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.

Well, the vast majority of 'healthy eating' advice is unmitigated bullshit anyway. 'Diet' and 'lite' and 'sugarfree' versions of food and drink are quite often less healthy than the unfucked ones. And then there's all the wank about chia and quinoa and all those things that are not only no more healthy than regular fruit and veg, but overpriced and quite often grown in conditions which both exploit the growers and do the environment no favours.
Then you add in the snobbery and condescension and cluelessness of those who want to whine about how the working classes (and teh benefit scroungers) eat junk food and chips all the time because they are thick and lazy, ignoring the fact that it can be quite difficult to access fresh food (many poor areas really don't offer much in the way of shops selling fresh fruit/veg) and the working poor often haven't got the time, space or equipment to 'cook healthy meals from scratch'. Also, when you bring class into it, ready meals get less unhealthy the more money you are able to spend on them but the meddlers and whinyarses don't, on the whole, condemn other people for buying microwaveable foor from Waitrose.

I care massively, but I agree OP most people around me are feeding their families a heck of a lot of refined sugar. It's secretly quite shocking to me but I wouldn't pass comment or in any way let on.

@ReanimatedSGB thank you, everything I wanted to say but am too tired to articulate!

You know, there isn't an 'obesity crisis.' BMI as a measurement of health has been pretty much discredited for the arrant nonsense it is. The slimming industry is just as much of a toxic scam as religion - repeated dieting is extremely bad for you. Also, the obsession with being thin is wrapped up in all the same bullshit tropes as religion: hatred of female bodies in particular, a desire to police other people's habits, an insistence that pleasure of any kind must be bad for you...
Plenty of fat or fattish people are actually a lot healthier than the skinny ones who keep their weight down with amphetamines, cocaine, fags or starvation.

Also, weight is NOT an indication of health.

I do really care, but after working all day and being out the house for ten hours the last thing I want to do is come home and spend hours cooking a meal from scratch. I wish I had more t

To plan and cook healthy meal, but I have lots of stuff to do with working full time and look

I think most people do care but many have undiagnosed, untreated or unsupported conditions which impair their ability to do anything about it.

For me it was sleep apnea. 20 years of compulsive over eating and no ability to control my sugar intake plus absolutely no drive to even get off the sofa let alone exercise led to me being 23 stone. My life changed from day one of using the CPAP machine, The sugar obsession completely disappeared over night and I want to move, although this was extremely painful at first. My weight started going down naturally. I've still got a way to go but I finally feel in control.

Sorry keeps posting too early

I think most people care, but life is busy, stressful, inflation is increasing faster than salaries, out than the wealthy most people have a less comfortable life than they would've in the same jobs thirty years ago. One salary household are less and less common so there's the added pressure of posting for childcare, constantly rushing around, or having a SAHP and having an even tighter budget. Fatty, sugary, carb loaded food is linked to endorphin and seratonin release in the brain, it's also often cheaper, quicker and easier. It's not hard to see why people know what they should do but don't always do it, and I'm someone who cooks from scratch almost always. Tonight we had pizza.

I think YABU to think that.

ReanimatedSGB sums it up.

I also think that the nature of food shopping and availability means that if you are inclined to eat snacks and processed food then you will eat more than 30 years ago purely down to shops everywhere selling junk 24/7.

It’s a bit like car driving .I notice that people use their cars more than they need to and many tend to speed. When the price of fuel goes up it limits this a little.When we had those tankers strike though and there were queues in petrol stations, that made a massive difference.
It’s not people caring or not. It’s whats available.

I try and eat as balanced diet as possible but also like chocolate, the odd takeaway and Wotsits...oh WOTSITS! I drink too much wine.

However, I do a lot of daily exercise, including strength training. I drink 2L of water a day. I am fit and toned but also about a stone overweight I would say. Probably wine to be fair. I wish I were a better cook. It's just me and DS. He is autistic so his food is beige, regardless of what I try. Tonight I've had egg on toast for dinner because it got too late and I couldn't be bothered. I suspect it's things like that for most people that mean our diets are not what they should be.

