The Mail
London, UK
9 June, 2008


Obese at just 18 months, the little girl raised on a diet of chips (fries)

She's only 18 months old, but Courtney Boswell's diet of chips (fries) - and not much else - means she weighs as much as the average four-year-old.

But despite being warned her daughter's future health is at risk, her mother Angela insists the toddler will grow up just fine.

Miss Boswell, 33, said persuading Courtney to eat healthier foods has proved almost impossible.

She said: 'Most of all she loves chips. I ate a lot of chips in chocolate sauce when I was pregnant with her so maybe it comes from that.

'I think she'll be fine when she's older - I'm not worried at all.

'People say she's getting podgy because her tummy sticks out a bit, but it's just a bit of puppy fat and she will grow out of it.'

Courtney, who weighs 2st 2lbs (30lb), or half a stone (7lb) more than the average 18-month-old, will this week feature in Wednesday's ITV1 documentary, Britain's Biggest Babies*.

The toddler, whose diet also occasionally extends to chocolate, crisps, cereal and Coca-Cola, is shown devouring a portion of chips in just under ten minutes.

But her mother insisted that a lack of vegetables is not for lack of trying.

Courtney's mother Angela said she has tried to get her daughter to eat vegetables but she refuses

'I've tried giving her healthy food but she won't eat it,' Miss Boswell said. 'She will eat a bit of what we're having, say spaghetti bolognese, and she had a massive bowl of mashed potato the other day.

'She might have a banana sometimes, or yoghurt, but she won't touch vegetables - she picks them up and throws them.'

Nutritionist Jeanette Jackson said: 'This really is very bad, this poor child.

'She is only 18 months and already she is chronically obese. The foods she is being given lack vitamins and minerals. Her development will be delayed and, if it continues, there is high risk of her getting a chronic illness.'

Catherine Collins, from the British Dietetic Association, added: 'It can take up to seven attempts to get a child to try something new but there are ways of varying this diet and the family should seek advice from their GP.'

But Miss Boswell - who has four other children, including a five-month-old son, Kai, by partner Gary Quinn, 37 - insisted there was nothing wrong with Courtney's diet.

'We don't have any big people in our family,' she said. 'If there were I'd be more concerned, but the other kids have had similar diets and been fine.

'She's a very healthy baby and it's not often she gets ill. She drinks milk and sometimes Coke between her meals but she is very active. All the children get veg, but I can't force them to eat it.'

Around 13.4 per cent of children under ten are now obese - so overweight that it threatens their health - up from 9.9 per cent in 1995.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...diet-chips.html

You see. Far as she's concerned, if genetically her family doesn't tend to fat, it doesn't matter what they eat.

I consider this a side effect of the authorities acting like being fat gives you disease, vs. that fat is simply a concomitant situation with disease and that disease can exist just fine without it.

She can't force her? How can a 18 month child get fries if someone doesn't buy them for her? You can lead a horse to water then wait til it gets thirsty.

This is more about a parent who can't be the adult.

They give her fries and colas? I wonder if the 5 month old is getting soft drinks in his bottle...

Can this girl sue her mom once she becomes a diabetic, obese adult with joint, bone and skeletal problems along with heart disease?

This should be in your sig file.

Some people shouldn't be parents.

That woman needs to be slapped.

I have a mom friend who mentioned to her pediatrician that she thought her toddler needed more fat in her diet and the doctor suggested giving her french fries. It's a sin.

If you provide a child with an assortment of healthy foods, they will eat them. A lot of kids won't eat vegetables, but they will eat fruit and there is not a lot of difference nutritionally between the two, except for the higher sugar content of fruit. My son never ate veggies, but ate strawberries, cherries and grapes. He still doesn't eat veggies, but eats a lot fruit as an adult. He weights 165 lbs at 6'1". There is no excuse for junk food, even with a picky eater.

Now if you asked this woman about what she feeds her kid she'd spout the same thing most parents spout about how they're good parents and it is the child being difficult or how they know best what to do for their kid and how dare anyone question them on it.


Infuriating isn't it?

I think it might be a Ron Reagan quote...

I really would rather see people be tested, registered and licensed to use gametes but let them drive cars and own firearms unsupervised. Within two generations the remaining people would be smart enough to use cars and guns safely.

This is ridiculous. I'm guessing either the mother is not very intelligent, doesn't care of maybe has some sort of an eating problem herself (it's weird because i often see quite obese little children with extremely skinny women - sort of like when some so called 'friends' or 'family' basically try to shove food down your mouth when you're dieting??? ...

The only way to stop the child from eating this junk is for the entire family to stop eating it. The mother sees nothing wrong with it and is going to eat it herself.

It is lazy parenting at its worst. Sad for all of her children. I'm a little shocked at how little the mom seems to care.

I worked in a mall at one point, and I would go to lunch at the "Nature's Table" kiosk in the food court every day. And every day there would be skinny moms getting salads and yogurt but giving a $20 to their kids to go get burgers at the McDonalds.

I'm struggling with the belief in a meat based diet and if I come to a conclusion, I don't think I could think to myself that meat based is good for me, but SAD is just fine for my child.