To wonder why we were a thinner nation before we all knew so much about food.

[Bumblebumble123]

Isn't it funny that in years gone by, people didn't have the knowledge about food they have now. Peoples diets weren't dictated by calories or grams of fat or carbs, they were dictated by hunger. Yet now we have an obesity epidemic.

Is educating people on food counter productive? Would we all be better to scrap the info and start listening to our bodies?

I don't know the answer. I just find it odd that we know more than ever about food yet the nations waistline is getting bigger.

What many people eat at Slimming World is not a healthy diet, it is simply one with less calories.

Agree though that snacking and lack of exercise are the tow big things. Not for everyone though. But if you are constantly snacking it is very easy to eat more calories than you need. It does not matter if those extra calories are of "healthy" food or not.

None of my colleagues or friends are overweight either

I bet you’re all bigger than you would have been as adults in the 1970s.

Absolutely fine to choose to live on a warm house, just that the OP was wondering why as a population we have put on so much weight in the last twenty years or so and I think not burning calories to keep warm is a hidden contributor that many are unaware of or don’t realise makes a difference. When I was growing up we ate two cooked meals a day with puddings but it was all home cooked, we were physically active and our house wasn’t warm in the winter. So in the summer we were happy on less food - more salads and fruit, and in winter we all wanted stews, potatoes and stodgy puddings, but we didn’t pile on the pounds.

bet you’re all bigger than you would have been as adults in the 1970s.

I don't think so. Obviously, I can't speak for friends and colleagues but I weigh less than my mother did in the 70s.

Sedentary lifestyles, processed food (jammed with sugar) and drinking calories. I think all of that contributes.

There is lots of research to show that the average calories consumed is lower than it used to be. But exercise levels have dropped significantly.

I'm also slimmer than my mum was in the 1970s.

What has changed markedly in the last 20 or so years?

Screens/the internet
More cars, so probably less walking
Coffee shops, Greggs and fast food places being everywhere and people using them daily, sometimes more than once
Explosion in chain restaurants and takeaways, again people use them frequently, instead of just for birthdays and other celebrations

I know correlation does not equal causation, but if every factor causes people to gain a little weight, combination of all of them is likely to cause the population as a whole to gain a lot of weight.

YY Bluelone And i wonder how many people frothing about weight voted that way.

More children stand to lose their free school meals now too.

Watch on YouTube ‘ sugar the bitter truth ‘ this helps explore the politics behind the growing girth

growing up in the 70s and 80s we had two cars but rarely used them for trips under 2 miles.

Suburbs have grown & grown though and people live out of towns, but without good public transport links

Public transport requires a walk to the bus or tram spot, this the average bus commuter walks over a mile per day - compared with driving less than 0.25

I didn't realise that difference in walking between using public transport and driving, although it makes sense. I do know that the balance of food in and exercise is very finely balance and that small differences in calories and exercise can make a big difference to weight.

Just to say though, people in the past in the general public often knew very little about what was healthy. So relatives of mine in the fifties used to drink cream thinking it was good for them.

"what is universal credit good for, exactly? It hasn’t made the system “more simple”, it is less accessible unless you have ready access to a computer, and it can’t even be said to be succeeding on its own terms in reducing the incentives to work less.

Two new changes to the benefit will further aggravate the incentives to work less and claim more, by introducing restrictions on which claimants of universal credit will receive two benefits: free school meals and free childcare for children aged two to three. Under the new plans, families on universal credit would have to earn less than £7,400 a year to receive the benefits – but the problem is that in order to recoup the costs of the school meal or childcare they would have to earn an additional £1000, incentivising families to work less or forego promotions rather than face a financial cliff-edge"

I look to the Nederland and wonder why we don’t copy their ways to stay slim

I'm also slimmer than my mum was in the 1970s

Yes, but anecdote doesn’t equal data...

ivy

We'd have to totally change our cycling culture and attitude to cyclists to do that and make the country a lot flatter.

HopeClearwater It was in response to a poster who said I would have been thinner in the 70s than now. That isn't true- the mean weight has gone up in because some people weigh more but it doesn't mean that everyone weighs more. The same is true of exercise.

There's research that shows that we have lost sight of what overweight and obese looks like. Lots of people assume obese means enormous, unable to walk.

I'm overweight at the moment (surgery plus medication) but when I say something about it lots of people will say they don't think I am. Certainly not by 2 stone. We don't know what overweight looks like.

Barbraofseville - what do you think the Dutch did? They had to protest to get the cycle infrastructure

As for flat... have you cycled in Nederland? You know about the wind? No way do we have the wind like they do at least a hill you get to the top and it ends. But for those less hardy you get an electric bike

ivy Apologies, I was being facetious. In the UK, the majority seem to have a patholigal hatred of cyclists and would probably also come up with a long list of reasons why cycling as a mode of transport was incompatible with their lifestyle .

My DH has just made an interesting point, this is the first time in history when it’s the poorest/most poorly educated who are overweight (huge generalisation here of course - there are slim and overweight people throughout society). In the past it was a sign of wealth to be overweight now that’s all turned on its head. The healthy eating message and education isn’t getting through to everyone. Cheap highly processed food is so readily available and is the easiest and most affordable way to feed your family, particularly if you have never been taught how to cook.

Another one who survived a
childhood of sliced Mars Bars! A
slice was basically like having a single chocolate from a box. We had home made food, cooked from scratch, no treats kept in the house but it didn't stop me from comfort eating. I suppose I would've been a lot bigger as a teenager if it had been today.

Food is so emotive - we have to eat (unlike tobacco or alcohol, say). We can't avoid it. People overeat because they've made a link between unhappiness and food. The latter is a temporary fix for the former.

I'm afraid sniffing, bosom-hoiking,
simplistic solutions and judgemental attitudes aren't going to shift the obesity crisis.

I do tend to use smaller than average plates, try to have healthier options around but it is very hard to bring up kids without them constantly being bombarded by nasty, sugary, additive-laden rubbish

DH is 68 To him the 50% figure for ppl who smoked in the "70s is far too low. Much nearer to 75%