To wonder why we are getting so fat in this country

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I know it's been done before but lately I am really struggling to come to terms with the amount of overweight people there are. I have been really observant of late and can honestly say that even in the last 4 or 5 years people seem to be getting bigger and bigger. Why is this?

I have been to two different European cities in the last few weeks and can honestly say I struggled to find an overweight person walking about, I stayed in both cities for 3 days and got around a fair bit and really kept my eyes peeled and bar the odd person who might also have been travelling, I just couldn't see what I see in this country.

One interesting thing I noticed was the supermarkets and how different they are to ours. The fruit and vegetable sections are double in size in a supermarket smaller than ours over here. There are massive sections on fresh meat, fish, cheese etc and I couldn't find a "ready meal" or pre-packed sandwich anywhere. Crisps, biscuits are all very limited with limited flavours and styles and when you stand behind people in queues and observe their trolleys it's a completely different scenario to what you see in a local supermarket here.

I know a lot of people will come on and say there are plenty of overweight French, Italians, Spanish etc but I think this is delusional. I spent two weeks in Spain in the summer and was about 11 stone at 5' 7" so not exactly twiggy but felt huge in comparison to the European women and both myself and my friends really noticed that if there was an overweight woman/man/family about they were generally English.

I personally find it quite worrying.

That was mean to be

Megan SW would be my recommendation personally. Good luck with whatever you choose!

Thanks. I am going to look on their webiste. You have inspired me!

We moved to the US a few months ago and even though we're living in a 'nice' area (read - lots of shops with organic produce and kale crisps..), eating healthily is proving to be really really expensive. If you want to eat junk and get fat, it's easy to do so, but if you want to eat lots of good fruit and veg, decent quality meat etc., it's really pricey.

So I'm not surprised at all by how many people here are huge: it's easier, quicker and cheaper.

And I think the UK is going the same way. If you're struggling to pay rent, why would you spend lots of money on healthy food, when you can buy a deep pan pizza for a couple of quid?

Pretty scary though if you look at all the health implications of being overweight over the course of a lifetime...

I wish MissNJE hadn't posted about Brussels. I am now obsessing about their amazing chips that you get in a cone with a choice of around 10 different flavours of mayonnaise - YUM.

probably not helpful for this particular thread .....

Whatchgonna And I think the UK is going the same way. If you're struggling to pay rent, why would you spend lots of money on healthy food, when you can buy a deep pan pizza for a couple of quid?

That's it in a nutshell

Life is too short, live and let live. I am not thin nor am I extremely fat. If I want to eat crap now and again so be it! Those eople on faddy diets i.e victoria beckham, Madonna, Gilian Mackeith always look so miserable

Plus its easier to be overweight than it used to be. I remember my aunty really struggling to find clothes in a size 20 on the highstreet. She could only shop in Evans in the next town over. Now many highstreet shops have a plus size range, it has become more mainstream to be overweight. Even M&S have childrens plus size ranges now.

I know the plus size ranges are there to meet the need of an already larger population (people didn't become fat simply so they could wear the plus size range clothes I know!) but I think there is a side effect of it normalising being overweight and if fashionable clothes are more accessible it removes one of the motivating factors to lose weight (or to try to stop gaining any more weight).

The lower class= overweight link is becasue cheap, bulk food is often the worst.

people with more money can afford to eat better, poor people have to eat what shit they can afford, I know thats overly simplistic but its a large part of it.

It is fascinating in an awful way, how obvious it all is and yet we all seem incapable of doing anything about it.

I don't want to be insensitive but I've just spent a small fortune on my supermarket shop - lots of fresh fish, free-range chicken, organic veg. I could have slashed that amount in half if not more if I had bought crap? How the hell anyone on a low income eats healthily on a permanent basis I will never know

I'm told to get rid of the fat properly, your body needs to become a fat burner and not a fat storer. You can essentially do this through a healthy low GI diet and keeping your blood sugar levels constant, avoiding the stress caused by processed food, white wheat products, sugar etc.

I think we normalise things, people get used to seeing fat people and slowly we start to see their weight as OK.

Possibly associated with the increase in immune system disorders, and not part of the cause, but part of the problem. Lots of immune system disorders are increasing and obesity - appetite control - all sensitively linked with immune disorders.

What I mean is - it's unfashionable, but it might not actually be people's "fault", not just a case of obese becoming normal, or laziness or greed. Obviously they are factors but I think there seems a good case for investigating the idea that it's part of the autoimmune epidemic.

