supermarkets/food industry, there's little likelihood of this happening.

 

[Pavilionaire]

I don't think diet is necessarily set in stone by the time kids start primary school, and I think the kids and the schools together can make change for the better.

The likes of Jamie Oliver and Sainsburys have embraced this debate but it needs to be in the curriculum, otherwise the green shoots of change that have been sown in recent years will die to be replaced with cans of green shoots smothered in tomato sauce and E numbers.

My son is almost 3 and he LOVES raw pepper, carrot, apple and cucumber. There IS hope.

 

[Simster]

I think its a number of things

playing fields at schools being cut, PE lessons at scholl being cut in the crammed school timetable

Home Ecnomics being cut, therefore a whole generation of kids do not know how to cook apart from a boil in the bag

our long working hours culture and commuting distances, therefore cutting down on the time to prepare and cook meals

spending all weekend playing computer games

parents not taking out/not having time to take kids to parks and play ball.

This is the correct answer. There are lots of reasons for it, but the point is that we've been sleepwalking into a culture of idleness for years now. You don't see kids playing in the street any more - or with nothing like the frequency of a decade or two ago. What happened to school sports day? Why is nearly all the top sport now on pay TV? How many people are even interested in cooking nowadays? If you don't have time to cook, it's only a short step to your kids not having a clue about what they're eating.

 

[clippedgull]

Half Ton Son follows the journey of 19-year-old Billy Robbins from Houston, Texas. Weighing 60 stone and reported to be the world's heaviest teenager, he now wants to turn his life around.

Channel 4 10pm tonight.

 

[London Calling]

I don't think diet is necessarily set in stone by the time kids start primary school, and I think the kids and the schools together can make change for the better.

The likes of Jamie Oliver and Sainsburys have embraced this debate but it needs to be in the curriculum, otherwise the green shoots of change that have been sown in recent years will die to be replaced with cans of green shoots smothered in tomato sauce and E numbers.

My son is almost 3 and he LOVES raw pepper, carrot, apple and cucumber. There IS hope.

Its got to be the above, "education" from the Govt, a generation ago, we were brought up on dripping and fatty foods.

Our lifestyle doesn't help. How many parents spend any real time with their kids? How many take them to the park?

We realise that we are giving outr kids too much processed food - veggy yes - but still processed.

 

[Simster]

Half Ton Son follows the journey of 19-year-old Billy Robbins from Houston, Texas. Weighing 60 stone and reported to be the world's heaviest teenager, he now wants to turn his life around.

Channel 4 10pm tonight.

as a side issue, at what point does someone say "BY JIMINY I'm a fat bastard, I better lay off the pies"? I'm fairly sure that for most of us, it happens well before 16 or 17 stone, not f***ing 60! He should have been taken into care before his fat slobby lazy twatty parents allowed him to get anywhere near a third of that weight.

 

[Mellotron]

The health of the nation worries me too - what can the govenment do though? (apart from shooting fatties on sight?)

I partially put it down the the 'sicknote' culture for PE lessons.

I put the "sicknote" culture down to the physically strong boys bullying/intimidating the kids who aren't natural sportsmen.

 

[Highfields Seagull]

When I say 'government', I mean education through schools.

My partner's school doesn't have a canteen - the kids bring in their own lunch. Part of the introduction pack for parents when their kids first come to the school contains nutrition and health advice as to what to give their kids. When, at times, some parents give their kids something less than healthy, she does politely remind them of the message. Only once do I think the 'politeness' ever turned into a proper headmistress-style 'flea-in-the-ear'.

What you won't have from those kids when they leave to go to senior school is none of them recognising an onion or a carrot.

Unfortunately, there's only so much schools can do though. Schools, particularly primary schools, these days are (from my experience) pretty good at teaching and encouraging kids about healthy eating; Ofsted also comment on this sort of thing.

However, they're fighting an uphill battle if some parents think a suitable lunch for a six year old is cheese strings, crisps, a mars bar and a can of coke.

 

[The Large One]

Unfortunately, there's only so much schools can do though. Schools, particularly primary schools, these days are (from my experience) pretty good at teaching and encouraging kids about healthy eating; Ofsted also comment on this sort of thing.

However, they're fighting an uphill battle if some parents think a suitable lunch for a six year old is cheese strings, crisps, a mars bar and a can of coke.

As I said, my missus doesn't exactly 'ban' these lunches, but there is a kind of culture at my partner's school where anyone bringing in those sort of lunches does sort of stand out.

 

[strings]

I put the "sicknote" culture down to the physically strong boys bullying/intimidating the kids who aren't natural sportsmen.

At my school it was different - a lot of people thought that PE was 'uncool'. Their loss - I loved PE, I wish I could be outside running the cross country or playing rugby now rather than being stuck in a stuffy office.