Obesity Epidemic!!?

[guevarista]

Look back in hunger: Britain's silent, scandalous epidemic

Evidence is mounting that thousands of children in the UK are not getting enough food to eat – and that, as financial hardship spreads, their numbers are increasing rapidly

Charlie Cooper
Friday, 6 April 2012

Chris is 10. He and his brother are so malnourished that their skins are pale and they have rings under their eyes. Their older brothers have such an unhealthy diet that they have lost their adult teeth. They live in the sixth-richest city in the world – London. The boys are just four among thousands of Britain's hungry children – victims of a "silent epidemic" of malnutrition in the capital and beyond.

Kids Company, which supports 17,000 children in London, has reported a dramatic increase in the number of children coming to its walk-in centres not in search of shelter or safety, but food. The situation is mirrored around the country. In Barnsley, child-support charities are working with parents who struggle to keep cupboards stocked with such staples as milk, bread and pasta. In Bristol, a youth project has gone from offering a place for teenagers to go for advice and support, to a place they go for a basic meal.

FareShare, a charity that redistributes surplus supermarket food, says soup kitchens, hostels and community groups are struggling to meet demand from parents and young people "desperate" for handouts. Since October, 42 per cent of the groups it works with have faced rising demand for food.

Kids Company, founded in 1996 to provide practical, emotional and educational support to London's most vulnerable children, has seen young people reduced to shoplifting, stealing from bins and eating raw meat. Every week, 70 new children visit the charity looking for support and a meal, compared with 30 a week last year.

Many hungry children are from immigrant families whose parents are not eligible to work or claim benefits. But working parents and those on state handouts are also struggling as the cost of living soars and the job market remains stagnant. "We are seeing effectively responsible parents who are just not managing to have food in the house," said Kids Company's founder, Camila Batmanghelidjh. "Children don't have a public voice so they can't tell us."

The problem is perhaps most visible in schools. Kids Company cites five inner London schools where staff say between 70 and 80 per cent of pupils are affected by food insecurity – not always having food at home, nor knowing where the next meal is coming from.

But it is not just in the capital. A poll conducted in February by Netmums, the largest web forum for parents, found that one in five mothers was regularly missing a meal so her children could eat.

Meanwhile, evidence from Trussell Trust, which supports food banks that give meals to 120,000 people nationwide, also suggests that the problem is growing. Its executive chairman, Chris Mould, said there had been a "huge increase" in demand in recent months – and among the hungry were 36,000 children. Even though the service is expanding, the charity is discovering more and more people in food poverty, who increasingly rely on the charity sector. "What we have seen suggests there are thousands of people in this country going hungry – making hard choices between, fuel, warmth, transport and food," he said. "The pressure falls hardest on mothers and children."

For those on the front line, the problem is clear. "It's all down to money," said Charlotte Williams, who runs Station House, a community group providing childcare services in Thurnscoe, near Barnsley. "We are in a perfect storm. Working parents are having their hours cut and many are losing their jobs. Even where incomes are steady, the cost of living – gas, water, clothes – has gone up to the point that people are having to squeeze their food budget to afford other basics. Next week it will get even worse when working tax credits are cut.

"This week we gave out fresh fruit, and parents said this was great – that they hadn't had it for some time.

"Barnsley is a proud place, parents don't want to admit they can't afford food, but when you see their reaction when we have something we can give away, you can tell immediately what the situation is at home. It's the first thing children ask about when they come in the door – do you have any food?"

The School Food Trust, which advises the Government about children's nutrition, said that for "far too many children" a free school lunch was their only proper meal of the day. "Teachers often report children coming to school too hungry to learn, and fears about whether they will eat at all when they get home from school in the evening," a spokeswoman said.

At the same time as demand at front-line food charities is rising, funding for them is running out. In a survey last year, FareShare found that one in three of its client charities had fallen prey to Government funding cuts; two-thirds were cutting food budgets to stay afloat.

