To think 'big food' industry is to blame for the obesity epidemic, not individuals?

[aintnothinbutagstring]

When I read on MN, and when I talk to people IRL, there's an underlying attitude to obesity that it is all down to willpower, or lack of, and individual choice over whether to be fat or thin. If we all tried a little harder and were disciplined, everyone could be their ideal weight.

I recently got on to reading some books on processed food, they are not new concepts, the ideas have been around a while. Lots of scientists and MDs from the US, where the obesity epidemic is a little further down the road than in the UK, have written about the addictive nature of processed food, books such as 'Wheat Belly', 'The Dorito Effect', Robert Lustig has done many talks on it. In the UK, Joanna Blythman has wrote quite a bit on the UK food industry.

Some have linked processed food to activating dopamine receptors in the brain so it works like other addictions. Yet cannot escape it once we walk into a supermarket, most of what is for sale there is very highly processed food. It's all sugar, salt, wheat, the bad fats (processed oils like rapeseed, not natural fats which are healthy). Flavours created by amazing scientists so you'd rather eat the flavour chemicals than the actual food.

Yet we are telling obese people, some of whom may be using food addiction to deal with past trauma, lifestyle stress etc, 'it is your choice, what you eat, you need to try harder, have more self respect, more willpower'.

I see obese people now as 'you are a victim of 'big food', the companies (only a handful of global billion pound companies) that produce and cleverly advertise and use supermarkets to sell this highly refined, highly addictive processed food'. If they were educated and told it's not their fault, they might decide they don't want to play the 'big food' game anymore.

[sirfredfredgeorge]

No. There is no simple single cause, over-simplifying it to blame any individual thing is misguided and does nothing to solve underlying issues, particularly as the way to lose weight and mitigate the various metabolic disorders are going to be different to the methods to prevent healthy individuals developing them.

[Harriedharriet]

I agree OP. Also notice the cost of processd food is lower than the good stuff. The deck is stacked.

[aintnothinbutagstring]

I don't think the cause I have stated is a simple single cause, it's a huge complex industry, neither have I blamed one ingredient for weight gain, as some diets promote 'low fat', 'low carb'

[StrawberrySquash]

I think that we have made an environment where it's easy to eat lots of food we don't need and food of a type that isn't best for us. Of course we have personal responsibility, but we are all susceptible to the nudges of our environment. Look at how much we eat on Christmas day! Of course that's one day, but my point is we don't just eat what we feel like, everything is influenced.

I would love to see sugar tax money and the like used to subsidise fruit and veg and healthy ready made options. Yes you can eat healthily cheaply, but it is a) a lot of work and b) It won't be as exciting as expensive/unhealthy food. I love carrots and lentils but I don't want to eat just them. A nice fruit snack like a punnet of strawberries costs because it's perishable and unprocessed. Similarly, a Pret salad is more expensive than a sausage roll.

[022828MAN]

Yes junk food is addictive. Just like smoking, alcohol, drugs, sex etc. We have to take responsibility for our own health and own lives as adults.
I'd like to see better nutrition education and food tech as a mandatory class for all children and teens.
But the bottom line is we control what we shove in our face.

[Ylvamoon]

I fully agree, obesity has a lot to do with the accessible, highly processed convenience foods and the luck of time and energy to cook "less processed foods".
Yet, from my own experience, cutting out all the processed crap will actually make you feel more energetic and just oveall so much better!
And here is a strange thing, it's actually cheaper or costs the same as a shopping basket full of convenience. (Based on a veggie diet, because let's face it unprocessed meat is expensive.)

[Pipandmum]

People have free will, and I don't believe they can not make the choice to eat one way or another. Yes food full of fat and sugar are yummy and somewhat addictive, but no one is forcing you to buy and consume it.
People do have a genetic predisposition to be heavier or slimmer. But not obese or healthy weight. Some people can eat more than others and be slimmer. That's just life. But it's the choices one makes - it may be harder for one person to resist than another, but that's not an excuse, and blaming food companies is just avoiding personal accountability. I'm not saying it's easy- I'm overweight myself - but I acknowledge it's my problem, not anyone else's.

[aintnothinbutagstring]

Well it will cost us all, whether you're thin or fat, through increased healthcare burden. So perhaps if we were less divisive and judgemental of individuals, and put more pressure on these huge companies, we won't be facing healthcare collapse in just some few years.

[StrawberrySquash]

But the treat stuff costs. A punnet of soft fruit, a bag peas in the pod, £2 ish. For that I can have half a dozen bags of crisps or a large bar of chocolate. And the chocolate will fill me up in a way they won't. I'll still need to but some more healthy food to fill me up.

[Reluctantbettlynch]

Actually, I think not having proper meals made from scratch with fresh produce is a major issue. Processed shit doesn't help. However, we live in a society where there isn't usually someone at home to do this, we are short of time and we are more likely to convenience shop.
There isn't one answer for everyone, but the above is a huge contributor imo. In my case it's an emotional issue from childhood and I don't think I will ever beat it now. All I know is that when I am happy I lose weight, not loads, but some; when I am unhappy or get upset the opposite happens.

[Bluntness100]

No because you remove personal responsibility. We have personal responsibly over what we eat, what we drink, if we smoke, and how much we do it. No one puts it in our hands.

There are many complex reasons people have addictions but it is not simply down to the fact you can buy it.

[WorraLiberty]

Nope, as easy as it is to blame industry it's down to the individual.

Almost every single overweight/obese person I know, whose eating habits I've witnessed for any length of time, eats too much food and takes too little exercise.

