To suggest that enforced national food rationing might help solve the nation's obesity problem?

[Lucia39]

During the period 1939-1954 the nation's diet was, apparently, the healthiest it has ever been.

So would a similar regime assist helping those who are increasingly "dimensionally challenged"?

Vegetables, fruit, and pulses would be more freely available but meat, dairy produce, sugar and fats would be strictly rationed.

Any thoughts?

Yes, well i'm a bit vague on it cause I can't even remember what the program was called. It could have been more than 40 years, that was just my guess. Anyway, my point was that our diets aren't as massively different now. I actually think the bigger problem is people not moving about enough and driving everywhere. That's just my oppinion though, i'm no expert and can't be arsed to do any reseach on it cause i'm watching friends

Our diets are a lot different I think - 40 yrs ago an evening meal would've been meat and 2 veg, not refined pasta etc... most people don't realise that refined carbs (breads / pastas / cakes etc) break down fast into sugar so that adds to our problems.
Also 40 yrs ago things would've been baked at home so no additives / trans fats added to extend shelf life, quality organic ingredients etc etc.
Plus people nowadays consume lots more alcohol - high calorie / sugar / yeast - all bad and adding to the weight.
Although I agree wholeheartedly about the lack of exercise and reliance on cars etc

When I aws a child we had a cooked breakfast - so protein - bacon etc. We had nothing whatsoever to eat until lunch time. We had our family meal at lunch time which was met, carb (often boiled potoat) and veg usually with fruit after lunch.We had no snacks. We then had s nack meal later which would be open sandwiches with meat or something. Sometimes my mother gave us dried apricots in bed as a treat. People ate 3 regular meals a day and very rarely had snacks.

Most people eat very differently from that. They eat junk food as snacks all day and not that many proper meals. Many many have no breakfast at all.

I have no breakfast. I can't eat in the morning. I've tried and I feel worse when I do eat breakfast.

Hmm yes, I think it's the processed food that's a big problem, too much of that about. We try to eat 3 meals a day and hardly snack at all. We do have occasional binges at weekends though due to lack of will power. Don't know why I do it really cause I always feel better within myself when I eat healthy food. I mostly drink water though which I am proud of.

I don't think snacks are that bad as eating little and often is good for the metabolism. It does depend on the type of snack though...

Me too Thunderduck I used to worry about all the contradicting advice and feel bad about doing most of my eating in the evening, now I just think it doesn't actually make that much difference, so I do what suits.

A coffee/piece of fruit for brekkie. Protein smoothie for lunch and a nice big dinner of meat and vegs.

puffylovett: I'm not sure your halcyon view of the 1960s is entirely accurate. I was growing up then and so can only speak from my own experiences. I was lucky I had a mother who had grown up prior to WW2 and was an excellent cook. We ate home-cooked meals served with fresh veg from the garden, as well as home-made cakes, jams and chutneys.

However, the 1960s was also the decade that saw the introduction of freeze-dried food [anybody remember Vesta curries and Surprise peas]? Other "culinary delights" such as Cadbury's Smash, Angel Delight and Dream Topping Birds Trifle [Instant Whip had arrived earlier in the 1950s] also made their appearance at this time. The use of sugar and artificial dyes was rampant. Shop bought jams were revoltingly sweet and dyed various hues to, apparently, make them look more "appetizing".

Get thee rid of these radiation boxes and stir i tell you stir!The love will travel down the spoon and into the food

puffy you asked how many people would choose an apple over a choc bar.
i do.

maybe because as a child i was allowed to eat whatever i wanted. there was not forbitten food, or talk about fat and calories. But we ate all together and there was plenty fruit around.

I was never told-or forced- to eat my veg. but i copied my parents and ate them.We had choc and sweets too around and we could eat them if we wanted. But we very rare did.

The same with alchool. We were allowed to drink wine and to buy it (we were not in uk btw) but we never did. We couldn't rebel because it was not forbiten.

The only thing i was not allowed to do was smoking. And yes i smoked

Xenia: Have to agree on the topic of breakfast. It is still the most important meal of the day. My mother used to reckon that if you had a good breakfast [eggs, bacon, porridge, or kippers] you could just eat fruit for lunch and manage until dinner.

Nutritionists have suggested that our eating habits are all wrong. It has been postulated that, ideally, we should have a large meal when we get up [because we have gone overnight without eating and blood sugar levels are low] followed by a light meal at lunch-time and a snack in the evening. However, because of the way the world works we do the reverse!

No! I love my radiation box and it's staying!..OMG It's been almost an hour since I last hugged it...rushes off.

