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.

There have been plenty of people mentioning children of previous generations having much higher activity levels.

No child from the 60s or 70s would have wanted to sit inside playing games on computers or X-boxes as they would have got too cold. The only way to keep warm was to keep active.

I grew up in a freezing house by today's standards,where ice on the bedroom window was common in the winter. The downstairs living room would be warm and the kitchen if there was any cooking but the rest brrrrrrrr.

I think the introduction of central heating,night storage heaters etc has had quite an impact.
I wonder how many calories are burnt trying to keep warm in a cold house?

You make a good point there, doom, about cold houses. I also suspect the prevalence of smoking (for adults, obv) kept people's weight down in the '40s to '90s.

... Hmm, is that an excuse for not giving up?

Mind you, the icy houses of my childhood have left me with a fierce hatred of cold! It wasn't all jolly games in woolly gloves.

Getting dressed & undressed in bed. Don't miss that. Or the chilblains.

Yes,I remember too. I don't like being cold but can put up with it better than some youngsters (DCs), don't like being too hot either!

Also I remember there was an hour or two of kids tv in afternoon. Once it was over, or Rentaghost came on, me and DB would drift out the garden bored, and dig something....or go and see who was out on the street.

If my ds asks to put some CBBC on and I am getting on with a few things, it's amazing how quickly time goes. It's on all day!!! He's an active lad, but even he gets sucked in, it's easy to sit for an afternoon.

I avoid even turning it on, or record the program he says he likes, so he can just watch that. Setting the sleep timer is another way to avoid falling into the vacuum.

Check where you are compared to the rest f the world (and weep...)

www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-18770328

We were allowed to watch Jackanory and Blue Peter and that was it. No leeway at all. Different times ....

Thunder. I don't really understand how it can be a caveman diet if you eat olive oil, mars bars etc although i realise you said that the mars bar was an occasional thing. Were you the one who was saying that cadburys chocolate is all wrong as it has too much dairy in it? Sorry its hard to scroll back on my phone.

Why are people on this caveman diet allowed milk? Its sounding not really caveman at all but just a diet which has no processed food in it. (and added the caveman thing to make it marketable rather than just saying don't eat processed food because you couldn't really make a business out of that could you)

Actually if you can't tolerate dairy how do you eat mars bars?

As for the fire thing i assume you mean they might have cooked the parsnip but from what i can tell they ate mostly raw food.

I agree that its good not to eat too much processed food and probably don't eat that much compared to some but i don't need to put a name to that. I hate gimmicky diets (as you might have noticed )

I do think you sound like you have demonised butter (well you say you are aposed to it) and Im guessing that's because you are intolerant was it? But i don't think that means its bad for people in general, in moderation anyway.

It sort of sounds as though you've made the choice or whatever not to eat it and so don't think others should either. It doesn't make sense to say its not necessary and so people shouldn't eat it, because you could say that about any food on the planet.

Im not an expert but i can't see that its that much worse than olive oil, they're both fats.

Personally i prefer olive oil, its yum.

Oh and savoury popcorn is the best!

"Im not an expert but i can't see that its that much worse than olive oil, they're both fats. "

once olive oil is cooked it becomes one of the "bad fats" anyway, its only healthy as a drizzle/un-heated!

butter isn't all that bad, IMO a small amt of butter is better than heavily processed spreads, for a start you use less anyway as it has more flavour!

The cooking with olive oil is just another one of the silly diet misconceptions, like how lots of dried fruit is an awesomely healthy snack (graze boxes ) - it's still sugar!! it has other nutrients in it too, but it's not the same as non dehydrated fruit as you eat way more of it without feeling full!

once olive oil is cooked it becomes one of the "bad fats" anyway, its only healthy as a drizzle/un-heated!

Really?!

(goes off to eat first ever graze box )

meat and potato being staple foods the world over - is that really what people in the Uk think?

Well potatoes aren't are they.

Aren't there also a place or two that are pretty much vegetarian?

fuckadoddle -yes china (just slightly bigger than europe so does it count as 30 places or so?) was pretty much veggie -but not for ethical reasons just the fact it cost so much - that though is now changing and they are developing a western diet with delight, give it 20 years and they will be quite a different nation in the cities.

I'd like my holiday to papua new guiinea now. i wonder if i'd be able to buy clothes that fitted particularly well there!

Help -it was a genuine question i wasn't being sarcastic, I do get the feeling that people think meat on there plate makes a meal otherwise it is a snack

Papua new guinea - they still cannibal?

Ivy. Well i still think it counts as one place [shrugs]

I thought that was a meaty place actually, my dh went there with work and was taken out to dinner and offered all sorts of meats.

I take it your dh was in one of the cities? I went a few years back and had I think 10 meals in three weeks - didn't eat meat out of the cities.

It was the fact it is a very large country with the second largest population in the world - the largest population is in India where a large proportion are vegetarian.

We werent not allowed to watch telly, but there wasnt much on. Agree about the cold houses, although we used to drag our duvets off the beds on saturday mornings and make the living room into a massive bed to watch tv!

Look, Northern Europe used the fat available-butter or lard/dripping.

Southern Europe used olive oil.

Now,if anyone knows some biology-'Fat burns in the fire of carbohydrate'.

Going back to central heating.

INNTW Duvets! You are a youngster are you talking about the 70s? or 60s?

Totally agree about kid's menus. When DS and I eat at the diner here I order him a salad instead of the fries that come with each main thing. The waitstaff is used to us now, but they used to carry on like it was a miracle to see a child eat a bit of lettuce and tomato. Similarly people were shocked that we would walk a mile to swimming lessons, the grocery store, etc. I am one of the few Americans who walks everywhere; haven't got a license!

DS isn't overweight, but I am :( I'm also pregnant, and am determined to shift the weight after the baby comes.

The 80's! Were duvets even invented in the 60's?

There's a great story Billy Connolly tells about duvets in the Gorbals, hilarious.

Ivy. Yeah i thought a lot were vegetarian in India but my knowledge and geography is embarrassingly crap so didn't want to say that in case i was wrong and made a dick of myself