NHS costs attributable to overweight and obesity are projected to reach £9.7 billion by 2050

[hellymissy]

So many posters keep banging on about people not wearing masks, spreading the virus and overwhelming the nhs, people breaking rules etc which is obviously an issue - but we also need to focus on some bigger issues around the long and short term sustainability of the NHS a d consider ways to fix them.

Extracts from government website shows that;

“UK and international evidence suggests that being severely overweight puts people at greater risk of hospitalisation, Intensive Care Unit (ICU) admission and death from COVID-19, with risk growing substantially as body mass index (BMI) increases.

The current evidence does not suggest that having excess weight increases people’s chances of contracting COVID-19. However, the data does show that obese people are significantly more likely to become seriously ill and be admitted to intensive care with COVID-19 compared to those with a healthy BMI.

The UK-wide NHS costs attributable to overweight and obesity are projected to reach £9.7 billion by 2050, with wider costs to society estimated to reach £49.9 billion per year.”

If anything will cripple the NHS it’s the direct and indirect impact of obesity on ICU units, and long term pressure obesity puts on the NHS.

Seriously, What else can we do to tackle obesity?

**this is NOT a fat shaming thread, purely a thread to redirect some peoples attention towards some of the real issues around COVID

Exercise is good for mental health but not likely to help you loose weight

Exercise is very good for physical health, irrespective of if you lose weight.

But you are rejecting out of hand the idea that the issue could possibly be that people develop harmful ways of eating and find themselves unable to break those cycles and assuming they could if they wanted to but just don’t try hard enough. I’ve honestly tried very very hard. I’ve lost loads of weight but as I can’t seem to break the underlying bad habits I’ve gained it again. When I’ve tried to get help I’ve encountered the exact attitude you have. I’m sure it’s not the only reason people have issues with their weight but since being obese really isn’t something people aspire to or want I’d expect it’s not all that uncommon. Suggesting having services to help people with that isn’t blaming someone else for being obese it’s simply saying they need help to change their habits because they aren’t managing it on their own. I’d also agree making it easier for people to get places under their own steam (& harder by car) would probably be good for public health. We had a bike lane put in recently as part of social distancing measures and as a result I’ve ridden my bike loads more. If you are a novice or not very fit it’s particularly helpful to have segregated paths you can easily access to help build confidence.

use cbt counselling and lifestyle changes to give people strategies to manage their circumstances

Far too expensive to give CBT etc to 40m people!
needs a societal approach, junk food is too readily available and its addictive nature of sugar and fat too irresistible.

Tax fast food outlets out of existence and tax poor quality foods and use the monies raised to subsidise healthy choices.

Won't happen though, junk food lobby too powerful

I’m always surprised to see portion sizes of the past. I was watching a German film from the 70s and a girl asked for a large ice cream sundae— it was one big-ish scoop of ice cream and served with a tiny little spoon. Imagine what a large sundae consists of now! I don’t think we realise just how much we eat.

So its not a fat shaming thread - you just thought you'd join MN tonight after your tea and find some people to "other". Someone to blame.

I have to say you'll always find a big audience (no pun intended) for this sort of attitude on MN so I hope you feel you have found your people.

@peepeelongstocking

I’m always surprised to see portion sizes of the past. I was watching a German film from the 70s and a girl asked for a large ice cream sundae— it was one big-ish scoop of ice cream and served with a tiny little spoon. Imagine what a large sundae consists of now! I don’t think we realise just how much we eat.

That is one of the issues. The portions did get bigger and lots of people have problem controlling even them. It's very easy to slip into big portions. I think that if people used the recommended portions, a lot of them would be surprised at the difference to what they actually eat. We were.

All the obese and overweight people i know are either comfortably off or very well off, taking multiple holidays per year, buying from Booths & M&S & Waitrose and generally living very successful, happy lives. They just eat too much because eating for pleasure and recreation has become our national pass time. When I go to France, or Switzerland, the people there have coffee for breakfast, meat or cheese sandwiches for lunch then a simple dinner of meat and vegetables in the evening.

Exercise is good for mental health but not likely to help you loose weight

It helps maintain a healthy weight not just through the exercise itself but through:

• keeping you busy and giving you a purpose
• you don't want to eat too much food before you exercise due to feeling too full and afterwards your appetite is suppressed due to endorphins

@DishingOutDone

Do you suggest no one is ever allowed to talk about the obesity epidemic?

If not, what is an acceptable way to talk about it?

[quote hellymissy]@Nhsisfucked I agree a lot of it is mindset and lack of motivation.

I have a friend who is morbidly obese and says she is worried about COVID but in the same breath keeps eating like there's no tomorrow and not sticking to a regular exercise plan

[/quote]
Its good to know that the OP has seen a fat person eating.

There’s always been poorer people, people without time/resources to cook etc, all that’s changed is the overwhelming amount of tempting yet harmful rubbish food in the shops.

There's always been people with emotional issues too...

It's not just the overwhelming amount but the affordability of it, and the marketing of it as a way of treating yourself / indulging yourself.

@GreenlandTheMovie

Exercise is good for mental health but not likely to help you loose weight

It helps maintain a healthy weight not just through the exercise itself but through:

• keeping you busy and giving you a purpose
• you don't want to eat too much food before you exercise due to feeling too full and afterwards your appetite is suppressed due to endorphins

I do a lot of exercise and it doesn’t help with weight loss per ze, especially those fuc*ing ‘calories burned’ calculations. They are truly a travesty. Allow people to say “ooh I can have 400 more calories today”

It’s a very long post to explain that however suffice to say you should never ever take any notice of that measure.

