Surprised at numbers of overweight adults - surely more needs to be done?

[OrangeSunset]

Fully prepared for this to be fairly controversial but here goes.

We’re on holiday in the South West. I am honestly shocked at the numbers of overweight adults on the beach today. I’d say at least 50% were overweight, across all age ranges. Really it was more like 70%. DH and I are ok but being harsh I’d say we could/should each lose 5kg and be more lean. It’s just miserable and I was shocked - even more so when you see overweight kids too as we all know that sets them up for a lifetime of weight issues.

I’m not sure what my point is, other than to say that Boris cutting some adverts just isn’t good enough. The prevalence of shit food is condemning people to an unhealthy life with medical issues and challenges that us as humans just shouldn’t be subjecting ourselves to.

How do we break this cycle? Anyone who points it is out is seen as judgemental but it’s gone beyond the point of individual choice surely - it doesn’t work and is ruining people’s lives and perpetuating the cycle.

The problem with the way the medical system treats the obese is, it is largely based on assumptions and treating us as a homogeneous group. I am obese and insanely fertile, always have been, im in my 30s and fell pregnant 2 weeks after a contraceptive removal. never had high BP with any pregnancy, never had GD. ignoring individual science and treating people like numbers helps noone, not the patients and not the medical professionals to become better, more effective medical professionals.

We have completely normalised shit food in this country. The fact that you walk into a shop and struggle to find a bottle of water amongst the Monster and chemical laden fizzy drinks tells you everything.
I have a Onestop garage opposite my house. You can not but anything in there that has nutritional value. In Germany if you walk into a convenience store there is loads of fresh produce on offer.
Where I live you can't have any takeaway that is fresh, light and healthy. It all feels so stodgy. We went to a restaurant last week and the only non-carb/fat laden option was a dull caeser salad.
It is hard and expensive to feed a family of 6 a healthy, balanced and varied diet. It also takes a lot of time in planning and prep.

I certainly wouldn't wring my hands over their "faces distorted with fat" or pretend I was concerned about the health of complete strangers. I'm sure if they were all slim and "healthy" no one would give a shit.

Well, this thread is about how being overweight damages people’s health and possible solutions to the problem. So if somebody slim and healthy (why the inverted commas around ‘healthy’?) has the odd calorific food and drink binge, it’s not a big deal.

It is a big deal for somebody’s health if they are already obese and are becoming more so by regularly eating and drinking massive quantities.

It’s not just health either. Do you think it’s a good thing that the young women I described are obese? Do you think it’s good that they have multiple chins and fat cheeks? Do you think that they are happy as they are? I bet that they are not, but they haven’t been taught normal healthy eating and self-control by their parents, which unless they find the strength to sort the problem out for themselves condemns them to being overlooked for career opportunities- because that definitely happens to obese people - and to being considered less attractive by potential partners, because that definitely happens too. As a PP says, who would wish that on anybody? I find that sad.

Unless you like other women to be obese? Perhaps to make yourself feel better?

@PasstheBucket89

The problem with the way the medical system treats the obese is, it is largely based on assumptions and treating us as a homogeneous group. I am obese and insanely fertile, always have been, im in my 30s and fell pregnant 2 weeks after a contraceptive removal. never had high BP with any pregnancy, never had GD. ignoring individual science and treating people like numbers helps noone, not the patients and not the medical professionals to become better, more effective medical professionals.

It's probably based more on statistics than assumptions to be fair.

The NHS deals with roughly over 1 million patients every 36 hours, so they can't tailor it to every individual.

You took a chance with your health and the health of your baby and it worked out ok thankfully but not everyone is as lucky.

"Unless you like other women to be obese? Perhaps to make yourself feel better?"

Why are you so scathing about other (obese) women? Why is it their duty to be attractive to anybody? Who are you to dictate who is and isn't happy with themselves? How do you know these women (and of course, it's always WOMEN, because it is their obligation to be beautiful for complete strangers) aren't "happy as they are"?

I'm not the one making my contempt for overweight people glaringly obvious; interesting that you only bothered to offer a few platitudes about "health" before writing a paragraph about your REAL issue; their appearance. If anyone is using this thread to make themselves "feel better", it's not me.

And the inverted commas around "healthy", were because a) slim doesn't necessarily equate to healthy, and b) I don't believe you really care about their health anyway. Just as long as they're not taking up too much room on the train home with their KFC.

But everyone who gets pregnant is taking a chance,. A lotcan go wrong, with anyone. This is no. 3, im a bigger this time but ive never been slim, other than Hypermesis, my pregnancies are straightforward no complications, so its obviously not 'luck'.
Im another one who quit smoking and piled on aswell, a lot of ex chain smokers fell similar, something to be said about addictive personalities.

because my parent likes to call me obese and say how ugly I am and how no man will look at me and how my hair is awful.

Is your mother my mother too?