Also, the obsession with being thin is wrapped up in all the same bullshit tropes as religion: hatred of female bodies in particular

Yes to this. For example, I couldn't count the number of times that I've seen posters here say that having big breasts only happens if you are overweight and that if you think you are slim but with big boobs you're in denial about how overweight you are.

You wouldn’t think it to look at me because I’m 5 stone overweight but I care. I care a lot. I’m desperately trying to come out of a 25 year habit of using food to numb childhood trauma. I’m a compulsive overeater and my life is ruled by food. I finally feel like I’m healing by fasting for 23 hours a day and only eating one meal.

I think it’s massively oversimplifying this country’s obesity problem by saying it’s because people don’t care. There are a huge number of reasons people are overweight; not just greed.

I dont care to the amount that MN tells me I should.
We have cereal, and white bread, and crisps, and pasta.
We have coffee, and fizzy juice.

If I did what the insane threads on here say, I'd have an eating disorder very quickly, as would Dd.

Personally I care a lot, but I find the biggest enemy to a healthy diet and exercise regime is lack of time. I know it sounds like an excuse, but when you and your partner work full time and commute and weekends are jam-packed doing all the life admin you couldn’t do in the week, it’s difficult to find time to plan and shop for healthy meals as well as exercise. I expect a lot of people are the same.

OP, I think lots of people do care, but I agree there does seem to be a whole group of people that don't care. Just watching Goggle Box, and although it's only a small sample, the crap they are eating (especially the Leeds girls) is incredible- no wonder we are overweight as a nation if they are anywhere near representititive.

People saying OP should mind her own business are idiots- it's a problem, we should be able to discuss it.

I must admit recently turning 50 has made me take my health much more seriously.

I now have an uncomfortable amount of friends with heart problems, joint problems, diabetes and high cholesterol.

Age really does catch up on us and quite quickly too. It really doesn't seem that long ago that I was 30 and thinking "Meh! 50 is two decades away, I'll worry about my health then"

@WorraLiberty Took the words RIGHT out of my mouth. It creeps up on you. Yesterday I was but 30 and today I'm being offered a funeral plan, a SAGA subscription and Tena Lady

BRAVO, SGB! I so agree!

it's a problem, we should be able to discuss it.

It obviously makes you feel better and superior to others, so hey, it's a free country to fart in the wind then. It's not up to you to police other people.

I think most people would be a lot better off in life if they just minded their own fucking business.

That comment is reminiscent of the 80s and 90s, except it came from die hard (excuse the pun) smokers, who felt very threatened by people pointing out their addiction was likely to lead to heart attack/stroke/loss of limbs/early death etc.

Not just this one particular comment, but all the other 'MYOB' ones too.

People don't like having a mirror held up to them and that's understandable.

It doesn't help the obesity crisis though and worse still, the amount of overweight/obese children who are already on the path to following in their parent's footsteps.

Much like the children of smokers were at the time.

I care. I hate being fat. But can't stop eating crap. But nice to see it is so easy for others to eat healthy. Please don't take it for granted, you are very lucky. I long for the day I am skinny and can pass remark on fat people.

With regards to exercise, PE at school puts a large number of people off.

Some people simply can’t play team sports, sometimes for physiological reasons, yet schools will not allow children the option of doing non competitive exercise. Persisting in offering a limited number of sport, and teaching those badly is helping no one.

NiceLegsShameAboutTheFace if you want to feel old. I realised today 'No matter what' by Boyzone was released TWENTY ONE YEARS AGO

How the hell did that happen?

Then go bore people away with it, Worra. I'm not fat or overweight, am 50. It's not my business to police other peoples' habits than it is anyone else. And the major issue with smoking is that second hand and third hand/passive smoking is dangerous to others.