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

There's too much cheap crappy food available, so that even relatively poor people can afford to eat too many calories. A lot of it is addictive, as PPs have pointed out. We are also less physically active in our daily lives than we used to be.
Personally speaking, I have gone through quite a few financial crises, and I always lose weight during them. That's because I can't actually afford to buy enough food , let alone eat for pleasure. To me the main difference between now, and pre obesity epidemic years is that food used to be boring, something that you ate to stop feeling hungry, and not something that made you feel good. And children and young adults were always on the go, though older adults often gained weight gradually (they called it middle aged spread then).
I also agree that it's much easier to lose a small amount of weight, even if you can't keep it off for ever. I used to be very overweight (by about 5 stones) so I know it's not easy. Personally if I had my time over again I wouldn't allow myself to gain more than a stone.

Be good if all the naysayers stop denying they over overweight for a start off. And stop then demonising food/slim people.

It's not OK to be overweight! It's not beautiful. It's dangerous for your health.

I personally think doctors don’t care about the ppl who are overweight due to medical conditions.
I have PCOS and other hormonal issues which make it difficult to lose weight. I did an honest 4 month food diary for dietician and she told me I must be lying. I wasn’t as I’d be lying to myself but she said if I didn’t tell the truth, I’d never lose weight! I’m desperate for a gastric band as I’ve been dieting for years and lose a few pounds but then plateau. I can’t walk long periods due to fluid in legs so only exercise I can do is swim (not possible atm due to covid).
I also need lipo to drain fluid from legs but doctors say it’s not funded on nhs. Unfortunately can’t afford the £15k to pay for both surgeries myself.

I think Britain is the only country in the world to happily serve lasagne with chips and garlic bread.

From my own POV as an obese person.

I know I have an issue and I need to tackle it. I have been overweight for a long long time, obese from my mid 20’s (mid 30’s now). I can cook good and wholesome meals from scratch, I like fruit and vegetables.

When I was younger my Nan used to give me sweets and chocolate when she used to look after me. I was sexually abused by a family friend at 9/10, this has never been addressed as I didn’t tell anyone. Lots of issues arising from that. I eat as a comfort blanket, I eat the wrong type of things. Fizzy drinks are the devil. Then a few years back I lost my dad to suicide.

At the moment I’m studying, training for a professional role, have the DC and 2 jobs. I’m knackered all the time. My mental health is currently fucked (technical term!). I have anxiety/panic disorder, diagnosed last year. I’ve put about 2 stone on since starting meds. I’ve recently slumped into depression, have started self harming. My meds have been upped.

It’s not like I haven’t tried to lose weight. During first lock down I was exercising regularly and meal planning well. I started losing weight but then plateaued and couldn’t work out why as I’ve quite a lot to lose. My eating has gone back to crap, I’m eating the wrong things and my portion sizes are out of whack. At the moment I’m dragging myself through the days. I know I need to change but I’ve always been fat..it seems impossible to get to where I want/need to be.

So in my opinion I think mental health is a huge thing that needs to be looked at, but there isn’t a magic cure all. Some people abuse drink and/or drugs. Some people abuse food. It’s hard to get to the root of the problem sometimes.

Urgh

The weekly goady thread of this people discussing why fat people are fat, in the hope of helping humanity cure the obesity crisis.

As if any fat person ever actually wants to be fat and enjoys you all posturing on their fat laziness.

Thank you all, it means the world to us fat people that you all care so deeply.

It might be considered that eating excessively to the point of morbid obesity is possibly, maybe AN EATING DISORDER. You know, disordered eating.

But oh no, only people who starve themselves have eating disorders don't they?

I compulsively eat when I am stressed. Eat and eat and eat until I feel sick. But I won't be sick, I hold it in. Psychotherapist said something about abuse and eating feelings...no idea how you stop...no NHS treatment or acknowledgement, because fat people are lazy fat pigs.

Whatever.

Solve it, make yourselves rich, I will buy it. I have yet to meet a fat person who doesn't hate themselves for being fat.

It really is entirely up to people what they do with their bodies and how they eat.

And if you think it's only the UK that has an obesity problem you're wrong.

It's not an NHS issue. Don't ever think it's 'your' money that's spent on fatties or smokers or drinkers.

I trained as an actuary, I know @SimonJT is one. People with bad habits are an actuarial dream, they pay more tax over their lifetime through their habits and then peg out early on the whole.

