Overweight Brits abroad

[Artyfart]

I know this will upset people but it’s time to face facts and I’m talking about myself here too. Just got back from second holiday abroad this year when once again it was painfully noticeable how overweight British people are compared to our European neighbours. We stand out a mile! Every time I saw someone fat I’d wait for it and…. British accent. We look a state and it’s time to do something about it. No wonder the NHS is on its knees. I came back more determined than ever to lose weight.

Never mind abroad, a Swedish friend lived in N Devon for 20 odd years, and one summer her 90 year old dad came to visit from Stockholm.

‘Goodness, there are a lot of fat people here, aren’t there?’ was one of his first comments (translated for me by friend).

Scruffy. Don't forget scruffy.

Could you explain this please? Thank you.

Huge changes that seem pretty overwhelming to contemplate. Reducing highly processed foods and car use - not by making people's lives harder, infrastructure needs to be in place first. We need to lift children out of poverty, we need to have a society that allows people a healthy work-life balance. We need vast amounts of mental health support - eating disorders are on the rise in young people and there is so little help available.

But I think people on Mumsnet are pretty convinced this huge global crisis can be solved with a good dose of fat-shaming and closing our eyes to the facts. Keep telling fatties how awful they are, make sure you tell them to eat less and move more as much as you can and ignore the fact that mysteriously obesity continues to rise.

We went to Florida about 20 yeara ago and the obesity was unbelievable. I remember reading a news article saying that obesity was making its way over the pond and it was spot on.
Every time the obesity crisis is raised people defend it by saying its people in poverty. I know I will get flamed for this but IMHO its absolute bullshit. Since when has healthy food been more expensive than chinese/Indian takeaway/Mcdonalds/KFC Greggs, the plethora of desert/ice cream shops that have sprung up.
Jesus christ you don't even have to get off your arse into your car to collect it any more, thanks to justeat/deliveroo etc!!

This.

Well then why are you sitting round judging people for being a burden on the NHS if you know that for some of them it will have been caused by medication prescribed by the NHS ???

Surely that taught you not to judge when you don't know the story. So many people have opened up to me (because my steroid weight gain /moonface was so rapid and dramatic) about their own time on steroids and the impact it has had on them .

So your sample is unscientific as there are lots of fat people across Europe particularly Western Europe.

Oh, the irony of me posting on this topic...

On the basis of 2016 data (I think this is the most recent available), the UK has the 36th highest rate of adult obesity in the world (27.8%). The only European country with a higher rate is Malta (28.9%), unless you count Turkey as European (32.1%). The next highest after the UK is Hungary (26.4%), then Lithuania (26.3%) then Czechia (26.0%). Someone referred to fat Germans: Germany's rate is 22.3%, putting it in 79th place in the world ranking.

On health and weight issues, the UK usually comes somewhere between the USA (11th most obese nation on earth: 41.9%) and the rest of Europe.

SIL is Latvian and is always shocked by the wide availability of multi packs of crisps ‘everyday’ consumption and ready meals in the supermarket- not that they don’t exist in Latvia but very small selection in comparison. When we visit her she is health conscious and cakes and crisps are seen as something to buy for a celebration or party. She does shop most days to buy fresh meat and produce and earns a low wage and works 8:00-18:00. Healthy meals can be made on a budget but we do lack the education on this in Britain.

Also a lot of our supermarkets are closing down the butchers/fish counter and pre packed meat has a lot more preservatives. The emphasis on fresh, healthy food just isn’t there and this something that is covered in school. I don’t really remember being taught how to cook healthy meals on a budget and surely this should be part of the curriculum like PE?

I live on the med and I can safely say that Brits and Germans are the fattest.

Noticing more fat people from southern europe though now so they're catching up.

Yes not if abroad is USA was my first thought too.
We’ve been going pretty much annually since 1997 and it really does jump out at you. It’s still unusual to see small children morbidly obese in England and young people on scooters but that’s common especially in Florida.

Presumably anyone Ill or injured due to alcohol, cigarettes, drugs, they're own driving, hobbies, consequences of unprotected sex should also bear their own responsibilities and stay away from the NHS too?

Globally people are getting fatter and its a ticking time bomb.

When I was very ill and large due to steroids I stayed housebound because I knew some fucker would judge me if I used a mobility scooter. The medication to treat the condition that stopped me walking made me large. I am a naturally very active person , before I was ill I was size 8 and swam and kayaked and went running and climbing. Now I am getting off the steroids I am losing weight rapidly and swimming again and I guess the positive is if I get ill again I will be slim and bald and on a mobility scooter . But the fatness and the baldness each had the same cause -medication.

I was taken aback this year in France, after not holidaying there for 5 years, how many of the overweight people had French accents because I instinctively expected them to be Americans.

It really jolted me into thinking more about our eating habits. Typical French food has always been delicious, indulgent and heavy on sweet things. But not processed. I’m making a big effort to change that in our family now.

What a rude man🙄

Wow. Wow wow wow. What a really horrible person you are. Such toxicity must surely taint every area of your life. Do you feel good about yourself saying such vile and judgemental things? You really are not a good person. You should apologise.

Hark at your perfection.

I'm going to Benidorm in September - I'll report back!

It's on the curriculum.
They are taught how to cook healthy meals

You’ll touch some nerves posting this here! We are the 4th fattest country in Europe though (women are 3rd if you look at their data alone) https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/353747/9789289057738-eng.pdf

Of course it’s all to do with the small portion of people who are fat due to medication and nothing to do with our binge eating and drinking culture and lack of exercise 🙄

We need to change our habits, not defend them.

So why do you think it's rising? Why is it that people have got lazier, greedier and less prepared to take responsibility for their health than ever before? People are getting fatter here, fatter across the whole world, fatter across all layers of society - why have people's moral fibre and self control degraded so much and why does it apply so very widely? Is it that people are just so much worse now or are there factors beyond individual failure that explain this collective crisis? And if so, can it be solved by individuals alone or are we going to have to look a bit harder at the causes than just deciding that ever-increasing numbers of people everywhere just 'can't be arsed'?