"if people want to eat to excess and die early do you not live in a society where we have the freedom to do that if we want? "

Absolutely. But people can just eat lots of proper chocolate and butter and cheese and good cakes and biscuits to do that. We won't deprive them of that.

The government has a duty to look after its citizens and allowing big businesses to feed us utter shite is not really on. Makes it a lot harder for everyone else who doesn't want to die early.

Britain's love of microwaves - it's all connected. You won't find them in anything like as many European kitchens.

I normally can't face food in the morning but your description of your scrambled eggs is making me hungry.

DP has been talking about keeping chickens for the eggs. I'm not sure yet but he's working on me.

Hear hear riven.There is a link.why do we need something to make heating beans quicker,they only take 2 mins!

Ah, but nothing can compare with the microwave for making breakfast porridge (no pans to sandblast), a lone jacket potato, or home-made microwaveable rice from the freezer (hot, fluffy rice without pans coated in skin = )

Someone as forgetful (and fond of due date markdowns) as me needs a fast lane for defrosting, too.

another vote here for microwaves.
also good for reheating healthy lunches of veg curry etc at work.
I wouldn't scramble eggs in one,though, watched my mum do it, what a faff.

Don't particularly agree with the term Nanny state - if we smoke/drink/take drugs/eat too much, and our health suffers for it, we rely on the NHS for medical help, and the state to provide benefits for us to live on. I think this gives the state a certain right to question our habits, and try and improve them.

Agree with Xenia and have made the point before that growing up (late 60s early 70s) we had 3 meals a day, no 'snacks' and no silly bits of food marketed at children and covered in cartoon characters. And we ate what was put in front of us becasue we were ready for it.

We had an ice cream once a week in summer when the van came round, and this was a real treat. We didn't feel deprived becasue there wasn't permanently a box of cornettos in the freezer.

Out at the weekend with SIL and BIL and DNeice (7), and couldn't believe the amount she was fed - her mother was weighed down under a coolpack with sandwiches, little yoghurts, fruit, cereal bars, biscuits, cartons of juice in addition to the fairly substantial picnic lunch we had, in case DNeice was hungry. She's a typical bouncy energetic 7 year old at the moment, but I can honestly see weight problems in the future, purely because of the amount she's given to eat.

Agree with this:
"Our diets are a lot different I think - 40 yrs ago an evening meal would've been meat and 2 veg, not refined pasta etc... most people don't realise that refined carbs (breads / pastas / cakes etc) break down fast into sugar so that adds to our problems.
Also 40 yrs ago things would've been baked at home so no additives / trans fats added to extend shelf life, quality organic ingredients etc etc.
Plus people nowadays consume lots more alcohol - high calorie / sugar / yeast - all bad and adding to the weight."

They need to eat more basic foods. If you stick to tath you'll feel better, healthier and happier too. The more processed the worse the food.

I don't buy things like biscuits and crisps... although having 3 older children who all drive means the twins big brother buys them sometimes - there was a pack of chocolate disgestives in the kitchen yesterday when I got back from work.

On who would prefer an apple? I genuinely have no interest in or desire for chocolates, cakes etc. I just lost interest. When I had them I could never have imagined how I could lose the desire for them but it is so. But I would avoid the apple too as a snack as my body doesn't like sudden hits of fructose. Fruit isn't always the best snack ifyou don't want your blood sugar going up and down.

I agree - found an old wartime cookery book in a secondhand shop recently:
"Cooking for the Slender Purse" SO GREAT!!
It gave the newbie housewife weeks of shopping lists, NOTHING was wasted and there was meat everyday (bigger portions for 'the man of the house'!! heehee) but yes, lots of healthy veg - sack of potatoes a week, carrots, etc. great British produce and no 'pre processed - refined to nothing - chemical' anything. Refreshing if a little restrictive.

They MUST have been healthier! Has anyone else found any good 'wartime' recipes?

Haven't finished reading the whole thread but just want to know if forced exercise (and forced labour too, why not?) are part of your plan too?

you could combine the two, there's plenty of litter out there that needs picking up

mind you if they have to close down all 3 lanes of the motorway to do it, I think I'd prefer a mucky motorway !

CharlotteVV: Marguerite Patten [born 1915] worked for the Ministry of Food during WW2 promoting recipes and healthy eating and has produced lots of recipe books over her life. She's still active and appears on radio and television programmes about food and nutrition.

She published a book called We'll Eat Again which is a collection of war-time recipes. There is also Alison Cooper's Wartime Cookbook and David Notley's Wartime Recipes.

Hope this helps!

JonAndHate: Might be a good idea if you did read the whole thread. Had you done so you would have noted that the OP was a suggestion not an order!

Awww...