To wonder what posh Mums cook for dinner…

[Primrosecottagelover]

I have just seen Pippa Middleton’s bikini photos on the DM. Three different bikinis so far, washboard abs & nothing jiggles as she chases three kids. She could easily pass as a fibreglass mannequin. I’m wondering why it is that the Middleton women and affluent women (even middle class at my child’s school), always seem to be so impossibly slim. I struggle with my weight and I would love to see the groceries, fridge contents, packed lunchboxes and dinner plans of the other half. Obviously I know what healthy eating and cooking is but, the bodies of Mothers these days is next level. Why am I struggling to keep my tummy from flopping out while women in their 40’s pull off wearing linen mini shorts (not in UK) and high waisted jeans.

I'd agree that what @Nots456 describes is exactly the type of food we should all be eating, she has cake, chocolate, cheese but not all of the time and good quality. While I can be partial to Dairy Milk sometimes (tired or hormonal) I try and eat like this most of the time. I haven't alway but my career is food science and the fact that people think this is a 'diet' is exactly why we have a huge amount of disease linked to nutritional intake.

Back to the question in the OP, I think Pippa looks slim but not worryingly so and I know of lots of people who are that slim- the Middleton women seem to have a predisposition to being slight, I have looked at photos of Kate in the past and thought she looks incredibly slim but Pippa looks like a woman who eats well and works out a lot, if I had the money and help with the kids that she does I wouldn't be as slim as her because that's just not my shape but I could have the flat stomach because that's my body shape.

Yes it's called an obesogenic environment

Yes, people can eat healthily at lower price points, but they often don’t.

So - we ask ourselves why.

Probably something to do with UPF tasting better than lentils, and being a damn sight quicker and easier to prepare.

It’s all very well saying what people can and should do. But it’s more meaningful to look at what they do do, and why.

There is lots of research about why poorer people are more likely to be fat. None of it has to do with willpower

I’m sure I’m going to annoy people when I say this, but I mean this in no nasty way…
A bag of carrots is 50p in most large super markets… what has being poor got to do with being fat.
Edit; also, what has being poor got to do with this thread? I assume OP isn’t poor

At the risk of stating the bleeding obvious - they don’t want to eat a bag of carrots?

Well my environment isn’t - everyone has a choice about what they tap into. You create your own environment in the same way that you create your own life.

Well there you go then, it’s not that they can’t loose weight bc of being “poor” it’s that they don’t want to.

I don’t really care what they do. I don’t like shite food so I’d take lentils any day over UPF - which just makes me feel sick. A good daal is one of the great joys of life and is very quick to prepare.

Yes we all know this...bully for you. Some people don't feel like that.

I don't look like PM but have been on a big weight loss drive recently. I am lucky in that I have lots of disposable money and a job that is flexible in terms of when I work (overall 14 hour days but I get to pick and choose the hours).

I have a personal trainer come to my house four times a week. I spend about £100 a week on food. I have cut out most unhealthy food - don't snack or eat chocolate etc. it's hard. I am trying to learn lots of healthy recipes so when I get to my goal weight it will be easier to maintain.

Overall I think it is healthy eating and exercise. And the more you exercise the more you can eat. Appreciate most of weight loss is from diet but once I get to my goal weight I should be able to eat around 1600 calories a day and maintain my weight provided I exercise four times a week. My point is really that I would then be say 8.5 stone (five foot two) eating quite a lot each day but hopefully by a healthy weight and toned. Won't be toned like PM - but once you get there you can maintain it easier

I agree that you don’t have to be wealthy but you need to have good transport to where fresh food is being sold at a reasonable price, time to shop and cook and the electricity or gas with which to cook it. So if you are a single parent, doing shift work, living on a council estate where the public transport is inadequate and there are more fried chicken shops than Tescos, and you are tired and behind with the electricity bill, , then it’s all a hell of a lot harder to eat healthily.

@Nots456 I think you have hit the nail on the head with the ultra processed foods. Avoiding these not only helps keep slim but makes you feel healthy. I eat quite large portions but rarely snack. I never eat low fat foods as i hate the taste. I avoid ultra processed foods and am a very slim 45.

Yes we know all that too. Bully for them.

Fwiw I repeat again that I don't think anyone on this thread has said that you have to be rich to be slim. Just that it's easier. Which is bloody obvious to most people.

Money buys time and services (like PTs) and a greater variety of healthy food.

Do you drink alcohol?

I have over the years come to the conclusion that there are a lot of people who just like to congratulate themselves about how they live their life so ignore research that they have low risk factors for the behaviour they see as undesirable.
I know the research around risk factors for alcohol abuse. I have low risk factors and have never abused alcohol. I do not congratulate myself on that fact, I recognise it is environmental factors that make it easy for me not to abuse alcohol.
The same applies to overeating. But carry on feeling superior if it makes you feel better about yourself.

Why?

At the risk of sounding lame, I will tell you what I do when my family wants greasy KFC and I don’t particularly like it
I buy rice in advance, frozen bag of veg always in the freezer
i usually get a few pieces of chicken from the KFC and make a rice bowl type thing
i don’t drive and have to plan in advance for most things, but that’s just me 🤷🏻‍♀️

Because if you do, I'd like to tell you that I'm tee total. Its much better for my health and I find it incredibly easy to avoid.

Having a better diet when you are poor is slightly more complicated than buying a 50p bag of carrots.
They might not be in easy reach of the supermarket that sells them for 50p.
No one has ever shown them what to do with a carrot.
When you live day to day, cheap convenience foods might just save that last nerve.
I could go on.
If it was a simple as just buy a bag of carrots then no one rich or poor would be overweight.

Also looked the photos of PM that the OP is referring to...she clearly has the time to look after herself I.e. weights and cardio. The comments here about anorexia are flippant and quite disingenuous. I know if I didn't work full time and have two young kids I could probably look like this, even in my early 40s. One of my best friends does as she looks after herself(decent diet with plenty treats but LOADS of exercise) as her kids have flown the nest, in fact she's the first one of us to become a Grandmother and you'd be the last one you'd pick out of our friend group to have the role! 💪

@Calicobritches I completely agree that for some people, like in the scenario you describe, eating healthily is extremely difficult to achieve.

But the scale of the obesity problem in the UK goes way way beyond this, the statistics are really alarming.

Sorry to disappoint you I don’t drink either 😂

So do you judge those who do the same way you judge anyone who eats more than you?

Yes this pretty much nails it.