To think that biscuits don’t make you obese?

[covidtired]

I’m 20 stone 7 . I’m not that weight because I ate too many biscuits - if biscuits weren’t there I would ate anything I could find, and a lot of it !! I’m slowly losing now (was 22 stone 13 on NYD) but I’m still eating biscuits, cake, etc - just in moderation and without a side order of guilt .

Surely the answer is to support mental health more, especially in children and adolescents - I ate for comfort because I wasn’t getting it from anything else - and promote exercise - I was removed from PE due to dyspraxia and bullying, and told not to bother trying ... hence I’m now an adult that finds exercising awful !

Surely fixing these things is the answer, not banning cheap biscuits ?!!

I don't have one drink because one is too many and a thousand is not enough, as the saying goes.

Love that saying!

itworriesme I think that’s a good idea ... I often feel totally powerless and not in control of myself with food (and have faced similar with codeine...) - I suppose that could work if you can say, I don’t want to give in and then you feel you’ve achieved something .

I wish I could replace the food with like ‘normal people’ stuff like friends, going out to places, holidays, relationships ... then I’d not feel the same need to eat and hoard food all day long !

Not alone, but they sure as heck don't help.

@Alloverthegrapevine

It's hard tongive up smoking too and only happens when people decide to "just do it".

Maling it socially unacceptable 20 years ago is one (the?) reason so few young people do it now. It will be the same with obesity, the current generation are doomed to their addiction but we can do something to prevent it continuing in the next one.

It depends on the social circles you mix in.

In some areas, all the young people smoke.

@squeekyclean

Obviously eating too many biscuits can make you gain weight and if you eat enough you will end up obese.

But I entirely agree that the Government should be looking at WHY people eat too much of the wrong foods, not simply making junk food more expensive/cutting advertising. I am currently overweight and making junk food more expensive will not make me eat less of it- that will take will power.

I don't know anyone who is overweight because they don't care or want to be fat (and I know a lot of overweight people). Adding to the stigma of being overweight (as one pp suggested) won't help either- many people eat as a comfort and don't want to be bigger anyway so this will just make matters worse.
I agree with you about exercise too- I was always hopeless at PE etc at school and laughed at/called names (including by the PE teacher at one school). Like the OP, this has just meant that I am terrified of trying exercise as an adult. I have school age DC and it sounds like things are a bit better now, but there still seems to be a focus in PE etc on the most able students- no differential teaching/additional support for the weaker students (as their are for other subjects) and all clubs etc seem to be competitive (so the best players picked for teams) with no 'exercise for fun' options. I think a programme of free, non competitive, fun exercise for pupils and parents would be more useful for improving the health and fitness of the population than an extra 25% on a packet of biscuits.

I agree.

The way they picked teams for P.E. was just designed to humiliate.
If they did the same for the English and Maths there would be an outcry!

Eating a couple of biscuits twice a week won't make you fat. We ate home-made wholemeal (!) flour biscuits as kids and once they were gone, they were gone.

Eating extremely cheap biscuits with trans fats, cheap ingredients and lots of sugar and salt will make you fat and feel crap. These foods are called 'hyperpalatable' and there is a whole industry about producing these type of foods which are crunchy, quite addictive (try having 5 Pringles and none for the rest of the week) and cheap to produce.

If you can genuinely limit your calorie intake and have good portion control, the odd biscuit is not an issue, but that's not really the eating habits of too many people, myself included. If hyperpalatable food is very readily available everywhere and very cheap, you just end up eating lots of it at times that you wouldn't have done 50 years ago.

One won’t make you fat but people don’t realise how high calorie they are and they are not filling so who just has one. One of the things they do a SlimmingWorld sometimes is put food in order of highest calories people assume it’s the Big Mac but the pack of digestives is 2 Big Macs equivalent. I bought the dog some custard creams on Saturday 28p 2 packs at Aldi, huge amount of calories.

It's biscuits being everywhere,and sweets and overprossed foods. 24 hrs. You can eat all day everyday.

Hopefully it will become super trendy to be super healthy.

