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.

A big bag of rice doesn't cost a fortune, a bit of garlic, ginger and onion, a few eggs and some frozen peas, some left over meat makes fried rice for six for less than £2.

It's like poundland washing powder, you pay a pound but it only lasts say a week where as if you had £12 to but those huge boxes it lasts forever and you get so much more for your money. Some people just don't have the £12 to spare on washing powder to start with.

froggles I agree & stick with unloved/ uneaten "good" stuff BUT I can afford nice food and a bit of waste, have a supportive partner & a part time job, hobbies, etc. lots of people round here in benefits trap, lone parents, depressing lives so take path of least resistance as I do some days.

There is a brilliant website (for anyone interested) called 'skint foodie', by someone who had depression who ended up living on benefits. He blogs about eating well on a low income.

Sometimes cooking is an utter, utter pain in the arse. Just saying.

(And I speak as someone who made an egg curry and a chickpea/mushroom curry this afternoon, since my last post.)

Agree about the fish-finger quantities. (Food of the gods, IMO. And usually made with sustainably fished pollock too. A highly under-rated foodstuff, the fish-finger.)

Ok 3 eggs 50p local free range, and was costing only part of garlic and ginger. Peas about 50p for half bag. Still less than trying to feed 6 people (only one eats child's portions) on convenience food-and more nutritious IMO.

In my Belgian experience, there are VERY FEW prepared meals/foods on offer in the supermarket - something I despair of when I come home and lust over the amount of curry/thai/chinese etc you can get for a fiver in Sainsbury. I bought a ready made curry and rice the other night at it cost 5 euros. And the freezer compartments seem to consist only of chips/pizza/icecream/frozen fish with a huge space made over the frozen veg. Takeaways are expensive here. A decent takeaway curry for 2 could cost up to 50 euro for 2 with side dishes, so again, people don't have them so often.

Also, people tend to eat a main meal at lunchtime - going on my work colleagues - and don't tend to drink so much.

I think before pontificating about Silly Silly Poor People Who Don't Eat Bananas, it would be worth reading something like this.

I am still fat but I can see the OP's point. When in a branch of Morrissons in Leeds a while back I was shocked by how many extremely overweight there were. You do not see that here.

There is a growing health inequality in the UK. Posh people (and I include myself very much within this group) eat better, exercise more, and are generally in better shape than we used to be. Poor people, the reverse.

During the war our Grandparents lived on rations for years and survived Im sure people could eat well for less now.

sovery - it is definitely the other way round here.

Beef stew made with braising steak is cheap to make and it lasts a couple of days.

I make pasta sauce and bolognase and keep it in batches in the freezer to use as quick meals when Im busy.

Bolognese

Speak for yourself OP. I'm an 8

portion size and thinking you have to eat 3 meals a day when actually some people dont. i am fat, i am losing it through SW not just by cutting out fat but by eating half the amount of food i used to eat. takes time to get used to it but i am not hungry any more and getting to a more reasonable weight.

I think it's a bit fatuous arguing about prices of food. All I needed to do was compare frozen chips with fresh potatoes and couldn't find (online) any potatoes that were cheaper than Iceland. Came close, but couldn't find any for less. Crazy....

But I think this misses the point. Poor people are not avoiding fresh food because it costs a little bit more. I would believe it if homecooked food was a lot more expensive, but it isn't.

For example, poor people smoke more than wealthier counterparts. Of the ones that smoke, they always manage to find the money (I'm including my own parents in this btw - they struggled a lot with money when I was a kid but they always found enough for their 20 a day habit).

Two things: if we were able to have a nap in the afternoon and not use chocolate as a means of keeping us awake at our desks then maybe things would be different. Also, if for half the year it was warm enough that you got in from work and were happy with a tuna salad rather than a casserole with dumplings then all our problems would be solved. When my mum was little she said they would have their main meal at lunch time and then something light like a boiled egg with toast for tea - bring back work canteens I say!

of course its a meal. if you see it was coucous with a lot of vegetables, with feta and corn on the cob

i dont see how a lot of roasted veg (our veggie coucous usally has about 10 veggies in- just leftovers really), with cous cous, some feta cheese, and say 2 corn pieces isnt a meal. THAT is why people are overweight nowdays, because of portion sizes

also yes everyone can cook. i grew up on an awful diet from parents. i looked at books from the library and online now and can work out how to cook almost anything. so what if it isnt perfect, no ones is until they practice

i agree le BFG - you can buy a huge sack of potaoes for about £2 at farmshops. would make about 20 bags of chips

how can people not know how to make wedges? get potato, chop into wedges, add to dish, throw a bit of olive oil on, paprika also if being fancy. let oven cook for 40 mins...

People these day regard fizzy drinks, crisps, chocolate bars as food. To me they aren't really food as such.
Food is meat, fish, dairy, fruit/veg. This other stuff is not food!!