What I do think exercise does is make you very aware of how well your body is functioning. If you can’t walk for 5 miles without total despair, it’s a wake up call to start looking after yourself and that trickles into what you eat. It’s definitely part of the puzzle but I really do get sad when I hear an obese person saying their strategy to lose weight in C25k

@DishingOutDone - this friend is always wanting to eat, Will bake cookies at home and eat them all, always goes for the huge unhealthy options. I'm not fat shaming just stating facts that this friend in particular has an unhealthy relationship with food.

How has that become. Negative thing to point out?

Your response is part of the problem. The obesity problem continues due to this kind of attitude.

I’m relatively wealthy, educated and mentally healthy (I think) and obese. I go to the gym which is great but has no impact on my weight either way. I’ve been up and down every year or so. My body fights me all the time. It’s bloody exhausting. I don’t even think I eat to excess.
The only thing I haven’t tried is any kind of therapy or surgery. I wake in the night trying to think how to fix this. I’m scared to go to dr for regular appointments because of the shame.

In the words of JK Rowling, "is ‘fat’ really the worst thing a human being can be? Is ‘fat’ worse than ‘vindictive’, ‘jealous’, ‘shallow’, ‘vain’, ‘boring’ or ‘cruel’? Not to me"

But to an awful lot of people it is.worse than any of those things. This says more about them than it does about an overweight person.

When I go to France, or Switzerland, the people there have coffee for breakfast, meat or cheese sandwiches for lunch then a simple dinner of meat and vegetables in the evening.

No snacking (gaps between meals)
No junk or ultra processed foods, just simple whole foods

If everyone literally just did that this problem would reduce significantly

Instead we have a complex, confusing set of guidelines layered underneath an unregulated junk food market spewing temptation and normalising snacking and ‘pleasure’ on every corner, in every aisle and all over everything we watch

Cookers, fridge, freezer, storage.
Access to affordable fresh food (ensuring it's a varied diet because variety is an important part of a healthy diet).
Money for gas and electric (for cooking and fridge/freezer).

I grew up in poverty, and our diet was very limited. Certainly not varied or healthy by today's standards. It was the 1960s and I didn't know anyone who was overweight. Actually, I do remember one person. Just one, that's how rare obesity was in a poor neighbourhood. Most of the fresh fruit and veg we got was home grown, we never, ever had "snacks", I still don't, habit of a lifetime.
It's not about poverty, it's about eating habits and lifestyle.

[quote DishingOutDone]**@hamstersarse* - so you can only talk about a health crisis if you can blame and shame? Are you morbidly obese? If not, WTAF has it got to do you with you and the Concern Troll currently posing as @hellymissy*? Or does it become your business because the fat people are spending all your luverly tax payers cash eh?

They eat all our pies, they take all our beds. That should be the title of this thread, because that's what the OP really wants to say.[/quote]
Where have I blamed and shamed?

I keep asking posters to point it out because it is not my intention and so am clearly miscommunicating somehow

Nasty goady thread.

nanbread totally agree. I have an inflammatory disease that means I’m on a limited diet but I’ve always said I’d be much bigger if not.

We need comfort, it’s available, we’re simply going to do it. Human nature. Well except for a small minority with a will of iron. So although I agree with my previous post (!) that the food environment needs to dramatically change, I’m also aware it would be removing a coping mechanism (if a counterproductive one) so it’s not a straightforward issue.

this friend is always wanting to eat, Will bake cookies at home and eat them all, always goes for the huge unhealthy options. I'm not fat shaming just stating facts that this friend in particular has an unhealthy relationship with food.

You are pointing out how.superior you are. I do hope you're not a "friend" of mine

As a family our eating habits have improved so much since lockdown and working from home! We are now able to eat with the children, have time to actually cook something decent and all sit at the table to eat. Before DP wasn’t home until 7pm when I was trying to get bath and bedtimes etc done, by the time we were both settled it was really late and easy to just eat rubbish. For us lack of time and convenience foods were a big problem.

I also have a bit of an issue with ‘children’s food’ it doesn’t seem to matter for example which cuisine restaurant you go to the kids meal consists of chicken nuggets, pizza or pasta etc. It is all exposing children to salty, processed foods as a standard really.

One of my son’s is tube fed. All of his food is blended up in a high speed blender and put through his tube. He has got to have the healthiest diet ever because we don’t have to think about what he will and won’t eat. As a society we don’t think of food as a fuel we think of it as a pleasure and a ‘treat’. My way of showing my tube fed son love through food is making sure he has a nutrient rich, varied and healthy diet, my way of showing my other son love through food is by treating him to yummy things.... we seem to be viewing food wrong?

I have eating and food issues - when discussing these with a counsellor, she helpfully said "but with a childhood like yours, you've done really well, you could be an alcoholic, drug addict..... " the list went on, not helpful.
I was looking at CBT for overcoming eating issues - on the NHS, it seems to be limited to patients signed up for bariatric surgery, then it's available in spades pre and post op.

Well, you aren't really her friend are you. Does she know how much you despise her?

I can imagine anyone who criticises you, whilst you criticise others, is "part of the problem". But keep typing; you're showing your hand quite early but I know the appetite people have for this sort of sideshow.