Do people really not know what to eat?

Except you’ve forgotten the point of that ‘racket’ which is that the majority of WLI users generally would have remained obese without them. WLI mean they can pay and not be obese… the decision isn’t between being slim through willpower and being slim through WLI. The decision is between being slim and taking WLI or being obese.

Unfortunately, a January 2026 Oxford University study published in the British Medical Journal shows that reliance on weight loss injections is not sustainable. The study from 9000 people showed that stopping weight‑loss injections (e.g., Wegovy, Mounjaro) means regain of about 0.8 kg/month—four times faster than those stopping diet/exercise (0.3 kg/month. People in the study often returned to their baseline within 18 months and blood pressure and cholesterol also reverted. This indicates that at a population level without either changing the environment or funding the required support e.g. dieticians, nutritionists, physical support most people unlikely to realise meaningful change. Policy makers just need to listen to the experts and do whats beneficial to the health and wellbeing of the nation. Are we going to keep large swathes of the population permanently on weight loss medication?

Hope ypu like them. My mum used to make them for when we came home from school so it may be nostalgia but my kids scoff them!

I'll give those a go, thanks! My son wouldn't eat them but maybe I'll like them.

I dont think they're in the minority.

I think what no one seems to acknowledge or voice very much is that people like this sort of food. My partner enjoys a bland beige diet. He much prefers something out of a packet. He wont eat fresh cooked, colourful, flavourful food that I cook (and Im an excellent cook), wont eat veg very much unless they're mushy peas and even then most of them get chucked from the plate to the bin, often veg is on his plate as some sort of decoration. He loves things in tins, wont eat my lovely fresh soups for example, wants some rubbish in a tin. Wouldnt eat a fresh pasta or ragu sauce/curry sauce, would want it out of a jar (dolmio or Grossmans)

Theres a processed taste that people like I think. I cant stand it.

Have you tried banana fritters? Mash them, mix in egg and flour until itsca very thick gloopy batter and fry. Quick and tasty! I dont like banana bread!

Of course you’re right that most average inhabitants of Asia and Africa have home cooked diets. I was simply addressing the comment on the ‘poorest people’ as though they were in some kind of dietary bliss. Not deadly malnutrition.

Same.

Gone off bananas just get thrown away because no one will eat banana bread etc so it would just get chucked anyway.

I've got two black bananas I really should make into banana bread but I'm most likely gonna throw it in the bin

I think the ' poorest people' narrative isnt helpful either in Africa or Asia or here is helpful. Yes, there are very poor people in Africa and Asia and there are people here without kitchens and who cant afford flour but they dont have problems solvable by watching a telly programme on UPF's. The majority of people eating bad diets have kitchens. They just need help getting out of a rut and being taught how to cook. There are many people in Africa and Asia who arent starving to death. They traditionally cook with local ingredients, foods that their bodies are developed over generations to deal with. Once they get more affluent and reject traditional foods in return for 'western' foods, marketed to them aggressively by Coca Cola, McDonalds, Unilever etc ( often because they are pushed out of countries with better regulation) it leads to huge increases in diabetes and obesity, far faster than in the West, as the risk of diabetes in Black and Asian populations kicks in at a far, far lower BMI, draining precious resources from those countries. A lot of the time, the 'what about people who dont have kitchens' is used to shut down discussion and is unhelpful.

This doesn't surprise me at all!
The manufacturers of these drugs are laughing. The people who use them have two choices, either keep paying the money every month or suffer the consequences of being obese all your life.
The fast food industry will never stop making highly addictive food-like substances which most of us are unable to resist, and so thanks to them the glp1 manufacturers will never run out of customers.
It's a racket.

I've got two black bananas I really should make into banana bread but I'm most likely gonna throw it in the bin

While an apple or a banana cost the same as a bag of crisps, the bunch of banana's brought because someone couldn't get enough last week is now rotting because they don't want that now. The bag of crisps can sit there for months without going off.

