Don't know if I completely agree...spent xmas & new years with family & some cousins with their kids that we haven't seen for a few years...all up - 20+ kids running around. No fat on most of them, and the couple that were a bit beefy were very fit & healthy, and a couple of chubby babies.
Maybe it's just the demographics, but I reckon we're starting to head in the right direction with diet & education and have been for the past 5 years or so.
In some schools they scan for weapons when entering...my kids school is nearly as strict with bringing lollies or chocolate onto the grounds! The couple of parents that were caught packing chocky in their kids lunchboxes were reprimanded this last year.
, total body workout
couldn't workout why i have been so sore lately
Have 2 kids.
Eldest is not the most active naturally but loves healthy food. Balance and a taste for yummy veges has been instilled since day one. He loves junk food too but chooses to eat fruit n veges - speshly if he has had some junk in the day. Good thing as eldest lad has a low-ish metabolism and can get a bit pot-bellied if not active for a few weeks.
Youngest couldn't be more diff. Total meatasuarus and reluctantly eats veges (last). Ok with fruit but is always snacking (tempted to lock pantry to halt the sneaky little bugger) and "not hungry" at meal times. Have laid down the law on finishing breaky and eating dinner veg or look out. He is skinny as a toothpick and SUPER active.
Go figure
Reluctantly I introduced the kids to a 2nd hand original X-box a couple of years ago. I'm not a gamer as such and was keen to hold out as long as poss. Eldest was 6 at the time and to be honest i felt sorry that he was such a gumby and out of step with other kids/peers. No one wants to be the kid wearing sandles and socks - know what i mean? (speaking from experiance here 
)
Anyway have had 2 breakthroughs for keeping em active.
Took both to skate park for 1st time the other day. Awesome. He loves swimming but has never been big on ball sports nor running etc, yet Eldest was ragged and knackered but trying to keep going at the end. Begging to come back next day. Which we did.
2nd breakthrough. Bought an X-box 360 with Kinect. Totally cool and at last a truly active video game. Some of the 'Adventures' games that ship with it are kn awesome workouts and all in the name of fun. Sure you don't want it to replace the idea of getting outdoors and keeping fit/active but it is a bloody good option for winter/busy times and just for fun for them HIGHLY recommended.
Balance is easier to say than achieve in the busy world these days. If you can get some decent nutrition into em daily and find the activity that works for your kids then you are on the right path.
Wow, I'm really surprised by the immaturity, vindictiveness and lack of logic involved in some of these arguements. I was talking to Log Lady about this the other day as we passed a couple of 45 year olds jogging/struggling along the Great Ocean Road. Log Lady said "why do people do that?, it doesn't look like fun. Why don't they do something they enjoy? Now, let me paint a picture for you, Log lady ENJOYS her life, she writes, reads, loves her dogs(and me), works, socializes, drinks alot, loves food. OK and here's what she's NOT interested in . Exercise, running, going to the gym, dieting, did I mention exercise? no, hang on she loves swimming but only a splish splash laugh at the beach. OK, so some of you " fat chicks, whales blah blah blah" guys might not like to hear this but every time she goes to the Doc. her blood pressure, cholest. etc is better than mine and probably better than yours. Her family history is excellent, although her mother died early at 82 but only because she fell out of the fruit tree she was pruning at the time. So anyway my point is this. generally, it's better for your health to be under weight than overweight but if your concerned about your health, then look at your genes, look at your bad cholest. , hell , if you concerned about your health don't drive a car!!. But there's alot more to this than just good health. The other part of this persecution of fat people is that some people are disgusted by fat people. They can't bear to even look at fat people , "fatties"(YUK) are the lowest of the low. Sorry, but that idea is completely wrong. Most fat people don't care about skinny people with body image dissorders. If you've got an issue with the size or weight of other people then keep it to yourself or better still see a professional about your revulsion towards people different from yourself. As for me, I think if your weight stops you doing the things you want to do, then loose a bit of weight, but for the most part the only weight that fat people feel is the weight of guilt, disgust and alienation loaded onto them by the dumb idea that skinny = healthy and all that follows. In the words of the mighty Spinal Tap in the song BIG BOTTOM , " the bigger the cushion, the sweeter the pushin, you know what I mean". geez I hope Log lady does'nt read this
Hey logperson,
makes me laff when i see peeps jogging and blowing hard over the Narrows bridge (on main perf Fwy) in peak hour - right next to several hundred peak hour cars spilling deadly fumes.