Biscuits alone won't make someone fat, but the act of eating them in excess will, especially if the person is sedentary.

There's 71 calories in a chocolate digestive. My last 10km run burnt around 700 calories. That's just over an hour running to burn off 10 chocolate digestives.

If someone is eating 10 chocolate digestives a day then they're eating 25-50% of their suggested daily calories in biscuits and that's before adding in meals, which may well be larger than a portion each.

Having said that, the reasons for overeating are complicated and people above a certain threshold need proper, holistic support to lose weight in my opinion.

I hear you on the ‘normal people’ stuff covidtired . Actually trying to learn to sew has been quite good for me, my hands are busier!

I'm pretty good at not buying biscuits and other very calorific snack food. I'm terrible at resisting it if it's there in front of me. So when morale is low at work and bosses start bringing in biscuits and cake daily, I have a problem. If there's fruit or similar easy-to-eat options, I will (mostly) manage to go for the healthier version, so that helps.

I grew up with no snacks in the house but did mean we all grabbed any opportunity for free food, and it still feels horribly wrong to pass up food being given out.

Though I only started putting weight on after illness and then injury meant I often couldn't stand up long enough to cook potatoes, pasta, or even toast. When the bananas, apples and yoghurts run out and you can't get to the shop but need to eat something, then the biscuits, malt loaf, and similar calorific snacks keep you going.

Having a partner who earns enough that we can get healthy ready meals is what's made my weight stabilise and hopefully go down again soon.

@Frlrlrubert

I was slim until last year (I'm 35 with an almost 4 year old). My problem is absolutely too many biscuits/cake/takeaway/Greggs at lunchtime when at work.

From today I'm only going to eat when I'm actually hungry, hopefully I can get back to better habits.

Don't let yourself get too hungry though or else you'll overeat. Good luck.

Actually I disagree OP> I do blame biscuits, if you think of biscuits as being a sugary, fatty, unnecessary snack. Lots of us (self included) are massively overweight because we think we comfort eat. But if that's the reason there has been a massive outbreak of traumatised kids in my generation and the one below it. How come the ignored, neglected, traumatised children of the war generation weren't obese and didn't comfort eat? I think it's because the food wasn't that tasty. I wouldn't comfort eat gristly mutton and over-boiled sprouts.

I think what we imagine is comfort eating is actually addiction to that perfect hit of equal parts sugar and fat that the snack industry knows makes our brains scream for more.

The arrival of fast foods high in fat and sugar along with the reduction of physical activity levels is why we are so fat. It's not comfort eating. It's addiction and inactivity. We don't even get up to switch TV channels or to answer the phone. Everything is within reach.

It won’t really just be biscuits everyone has their thing they like. Mine is crisps and bread so bread is what I cut out completely in order to loose weight. Portion size is a big deal too.

There’s been several weight threads on MN recently but what I have noticed is weight is a sensitive topic and I think everyone has their own (delusional sometimes) idea of what slim is.

I’ve always said it’s not what you eat but how much of it.

@LolaSmiles

Biscuits alone won't make someone fat, but the act of eating them in excess will, especially if the person is sedentary.

There's 71 calories in a chocolate digestive. My last 10km run burnt around 700 calories. That's just over an hour running to burn off 10 chocolate digestives.

If someone is eating 10 chocolate digestives a day then they're eating 25-50% of their suggested daily calories in biscuits and that's before adding in meals, which may well be larger than a portion each.

Having said that, the reasons for overeating are complicated and people above a certain threshold need proper, holistic support to lose weight in my opinion.

71-76 calories in a boiled egg, too. I'd rather have them, as I don't particularly like crisps, sweets, cake or biscuits.

Can still overeat with those, you know.

If they put massive price hikes on biscuits and cakes, I won't give a shit. I'll still be a fat bastard, though, as I never ate the things in the first place.

Are you on about Jamie Oliver? Banning bog off junk food?

I think we have far too much crap in our faces.

Fast food
Cake shops.
Donut shops
Supermarkets are full of crappy aisles full of processed shit. Sweetness are in everything.