The problem of child food poverty is the worst it has been, even in the experience of seasoned youth workers such as Ms Batmanghelidjh.

"A lot of agencies who could help are short of funding and they are having to gatekeep more or refer more," she said. "I have been at street level 21 years, and lack of food in the last year-and-a-half has become a much more widespread problem than we have seen before. I know of a collective of parents who are shoplifting just to feed their kids."

This week, Kids Company is launching its "Plate Pledge" to help tackle food insecurity, hunger and malnutrition among children. To support the appeal, visit www.kidscoplatepledge.org

Additional reporting by Aaron Lee, Olivia Lee and Raziye Akkoc

original article:
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-st...-7622363.html#

[hadabusa]

yes, the problem is they can only afford the cheap food, which is always full of unhealthy ingredients.

[guevarista]

There are kids without food altogether unfortunately, many starving throughout the UK, they have to steal to eat and many families are relying on charities which are being shut down due to government austerity measures.

The obesity thread title was ironic, we are told there is an obesity epidemic here in the UK, and there is among the effluent middle classes, what we are rarely told about is that many kids as young as 4yrs old are going without adequate nutrition, some without food at all in the lower strata of society.

The middle class problems always get way more air time than the issues that affect the massive underclass here in the UK, the post title shows the massive social divide in this country between those who have enough to throw away more food than most developed nations, and those who have nothing.

[mistergreen]

kill the useless eaters is their motto
if you cant kill them outright then starve them to death
welcome to the orwellian world where humans are regarded as pests which need to be exterminated

[warwick]

It is more difficult in cities and for families but the problem is they aren't eating the right things.
Single mothers load up trolleys with crisps and other crap and when the kids go to school to get their free meal it also full of crappy ingriedients.
A bag of potatoes, onions and greens etc is easily affordable.
Poverty is the main factor but ignorance stemming from this is to blame, the parents don't know what to buy or spend their dole on being braught up in a tv marketing junk food world.
Many take the kids to maccyds as a treat when their money comes through.

[guevarista]

Kids Company, which supports 17,000 children in London, has reported a dramatic increase in the number of children coming to its walk-in centres not in search of shelter or safety, but food. The situation is mirrored around the country. In Barnsley, child-support charities are working with parents who struggle to keep cupboards stocked with such staples as milk, bread and pasta. In Bristol, a youth project has gone from offering a place for teenagers to go for advice and support, to a place they go for a basic meal.

FareShare, a charity that redistributes surplus supermarket food, says soup kitchens, hostels and community groups are struggling to meet demand from parents and young people "desperate" for handouts. Since October, 42 per cent of the groups it works with have faced rising demand for food.

Kids Company, founded in 1996 to provide practical, emotional and educational support to London's most vulnerable children, has seen young people reduced to shoplifting, stealing from bins and eating raw meat. Every week, 70 new children visit the charity looking for support and a meal, compared with 30 a week last year.

Many hungry children are from immigrant families whose parents are not eligible to work or claim benefits. But working parents and those on state handouts are also struggling as the cost of living soars and the job market remains stagnant. "We are seeing effectively responsible parents who are just not managing to have food in the house," said Kids Company's founder, Camila Batmanghelidjh. "Children don't have a public voice so they can't tell us."

The problem is perhaps most visible in schools. Kids Company cites five inner London schools where staff say between 70 and 80 per cent of pupils are affected by food insecurity – not always having food at home, nor knowing where the next meal is coming from.

But it is not just in the capital. A poll conducted in February by Netmums, the largest web forum for parents, found that one in five mothers was regularly missing a meal so her children could eat.

from the op.

[noncooperation]

Being fat & the substance fat is one of the big science lies.

When people are so called 'fat' it is actually water. It has very little to do with the quantity of fat you eat.

The real cause is toxins (or what the body sees as toxic), this triggers a reaction for the body to try & 'store' the toxins out-of-the-way of the main running system to protect its self. Celulite is this happening.

