Another show following obese people and how they live their lives, but this time it is young children. Is this informative and necessary or just providing entertainment and perhaps another reason for peers to tease and torment?
This long-term series follows seven obese children for a decade, revisiting them every two years to discover what it's like to grow up as an obese child in Britain today. Channel 4, 9pm Mondays.
Paula Watson appears as an expert in the progamme and also runs a programme called GOALS a "healthy" lifestyle programme for obese children. The following blog is essentially excerpts from an interview with Paula with occassional comments from Natural Food Finder highlighted in blue.
There are currently a million schoolchildren in the UK who are classified as obese. What are the causes behind this epidemic?
'It's simple on the surface, but it's actually quite complex and very much about lifestyle issues. At the simplest level, the amount of calories children are consuming causes an imbalance with the amount of calories they're burning up through physical activity.
'But that's just on the surface level. The things that are actually contributing to that are much wider. There are environmental factors like the way society has changed in terms of things like automation - we use our cars a lot more, there are all the attractive sedentary pastimes like computer games and televisions.
'On the food side there is all the advertising and the temptation of fast food, high-fat and high-sugar foods wherever we go. The other aspect of the problem is that because we've become bigger as a nation, the awareness of what it actually means to be overweight or obese as a child, and the associated health risks, isn't really there.
Once again we see experts who are continuing to over simplify the causes of obesity to be just a basic mathematical equation between energy intake and output. This is not the case and can be seen in every person who desparately tries to shift the balance in their favour by low calorie dieting and over time to find it creeping back on again. Many studies have shown that calorie reduction brings about only minimal weight loss in the long term. To look into this a little further you may want to read: http://www.naturalfoodfinder.co.uk/counting-calories-blog
Parents are often quick to blame metabolism or genetics for their child's weight problem. Do these factors play a role, or is it more a case of parents looking for a reason that isn't there?'I'd say the latter more than the former. It does play a part, we are all biologically different and it is easier for some people to maintain their weight than others. But essentially for the vast majority of people it is still about that energy imbalance.
'One of the mum's provides an example of this in Generation XXL. Following her trip to Liverpool she begins to realise there may be things in her son's lifestyle that are leading him to be overweight (previously she believed it to be a medical problem) and consequently makes changes to his eating (changing to packed lunches) and activity habits (enrolls him in a rugby club).
'It is true that a child is more likely to be obese if they have obese parents but the link is just as likely to be environmental as biological in those cases.'
We are glad that Paula has highlighted the importance of other factors alongside the small genetic links to obesity. Too often genetic problems become the excuse for being overweight long before all appropriate avenues and methods have been tried.
Some of the kids featured in Generation XXL are picked on because they're overweight. Are the kids you see often bullied?
'Most of the children we see have had some experience of 'fat-teasing' or bullying. It is linked to self-esteem and we can help children deal with these situations by raising their self-confidence and helping them develop a positive image of themselves that goes beyond their weight.
'It can be very difficult for children who feel they look 'different', and some of the older children in Generation XXL are beginning to be aware how others see them. For example, one boy is 10 years old and at almost six foot is already conscious he and his mate are seen as 'little and large'.
It is sad that children are suffering taunting and bullying from their peers because of the way they look. Who do we point the finger at for their predicament? The kids themselves, the parents, their school? Some of the responsibility does indeed lie with the parents, many of those shown in the first episode were also overweight and were unintentinally teaching the children bad habits. Parents claimed not to be feeding their kids poor food, yet large bottles of lucozade, multi packs of crisps, huge amounts of rice, fried foods, take aways, popcorn and other low quality food was seen! What about the freedom that the food manufacturers and supermarkets have been provided to market their foods and make claims that are not supported or proven through suitable scientific research. Both parents and children have been subjected to this.
What are the ways of treating childhood obesity? Is it about adjusting diet, getting them to do more exercise, or tackling the psychological aspects?
'What we're ultimately working towards, when we work with families, is getting them to eat a healthy, balanced diet, and do a sufficient amount of physical activity (it is recommended that children engage in moderate to vigorous physical activity for at least an hour every day, and this requirement may be more for children who are obese).
'Sometimes people will come who already eat a healthy diet but don't do enough exercise, or vice versa, so it's about tailoring it to the individual needs in each case.
'The psychological side of it cannot be ignored. The parents of these children will have habits they've developed over 30 or 40 years and we need to work with them to change those habits. That's obviously going to take time. And the whole approach has to involve the parents, and the wider family as well.'
The real answer to overcoming obesity in either adults or children is much more than just eating a 'balanced' diet and running about a bit more. Until we get back to traditional, unprocessed, nutrient dense foods we will continue to struggle with widespread obesity and health problems. Whilst marketing freedom and government influence allows continued production of garbage food to be sold on mass often at great convenience to the public the change to natural foods across the whole population will be difficult.