To think most people don't believe their diet will have an impact on their health

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This is just something I have been thinking about recently. There has been so much in the news about the damage sugar is doing to us, the number of people with type 2 diabetes is rising at a huge rate, more and more kids are becoming fat and having their teeth pulled out, etc.

And yet - I get the feeling most people think it's "nanny state rubbish". On mumsnet threads people always say "children need treats". I was talking to a work colleague about sugary drinks and her view was that water is too boring so she was quite happy for her kids to have juice and cordial with every meal and snack.

I am not sure what the solution is - maybe proper food and health education at schools.

Judy I would argue that we are healthier-

Less smoking- improved air quality- less dangerous work- less dangerous material exposure (or asbestos) - better medication (ie statins) better preventative and medical treatment.

Worra- isn't it the non smoking parents over feeding their children because they are eating more though?

My husband eats a pack of biscuits, or a large share bag or a large bag of crisps. I think it's disgusting, it's just not normal behaviour.

He had a difficult childhood and is on spectrum and I think it must be related to that, as it's just bizarre not eating a little bit and saving the rest. He is skinny to, but I just don't agree with gorging like that. Bleurgh.

Do people really believe that half the population doesn't know that if they eat too much and don't exercise they will gain weight? Far too simplistic.

We are fatter than the older generation because we are lazy - we drive everywhere, we have sedentary jobs and we have more 'treats' in our weekly shop

Like Mrs DV I am almost 50 - we didn't have crisps, cake, fizzy pop etc in the house except for birthdays and Christmas (we where poor! our neighbour had pop delivered every week!) we had home made cakes and my standard post school snack was a banana butty

But we ate cheap meat (CJD anyone?) and lots of carbs to bulk it out - the difference for me was we walked everywhere - we didn't have a car - or when we did my mum never used to to nip into town or to the shop - we played out a lot - on our bikes etc, we MOVED

It's not just a case of 'this food is bad...cut out this' it's moderation and making sensible choices - carbs aren't the enemy - we need them to burn fat! but too many are not good for us - ditto sweet things and fatty things!

I think the fact that so many 'treat' foods are now everyday foods isn't good - my kids would live off crisps and chocolate bars if I let them - I don't.

MakingJudySmile
Realised I had to for health reasons (not looks; possibly important fact).

I think that is a highly relevant detail. Health reasons offer long-term (?lifelong) motivation; aesthetic reasons (wanting to lose x lbs for y event) offer superficial, short-term motivation.

It's a complex issue, but essentially a range of lifestyle factors have changed over the last few decades, making it much more difficult to maintain a healthy weight. I think most people are aware of the issues - it's the putting into practice that's difficult. And most people still think diets are the means to achieving weight loss. I think dieting can be incredibly hard and a better, longer lasting, way forward is gradual lifestyle changes.

^Judy I would argue that we are healthier-

Less smoking- improved air quality- less dangerous work- less dangerous material exposure (or asbestos) - better medication (ie statins) better preventative and medical treatment.^

I think I mentioned (differently worded) this things as a reason for living longer. Living linger doesn't really mean healthier though. Not to me anyway.

I don't know stats or official research but I would hazard a guess the average person drinks more and more frequently than the average person did over 50 years ago. Smoking might be less but everything else has increased:

(Non naturally occurring) Sugar in take
Portion size (I believe everything is bigger this days including a standard slice of bread. We'll except, ironically, chocolate bars )
Sedentary life / car use
Convenience food / eating out more

The population appears to be lazier because it's busier.

Greats post Dinosaurs, honest but very insightful of the thought processes of others on this issue.

stealth I think it's been spoken about so much that these ready made sauces etc are not healthy for you, that people can't really honestly say they think they are healthier than making one yourself. Quicker yes, healthier than a macdonalds yes, but actually as good for you as making something fresh, no.

DonutSpeakToMe I think it is now normal. Hence the increased weight of the population.

*one of the reasons for

Very good post ghostyslovesheep

I think it happens frequently for some people but I don't think it's normal, Judy. I don't think a happy and confident mentally healthy person would gorge on whole packs of stuff.

I don't think it's because we are more stupid or lazy than 30 years ago. If you gave our parents twice the amount of food shops all open 7 days a week, mostly until late evening, convenience food and two cars they'd be the same as us.