This has links with the strength of ones immune system - diet dependant, the weaker your immune system &/or the more toxins in your food & environment, the more likely you are to become fat. (people can also be born with certain weaknesses which can lead to being fat).

[mk_ultra]

The trouble with cheap food is that it's aimed at providing calories, so it's full of carbohydrates and fat. Which is good to stop people starving to death but overall cheap food lacks many vitamins and minerals required to keep the body healthy. Not to mention all the added crap which is put into it to make it cheaper to produce and to last longer.

If you are struggling food-wise or even if you're not you can grow your own vegtables and get some chickens. Even if you don't have a garden I think most councils have some sort of obligation to provide allotments.

Kindest Regards,

Jack

[guevarista]

Originally Posted by mk_ultra

The trouble with cheap food is that it's aimed at providing calories, so it's full of carbohydrates and fat. Which is good to stop people starving to death but overall cheap food lacks many vitamins and minerals required to keep the body healthy. Not to mention all the added crap which is put into it to make it cheaper to produce and to last longer.

If you are struggling food-wise or even if you're not you can grow your own vegtables and get some chickens. Even if you don't have a garden I think most councils have some sort of obligation to provide allotments.

Kindest Regards,

Jack

Thanks for the advice Jack, unfortunately I don't think it is much use to the increased amounts of kids going hungry these days, welcome to your world ladies and gentlemen, this is what "Great" britain has achieved and is exporting to Iraq and Afghanistan

This is one of the Charities working to provide food for the starving children in London and nationwide:
http://www.kidsco.org.uk/

Every day we offer loving care to vulnerable children, many of whom have been neglected or abused. More and more children are coming to us because they are hungry and there just isn’t enough food for them at home. Kids Company provides hot nutritious meals for 2000 children each week and we urgently need your help to continue and expand this vital provision.

85 % of Children at Kids Company say they rely on us for their main meal of the day.
(2011 Kids Company Survey)

Our PLATE PLEDGE appeal will help us to help tackle the increasing levels of food insecurity, hunger and malnutrition experienced by too many children. With your support, our appeal will help us to feed vulnerable and hungry children and raise awareness of the inequality and deprivation that is compounding the misery of maltreatment for thousands of children who are surviving their childhoods alone.
Please watch a short film made by the children and young people of Kids Company and join our appeal now at: www.kidscoplatepledge.org

“We are seeing a lot more children struggling to get hold of food. We’re seeing effectively responsible parents who are just not managing to have food at home. For some children it’s definitely got to the point of being a humanitarian disaster. Every day children come to our street level centres who don’t have anything to eat at home. There is a silent epidemic of hunger and malnutrition. Children don’t have a public voice so they can’t tell us. We have a collective responsibility to change children’s futures for the better”
Camila Batmangelidjh, Founder and C.E.O

[mk_ultra]

Originally Posted by guevarista

Thanks for the advice Jack, unfortunately I don't think it is much use to the increased amounts of kids going hungry these days, welcome to your world ladies and gentlemen, this is what "Great" britain has achieved and is exporting to Iraq and Afghanistan

I think a lot of people in this day and age wouldn't even think about growing their own, if you live in a tower block in a city somewhere the idea of growing your own is probably a very alien one.

Alloments are pretty cheap too, £20-40 for a year normally, seeds are also very cheap and food waste from your own home as well as from willing neibours can be composted to give you good soil to grow from.

You can also get good quailty meat from your local butcher at an excellent price if you use the cheaper cuts. You'll often find the cheaper organically fed cuts of meat from your local butcher will cost less than the poor quailty expensive cuts from the supermarket. Ofal is also very very cheap even from an organic freerange butcher, most supermarkets don't even sell ofal!

People lived for millions of years off the land and it is still possible to do it today, albeit with a little effort. It also teaches kids about nature and provides great time to bond with them.

