Obesity is a disease of the poor in the west and the rich everywhere else

[AllUpInWomanBusiness]

OK, so I realise I’m unreasonable to be stating the obvious, but isn’t this wild? For the first time in human history fattening food - sugar, meat - is more affordable than the alternative. And poor people are eating themselves to death. It’s heartbreaking isn’t it?

I'll take a look op.

Personally reading while smoking works well though 🙂

OP

Are you calling fat people “poor”? Low sociopath-economic class?

Or are you calling poor people fat?

I am not sure either makes sense

There’s lots of middle class fat people too

Even posh people can be obese, think BJ or is he so poor he can only afford chorizo and crisps and wine (or what was it he said he ate?)

Sociopath 😂 . .. why is that word in my spell checker . Socio

Socio-economic

Sorry

Obesity is not really a disease of excess though OP. People who have poor quality diets high in white carbs and processed fats are deficient in micro nutrients which makes them want to eat more. Richer people are more likely to eat fresh fruit, veg, unprocessed meat, and a more varied diet, therefore don't suffer from micro nutrient deficiencies.
Years ago the kind of unhealthy junk food that is cheap now, just wasn't available and poor people would have cooked their own food from scratch.
There are other factors such as people being less active nowadays, and poor people having less self control because they are less optimistic about the future. Talking about population level here - individuals can be thin or fat for many reasons such as genetics, poor health etc.
Anyway you are obviously pretty ignorant thinking that people in poor countries are skinny! Even in African villages with no running water/electricity there are plenty of obese people, and those people are definitely not rich. They are also very active, having to walk everywhere and do all the laundry by hand etc. The cause of the obesity (micronutrient deficiencies) is likely to be the same as in the uk. In fact there are very few places in the world where food shortages are an issue - generally only due to war as they are a result of distribution problems not absolute shortages.

Snack what on earth are you talking about? There may not be food shortages but food poverty is very much a thing, even in peace times. I'd also be interested in your evidence for the many poverty stricken obese Africans who are all doing washing by hand and walking everywhere.

Oh OP, unfairly or not, I’m imagining you as a bored, wealthy, thin woman, who plays a lot of tennis, and who is looking for a ‘cause’. 😆

It's perfectly possible to eat cheaply and healthily. I made a veg curry with brown rice that worked out at less than 40p per portion, and I didn't make an effort to buy cheap ingredients particularly.

For snacks a banana is 15p, that's cheaper than a chocolate bar.

It's very simplistic to say lack of money makes you fat, ignoring all the other correlates of socioeconomic deprivation which are possibly more relevant.

'There may not be food shortages but food poverty is very much a thing, even in peace times.'

Food ignorance is a 'thing'. Many people just cba to cook and live on junk food is the sad but inconvenient truth. It's a physiological fact that if calories taken in exceed energy used then people will gain weight, no matter what conditions they have.

I dont know what the answer is but taking responsibility has got to come first and to stop blaming it on poverty, disorders, mental health etc etc.

@SnackSizeRaisin

I’ve travelled a fair bit in Africa, my recollection is - overweight people in cities where lifestyle is ‘western’ for want of a better word,

rural areas where people are generally poorer = skinny people

of course these are generalisations

[quote BrumBoo]**@AllUpInWomanBusiness, for goodness sake read @AmelieTaylor before you snugly decide you once again know anyones situation. Maybe you should name share with @GetOffYourHighHorse.[/quote]
@BrumBoo. Thank you 🌷. It's nice to be heard & defended. It's so unusual that I'm really touched by it.

I'm not coming back to this thread anymore & I'm going to continue to try to scroll past other fat bashing threads, because people just don't want to hear anything that goes against their smug judgey view point.

Thanks again.

Happy Halloween 👻 🎃

It's ever so slightly more complex than eat less, move more.

If it was literally down to willpower, taking responsibility and eating less and moving more, we'd all be healthy normal weights because the vast majority of people with excess fat on their bodies don't really want to be larger than they should be, its pretty fucking miserable to spend most of your time loathing the way you look and fat shaming and making people feel even shitter doesn't help.

In reality, its far more complex as the obesity systems map from the report the government commissioned from Foresight that I've attached shows. The full report is available here and it makes for interesting reading. Of course, at the heart is the old calories in, calories out thing but actual real life is very different.

OP:

It’s the polar opposite of how things were until the last 20ish years of the 20th century.