It's the sanctimonious twats that actually cost the government money. With their long lives and public-sector jobs. Just going on and on and on...with their triple-locked pensions...

We shouldn't underestimate the addictive quality of processed carbs. Our bodies have an "enough" switch when eating protein and fat. They don't have that when eating processed carbs. There are some YouTube videos on this by doctors. Parents who give their children crisps, cake, a biscuit, white bread, drinks which contain sugar or artificial sugar on a daily basis - what nutrients do they think their child gets from that? That small body processing so much unrequired insulin spiking 'food' compounded by the natural sugar in fruit. They don't get nutrients from it, so aren't satiated.
If we cleared supermarket shelves of all super-processed foods and everything containing sugar and artificial sugars, so that the only food left was whole food that you can recognise in its natural state, and nobody could buy it, we'd bring obesity down, but it would take 5 years to break current lifestyles and habits.

People eat too much & drink too much to deal with stress. I know that's simplistic but that's the most common cause.

If the govt wants us all to be super-healthy they could:

• introduce rent controls
• limit working hours so people have time to relax
• increase the minimum wage to a living wage
• make nutrition and food prep part of the national curriculum (show me any other species whose young are not taught to provide their own food)
• offer non-competitive options for PE in schools so they don't make half the population loath sport
• put bike racks back in primary school playgrounds
• change housing regulation to increase minimum size and require outside space even if it's only a 6x4 balcony
• create tax advantages for companies if they encourage working from home three days a week wherever possible.
• improve cycling infrastructure

Not only would they reduce stress and improve mental & physical health, it would cut costs to the NHS, reduce pollution, reduce crime, reduce congestion on our roads, cut the costs of maintaining roads and other infrastructure.

In fact, turn us into Sweden .

@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.

I was at uni in the early 80s. My parents sent me off with new crockery, and I still have a couple of the dinner plates. They're barely bigger than today's side plates, and tiny compared to today's dinner plates.

All the excuses don't really help in my eyes. The many fat people scoffing down three pasties at Greggs on their lunchbreaks aren't doing it out of poverty IMO. It's just much more appealing than healthy food for most. I prefer healthier food but it takes a while to get accustomed before greasy fast food feels like...well, like greasy fast food. After a while of being used to eating healthily, you start to feel shit (bloated and lethargic) if you eat too much crap.

Of course, most fat people would rather be buff, but it's much easier in this country to just laugh it off and get on as it's generally quite accepted.

When I got a bit chubby years ago, my Lithuanian mate and South African cousins were pretty forthright in telling me I'd got fat, but here it seems a real taboo.

Free access to support groups such as Slimming World. This is available to people with a very high BMI now, but would be better to tackle weight issues before they appear insurmountable imo.

I think for starters you need to understand that covid hasn't actually been around for long enough for us to KNOW what the complicating factors really are!

It's been less than a year at this point these are educated guesses and based on correlation which of course doesn't necessarily indicate causation.

In addition people are complex structures, we also haven't had time to rule out other complicating factors that may have nothing to do with weight or even where obesity is caused BY a condition rather than the cause OF a condition eg it may turn out that people with hypothyroidism are at more risk of covid both acquiring and morbidity.

So my first question regarding the study quoted would be as with any study:

Who funded it?
Why did they fund it? What's their agenda?
What were the parameters of the study? What checks and balances? How large a group of people studied and how were they selected?
Who benefits from the conclusion drawn?

In terms of what to do about obesity...

There are many many factors to why people are obese

Undx physical conditions

And therefore

Untreated physical conditions

Psychological factors

Environment

Effects of certain "ingredients"

Economic factors

Education or lack of

Certain meds (I'm on 3 myself that slow metabolism and increase appetite. The increase appetite hasn't actually worked for me but my metabolism is screwed!)

don't agree with overweight being denied healthcare it would be unfair

Hate to break it to you but...it already happens! Directly and indirectly!

I've certainly experienced a much improved GP response to myself as a patient due to appointments taking place by phone and they can't immediately see I'm overweight. I've had face to face appointments in the past on several occasions where the hcps been SO focused on my weight they've neglected to deal with what the appointment was for which were COMPLETELY Unrelated to weight!

not just for obesity but for smokers, drinkers, anything self inflicted

That way madness lies!