Good intentions gone bad. Suck those fumes DEEP down. 
Personally i like a bit of cushion as long as theren is some level of health/fitness there (and some nice love pillows too). Geez i hope Mrs Funky (or logwoman) doesn't read this!
I saw a women in Seaford (Lower class area of Melbourne) pushing a pram with 2 toddlers >2 eating happy meals.
Another way of looking at this for people on lower incomes is this:
$5 Family sized pizza
$10 Home made Spag Bog
$20 Maccas for the family
$20 Fish & Chips for the family.
The other side:
2.49 p/kg for watermelon
$19 p/kg for steak
$10 p/kg for chicken
Some peoples eating habits are determined by so many things such as work/life balance, financial status and the most obvious, cooking ability/confidence.
it all comes back to boobs
Select to expand quote
Some peoples eating habits are determined by so many things such as work/life balance, financial status and the most obvious, cooking ability/confidence.
so true, my peers don't help the situation by creating tv shows, mags and sudo-celeb bollocks with a un-needed demand for products from the other side of the world with a flow on effect to price index/culture, food miles pushed aside in the name of market creation and profits...we are all farked. So it would seem that we only worry about ourselfs and ours'??? ensuring that only our corner of our own little worlds are the only ones that matter?? bugga the rest and keep paying more tax to pay fore the dim witted, fat-siggy sucking-to fast driving or pissed driving-drug taking (no stones here...today) dick wads that stop us from progressing as a society towards what all dream and wish for huh...fark it slag them all off, joke about tits and dicks, yeah go on fark it...the sh#t head feeding his kids crap will take the resources/ great minds that could save all the gay black whales, eco system or the tec to create clean energy...damb this must be the best that we have to contribute??? we are all farked. Why? read some of the crap over the past two pages...when we stand tall before the man or look our loved ones in the eyes with our last breath on our lips hearing the sobs of our children we'll know we left it better than when we were given it.
The other day I was chewing on a doughnut.
I wasn't going to swallow because that would make me fat, I was just chewing for the taste of it.
Suddenly somebody walked past dressed as a weight watcher inspector and said 'don't swallow that cream bun fatty'. At that point I lost concentration for one nano second whilst I thought its not a cream bun its a doughnut - and I swallowed.
Now I am fat.
I blame myself 60% and the perosn who said 'don't swallow' 40%.
So when I weigh myself I only use 60% of the number, and so whilst I may look fat, I actually weight only slightly above average.
I am now thinking of suing the weight watcher inspector for loss of dignity due to being a fatty.
Now with extra data.
Now with extra data.
At 110kgs, I'm considered level 2 obese and I'm the lightest of my siblings! My brother is about 20kgs heavier than me, but plays basketball at the highest level for where he lives & is in local inter squad.
I run, swim, w-surf, ride mtb, play with my kids etc. and I reckon I'm reasonably fit & healthy.
My main issue with 'my' weight is that it costs me too much in kit! snapped booms, compression issues in boards, busted masts, sails, fins...not to mention bike seats, frames & wheels!
It amazes me in this day & age that people don't understand basic stuff about diet..calories in certain foods , that Maccas & chips etc aren't meant to be eaten every meal & that veges exist.I get amazed when the local checkout ' chic' holds up a beetroot or broccoli & says " whats this?"
Mind you I can understand how some low income earners eat crap as there have been times when Ive only had $2- 3 for a meal. There aren't many options for a filling meal at that price - scallops , chips or a pie..Ok I know your going to say buy some veges..[}:)]If you want a decent sanger or meal your up for $6 +
Luckily I know enough about food to only do it occasionally.
I can feel the fat settling around my middle as I type this..I think I better get off the computer & go & get some exercise..oh & finish those lovely choc rumballs that were half price left from Xmas..
