The hungry mum

With the start of the New Year, I am sure plenty of us have decided to banish the chocolate and blow the dust off our Davina workout DVD’s.

I, like everyone else will be putting back on the junk and try and be more active. This blog isn’t about me though, am taking about my children. Now Christmas is over the babes need to start eating better again.

Child obesity can reduce the child’s overall quality of life. It can put a strain on health services and its association with serious chronic conditions such as type 2 diabetes, hypertension, and other awful sounding aliments. The two major lifestyle factors associated with the growth of obesity are physical inactivity and poor diet.

In 2016, 14% children aged 2 to 15 were at risk of obesity, with a further 15% at risk of overweight. Since 1998, the proportion of children aged 2-15 at risk of overweight (including obesity) has fluctuated between 28% and 33%, and was 29% in 2016. This is according to the Scottish Health Survey. Scary Biscuits!

Obesity is higher in less affluent areas, could this be caused by a circle of the food uneducated passed down through generations or is it lack of money.

In my past post I have mentioned by 2020 all children will be provided with 30 free hours of childcare and this will include 2 healthy snacks and one hot balanced meal in the day. This will be a massive factor in tackling not only obesity but the range of food children will have access too. It has been found that some children couldn’t even identify broccoli.

I am sure we have all done it, judged the parent who is giving the clearly over weight child a bottle of coke, but what if it’s your child?

What if it’s your child coming home in tears again because other children are so cruel? How do you help your child?

Children love the sweet stuff and my children are no exception. CC LOVES chocolate but won’t touch sweets of any kind, her choice. She doesn’t like them – strange child ha!

This Christmas break she has happily had chocolate for pretty much every day for breakfast followed by a quaver chaser.

I do think we have to create a healthy view on food for our children, everything in moderation if you will. This is sometimes easier said than done.

Who hasn’t been rushing for dinner and provided something from the freezer as a last minute feast just to stop your hungry child from biting your arm off?

I was an overweight child and so was my sister. We both had massive stretches and are both as some would say “naturally slim”

I don’t diet and I don’t always mind what I eat (I eat chocolate, crisps and fried foods). I am mindful of food, if I overeat at one meal; I can without thinking under eat at the next.

I remember feeling fat as a teen, at the age of 13 I took a massive growth spurt and I swear I woke up one morning and I was 5’8! It was horrid as every other girl in my class was about 5’1 or at least felt that way. I had my boobs and a bum and was no longer in childs sizing, I was a woman. I was picked on as I towered over my peers and I often drew unwanted attention from older boys as I matured.

The opposite end, my best friend was anorexic in high school (luckily she has been happy and healthy since) and she can pin point the moment when it all started when a boy told her she was fat, she was 8. It’s funny what can stick in our minds, I bet that boy didn’t know how that fleeting comment nearly cost my friend her life.

Looking back I was also very slim and I feel awful I spent so much time gripping invisible fat rolls. I am sure I was not alone in this.

Look, I am no Victoria Secrets model! Far from it, I am just within a healthy weight but I wouldn’t mind having the body of Gisele but of course with all the food and no exercise.

My daughter is a skinny Minnie and can eat for Scotland. She is very tall and this helps but I do wonder sometimes if she will face cruel picks as she gets older like I did.

Looking at the youth today is scary; with the average 14 year old looking like an adult in their 20’s when I was running around in Kappa jackets and plat formed trainers at the same age.

Self confidence building in children is a must with the pressures around them. If they look like a model or not, a size 1 or 22 we need to educate them.

Education on food – yes it’s expensive at times but there are lots of resources out there to help catering for low budget meals.

Education on self confidence and self worth – we all deserve to love ourselves.

Help is out there if you’re concerned about any of these matters and I would be more than happy to lend an ear to anyone, I am no expert mind but sometimes it’s good just to say the things we have been ignoring.

Tomorrow is the day I start back cooking from scratch again and no chocolate for breakfast but first I must finish all the junk and wine in the house tonight, well it would be just awful if they went to waste, wouldn’t it?