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.

but it is lifestyle food is just constantly there and the snack food is what really makes us put onweight. The hidden sugar and salt in food that seems healthy is often really high

we would have gone out and been to busy to think about food but if we are around it all the time when just a little hungry we will eat, then want more as we they need the sugar and so on

ds is very slim. Because he is (and I was too) when he does not eat I feel I at times I try too hard to encourage him because i am in this mindset we have to each so much a day when really there is nothing wrong in not eating much for a few days

I think portion size plays a huge role - we have a plate rack made by fil 20 years ago and we couldn't fit our 'standard' sized dinner plates on. Likewise, I now weigh my cereal each morning and it barely covers the bottom of the bowl. So we are almost being tricked into eating bigger and bigger meals.

I agree about the learning to cook things too - I cook and bake so know what goes into the things I make, however I have no real idea what Mr Kipling puts into his slices. If I do ever read the label I am generally horrified and renew my home baking... Likewise, I know what I've put in my bolognese sauce or chicken curry but no what Pataks or Dolmio have.

I am delighted our local schools include cooking in their curriculums as children should learn the basics skills. Mine have all made quiches, buns, pasta sauces and similar in primary school and the secondary does "proper" home economics (sewing and cooking) and dd1 starts cooking this term. I know this doesn't mean everyone has too cook or enjoy cooking but at least it starts to give them an idea of what is in the food they eat.

I don't believe kids are even half as active today as they were when I was a kid during the 70's.

We had 3 TV channels
1 TV per house
No Satellite TV
No Xbox
No computers
No mobile phones to sit and play with
Most families had only 1 car (if any at all)

And we played out every single day...unlike lots of kids today.

It's indulgence without awareness of the calorie intake I think, to me that's the cause of the UK gaining weight. In Switzerland you don't tend to find two whole aisles in the supermarket dedicated to multipack choc snacks in hundreds of varieties, and another aisle just of crisps. I used to look forward to the treats when I came home, but a trip around Asda made me feel slightly nauseous the last time I came home, and I ended up only buying some Marmite. And when things are 3 for 2 - well you just don't see that here, apart from offers on bulk pasta. How can that not encourage you to eat more crap?

Also when a takeaway is £60 for two adults (and that's just one main each and rice) you tend to cook from scratch. I stomached one takeaway in the UK, of fish and chips, and it felt so greasy, I felt a bit sad. Had been looking forward to it for months!

Here, it's seen as very crass to be overweight, it shows a lack of self control, and is perceived as slightly irresponsible. And I say this as a size 16, which has been normalized in the UK. Think of M&S celebrating that the average size of the UK woman was 16. Average, not normal. But how many of us let our stomachs out in relief.

I have to pay for my own healthcare, and had to pay extra as I was over my BMI. But I was also given vouchers and discounts to use the gym, so encourage activity. Living here has made me feel like a blob and I'm sorry but coming home does shock me. I've lost 2 stone since I've been here.

There was a thread recently that had the theme that it was cheaper and easier to buy junk food than healthy food. I was quite surprised at how little people knew about healthy food prep and good meal planning.

We went to Florida last year and when we were in the parks and supermarkets we did see a lot of morbidly obese families. However, a good proportion of these were English, not from the US. And even if there are more morbidly obese people in the US, how does that excuse our eating habits and strain on our healthcare? Are we just saying, Oh it's ok, there's always someone fatter than us in the US?

ICBINEG Being obese is not healthy. Of course, nasty comments directed at fat people is not on, but nobody on this thread is doing that. The average size of Brits is up for discussion and there's no reason it should be taboo. If things weren't out in the open, it's too easy to pretend it doesn't exist. That is why I encourage discussion about other supposedly taboo subjects, such as child abuse, drug abuse and the like. The more informed people are, the better equipped we are to integrate further and provide sympathy, support and care to individuals and society as a whole.

It'd be silly to downplay the importance of healthy eating in order to spare the feelings of those with low self esteem and body issues. It will not tackle the problem nor serve to alleviate a person's low opinion of themselves when ignorance on the matter remains high.

I agree. I know quite a few young children who moan if they have to walk anywhere. We never had a car when I was young and ds has got used to walking so does not moan about it.

Oh another difference here is that families exercise together. It's traditional that the whole family goes out for walks and treks each weekend and quite a few evenings.

And kids safely play outside for hours here. It's looked on as quite odd to still be in your pajamas in the house on a Sunday morning.

When buying school uniform for DD was very depressed to see M and S do plus size school uniform.

i am sjre i did but still had to.can not skip and jump in a car which most of use more than we need to and I include myself

I live in France, and while I know there's a huge stereotype about how thin French people are, it's pretty amazing when you go out into the deepest countryside and see how many very overweight people there are.

Even where we live, you can see a huge difference if you go to the park in the centre of town, and the park in the suburbs -- you will definitely see plenty of overweight people in the latter.

In the US as well, I think there's a huge difference between urban/non-urban populations. People in cities tend to be skinnier.

So I think it's slightly unreasonable to make generalisations based purely on nationality, when there is huge variation within countries. That's what we should be looking at more closely. Why do people within the same macro-culture have such different outcomes?

OP YANBU.

I thought the "obesity epidemic" was a myth until we went on holiday in Spain last year. We were astounded by the size of many of the British holiday makers. Seeing kids who can barely walk because of their size, never mind run, was awful. They weren't chubby, they were grossly overweight.

Agree with the posters who say that our perception of "normal" has been distorted. This applies not only to the size of people but also to portion sizes.