I left school in 2005. I remember doing cooking from year 7 until year 11. I think the only things we ever made were pizza, burgers,cakes etc.

No education on healthy inspiring meals. Nothing to help us become creative and confident with meals.

Jamie Oliver has good points. I think the fact he has money annoys people. He could afford to get the takeout without offers. For some families he will be stopping them having a treat. But I hate to say it. He's right.

Rather than McDonald's and chips and bottles of coke, people should try to cook healthier versions at home. Maybe he should bring out a simple recipe book for families without the requirements of blenders and allsorts along with complicated ingredients.

My mum never introduced us to fruit. But we wasn't fat as she cooked proper meals and we had small treats like a penguin or 2 custard creams. That was it. But kids now have tons more sugar.

My children love junk. But they eat lots of fruit and veg. Every night I make sure they have veg. Every dinner I chop up raw carrot and cucumber for them. They love it. They love pepper. I know not all children do but that's often because they have been introduced to their parents crappy diets.

Biscuits have crazy amounts of sugar in them. One bourbon is shocking. Yet I dunk a good five when I have them.

We also walk loads. Which many don't. People who eat junk and drive allover don't help themselves.

I think recipes should be introduced in supermarkets so people can take copies of recipes home and the ingredients can be purchased. Fruit needs to be made cheaper. Organic should be cheaper.

But with all due respect. 20 stone is really overweight. That's at least 6 stone overweight for most people. Too many are obese now. I'm 11 stone and should be 10. So I'm also too big. But I eat well and walk. I've always been heavier and have strong thick legs. So some of it comes down to personal size etc.

Well done on the weight loss though. It is hard to loose weight. X

On Netflix UK there was a brilliant documentary called Fed Up.
It goes into the obesity crisis looming in America, and experts explain why 'calories in: calories out' won't necessarily work.

I'd recommend it to anyone looking to impose healthier lifestyles.
And it's shocking how the sugar industry acts like one huge con.

Personally I would say banning cheap biscuits is probably the way to go, unfortunately, (but no judgement at individuals intended).

It may not be on Netflix now, but it is probably on Youtube?

I'd honestly say it helped me make a lot of changes to my lifestyle and changed my attitude to food types

What’s cheap though?

Even the Kiplings baked goods are on offer for £1 usually. The Thornton’s millionaire bars. The Cadbury’s choc rolls. Belvita breakfast bars. All on offer are pretty cheap.

MitziK
Very true, but then nobody aggressively markets boiled eggs as a naughty treat at the end of the day, or a little bit of indulgence.

I dislike the idea of higher taxes on things I occasionally enjoy because I feel I'm paying more for the fact some people don't say no. I also feel the same when calorie information is plastered everywhere in Costa and MacDonalds: who seriously needs to be told that a large full fat hot chocolate with cream and marshmallows or a portion of fries is high in fat and calories? 🤦‍♀️

But we need to start doing something to challenge the growing obesity issues.

Nothing makes you obese in moderation but anything eaten to excess (except perhaps celery) makes you fat.

The problem with things with refined sugar is that they are very addictive and you eat too much of them. I know lots of people who say they won't have biscuits or chocolate in the house because they can't eat them gradually. I can pace myself with chocolate but don't bother with biscuits either as it's too easy to have too many. I really should stop eating crisps but you have to have some pleasures in life!

It isn't what we eat or even how much we eat that we need to focus on, it's why we eat in the way we do. The Government should start with that rather than banning advertising and special offers.

Anyone who is significantly overweight (I don't mean those who have eaten a few extra biscuits and gained half a stone) needs help with their mental health. I guarantee it.

It’s all about the calorie deficit - doesn’t matter how you get your calories.

They don’t help do they though?.

tired exactly .

Sadly and frustratingly the NHS won’t help though - my GP told me to try the Samaritans and otherwise learn to crack on with it . Not as easy as that sadly . With the weight; she said come back when I’m diabetic . I’m 28, I don’t want to be feeling this way any longer - 20 stone is definitely very overweight, 22 was worse, at that weight I couldn’t even roll over in bed without feeling awful .