It really is more about large portion sizes and constantly eating/drinking and that is down to the individual.

You only have to look at some of the food threads on here to see how much food people are packing into their 6 months+ children in one setting. By the time they're 6 or 7 years old, many kids are being fed adult sized portions by their parents.

[AgeLikeWine]

YABU.

I have been obese, and I am now a healthy weight. I know from lived experience that obesity is a choice. You, and you alone are responsible for what you choose to put in your mouth. Seeking to deflect blame onto others for your dietary choices indicates a refusal to accept adult personal responsibility.

[WorraLiberty]

I meant to add and many of those parents who've packed too much food into their kid's stomachs, will blame their weight on having 'pudding' once a day for the five days they have a school dinner that week.

Again, rather than taking personal responsibility.

[blackcat86]

I think it's certainly part of the problem but perhaps not solely responsible. The chemically addictive nature of things like cola for example is certainly a problem but so is people getting used to food that comes wrapped in plastic, convenience meals, not really knowing where food comes from because they dont have room or time for an allotment and they dont really understand farming processes (or choose to just not think about it), a lack of understanding of nutrition, and a lot of emotional issues linked to food. A lack of exercise is also a huge part of the whole issues as our lifestyle factors like eating in front of the tv TV rather than mindfully.

[aintnothinbutagstring]

I'm not really just talking about the typical cookies, cakes, chocolate, fizzy drinks. I mean pretty much everything you buy in a supermarket, even the things that look healthy are incredibly processed. The wholemeal bread, the 'healthy granola'. Pre cut fruit and veg in bags has been sprayed with preservatives that don't have to be listed on the ingredient labels. We have a thing called 'clean labelling' to make bad things sound good. We are told to avoid to avoid saturated fat when we should be avoiding sugar and refined carbohydrates, and refined omega 6 oils which are literally in everything.

[WorraLiberty]

@aintnothinbutagstring

I'm not really just talking about the typical cookies, cakes, chocolate, fizzy drinks. I mean pretty much everything you buy in a supermarket, even the things that look healthy are incredibly processed. The wholemeal bread, the 'healthy granola'. Pre cut fruit and veg in bags has been sprayed with preservatives that don't have to be listed on the ingredient labels. We have a thing called 'clean labelling' to make bad things sound good. We are told to avoid to avoid saturated fat when we should be avoiding sugar and refined carbohydrates, and refined omega 6 oils which are literally in everything.

None of that is going to make you fat if you don't overeat it though.

This is the thing a lot of people have trouble seeing. They compare the size of their meal with the people around them, who are very often overeating too.

[Ylvamoon]

if we were less divisive and judgemental of individuals, and put more pressure on these huge companies

And how are you proposing we do this? I vote with my feet & wallet, I buy very rarely processed or fortified products (if I do, it's a huge treat). You can't get everyone to change habits of a lifetime.
I don't think government intervention is always right. Many people buy certain foods because they know how much it will cost and how to prepare it. As an example, a can of beans in sugar, salt and preservatives non tomato sauce is a staple for many people.Take it away and you create a new crisis of malnutrition, especially for DC from poorer families.

[fallfallfall]

Processed foods are cheap, EASY, and take away our ability to cook the items themselves (it’s rare to know anyone who makes their own crackers or cereal for instance). Food desserts where there are no real grocery stores only shops that stock items with long shelf lives.
And as time goes by a generation that’s not experienced life before boxed Mac and cheese.
Less spare time to shop and cook from scratch due to financial pressure and the restructuring of family groups.
I could go on and on. No I don’t blame industry, I just don’t buy in either.

[022828MAN]

Wholemeal bread and sugar free cereal isn't going to cause obesity though. They're both staples in my house and none of us are fat.

[theendoftheworldasweknowit]

Generally, we all need to take some responsibility for our own actions.

Like financial education though, food education is lacking in schools. I didn't do any home economics - never learned to cook at school, never learned which foods were good/bad, what a normal portion size was... School dinners were hugely unhealthy.

It's taken many years for me to teach myself how to cook, and how to look at food from a nutritional POV rather than just a taste POV.

I'm not blaming anyone other than myself, but more education around food at a younger age might have led me to make some different choices.

[aintnothinbutagstring]

But putting the blame on the individual has so far not worked, we will follow the US in obesity levels and you will all pay for it by increased tax to fix even the damage to slimmer people caused by the shit food we are being sold.

[DarkDarkNight]

I agree to a point. That combination of fat and sugar is known to be addictive. I can also remember I watched a tv show high fructose corn syrup that was pretty scary.

Yes it’s choice, but it’s so much more complex than that. Food which is so bad for us is so freely available and the choice - the sheer amount of types of sweets, biscuits, chocolates and crisps available- is overwhelming. There’s junk food available so easily and so cheaply, things like McDonalds takes a moment to eat and is so calorific. You can grab a burger then still eat your next meal. I also think we’ve just lost all perspective of what normal portions look like.

I’m definitely an emotional eater. I am trying to lose 2-3 stone and I know I will struggle with my weight probably forever. Food is a huge source of comfort for me. If you struggle with food it’s seen as greed, I think there’s more sympathy and understanding these days for other types of addictive behaviour. Overeating is seen as a moral failure.

[bitofasleuth]

Pre-cut fruit and veg in bags

Why do people buy that stuff? It is so much more expensive.

[TinkersRucksack]

I think we've all lost sight of how many calories are in things, it make it easier to justify eating whatever we want whenever we want it