Big Body Squad

[Rodo]

Three or four years ago I did a spell in running a school uniform shop to help out a friend who owned a chain of such shops. It really opened my eyes. You expect school jumpers on the rack to be the usual sort of range of sizes for 11 to 16 year olds, but I had jumpers sized at 50 and 52 inches chest. We were even having to try and resource sizes bigger than that even. As for trousers, one woman said ours weren't big enough., and we had quite large waist sizes in those too. She said she bought men's trousers and cut the legs down, but it meant the legs were too wide and the boy didn't like them!!!!!! The complaints were all aimed at the manufacturers and the shop owners, there was no hint of thinking that the boy might need to slim down a bit.

[meriad]

It's quite sad really Rodo, isn't it.... and that next generation will grow up thinking it's OK and normal to be so large; and then they in turn will bring up their next generation like that - a downward spiral really

and it's not just the being overweight that's the issue - it leads to so much more in the way of other health issues.

[Fugitive]

A couple of years ago we spent three days and nights travelling on a tiny train across the desert in Namibia. There was twenty six passengers and two of them were the most obese married couple I have ever seen in my life and they were both medical doctors in the UK.

Our sleeping compartments were small but had a private shower room with toilet, hand basin and shower. They were minute. We are both normal sized and just fitted in so wondered how the huge couple would manage! They didn't manage. They couldn't get through the door - and if they had they'd never get out again. The husband had longer arms than the wife so he'd reach in with his body still in the sleeping bit, soak a flannel in the basin and mop his wife down. Then vice-versa! They had to do wees and poos and teeth cleaning in the WC in the main carriage. Gone of your dinner yet?

We had a group picnic in the desert sitting on the ground under some trees for shade. They couldn't get back up! Nobody was prepared to do their backs in hauling them up so the men formed a tug-of-war team but first they had to roll them over on the ground onto their fronts so they could get a grip and pull them up with a rope! They were enormous people.

It was a dreadful sight to see. My eyes still hurt

[Weka]

Oh my goodness!

I remember my poppa telling me that as a child he was sent off to a health camp till he was "well" he was pale and just needed some colour. Other kids were there cause they needed fattening up or slimming own.

Are drastic measures like this needed again? Or have we gone to PC?

[Suff]

To my mind it comes down to the wrong focus on how to diet. It's sugar management we should worry about. 5 a day is fine for someone who is already fit and healthy, but it is useless for those out of control.

Nobody talks about sugar and if they do they are ridiculed. This is because sugar is very big business.

Until we stop focusing on how to maintain a healthy weight and start focusing on reducing weight, this kind of obesity will continue.

[JoM]

Three or four years ago I did a spell in running a school uniform shop to help out a friend who owned a chain of such shops. It really opened my eyes. You expect school jumpers on the rack to be the usual sort of range of sizes for 11 to 16 year olds, but I had jumpers sized at 50 and 52 inches chest. We were even having to try and resource sizes bigger than that even. As for trousers, one woman said ours weren't big enough., and we had quite large waist sizes in those too. She said she bought men's trousers and cut the legs down, but it meant the legs were too wide and the boy didn't like them!!!!!! The complaints were all aimed at the manufacturers and the shop owners, there was no hint of thinking that the boy might need to slim down a bit.

Yes, I was shocked at the sizes in the uniform shop when buying secondary school uniforms

[Suff]

I'm more stunned at the size young French children are becoming. The McDo culture is taking off and the poorer are flocking. And you can see it in their bodies....

It may take a few more generations but eventually the fatter parents will produce fatter and fatter children. Today most French children drink water, generally and eat home produced and well balanced meals.

This is how I grew up until I wound up divorced and living on Army cookhouse food. High in sugar and fat. I ballooned. Sugar is highly addictive and I find it is something which is very difficult to avoid unless you are constantly active. As I'm a desk warrior with an inactive lifestyle and a fair amount of stress, keeping the sugar down is hard....