Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Child obesity hits new high
Leaflets plea to save obese junk food addict’s life
MORE children than ever are severely obese when they leave primary school.
Over 10 years the figure has gone up by 16% to 4.2% of Year 6 pupils in England.
Numbers of reception class pupils overweight or obese stayed at 22.4%.
But the rate in badly deprived areas is double that in the least deprived, says the National Child Measurement Programme.
Public Health England’s Eustace De Sousa said: “We owe it to current and future generations to act.”
A JUNK food addict has been banned from takeaway shops after a worried pal distributed leaflets ordering staff not to serve him.
Obese Darren “Dibsy” Mcclintock, 27, weighed more than 30st and was feared to be “eating himself to death”.
His favourite treat was a “parmo”, a deep-fried chicken and cheese dish containing 2,000 calories.
Personal trainer Mike Hind became so concerned that he stepped in to offer free sessions in a bid to help Darren shed the stones and save his life.
His leaflets read: “Save Dibsy. Obesity is killing him. Do not serve this man.” who was last month taken to hospital with a heart scare, said: “As soon as I saw the leaflets saying I was killing myself it hit home massively.
“There is something about seeing it written down that makes you realise exactly what that means… for me this is life or death. I went with him to hand them out and told them I didn’t want to be served there any more.
“I’ve been in denial for too long. The doctors told me straight… act now or you will die. I don’t want to do that to my family, who I love and think the world of me. I have struggled with my weight all my life.
“I have been given this one chance and I’ll to make the most of it.”
Mike, who runs Mas Body Gym in Dibsy’s home town of Middlesbrough, takes on a client free of charge each year in a bid to turn their life around. He said: “I spoke to Dibsy and his mum.
“She began crying and said no parent would want to bury her child. The next few weeks will get diffidibsy, cult but I want him to come to me for support instead of turning to takeaways.”
Kind-hearted Dibsy, who is single and unemployed, is popular on the Pallister Park estate where he lives. He raises thousands of pounds for charity with his own Santa’s grotto every Christmas.
As well as starting gym sessions, he has now swapped his parmos, pizzas, crisps and fizzy drinks for lean meat, veg, rice and potatoes among other things.
National Obesity Forum chairman Tam Fry said: “When someone asks me why North East figures are so high, I can answer them in two syllables… parmo.”