Interesting what you say about immune disorders Brycie. I've never been thin, was probably 11stone odd for years at a tad over 5'9". However, I realised I'd put on a stone after my second child and was having trouble shifting it. I eat too much, but well. Should probably eat two thirds of what I do! Anyway, I discovered I had an under active thyroid and was put on 200mg of thyroxin a day. Over the next couple of months I lost the extra stone. Then over the next year it came bag again!
So, although I've no doubt that my immune disorder makes it harder to lose weight, I still think in my case it's age, too little exercise and thinking an entire mango followed by half a pound of grapes is a reasonable snack.

but I think it's more than thyroid. Something about mast cells in the intestine? (or summink or nuffink - obviously I don't know much about it but I did read an article on it a while ago) Anyway it could be that whatever is triggering the autoimmune epidemic is also triggering the obesity epidemic.

So drugs which tackle immune response like anti-allergy medications could help. Do you know, I am actually burbling now but this was the general idea. So I don't really buy the lower class, fat, greedy lazy thing.

I do not eat much, move around a lot, worry a lot and I'm thin. I'm sure it isn't coincidence.

By the way I'm not overweight, I've always been a bit under, so I'm not looking for excuses to eat more pie.

See how does worry and stress make one keep weight off, unless it suppresses your appetite? That's not exercise. It's all in the hormones (Adrenaline ..d increases metabolism.. helps fat cells to release energy. Cortisol helps your body become even more effective at producing glucose from proteins, and is designed to help quickly increase the body?s energy in times of stress.) and the hormones are all tied up with your immune system.

Actually some people are starting to think too much modern day stress -> too much cortisol -> weight gain.

Most European countries don't rely as much on ready meals and snack foods.

What a sweeping statement!

Crapola - I live here.

You should take a trip round a supermarket next time you are "in Europe"....

True though, no near anywhere as many obese people..

Even if Europeans don't have so much reaady meals their dc are still weaned on chocolate spread in Italy and cake for breakfast in France... I don't think it's as simple as diet.

Suburb - I have been to supermarkets - that was mentioned in my first post.

To all those yawning or asking why I care - do none of you read the reports on what overweight and obesity is costing the nhs and what the predictions are for the future? That's quite shocking if you don't and truly dont care...predictions on NHS costs for the future if we carry on in this vein are staggering. Why would I not be worried? Everyone should be worried - where is this money going to come from? I would have hoped that the population understood simple economics and took some responsibility to ensure there were suitable resources for all....that's what I struggle with...

Interesting that whenever I open or read a poverty/thrifty type thread or watch tv programmes on thriftiness in this cuurent climate all the advice for feeding families cheaply have no mention of processed or junk food so the "cheap" argument doesn't really hold true does it.

Long work hours therefore less cooking time and possibly less sleep know to affect weight.

Darker earlier evenings - harder to play outside and get up and excersie.

Cheaper junk food than fresh and people being afraid or lacking knowledge of cooking. I can buy a piazza for 99p but to make my own with home made vegetable source and veg on tops and own bread base ? costs way more.

Poor culture around food ? eating everything on plate ? a result of world war rationing laws ? it was a crime to leave food uneaten and that?s followed down into the DC of that generation who pass it on to their DC and DGC.

Cultural norms - more over weight people less you notice it and the more acceptable it is.

TBH its a combination of factors - and some people have the genetics that mean they will never be over weight - so unlikley a population of any country will be 100 % obsese - think there was something in press a while back about USA getting near the limit - so the number of obese wasn't rising or rising as fast.

Oh - some very common medicines are known to increase weight gain - anti histamines and ironically some of the insulin substitutes used to treat diabetes.

I am originally from the Netherlands, and while people there are generally much much slimmer than in the UK they eat lots of bread with cheese and chocolate sprinkles and they like biscuits and cakes with lots of butter. Less variety of biscuits and cakes than in the UK. Absolutely not. 36 different varieties of liquorice anyone? Ever been in a vlaaien shop? A 'vlaai' is a single type of cake and it comes in this many varieties.

But the Dutch are active. They use their bicycle as an ordinary form of transport for journeys up to about 5 miles, children walk and cycle to school, PE lessons are multiple times a week, children as a matter of course play sports at the weekend and after school, families walk on Sundays and go for bike rides just for fun. Lots of fruit is eaten and fruit and veg portion sizes are larger.