To have come back from Lanzarote feeling geuinely shocked at how fat the British tourists were?

[Illgetmycoat]

I'm not talking slightly plump, I mean seriously, morbidly obese. A whole different race to the German, French and Spanish tourists.

What is going on? When did our country become like this? Whenever you heard a british accent, it would be accompanied by a 3ft wide backside. And whole families, too, all swollen to gargantuan size, with the poor kids unable to put their feet together because of the rolls of fat on their legs.

How has this happened? What the heck are the Brits feeding their children to get them so large? How can you feed an eight year old you love so much food that they become morbidly obese?

It can't just be blamed on poverty, because it's not cheap going to Lanzarote.

I was shocked.

wrong thread sorry

Yes, I remember when those archeologists uncovered those vegetable steamers on a neolithic site.

A quick Google shows they ate eyeballs. Yum

What's a smuggle?

agree with you thunderinmyheart Too much of what we think is good for kids is rubbish. Mash is just plain white carb, pasta is just glue for your gut and peas are carbs, barely vegetables.

My husband grew up in britain in the 60s and he thinks that 'mince and tatties' is healthy but it's really just red meat and carbs with not a huge amount of nutritional value. Ditto corn beef hash, Spag Bol and Shepherds pie. It's great for if you're going to be working doing labour all day but it's hardly top for health. I think the issue is that culturally we consider this to be staple food in Britain so assume it's healthy. Like a roast on a sunday.

Now that we have access to international foods and menus one can see how much healthier other cultures have got it. Don't care if I'm sounding smuggle, I think a lot of the staple traditional diet stinks.

meat and simple carbohydrates are staple foods the world over (though obviously veggie societies don't eat meat).

As as for 'not a huge amount of nutritional value'

Beef contains all three macronutrients, as well as zinc, calcium, magnesium, potassium , riboflavin, niacin, vitamin b, folate and lots of essential fatty acids.

Potatoes contain vitamin c, calcium, iron, vitamin k, vitabin b, folate, selenium and manganese. They also contain some omega fatty acids.

And please, please don't pass on this no carb thing to children, they need carbs way more than adults.

fuckadoodlepoopoo - it's great that you think butter on peas unnecessary. However, a LOT of people think it is necessary.

Caveman food isn't bollocks to me - nor a lot of people out there. In fact it makes perfect sense for MY BODY. You don't like the theory, then don't follow it. All I know is: I don't get a 4pm sugar/energy slump and I'm 10% body fat. Follow whatever lifestyle you want, it's your body, not mine.

Your bpdy doesn't need maltodextrin or whatever else is found in prepackaged foods. Lean meat, fish and vegetables, nuts (plenty of fat in those, but it's healthy and NATURAL fat). Fat isn't scary, but bullshit sugar is.

Google 'paleo diet' if you want to actually find out something about it instead of calling it bollocks. All I know is that I'm not overweight. I'm not saying it's the only method to follow or else you'll end up fat, but, it's one method and it works for me, thanks. Plus, there's no confusion - if there's an ingredient in it that isn't wholly natural, you don't eat it. You can't have dairy on it and that works well for me - I'm lactose intolerant, as are a lot of people.

ethelb - I'm just saying that there are grades of carbs. I think it's better to get carbs from sweet potatoes, not white potatoes or carbs from dark leafy greens.

For me at least, it's about picking nutrient-dense food rather than saying 'oh, naughty food!' - that's the seed of food fetishism.

I'm well aware what you are talking about is the paeleo diet. It is a bunch of marketing shite aimed at the well off and gullible.

Have you ever heard the phrase 'blinded by science'.

Er, but paleo is actually stripping away science. It's tag-line may as well be 'eat natural' - how can you argue with 'eat naturally'?!

Stuff like Dukan or whatever, yes, that's a load of crap.

Eat nutritiously and wholesomely makes sense to me. As I said earlier, I'm 5'7" and used to weigh 82kgs, I now weigh 56kgs and have 10% body fat. You can't argue with the physical truth.

define 'natural'.

It wasn't made in a factory and didn't come off a conveyor belt!

Fresh plain chicken (breast, thigh) with no pre-made sauces/breadcrumb coating etc, fish fillets (can be canned/smoked, but better as fresh), fresh red meat, unsalted nuts (I personally avoid salt), olive oil, eggs, soy milk, full-fat milk if you please, fresh vegetables.

To use a poncey term - anything in the form that 'God' intended. Minimal interference from man e.g. no manufacturer getting in there between harvest/slaughter and adding something else to it.

Would cavemen have eaten sweet potatoes, then? Before turning their noise up at normal potatoes?

Give me a break. Cavemen ate whatever the hell they could get their hands on. If you followed their diet, you'd be sitting around eating the same wooly mammoth for 3 weeks, with a side order of grubby water and maybe some sort of dandelion.

what like potatoes, peas and fish?

Spag bol or a roast don't have to be unhealthy! Depends what you put in them!

Sugar is natural.

BTW if you are a woman, 10% body fat isn't really something to be boasting about. Its actually verging on the unhealthy side...

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_fat_percentage

You should generally have about 20% body fat as a woman, unless you are particularly athletic. Its substantially different for men though who should have a lot less.

I think that often it's not necessarily what people are eating, but HOW it's been prepared. Take the fish finger, as discussed earlier, fish, often cod = great. But why add other things to it? Fish doesn't need salt, it naturally occurs in fish anyway. Why breadcrumbs? Why yeast on it?

Same thing with chocolate - 70% dark chocolate or something I will happily eat. Milk chocolate is usually primarily vegetable fat. You're not even eating chocolate in your chocolate bar! You may as well inject cellulite into your thighs instead. Evidently, vegetable fat allows a greater profit margin. Again, nothing wrong with chocolate, but there is something wrong with how a manufacturer will fuck with it.

Sorry that was to William.

Sorry that was to William.

@thunder we get it you are thin.

But yeasts are pretty 'natural'.

As are vegetable fats.