To think most people don’t care about healthy eating, exercise, etc

[Notcontent]

We keep hearing about rising obesity levels, diabetes, and how sugary/processed good is responsible for a lot of it, etc.

But it seems to me that most people are completely ignoring those messages - either because they think it’s all nonsense or because they think “oh well, I want to enjoy my food and drink and I don’t really care what happens when I get to 50”.

I completely agree that we need to have treats and enjoy food because that’s what life is all about. But a lot of it is just simple stuff, like having water instead or sugary drinks. Why is that? Yes, I know some people can’t afford healthy food, but most of us do have some choice about what we feed ourselves and our families.

I think there's a fair amount of misinformation about eating from jars and tins on here.

I don't think people get fat from tuna, baked beans or the odd jar of home pride.

There is a horrible irony I suppose in that exercise really really helps mental health issues.

Not if you hate it.

Walking at a good pace is exercise - is this hateful to people? Genuine question as I would have thought it would just be accepted as what one does on a daily basis to get from one point to another, disabilities aside.

I care, but like many others, I prefer the taste of 'bad food'.
I don't like the taste of water, for example so saying 'switch to water' is pointless as I just won't.
Same with switching from white bread/pasta/rice to brown.

I walk everywhere,not a big fan of it but you do what you gotta do.
Aimlessly walking for hours for no other purpose than exercise and to add up the steps? Nope .

I know there are people that love long walks, or going to the gym or various classes or whatever. I think it's great and the fact they enjoy it makes it even better.

I don't.

Hating exercise doesn't mean that the benefits of it are cancelled out. You can hate doing it but still benefit from it.

You can hate eating vegetables too, but that doesn't mean that eating vegetables isn't beneficial.

"There are many simple ingredient shows out there (Jamie, Delia, Nigella)"

I think you and I have different ideas of 'simple'.
I laughed when Jamie brought out a 20-minute meal book. I spend 5 minutes on food prep and the 20 minutes wouldn't include the extra time shopping when shopping to a recipe and the extra washing up.
Yes, I'm lazy and no, I'm not going to change. Healthy quick options would be better for me.

"Hating exercise doesn't mean that the benefits of it are cancelled out. You can hate doing it but still benefit from it.

You can hate eating vegetables too, but that doesn't mean that eating vegetables isn't beneficial"

Yes, but realistically, people don't stick to things they don't enjoy. It's better to find longer-term options.

I think the opposite to the OP. Part of the reason we are overweight is that we care too much. Being 'healthy' takes up so much of our headspace. I know several people who can tell you from memory how many calories are in certain foods or there syn value; and yet long term they're not losing any weight. There stuck in a cycle of binging and purging that is actually way worse for you than not dieting at all.

I agree with ReanimatedSGB s posts. Making food a moral issue and guilt tripping people for their weight/eating habits has been shown to produce the complete opposite outcome than the one we claim to want. But we don't seem to be able to help ourselves. Maybe because it's less about making people feel guilty and more about making ourselves feel better.

At the moment I'm eating more than ever before, with huge amounts of sugar because I've got a newborn and a toddler and I'm getting very little sleep. Sleep deprivation is a huge and growing public health problem that no-one seems to care that much about but the effects on our physical and mental health are huge. But we don't talk about it because it doesn't make us feel morally superior to say we get more sleep than others (in particular poor people).

Yes, but realistically, people don't stick to things they don't enjoy. It's better to find longer-term options. You only need to stick to it long enough for your tastes to change, or until you start to feel the physical benefits of exercise, then it becomes much easier. Many people who have dramatically cut down on sugar, for example, have found that foods they used to enjoy are now too sweet and that fruit is enough when they want something sweet.

But we don't talk about it because it doesn't make us feel morally superior to say we get more sleep than others (in particular poor people).

Agreed. It's like a badge of honour for people to boast about how little they sleep because they have an Important Job and are far too busy for slothful pursuits like rest and sleep.

Who knows, the more you exercise the more you might like it as your body gets fitter! And also exercise comes in hundreds of forms, from dancing to climbing to boxing to rowing etc etc. Its a pretty negative mindset to say you hate all exercise.

I don;t think Jamies 20 minute meals included actually shopping for them...

Yes, but realistically, people don't stick to things they don't enjoy. It's better to find longer-term options.

The longer term option is eating a more healthy diet and excising though, looking for a quick fix solution isn't the answer

Its a pretty negative mindset to say you hate all exercise.

Maybe I am negative...definitely fat and lazy.

"Its a pretty negative mindset to say you hate all exercise."

Well, it's true for some of us.

I have a family member who is pushing 90. His life is dreadful, as much as I adore him, he just got too old. Watching his life and the amount of care he requires I can't help thinking for myself - fuck it, how old do you really want to be?