A lot of the blame must lie with the producers of cheaper processed - and sugar loaded - food.

Okay a lot of poorer people are overweight - as are a lot of people with a good standard of living.

Do you look at overweight people and imagine they have very little in life? Stop generalising and read up on weight problems. Or better still stop critiquing people you know nothing about.

'I'm not coming back to this thread anymore & I'm going to continue to try to scroll past other fat bashing threads, because people just don't want to hear anything that goes against their smug judgey view point.'

I'm sorry if I sounded smug and judgey, I'm really not. It isn't fat shaming to point out facts in the same way it isnt 'alcoholic shaming' to tell binge drinkers they need to look at their own actions and behaviour and stop finding excuses. I could easily be 2 stone heavier if I ate what I wanted and didn't walk everywhere.

We seem to all be fine with criticising drinkers and smokers but have to tip toe round the obesity problem for some reason. Again, there will be a minority of people with significant eating disorders but most just eat far too much of the wrong stuff then say it's fat shaming if anyone tells them to eat less.

I’m a very fat vegetarian with a full time wage. Albeit a crap one.

I guess I’m a trailblazer. A wide one at that.

We seem to all be fine with criticising drinkers and smokers but have to tip toe round the obesity problem for some reason.

I made a thread saying exactly this ages ago and got absolutely slated!

We seem to all be fine with criticising drinkers and smokers but have to tip toe round the obesity problem for some reason. Again, there will be aminorityof people with significant eating disorders but most just eat far too much of the wrong stuff then say it's fat shaming if anyone tells them to eat less.

@GetOffYourHighHorse, the problem with this thread is not that obesity isn't an issue in general (though there are many exceptions), it's the op suggesting that it's a 'poor person disease'. It's utterly simplifying the issues and evidently coming from a place of middle class ignorance rather than a genuine concern of health or socio-economic issues in our country.

By saying 'poor people are fat, what can we do about it', suggest that working class people, or those living on benefits for whatever reason, are too poor/uneducated/lazy/feckless to be making the right personal choices. It is a mindset of pointing the finger down whilst simultaneously missing the crux of the issue.

Almost 2/3 of the population in the U.K. are overweight or obese. They can’t all be ‘poor’.

There are a multitude of reasons why a person might be overweight. Don’t try to over simplify.

Yes rice, beans and veggies are as cheap as pizza but it takes a fair bit of skill to make them tasty and enjoyable. Many just choose the pizza be this habit, preference, ease, skill or whatever. Cheese is proven to be addictive.

I am a fat vegan. I can afford to buy expensive processed vegan food. I have moved less during lockdown and been closer to a constant food supply which hadn’t helped. I didn’t move much before. I enjoy the taste of something nice. I find comfort in food. I eat when I am bored or lonely or sad. I don’t mean a 6 pack of crisps or a packet of biscuits in one sitting but a couple of biscuits here and there soon adds up when you have a ready supply.

I am now working on eating more rice, beans snd veggies but it isn’t always fun! I am told my palette will adjust.

It can’t all be to do with medical conditions, though. You The fact remains that there are much higher numbers of obese people today, worldwide, than there were even 15 / 20 years ago. Teachers of 5 year olds are finding much higher numbers in their classes, year on year.

Ignore the random “You”!

Have you been at the sherry OP?

@melisande99 agree with you. Healthy fats (meat) keep you satiated, whereas some carbs and sugar wreck havoc on the body.

I live in Asia and my country has HIGHER rates of obesity than the UK. Here is what I have observed.
There are NO ready meals available and everything is cooked from scratch BUT=

1. People (generally) do not do sport or walk to places
2. Diet is very high in salt, oils and sweet things (even if home cooked)
3. Portions are enormous
4. People cannot recognise that they are eating too much food
5. Plenty of fresh vegetables in the diet but all cooked with gallons of oil and salt.
6. Meals often accompanied with a lot of bread and white rice. The diet is very high in carbohydrates
7. Always drinking lots of tea with sugar, coffee with sugar and sugary beverages
8. Diabetics continue on the same diet with lots of sugar and salt. Never met a diabetic who doesnt eat sugar

I get what you are saying, but YABU to call it a disease of access. The correlation between poverty and obesity has very little to do with excess and everything to do with lack of access (by way of factors like time poverty, location ‘food desert’ poverty, or financial poverty which limits access to healthier good quality food).