Obesity is headline news. Health Secretary Alan Johnson has described
the problem as “the most significant public and personal health challenge facing our society today”.
One in four pre-school children is obese and, with eight out of ten obese children growing into obese adults, things need to change. Too Fat To Toddle focuses on four families with overweight children, to see if this problem can be nipped in the bud before it’s too late.
With the help of Professor Paul Gately and his team of experts from Leeds Metropolitan University, Too Fat To Toddle embarks on a brand new initiative – the first ever fat camp for under fives. At this camp there will be no faddy diets or gimmicky methods of losing weight on offer – just common sense advice about eating less and moving more.
Prof Gately’s studies have shown that obesity is almost always a result of diet and lifestyle and he hopes to teach these families that by working together and making simple changes, they can turn their children’s lives around.
Prof Gately and his team have been running successful weight loss camps for teenagers for eight years. He warns: “Britain is facing an epidemic, which isn’t too strong a statement given that 4.5 million children in the UK are overweight or obese, but still there is no mainstream service for weight loss in children.”
The first child he meets is five-year-old Teighan who already weighs six stone, which is twice the weight she should be, and is being bullied at school because of it.