Basically any illness or condition that isn't genetic (and there's strong evidence that even type 2 diabetes probably is) is in effect "self inflicted"

Possibly you could argue conditions relating to pollution are the fault of the polluters but then we all contribute to pollution in our own way.

So where exactly do you draw the line?

It's also much easier to amuse oneself without leaving the house nowadays. I know loads of people who sit on their arses all day and then sit on the sofa all night watching Netflix or playing on the PS4. Our parents' generation didn't do this as much.

Threads like this make my eyes bleed.

Overweight and obesity are not caused by diseases they are another symptom of metabolic syndrome just like type 2.

If low fat, calorie control diets and exercise worked we’d all be slim.

Carb addiction is one of the biggest causes of obesity. Dessert for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

The current nutrition guidelines are dangerously wrong.

Flip the food pyramid on its head and see how quickly things change.

Tv ads have a contribution in this too. And Just Eat is disgraceful. Even the slogan.

I've been morbidly obese and never poor. Overweight people and obese people are found in every level of society. Cars, TV and the cost of alcohol and other empty calories cause obesity imo.

The government IS trying to do something about it (I loathe this particular one but I mean government in general over the last 20 years). But they can only tinker round the edges as they cannot dismantle our expectations of getting what we want when we want it. The outcry regarding "no government is going to tell me who I can have in my house" would be nothing compared to the outcry of, say, "no government is going to tell me I can't eat pizza and ice cream while drinking full fat vodka and coke which has been delivered to my door; or "no government is going to tell me What I can feed my kids".

Staying slim requires willpower which people just don’t have & the “aww your gawjus as you are hun” attitude doesn’t help anyone either.

There’s a whole plethora of diseases that can hit you out of nowhere there’s no need to spend 40 years of adult life self harming with bad diets, booze and fags.

I think we've become a society that revolves around instant gratification and dopamine stimulation. I've always been aware of these risk factors as somebody with ADHD (hence low dopamine) who can continue gorging on sweet stuff even when utterly stuffed, because I crave the stimulation/hit.

We move fast nowadays, figuratively speaking, and are almost always 'plugged in'. Quickly checking FB/Insta when we have two mins spare, listening to music during that five min bus ride, watching a quick episode on demand rather than waiting until the tv slot like days of old, ordering a takeaway because we haven't time to cook, using WhatsApp rather than emails or (god forbid) a written letter. If you watch people, many will pull out their phone almost immediately nowadays if they have a minute to spare, and I'm pretty sure it's been proven this affects the brain.

I think for many eating, especially sugar/carbs, is just another form of stimulation. I suffer as bad as anyone, but I control it as I just wouldn't stop if I let myself go.

Running, cycling, long walks and following a trainer on line, there are loads of things you can do to get exercise in without needing gyms to be open.

When you are seriously overweight you really have e to get to the point an alcoholic does and say, this is it, enough, I'm tackling this.

And not with silly things like slimming world or paleo but a long term easy to follow healthy eating plan. One which you can follow forever. Concentrating on clean, unprocessed food and smaller portions.

It is education and it's finding a way of tackling it in the community and at school without making people feel shit about themselves.

Obesity is the second biggest cause of cancer in the uk but no one looks at the obese with the disgust they do at smokers.

Fluffycloud - staying or rather being slim is not about will power as much as life style change

Nothing will happen until people start looking at their poor habits rather than blaming their obesity in anyone else but themselves.

We've normalised so many things associated with obesity, the undoing of it will take many years or something drastic happening.

staying or rather being slim is not about will power as much as life style change
It's both because you do need willpower to make a change.

Peoples attitudes to fitness suck in this country, cyclists are already hated and during the last lock down the amount of anger directed towards joggers round where I live was crazy

@grassisjeweled

I think Britain is the only country in the world to happily serve lasagne with chips and garlic bread.

Ha. Maybe. Though certainly not the only one one, double/triple carbing in one meal. My DH can easily tripple carb with rice with noodles and eat it all with bread (meat, veg etc). Delicious though.

I am bit confused about the working hours. Normal working week is 37-40 hours, isn't it.
I think that rather than having long hours (majority of people, obviously some do more, some less, I am going with an average) the problem is starting at 9. In my mative country we start at 8. Which means an hour earlier getting home. Same with school. It does make a difference.

However, there are still things people can do to mitigate later finish like pre prepare, batch cook when time, etc. So then it's quick and easy to serve up.