to consider my grandma’s theory on why we’re all fatter?

[bagelbreath]

My grandma swears up and down that although food and movement are obviously big factors to the massive weight gain of the country, heating is also very important.

While she lived in a cold house, wore stockings and dresses year round, and spent a lot of time outside, we all sit toasty in our well heated and insulated houses. Her theory is that it took lots of energy to stay warm then vs now.

Is it crazy? I kind of think it makes sense

I'm still going with fast food and technology being the main driving forces.

It’s a factor.

Also a factor are the massive increase in processed foods, seed oils and refined carbs coupled with more office based jobs.

I think being cold and smoking had some limited impact. One uses energy and one surpresses appetite.

I've read something about that before, that your body uses more energy keeping you warm when your surroundings are colder. It makes sense I guess. But not sure how much of an impact it has compared to how much we eat and how little we move.

Also, bigger portions and higher expectations of tasty food vs the plainer food many people in the UK would previously have eaten.

We will all be thin by spring then!!

I definitely think convenience food and sugar plays a huge amount.

I find when I'm cold I eat a lot more comfort food, junk food, high fat food etc to try to stay warm, so I'm not sure that theory rings true.

I think fast food and snacking is the real reason

There's many factors, the calories burnt by the body keeping itself warm in itself would have a tiny impact if any.

I think alongside energy to keep warm at home - fewer cars, lots more walking, cold open back buses and much less processed food, snacks and treats.

My granparents were born in the early 1900s.

They were very thin.
It's true the house was cold but they didn't sit down much and they never snacked.
Their diets might seem unhealthy to many now but overall they ate less and no processed food. I was brought up on a similar diet and have kept some of the good bits.

I'm going to vote with not crazy! The reason being that when I had an eating disorder - anorexia - one thing I did all the time was wear summer clothing in the winter. My therapist said I may have been doing this subconsciously because my body would be using more energy to try and keep me warm.

I also wonder if it is a generational thing. for example, my grandparents (war children) really pushed "treat" foods on us as children. They were deprived with rationing, poverty etc so they wanted to make sure we never went without. Without realising the true impact of this. E.g. crisps, chocolate etc to the max to "spoil" their children and grandchildren. The impact of this is people are more accustomed to junk food. Not to mention all the advertising, glorification of food in our society.

Processed food, bigger portions and less activity must make much more difference than being warmer nowadays. Smoking would have had an effect. I put on 2 stone when I gave up smoking and I know others who put on weight.

I think she’s right, along with lack of movement. When I was a kid we never had a car and we walked miles and miles, nowadays it’s just too easy to get in the car to drive a couple of miles down the road.

Food is readily available 24/7 now. Snacks, take aways, burgers, sweets, chocolate. Calorie intake is easy to increase and cheap food is/ was cheap.

I think the cold does burn up more fat, but we ate an awful lodge of stodge too. We always had lots of potatoes with the main course then puddings, suet, apple pie and custard, rice pudding etc. Porridge followed by eggs was common for breakfast.
We had one coal fire and an outside loo and it was cold; we always had chilblains on our toes in winter.
No car, so we walked lots more and ran to catch the bus!
I agree about fast food and empty calories being one of the main drivers now.

But the fattest populations are in some of the warmest places.

obesity.procon.org/global-obesity-levels/#:~:text=The%20island%20country%20of%20Nauru,26%2C%202020.

I think the energy burnt from being colder would be fairly negligible, diet has a much bigger impact on weight than movement (e.g. I can spend half an hour on the cross trainer and maybe burn an extra 300 cals but that is easily wiped out by a chocolate bar). The processed foods, massive portions and general easy accessibility to all these foods combined with general sedentary lifestyles will have a much bigger impact

I think movement certainly plays a big part. Walking to the shops a few times a week as most families had only 1 car at most and no freezer would have helped, kids were walked to and from school often at lunchtime as well as morning and afternoon. Twin tub or hand washing no tumble dryer, no disposable nappies ,everything needed ironing. Home cooking everyday no cleaners.

Sheer quantity of food is to blame mostly. My mother (born in 50's) doesn't remember snacks, biscuits were a rare treat, food was mostly veg from the garden, meat was small in portion, she remembers having to wait for my grandad to come home with his pay packet so my grandmother could go and buy bread for a simple meal. She remembers her mum skipping meals too. Food poverty was common then.

Today we have easy access to cheap calories, the sorts of things that satisfy you if you are on a tight budget eg pasta, noodles. Food is relatively cheap - despite the prevalence of food banks, even the poorest have more food than in the 50's. Snacks especially processed ones are now considered normal in a child's diet

I think it’s a factor like many things.

I read that post war when fast food started (McDonald’s etc), one way to increase sales was to make the portions bigger, rather than decrease prices.

This has spread to the uk, and portions just keep growing.

If you ever watch a film, documentary or book describing eating out in post war Britain you would be amazed at how small plates and portions were. (Even accounting for rationing)

Plus as your granny said, no central heating, no labour saving devices eg washing machines, walk or cycle everywhere. People wore far more clothes indoors, and saw the need to pop a hat on when they went out.

Yes, diets in the old days were very fatty and stodgy, I think it’s more sugary now. Even the ‘low fat’ diet foots are pushed on us but it’s the sugar in them doing the damage not the fat.

Just realised that this would actually support your point 🤦🏼‍♀️ Bit slow off the mark today.

But I really do think diet and labour saving technology is leading the charge in our expanding waistlines.