Also agree with the poster who commented on the size of contemporary dinner plates. They are at least 1/3 larger than plates from the 1970s (I know because we use 1970s plates )

I visited an old music hall a couple of years ago and saw a poster for the World's Fattest Woman. It was from the early part of C20. She was a good deal smaller than many of the Brits we saw in Spain.

Having a BMI in the 'slightly overweight' category doesn't actually seem to affect people's long-term health, but being obese very much does. There's no point blaming/finger-pointing at individuals as they're just responding to the incentives and culture around them. The key question is, what should we as a society be doing about it?

A few years ago I was the thinnest I have ever been (an easy size 10) and we went on a camping holiday in the pyrenees, ending up in Biarritz. There were hardly any English people there and I felt like a massive 'chief' (loving that new term!) compared to all the beautiful, tanned and skinny european girls. There were no overweight people there at all.

YANBU

just walking down the high street today, so many people are ridiculously fat. what's really sad is that so many teens are fat too - i often see girls who are not 'a bit chubby but healthy looking,' but who look like they have never done any exercise their entire lives.

it's so incredibly easy to overeat these days - i was at Ikea and the portion of meatballs and mash i received was colossal - and i ate most of it (and felt rather sick)

Also, I dont agree that excercise is a red herring, as excercise is not just about the calories you burn in a session.

If someone excercises then ok, they may not burn tonnes of calories while they are excercising. But does happen is:
They build up more muscle which is much more quick and efficient at calorie burning, even when resting.
They raise their overall metabolism, again meaning faster calorie burning even when not excercising.
They feel better about themselves (endorphins!) and perhaps start to see a bit of tone to their body which means that they are much more likely to choose healthier choices in their food.

If someone doesnt up their activity, but just tries to lose weight just by significantly cutting calories, then all that is likely to happen is that they will start feeling deprived and fall off the wagon pretty quickly. Plus, not eating properly does your metabolism no favours and means disaster when you do actually fall off the wagon.

So often you see Weightwatchers/Slimmingworld going on and on about 'points' etc with hardly any emphasis on excercise (after all that is not what they are selling), whereas I think it is much easier to lose weight with a combination of both.

If I think I am getting a bit porky, the first thing I do is up my activity at the gym. If I just try and cut calories, I will just get pissed off with the whole thing and stuff my face with cake!

I haven't been to Lanzarote but as far as I understand it the point of an 'all inclusive' in a beach resort is to eat lots of food and lie around doing not much - I am not surprised in that case it attracts people who may be overweight.

Our last holiday was a mountain bike trip in the French Alps, I was second fatest on that holiday and I'm only just on the borderline of overweight, the others were all super-skinny.

I haven't read the whole thread and apologise if this has been posted before, but according to this BBC article "we" seem to be less able to recognise when our children are overweight. Interestingly the article states that a healthy 10 year olds ribs should be clearly visible.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-12226744

i remeber staying at an all inclusive resort in Italy and amusing myself by watching the behaviour of various nationalities; the French spent all their time on the tennis court, the Germans seemed to like cycling and swimming and the Brits, Italians and Americans slobbed about on the sunloungers

I was on the ferry last week returning to Dover, and there was a couple next to us. Both very fat. No idea of country of origin (she spoke poor English and looked as though she was from Asia / North Africa). They had a toddler who was playing up - needed to be taken for a walk imo. She poured 7up into the cap and kept feeding it to him. He howled when she stopped.

It is not just a UK problem - and it is amazing how quickly it is changing. 20 years ago I went to Australia, and most people seemed to have the body beautiful. From what I read, they have got fatter than the Brits. And someone has commented on the French being fatter - definitely agree that some French people are a lot fatter than they were 10 / 20 years ago. In the early 90s I remember trying to buy a 34E bra in France...the humiliation!!! I was made to feel like an elephant!

We were AI in Tenerife in November, a few Brits gave a loud commentary every day at the pool of what they ate at each meal, and were counting down the minutes until it was time to go and stuff themselves again. They were all visibly overweight, the men were proud of their big bellies. Food seemed to be the main focus of their holiday.
On MN there is a lot of talk about rewarding yourself with bottles of wine, chocolate etc. I think our relationship with food is all wrong. We've got used to cheap plentiful food and don't pay enough attention to what and when we eat.

I have to pay for my own healthcare, and had to pay extra as I was over my BMI.

Cor blimey. I pity the first politician to propose such a thing here.

But I think our Christmas is a good example of why we're so fat. Not only do we have a big traditional dinner, it's also the norm to snack and snack and snack "got your Quality Street in? Kettle chips? Mince pies?" etc.etc.etc. And the expectation is that you spend days slobbed out in front of the TV (maybe with one little walk on Boxing Day). That is the classic British Christmas.

I remember spending Christmas Day in Switzerland once, and the trains were full of families going skiing. Of course, we wouldn't be able to do that here- not only because of the lack of snow, but because of the lack of public transport....

There seems to be a culture of excess in food over here- is it to compensate for our miserable lives, with the longest working hours in Europe, shittest weather etc?

Is it, perhaps, that we have been led by intensive advertising to believe that a culture of snacking and overconsumption is the norm? There's a lot of money to be made in junk food, after all....

I think our binge culture has something to do with it too

We binge on food and drink. I think we would binge on drugs too if they were legal

Our portions have got too big, we don't cook from scratch enough and it's become the norm to snack between meals. When I was a kid NO-ONE ate sweets/crisps whilst watching tv in the evenings and you didn't eat between meals.

Consume too many calories/don't burn enough you will get fat.

I also feel(ducks for cover)that being large shouldn't be celebrated and should make people feel ashamed, you're having more of your share.