Ban on surgery for patients who are overweight or who smoke?

uk, isn't child obesity on the rise? Or do they suddenly lose weight after learning to cook in secondary school/ (confused...)
My friend who is a warden in a university tells me that students gain weight during their years at Uni. "They start off quite slim and put on weight every year"

daphnedill = former secondary school teacher and recent supply teacher, who has eaten thousands of school lunches over the years and done more lunch duties than I care to think about.

Jane, in this country organic foods are labelled as having no hydrogenated fats.
That's the same as transfats.

Also on cooking - my young friend (she of he 13A*s last year) did food science (or what ever it is called, as one of her 13). She was while younger quite a keen cook (or baker anyway - as in "mum can i make a madeira cake" when she was abut 12)
She got seriously fed up with the subject in her 11 - apparently spending a whole term doing variations on the theme of chicken pie.

That's probably down to student life, takeaways and junk food etc.

No, Jess, child obesity is falling (only slightly admittedly), apart from children from low socio-economic backgrounds.

My point is that 'cooking in schools' seems like a quick fix for policy makers, but I have real reasons for doubting its effectiveness.

Not only that, but time spent learning cooking means less time for other subjects. Independents, grammar schools and many free schools often don't teach cooking. They concentrate on subjects and skills, which will help their pupils get to good unis or good jobs. I don't see why pupils from comprehensive schools should be denied the same opportunities, just because somebody thinks they should spend their time cooking. It seems very much like a leaders versus servants idea. Ironically, people then moan about elitism. I am opposed to inependent schools and grammar schools, but at least give the rest a chance.

It's a shame she didn't learn how to make the perfect fruit salad or a thousand ways with cabbages!

Culturally, carb-laden foods, such as cakes and sweets, are seen as treats/gifts.

Childhood obesity:

www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-31041864

www.nhs.uk/news/2015/01January/Pages/Child-obesity-rates-are-stabilising.aspx

65-74 year olds are the most obese group. Approximately a third are obese and another third are overweight.

That's us! Nobody can blame lack of cooking lessons or being force fed sausage rolls as children. It's to do with culture and habit.

We're the generation most likely to need replacement hips and knees and being overweight contributes to the problems of natural ageing. Being obese increases the risk of surgery and decreases the likelihood of successful outcomes.

To me, it just makes sense to try and keep my body healthy - and I don't find it easy for one moment.

Daphnedill

I'm finding it hard to follow your logic here.
You seem to be saying in your various posts
1. Cookery/food technology/domestic science/ home economics, however it is branded, was so badly taught that generations of British children protested by feeding themselves junk food and becoming unhealthy/obese as a result.

2. The cohort who haven't been taught cooking have nevertheless suspended their cynicism and rebellious streak, and taken heed of pious health warnings delivered by health professionals, and are less obese as a result.

3.But hang on! Cookery is still being taught in state schools, and this puts state school children at a disadvantage compared to independent and free school children, who don't have their time wasted by stultifyingly boring cookery lessons.

4. But no! Your graph shows that it's the baby boomers who are fat after all, but in our case it's nothing to do with cookery lessons, it's our culture and bad habits.

Sorry I'm totally

My eldest DGD has done cooking (Food Tech) in the first two years of secondary (local Academy). It has been well taught and she has made a variety of nice things. She is a good cook anyway.
I think teaching some cooking in school is useful but it can never be the answer to a pervasive culture that encourages fast-food, snacking and sweet treats. Cooking real food from real ingredients starts in the home and if people can't be bothered to cook then their children and grandchildren are less likely to cook as well.
As I have said before, the French don't learn to cook in school, but food, mealtimes, the importance of eating well and enjoying it, is engrained in French culture and there are far fewer obese people (at the moment).
As for people who need to lose weight - some people have genuine reasons for not being able to lose it and should be fully supported (though the messages about what constitutes a healthy diet don't always help), others are perfectly capable of losing weight and I think it entirely reasonable that they should be asked to do so before surgery for non life- threatening conditions.

Article in the Times this morning says babies born by C-section are 15% more likely to grow into obese adults. Apparently, in a study that compared them to their siblings who were born naturally, the likelihood was 64%, i.e. they were 64% more likely than their siblings to be obese as adults.

Apparently there are also long-term links in C-section babies to asthma and Type 1 diabetes.

It says 25% of births are by C-section nowadays. That surprised me. I hadn't realised it was quite so common.

On the food issue, I just don't get why people are so anti fast food. It's eating too much of the fast food that's the problem, not the food itself. Eating too much slow food makes you fat as well.

Maybe it's just a fashion thing. It's cool and with it to be anti fast food.

Knowing how to cook doesn't prevent you from getting fat either.

Cakes and biscuits are fast food if someone else has made them.

Nuts are fast food
High sugar fruit
Etc, etc, etc

Burgers, chips, pizza, etc are good foods, especially good ones. Aberdeen Angus burgers cooked in the oven in an old handle-less frying pan, with half tomatoes put cut side down in the meat juices half way through cooking are fabulous.

Daphnedill my reading of the article that you posted is that obesity is still going up in the over-11s and there might be a slight downturn in the younger groups which have not changed much for the last 10 years. 30% for those in primary schools. The little downturn at the end of the graph may be just a wiggle and not part of a trend.

I agree, Jess, although other statistics show that it's stabilising in the 11-15 group too. We won't know for a few years. One explanation is in the article. The statistics are taken from GPs' records and children in the older age group are only monitored if they're already overweight. Statistics used to be based on the school nurses' records and were slightly different. I think (but could be wrong) that the weight of secondary school children is no longer monitored routinely, so the statistics don't cover the full cohort.

Even if the stats aren't totally accurate, there is a trend for higher rates of obesity in lower socio-economics groups of all ages, which shows up in regional statistics, where some areas have high levels of deprivation. There could be a number of different reasons for this and they might not be the obvious ones. Obesity obviously occurs in higher socio-economic groups too. Until this is tackled, there will continue to be health inequalities.

PS. The downturn at the end is apparently because over 75s sometimes lose their appetite and/or mobility problems make preparing meals difficult. They also lose muscle, which weighs more than fat.

@thatbags

Just a quick question, because I'm puzzled. Why are burgers better cooked in a handle-less frying pan?

I said fabulous, not better. It's a particularly fabulous way to cook tomatoes, I found

Is the handle-less frying pan essential, or would they also be fabulous in a different untensil? We don't all have a handle-less frying pan . . .

But perhaps Lakeland stock them?

Just remembered, I have a heavy ridged grillpan at the back of the cupboard. Wonder whether the handle is detachable?

Sorry, got diverted.

I am not sure this is the right thread for it, but how does having a C section, result in asthma, type 1 diabetes and obesity?

Hang on. asthma. If babies are born before 37 weeks[and therefore it was more likely to have been an emergency op for example?] babies born before 37 weeks dont have properly formed lungs.
But that wouldnt mean the asthma was a result of the c section if you see what I mean.

Best if I start a seperate thread at some point?