YANBU OP.
I wonder how much comes from misinformation as well. For instance that fat is bad for you and you should cut out carbs etc.
Also, our culture of exercise is all wrong. Doing an exercise class a couple of times a week or going to the gym (whilst it isn’t bad for you) it doesn’t make up for sitting down all day. You’d actually be better off sitting down less than sticking to a rigid exercise regime. Also, 5 mins daily of simple weight bearing exercise such as squats make the world of difference.
I also believe that the culture of eating well and exercising only for vanity, and not for health doesn’t help. People want to lose weight fast so they look good. If fewer people cared about how they looked and cared more about how they felt I think it would make a difference.

Healthy food is also delicious and in many cases much nicer than junk food. Maybe it's about retraining your taste buds

I agree with this.
I love fruit and veg and cook most meals. Porridge for breakfast, home made lunch and dinner but snack a lot. I’m known at work for constantly eating. I’m 5’7” and a size 10. I also can’t sit still!

The walking thing is really interesting and I think gives an insight as to why modern life makes exercise so tricky. I think my life is really no different to many families in the U.K., the USA and many parts of Europe

I love walking, and I do it for fun. When I grew up in central London I walked every where and was fresh air obsessed. Always had to get outside, couldn’t stand being cooped up.

10 years ago I moved to what is mainly a new town to start a family. I live on the edge of a business park, retail park and rural countryside.

Every morning We get up, get the children up and between 7.30-8 do school/ nursery drop offs. Following this I drive to work, at a business park in the middle of nowhere off a motorway. I work there for 8 hours then I get back in my car and drive home. I arrive home at around 6 (luxuriously early) and do dinner, reading, bath, winding down. Then I go to bed.

It’s not impossible to walk during these days- I average 4-5000 steps, and that’s by always taking the stairs and purposely walking to Peoples desk rather than call them.

I am in a Fitbit group with my friends who still live in the capital and tube/ walk to work and sometimes they’ve done 10,000 steps before I’ve arrived at work. Consider:

-My village is 0.5 miles round a block- after this there are no pavements in the countryside or retail park end. I could walk round the business park in the evenings- but believe me, it’s boring. In the winter it’s too dark, and too muddy.

-I could walk during my lunch break at work. Only the business park doesn’t have any pavements or anywhere to walk. I could, I guess, walk round and round the car park. That would Be depressing.

• I have young children and I am exhausted during the week. I don’t want to get back out the house and have a boring isolated walk around a business park.

Now, I do make an effort to exercise (I can pay for the business park gym, but it is £50 a month) however it’s very, very easy to see why people don’t isnt it? Not quite that straight forward when you take the time to REALLY get into the realities of what other people’s lives might be

To add to my post, there are evolutionary reasons why food high in fat and sugar are more appealing than those lower in them. It was a survival advantage to eat foods high in energy. Leaf eating humans (if they existed) would have been infertile and died, this extinguishing these genetic profiles. Conserving our energy was also needed, so no needless exercise for exercise's sake.

I know many actual obesity researchers and none think the issue is about simple willpower or education. It is much much more complex with multiple factors (like I stated, some 80% of weight variance is attributable to genetic influence, then there are environmental, psychological and structural factors, etc.). But I suppose, it's easier to think that people are stupid, lacking in willpower and lazy. That's the narrative that will only serve to make more people more overweight. Please look up the studies (actual scientific research published in peer reviewed journals, not an article by a nutritionist, naturopath, fitness enthusiast or similar) the evidence is not hard to find.

I have a family member who is pushing 90. His life is dreadful, as much as I adore him, he just got too old. Watching his life and the amount of care he requires I can't help thinking for myself - fuck it, how old do you really want to be?

In contrast, my dad is 87 and fit as a fiddle in both body and mind. He has a better social life than many people half his age.

This is one of the reasons turning 50 made me take my health much more seriously.

Not taking care of ourselves doesn't necessarily mean we won't live longer. It can just mean we'll have a really shit quality of life if we do.

Yep. Morbidly obese family member, aged 84. After heart bypass and two knee ops in his seventies, his legs are conking out for good and his movement has got very bad again, slow and excruciating. Now he moves between bed and armchair. His toilet is upstairs so he makes a slow, agonising stair journey 4 or 5 times a day. He got robbed by a care worker last year and so by choice lives in squalor between family visits (we are very far away). He won't move as a beloved family member is buried in the cemetery right at the back of the property and he is 100% compos mentis.

Doctors told him all his life to lose the weight but he admits himself, he hates exercise and always ate takeaways, pub dinners and so on because it was more enjoyable in the short term.

"The longer term option is eating a more healthy diet and excising though, looking for a quick fix solution isn't the answer"

Yes, I agree it's about eating healthily and exercising, but people will only stick to it if they find something they enjoy. I never mentioned a quick fix solution so I don't know where you got that from.

A lot of people do not know how to cook.
If you go into supermarkets the fresh food area is really tiny and you mostly get processed, packed stuff and ready meals.
I need to spend 2 to 3 weeks in the UK soon and I am not looking forward to it.

"There was a post on here recently about teens being allowed to go out for fast food every day at secondary and I was kind of shocked at how many thought this was fine and would not be a problem (every day) "

Some went to the chip shop every day when I was at school though we were only allowed out at lunch in the sixth form. I remember reading an article about high rates of anaemia in some children who had chip shop chips every day.