One of the reasons we never go on holiday in the UK is the food. You simply can not get nice, fresh, not deep fried food, unless, of course, you are eating at top restaurant. 'Street food' is simply atrocious in the UK. That is one of the reasons of obesity.

@ChangeOfNameNeeded07 we are on holidays in the Uk now and couldn’t agree more. So fed up of the food. It’s all chips and deep fried crap.
Didn’t feel like going abroad this year so there we are!

is there any truth in obesity being hereditary/ genetic?

Do overweight mothers and fathers produce children that are more susceptible to putting on weight?

I’ve read lots of articles online but there’s not really any answers.

It can be hard to be the child who has to watch everything they eat when your friends can eat whatever they like and not gain weight.

@TooExtraImmatureCheddar

*Ideas for politicians:

Takeaways and restaurants to limit portion sizes*

They are ridiculous, aren’t they? DH and I always share one portion of takeaway.

That’s fish and chips, curries, or pizza; one portion adequately feeds two adults.

Where are you on holiday?

is there any truth in obesity being hereditary/ genetic?

not really. everyone has the potential to be slim or overweight. what is genetic is where the fat is stored mostly.

Do overweight mothers and fathers produce children that are more susceptible to putting on weight?

it's mostly habits tbh.

but there are studies that the opposite could be the case. people who are starved/starving themselves having children who tend to store more fat.

there was a dutch post war study that looked into it.

There is a very small genetic component to obesity, but it gives rise to a variation that would sit comfortably within the BMI scale. Obese parents produce overweight offspring primarily because they have poor eating habits themselves.

Where are all these low fat yogurts that supposedly have more calories than cake? In my fridge I have a variety of yogurts, ranging from fat free Greek yogurt (62 cals per 100g), low fat fruit yogurts (around 110 calories per 150g pot) and full fat Greet yogurt (about 100 calories per 100g). The sugar tax has been extremely successful at reducing the amount of calories consumed through soft drinks, similar action on salt has also been extremely successful. There’s no reason to believe a similar approach wouldn’t work for getting rid of those multipacks of 5 doughnuts for a pound. And for all we like to go on about the marketing budget of Coke, at least the sugar tax sorted them out. No one is going after the local Coop or Costa, are they?

The Dutch post war study is interesting but the starvation conditions are so far removed from normal UK life as to make it largely meaningless.

I found it interesting on the recent AMA thread with the Korean woman - she said that most women aim to weigh 50kg. That’s a pipe dream for here.

@ChangeOfNameNeeded07 In some areas this is definitely true. We had a holiday in Tenby a few years ago and it felt like we were at risk for scurvy after a week!

@PasstheBucket89 but again, it's about statistics not the experience just of individuals. There is an increased risk to pregnancy women who are obese, that's fact. But it doesn't suggest or mean that everyone who falls into that category will be affected, just that it's more likely.

Dorset

It’s interesting about the post war Dutch study. My Mum was one of the children who experienced starvation. I put on weight extremely easily and became obese in my 30s after having my first child. The only way I lost it was by intermittent fasting and if I eat more than 1200 calories a day I put on weight.

On Friday it was £2.30 for a bag of 6 apples in Sainsbury’s, and it was £1 for a 4 pack of whispers/double deckers. It was however entirely my choice to buy the apples and not the chocolate!

The availability of cheap junk food is one of the reasons we have such high levels of obesity. And poor levels of education around food nutrition. Along with snack culture and coffee culture. But the one underpinning factor is personal responsibility.

The government could help by including food nutrition as part of the National Curriculum from early years right the way through. They could also offer discounted rates to food businesses who offer wholesome food not junk (especially take away options) Supermarkets could help by having nice fruit and veg on offer.
Local councils could provide more adult nutrition classes for free etc etc. There is a lot that could be done to tackle it, with the onus being on people taking responsibility themselves.

Do overweight mothers and fathers produce children that are more susceptible to putting on weight?

No but they do pass on eating and exercise / lifestyle habits. While not always the case, if you see overweight children, the parents are often overweight too.

There is a genetic and heritability influence on obesity www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2955913/

But that doesn’t condemn people to a life of obesity, more it means susceptibility to.
You can still enact behaviours that prevent the genetic disposition

Dorset

And you are struggling to find not crap food there without going to an expensive restaurant?

It is almost impossible to eat healthily out of the home in the UK

Every cafe, pub and restaurant loads up their meals with cheap processed carbs - chips, loaded chips, garlic bread, loaded garlic bread, onion rings, bread, pastry, batter, breadcrumbs.

I love going out to eat but more and more it is so hard to find anything to eat that is anywhere near healthy.

I get it, people literally salivate at these foods and it is therefore good for business, but once you tune into how unhealthy it is, the joy is eroded somewhat.

It is almost impossible to eat healthily out of the home in the UK

Genuinely, I don't think it is. There are 'healthy' options on most menus. They are usually an afterthought and often a bit shit, but they're there if people choose to have them.