I certainly think charities would be better off setting up community smallholdings and enabling people to support themselves rather than just handing out tins of food and ready meals. Otherwise you're enforcing the idea that poor people should be living off handouts and perpetuating the wealthfare state.

Kindest Regards,

Jack

[guevarista]

Maybe you could grow enough food to have a crop rotation providing enough for 1 person in some parts of london, but not any of the one's I have seen recently.

Even where I live in the country where it is surrounded by green trees, there is way too much demand for allotments than the council can satisfy, yes people do grow their own to a degree but i don't think you are being realistic for the majority of people

You make it sound like child's play, and perhaps for you life has been, unfortunately it is not really an even playing field, and not everyone has the privilege of an allotment, a garden etc.

Do you live in a sprawling concrete urban metropolis or do you live in a quiet rural hamlet? I live in the latter, but I have experienced living in these cities, it's not as easy as you make out

[mk_ultra]

Originally Posted by guevarista

Maybe you could grow enough food to have a crop rotation providing enough for 1 person in some parts of london, but not any of the one's I have seen recently.

Even where I live in the country where it is surrounded by green trees, there is way too much demand for allotments than the council can satisfy, yes people do grow their own to a degree but i don't think you are being realistic for the majority of people

You make it sound like child's play, and perhaps for you life has been, unfortunately it is not really an even playing field, and not everyone has the privilege of an allotment, a garden etc.

Do you live in a sprawling concrete urban metropolis or do you live in a quiet rural hamlet? I live in the latter, but I have experienced living in these cities, it's not as easy as you make out

Perhaps, I live in a rural area so green areas are in much greater supply. That said I don't grow my own with any necessity as there is plenty of local produce available and I can afford it.

The nearest city to me is Bath and actually there are lots of allotments there, though it does seem that the allotments in Bath have become a past-time for the more well off people rather than a necessity for the poor.

Still, I think it must be possible to set schemes up for urban smallholdings, it would require coordination from local councils, charities and local people. But I think it would be a worth while project, giving local people food, giving unemployed people something to do whilst inbetween jobs and also creating nice green areas within urban areas that the local people can enjoy and be proud of. Every city I have been to there is always plenty of wasteland that could be used.

Maybe we'll come to realise that packing as many people as possible into as smaller area as possible is not a very sustainable way to live. Unfortunately cramming people into cities is exactly what U.N. Agenda 21 proposes!

Kindest Regards,

Jack

[mistergreen]

while the kids starve, lizzie gets her million pound boat

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-17771318

The £1m boat that will the lead the Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant has been launched on the river.

A pageant of more than 1,000 boats involving some 20,000 people will sail down the Thames on 3 June to mark the Queen's 60 years on the throne.

[faustus]

Sugar: The Bitter Truth - YouTube

Sugar: The Bitter Truth - YouTube

Extremely informative presentation looking at the chemistry and history behind why people are getting so fat.

Simple breakdown for those without the patience to educate themselves - the drive towards lowering fat content in the late 70s early 80s is why we have so many with such issues today. The irony is obese!

[unseen4ce]

I think sugar (specifically fructose, obviously not glucose etc) is the cause. I recently quit sugar and my health has improved dramatically. I can eat as much fat or anything else that is not/doesn't contain sugar and will stay at an optimum weight.

I had a chronic condition that has disappeared, I would encourage anyone to try it; it will change your life. There is a book by an Australian author called Sweet Poison that will give all the details, but as the author says "you don't have to buy the book, just quit sugar".

[faustus]

Originally Posted by unseen4ce

I think sugar (specifically fructose, obviously not glucose etc) is the cause. I recently quit sugar and my health has improved dramatically. I can eat as much fat or anything else that is not/doesn't contain sugar and will stay at an optimum weight.

Exactly what the presentation video I posted is about.

Fructose was introduced in such levels to our diets as a response to the demand to lower "fat content" in foods 30 odd years ago.

Take the fat out of food and it tastes like shit. Fat costs money, Fructose (especially from corn syrup) is cheap and extremely sweet.