Why are there so many overweight and obese British women?

[EvaHara]

Genuine post and I promise I am not a weight troll. Recently I was on a cruise and couldn't help but notice that many other British women onboard - especially younger women - were considerably overweight or obese. Some were in fact huge and easily as big as some women I saw in the US when there a few years ago.

What has caused this rise in overweight people, particularly younger women? I don't remember there being this many overweight/obese people even 10 years ago.

I am not judging, just curious.

It’s not only women; it’s everyone.
It’s UPF and poor lifestyle… Ultra Processed People is a brilliant book for anyone interested in diet/health.

I think it is our relationship with food, and its abundance in the first world.

And furthermore the sedentary lifestyle that is now the norm.

So even if we work in a physical job, we go home and sit about for hours on end because we are too exhausted to move from the sofa after 7pm.

Even worse if we sit on a computer all day.

Food is not just seen as a fuel anymore it is a pleasure activity, or a comfort.

Add to that the crap available to us in supermarkets so we don't have to do proper cooking, of course too much effort involved, and tiresome.

I hate the gym, i hate the idea of running or cycling, and i hate the idea of being told what to eat.

Availability of affordable take-always and junk food. In the 60s and 70s when people had to cook mainly from scratch there was less obesity.

I haven’t rtft, but obesity is an absolutely fascinating subject to dive into.

For instance there’s research showing a link between regular pre-adolescent smoking in grandfathers and increased BMI of their grand daughters and great grand daughters.

Ready meals, take-away, “coffee” drinks with whipped cream, “luxury” lunch sandwiches with 100 ingredients including cream in the mayo!. Work from home requiring no actual movement. It’s very difficult to manage calories unless making your own meals.

Because we work the longest hours in Europe, are hugely taxed with nothing in return, our country is on its knees politically and socially, no-one has any spare cash, we are stressed to the hilt, there is no hope, and we are too exhausted and poor to be able to, or want to cook nutritious meals from scratch.

Compare with women in France or Denmark or Germany or Italy or the Netherlands where they don't work such long hours, get better childcare and healthcare for their taxes, aren't so politically despondent, have a better outlook, spare cash, and are actually able to enjoy life and partake in it!!

They sound amazing but I'm afraid I won't be buying a packet since I have no self control and will eat them all over a couple of days.

I really wish supermarkets would sell smaller packs of junk. I would buy a 2 pack even though it would be comparatively more expensive than the big pack.

food is delicious?

probably the truth is a mixture of lack of cooking skills/time to cook/availability and cheapness of junk v expense of fresh ingredients
lack of awareness re health etc.

Bio : Women have health issues; lack of HRT causing osteoporosis/women being put on anti-depressants instead of finding true causes of tiredness such as anemia/lack of exercise caused by said tiredness that doesn't magically go when on anti-depressants/tiredness causes food cravings for sugar rush and over reliance on processed foods. There is no social care any more so issues that could be supported at home are not - they may have a health issue that restricts movement or a disability you cannot see with the naked eye.
Pycho: women who are bigger don't like starting exercise classes in public because so many of the public are rude about people who are overweight. They tire easily and sweat and don't like people to see them in this way, which is inevitable if they join a class. If they don't keep up again they are ridiculed. They may have developed a dependency on sweet foods for a dopamine rush. It helps lift their mood but is followed by a crash. This starts yo-yo diets often. All results in poor mental health and becomes a vicious cycle.
Social: They may not have been taught how to cook from scratch, have the mental capacity to do so or the money to buy fresh something they would like to eat. The government makes buying healthy food difficult by failing to properly label things that are actually healthy as such and allow global conglomerates to falsely claim food is healthy when it is not. Because often these companies pay political parties, much in the same way building firms do, to keep their companies untouchable by law. Building estates where there is no food to buy other than from an expensive Londis, for example is another way you can get poor people to eat poorly, especially if they can't afford a car or the petrol to run it. Add a few takeaways to a walkable distance then sell it to the neighbourhood as a "treat" to seal the deal.

Did you mean to sound like George Osborne? Mocking the poor is a really shit look, you know

Read this...

Chris Van Tullekan explains how we are powerless against the system. It's an enlightening read

I think there's a lot of things which make sn obesogenic environment.

I'm quite sure many women from earlier generations would have used ready meals, had they been accessible, but they weren't. Just because you can do it or have to do it does not make cooking from scratch every day fun for everyone. I mostly do cook from scratch (not least because I'm unemployed,) but currently, I am very uninspired by it. i have quite a few homecooked meals in the freezer, but I just can't be bothered lately. Salads at least are easy.