I see parallels with cars speeding. When petrol and diesel prices were sky high it made no difference that I could tell. When we had the tankers strike and petrol stations had little fuel it was noticeable then that people really had slowed right down.

Availability is key. Which also ties in with poorer areas having less access to fresh goods.

Musket I suspect lots of people do still think that.

stealth if that's the case then it's truly worrying.

revealall
I don't think it's because we are more stupid or lazy than 30 years ago. If you gave our parents twice the amount of food shops all open 7 days a week, mostly until late evening, convenience food and two cars they'd be the same as us.

Completely agree. Plus there have been substantial changes in the workplace, with an increase in sedentary office based jobs, and a decrease in industrial manual jobs. And now there are many more households with more than one working adult, making us time poor and more inclined to make easier (less healthy) food and exercise choices.

When my DC were in reception I was astonished at the number of children who were greeted at the gates with food, like crossing the playground would leave them weak with hunger (even though they'd all had a piece of fruit an hour earlier.). We make cakes and have pudding but I don't subscribe to this idea that we need to eat constantly. I was brought up on ready meals but no one snacked and it just wouldn't occur to me to have crisps and biscuits around the house for people to graze on.

I think you are probably being U if you think you know what "most people" think about anything.

MrsDeVere The obvious thing you want/need is an Aldi or Lidl but in reality any large supermarket, with perhaps the exception of Waitrose is probably better than the Co-op or naicy treaty butchers and delis. But a proper butcher and fruit and veg shop or an Asian or Middle Eastern grocers would be good too. They can be brilliant for fruit, veg, spices and pulses.

But then you have to know what to do with them and have the time/resources. Maybe there could be some education available somewhere too because what often seems to be a big difference between poor people of British origin and those from overseas is ability to cook with cheap ingredients. Even with just a kettle, slow cooker and microwave, it is possible to make all manner of stews, curries etc cheaply and with little fuel.

Someone upthread mentioned that their poor area had an Iceland and a Farm Foods as their 'supermarkets' and blamed them for people choosing shitty processed food.

However, both these shops do sell fresh vegetables, some staple goods like eggs, sandwich meat, bread, milk, beans etc and plain frozen meat and fish, and Farm Foods especially is very cheap, so you can do worse than only having access to these shops.

MrsDeVere glad you liked it! I totally agree with you that driving is important for opportunities- I drive to my gym in the next town along, which sounds bizarre as the first thing I do is jump on a treadmill, but it's a place that I really enjoy, so that adds value. I really think it's local and leisurely journeys that we should reconsider.

The thing is with driving and stuff is that it doesn't really matter how much is available in terms of alternatives, people always seem to revert to the easiest option.

I live (and grew up) in a New Town about 40 miles from London, which has a wonderful cycle/pedestrian network that is entirely seperate from the vehicle networks. I can walk to the town centre in 35 minutes without crossing a single road, cycle the same route in 15, or drive and park up in around 7. Obviously that's not great for your weekly shop, but a bike or walk is fine if you are just going for a bimble round the shops. Because it's "effort" compared to a car, my neighbours consider me completely barking mad. It's such a shame because the route is actually a really nice family friendly walk, with a lot of pond and greenery and interest, but until the wider perceptions of convenience change our actions will remain the same.

Sometimes the mind boggles that it is seen as easier to fight a war to win the rights to dig up dead creatures from 10000s of years ago, refine it, transport it, and chuck it in a vehicle worth £1000+, than it is to put one foot in front of the other!

MrsDeVere I can taste the orange drink you speak of , we called it camping juice because we only got it in the Hols !

We never had crisps or biscuits or chocolate etc in the house when I was a child , a packet of ready salted was an occasional treat brought home from the pub by my Dad . No homemade baking either . Pudding was the odd scoop of ice cream or bananas chopped up with milk or rice pudding out of a tin , but this was a weekend thing . No after school treat either , you had your tea in between playing out , so you would eat whatever was prepared and be back out to play asap, for hours in the summer .
I got fatter when I started secondary school , the school meals back then were atrocious stuff , plus I walked there and back and would spend any money I had on crap , also just aimlessly run around for hours lost its appeal ! But looking back at the photos of me at that time when I thought I was gigantic , I was actually fairly normal sized when looking at teens today , in that I would not look fat now if that makes sense !