You are what you eat

Talking of the changing of attitudes, (were we?) I remember a time when our parents would encourage us to eat up all in front of us. First would be "Its good for you" the ploy would change to "you'll never be big and strong if you don't finish your dinner" followed by "There's a child in Africa who would love that" to the ultimate "You will sit there until you do."

There was none of this "You are what you eat" and "Five a day" malarkey. The newspapers were not full of this week its bad for you and next week a new survey will say its good for you. We were given full fat milk at school and a wagon wheel biscuit was not bite sized.

As I remember it almost everyone was skinny. There were a few kids who had a few extra pounds, some even wore a patch over one lens and if you had a purple head who cared. They were not singled out because they were different we just accepted it. We were all fit and active and it happened without a thought.

We did not feel a need to join a Gym.
We played football, rounders or did a bit of skipping to rhymes. 

We did not go to keep fit classes.
We exercised by walking to school and walking home again. We had push bikes for fast transport. 

We did not go to Weight Watchers.
Our parents would give us errands to run and there were always certain chores we had to do.


We did not sit around all day reading fitness magazines. 
We went to the swimming baths or the park for fun. 

We did not text our friends.
We walked round to their homes and had a real conversation. 

We did not sit alone in our bedrooms and play war games on a computer. The only time spent in our bedrooms was when we were asleep.

Later.....