Many women from earlier generations would have driven, had they had that option, too. Mostly they didn't, and they didn't have freezers, either, so food at had to bought little and often.

In my '70s/'80s childhood, we rarely snacked, and being out of town, didn't even have easy access to a corner shop for a packet of Spangles or penny chews.

We didn't have central heating, either, and I suspect sleeping in bedrooms with ice on the inside if the window in winter uses more calories than double glazing and radiators. Housework was harder, too, but I do not want to return to a time of having to boil wash everything manually and stick it through the mangle.

Preservatives were mostly salt, sugar or vinegar, whereas some ingredient lists now are long lists of things which you probably can't buy as a normal supermarket consumer.

There are things governments can do, such as not allowing planning applications for new fast-food outlets within a certain distance of schools. This has been shown to have a positive effect in areas where such rules are applied. Local authorities could also ban junk food advertising at bus stops and in hoardings near schools. Some countries don't allow such ads on TV at times children are like to be watching.

I don't think any single thing has made us fatter, and I don't think any single measure will reverse it, but there are lots of small measures, personal and public, which could add up to improving things. However, from the authorities, such measures usually need planning and funding over different departments and over years. Councils are really struggling for money currently, and local and national government mostly do financial planning only for 4-5 year periods, i.e. one electoral term at a time at most.

It's very true what people say about European culture and ready meals- when we lived in Copenhagen the things I missed most were Waitrose, and M&S .

Even at the best supermarket which was called Meny you just didn't get nice ready meals- they did do a few but to be frank were totally rank - they also do a lot of things in large glass jars - like curry etc- still not a patch on M&S - they do however have big freezer sections- most of which was really cheap nasty shit. It was actually suprisingly hard to eat well at home unless you paid a ton of cash for fresh fish (great quality but pricey) or literally cooked every night from scratch.

What they did have a great range if were prepared cold kind of stuff with mayonnaise that you put on open sandwiches in large tubs, so prawns mayonnaise, ham and egg, salmon and mayo etc.

Smoked salmon was quite good and quite reasonable and they had tubes of caviar paste

I certainly had quite an unusual diet there compared to UK and cooked an awful lot

It's no secret that the ratio of men to women on apps like Tinder is five to one.

That means most men using these apps can't afford to be fussy.

Women working is the norm now. It's taken a couple of decades to really filter through but with most couples having to work now to make ends meet, it means that properly cooked food and clean houses are now the exceptions to the rule. I'm sure my post will be jumped on as sexist, but if both people work, no one is there for when the other one gets back from work with the freshly cooked meal.

There are other causes such as the nonsense of body positivity etc but I think both partners working is the lion's share of the cause and it is very rarely mentioned.

With me it's the combination of underactive thyroid gland, medication and going through the menopause. The menopause being the main reason. I exercise a lot and try to watch what I eat but my weight is increasing.

Good post, @MsMuffinWalloper

I’ve put on around 3 stone which I’d say is down to high stress levels and low income. I’m not a fan of junk food but it’s cheaper for sure. I also have no childcare so don’t excerise as much these days. Are these unique to being British? Maybe, as I find i naturally lose some weight during summer.

it does seem that mum tums are more commOn in our culture as opposed to just being overweight. No idea why but my abdomen is my problem area

Drinking culture, takeaways and lack of nutritional education.

Surely this just show's men on Tinder up as "any hole is a goal" types, which is exactly why so many women do not frequent Tinder.

This. I'm 59 this year. When I was young I didn't know anyone who was fat. There was no 'curvy girl' , 'embrace your curves' nonsense. When we did O level needlework the teacher advised that we should stand in front of a mirror, naked, and jump up and down. " If anything wobbles that shouldn't, get rid of it".

What do you mean ?

Gluttony^^

I agree with this. A lot of people go on about how previous generations were thinner, insinuating they were somehow superior. And that we’re morally failing nowadays because we’re generally fatter, yet those people fail to recognise that in the same circumstances, those in previous generations would have chosen the easier options too.

I live in Florida, where cruises are common, common. And we have a saying here, that cruises are for the newlywed, overfed and nearly dead. For some people the idea of a vacation where there is unlimited food is a big draw. People who like to eat large quantities are more apt to choose a vacation that feeds large quantities.