It doesn't make it right, and we should all be making better choices, particularly for children - but it is not quite as black and white as you make out.

Meal planning for some is a skill they never learnt - to cook from scratch you need the ingredients, which takes planning.

UPF's have been designed to be the easiest choice.

Unfortunately, a January 2026 Oxford University study published in the British Medical Journal shows that reliance on weight loss injections is not sustainable. The study from 9000 people showed that stopping weight‑loss injections (e.g., Wegovy, Mounjaro) means regain of about 0.8 kg/month—four times faster than those stopping diet/exercise (0.3 kg/month. People in the study often returned to their baseline within 18 months and blood pressure and cholesterol also reverted. This indicates that at a population level without either changing the environment or funding the required support e.g. dieticians, nutritionists, physical support most people unlikely to realise meaningful change. Policy makers just need to listen to the experts and do whats beneficial to the health and wellbeing of the nation. Are we going to keep large swathes of the population permanently on weight loss medication?

Unfortunately, a January 2026 Oxford University study published in the British Medical Journal shows that reliance on weight loss injections is not sustainable. The study from 9000 people showed that stopping weight‑loss injections (e.g., Wegovy, Mounjaro) means regain of about 0.8 kg/month—four times faster than those stopping diet/exercise (0.3 kg/month. People in the study often returned to their baseline within 18 months and blood pressure and cholesterol also reverted. This indicates that at a population level without either changing the environment or funding the required support e.g. dieticians, nutritionists, physical support most people unlikely to realise meaningful change. Policy makers just need to listen to the experts and do whats beneficial to the health and wellbeing of the nation. Are we going to keep large swathes of the population permanently on weight loss medication?

Relying on individual willpower or mass medical fixes like weight loss injections is not a sustainable solution

Ready access to GLP-1s is probably the most sustainable solution, if we are being totally honest.

I’m not going to judge. We have no idea what else the family is battling. My DH and I work full time, both have MH challenges, I have a chronic illness and one of my two DC is autistic and struggles with lots of things. The load is mostly left to me day to day. I hate cooking and prepping food and the children are increasingly fussy. So it’s the thing that has lapsed. They don’t eat nuggets every night but will have beans and scrambled egg on toast, a fridge buffet and pesto/Passatta pasta much more than is ideal. There would be a lot of pearl clutching at our weekly menu. People like this need support, skills and kindness, not our judgement.

An apple/banana costs the same as a packet of crisps

Indeed. Just a pity apples/bananas are crap and crisps are awesome.

No the poorest people in Asia and Africa are eating 85%+ cereals (rice and things like sorghum/amaranth). The vast majority of deaths due to / linked to Protein Energy Malnutrition are from the very poor in Asia and Africa. 800k under 5s die with it each year.

Dont imagine that the poor in these nations are eating healthy, home cooked meals. They are starving to death without access to anything but the most limited diets.

Watching ‘what not to eat’, and the family they’ve found are just hopeless. Four small children all shovelled full of UPF junk, parents both obese, freely admit to eating crap constantly.

How adults choose to feed themselves is their choice, but to feed four small kids that much junk? It’s bordering on abuse. An apple/banana costs the same as a packet of crisps, jacket potato is one of the cheapest meals you can make, basic porridge oats and milk for breakfast, it’s not difficult to eat whole foods, so why rely on packaged things?

Freely admit I judge those who feed their children this way and truly despair over childhood obesity stats. I work full time, have 4 DC, DH works full time and I volunteer. I’m very time poor and partially disabled, I still feed my kids well and it doesn’t cost me a fortune. Taught myself to cook. There’s no excuse!

But the thrift granny would have bought essentials like cooking equipment ahead of all else. Now people would not prioritise a baking tin ahead of a more desirable item.

It's mostly culture and education.

The poorest people in the Asian & African countries are not eating nuggets and chips