Britain's Fat Fight (HFW)

[Tigresswoods]

First of all, I love Hugh, we've watched him from the start of River Cottage. Second I think a programme on obesity & raising awareness etc is a good thing.

However AIBU to feel like we've seen it all before? I'm sure I've watched almost exactly that programme with Jamie & Tom Kerridge & probably someone else too?

[Raglansleeve]

We have skinny active teens in the family, who always seem to be snacking. The only problem is, once their metabolism slows they'll be in the habit of having regular snacks between meals and it'll be difficult to rein that in.

I don't know that snacks are necessary even for growing children/teens - we certainly didn't have snacks all the time when we were kids, just a digestive biscuit with a cuppa when we got in from school.

DH was commenting last week (when we were sitting in the park with coffee and cake!) that hardly anyone walked past us who wasn't either eating or drinking. When we were kids, eating in the street was frowned on but now everyone is walking round carrying cans of pop, huge coffees, chocolate, crisps or sausage rolls.

[ppeatfruit]

Yes Stylish Also the older generations didn't drive everywhere, or spend their lives sitting at screens!

[AlbertaSimmons]

My DM is massively overweight. She's educated to post-grad level, retired from an intellectually demanding senior role in education and active in local politics. She has a good pension income. She's overweight because she loves her booze and crisps/snacks - never eats sweets or cake or biscuits. She's not an emotional eater or anything like that. She's a good cook and makes straightforward, regular meat and two veg type meals BUT serves huge portions. She doesn't care. She doesn't want to do what it takes to maintain a healthy weight and that's that. Education isn't necessarily a factor and nor is poverty.

[ppeatfruit]

I bet she eats and drinks late too Alberta Last night there was ANOTHER programme about obesity on the Beeb and they did actual testing on eating late which makes you fat! Ot fatter!

[AlbertaSimmons]

I think she does eat late. Certainly goes to bed late.

[HelenaDove]

i ate later when i was going to slimming world in 2002 I had to because i worked nights. i managed to lose the weight still.

[ppeatfruit]

But you were working Helena The programme said it happens if you go to bed soon after eating. (I know it's true for me !). It also makes me want breakfast earlier in the morning .

[ppeatfruit]

At night.

[eggsandchips]

I couldn't watch it for more than five minutes - presenter was unbearable.

[notacooldad]

I couldn't watch it for more than five minutes - presenter was unbearable.
I don't mind him but if I haven't seen him and a few others for a while I find I'm getting micael Mosley, HFW, and Nigel Slater mixed up.
They all have a generic middle aged 50something look about them
( says this generic looking 50 something year old!!)

[eggsandchips]

It was all very same sort of thing over and over again though (although I didn't watch it for long right enough!!!)

[ppeatfruit]

I watched the repeat yesterday. I thought it was good , especially him rolling up outside Nestle and campaigning against the sweet shop that calls itself WHsmith. I couldn't believe that branch of the shop in Newcastle? It's not so bad (doesn't act as a sugar pusher) in Golders Green!

[HelenaDove]

Chocolate promotions are nothing new though. WHSmith arent giving them away free.

Mars were in the very late 80s though. Anyone else remember the Applause bar? In the big shopping mall in Chelmsford one Saturday they were giving away two free bars to each person . The queue was all the way up the mall. I remember lining up with DB and we got two free bars each. Some of the younger kids tried lining up again. They were being handed out by a couple of young women from large cardboard boxes full of Applause bars.

I dont think this would happen now . But i could be wrong.

[ppeatfruit]

They were also handing out vouchers for those healthy meals you get in that Scottish named eating place. I wonder if they've got shares in Big Pharma.

[Cherrypi]

What did everyone think of episode 2?

[ppeatfruit]

I saw the beginning and recorded the rest It's an hour later here and I was shattered! I do like HFW he's a nice sort of approachable bloke!

[crumbsinthecutlerydrawer]

I like that this series seems to be looking at the whole picture, last week I was sure it was just going to be an attack on cereals and chocolate but it seems to be looking at all foods and eating habits.

Jamie’s programme on sugar was so disappointing, he started looking at everything, sugar content in jars of sauce etc and then it just turned into an attack on Coca Cola, I thought this one might be going the same way but good to see portion sizes are being highlighted as I think that is key to it. I’d just started tracking my own food intake when this started and I knew I was eating a bit more than I should have been, not junk as such but just too much generally, I was surprised that it was actually quite a bit over and I’m keeping it in check now.

I think what he said in episode 1 about his own size being overweight but average or normal and I think that’s the problem. We, generally, have forgotten what normal is and everything, people included has gradually got bigger and now big is the new normal. I remember watching tv in the 80s and the people on tv then who were seen as pretty big would now be seen as average and it actually takes for someone to be very overweight for us to be shocked by it.

I did like him meeting Ross Noble though, it was awkward tv, I don’t think either of them knew what to make of the other.

[ppeatfruit]

Though of course crumbs That company which markets a totally useless (actually harmful) brown fizzy drink does need to be criticised, So many people drink it as if it's a normal accompaniment to their lunch. ( I don't want cookies so I won't type the word). I know there are other revolting drinks but when I saw a programme about them wanting to put a tap of their shxx in every household I have hated them since.

I admire JO for at least for making people think about their habits.

[Destinysdaughter]

What I found shocking was the stats that 10% of the NHS budget (£10 billion) goes on diabetes and that 1 in 6 beds are occupied by a pp with a diabetes related condition. It's going to bring the NHS to its knees if something isn't done. But what?

I've lost 17lbs since Jan by following a low carb diet. However the NHS and Gvt are still pushing the low fat mantra as the way to go. It really isn't IMO.

[Cherrypi]

Was it just type 2 diabetes they were talking about? It wasn’t clear. I loved the orange feet at the metro station.

[ppeatfruit]

Destinys But what? Well the govt. could ban the advertising of those rubbish high sugar\ chemically sweetened drinks. The sweeteners are even worse than sugar for our health apparently they are causing more diabetes than ever!!

Also people could look at their intake of high salt snacks and those drinks because they both are addictive.

[LARLARLAND]

I watched a programme recently which said sweeteners were definitely a better option than sugar. I'm confused.

[ppeatfruit]

It depends on the sweeteners of course, I think Xylitol is alright. probably too expensive for the rubbish companies though.

But it IS confusing. I saw a programme showing the opposite to you LARLAR !!

I know I'm allergic to aspartame!

[crumbsinthecutlerydrawer]

ppeatfruit of course you’re right it’s a totally pointless product and it is pushed way too much and the company’s ethics are terrible but that wasn’t the programme I wanted/expected to see. I’m assuming most people know fizzy drinks are empty calories and full of sugar so I don’t really know what he was trying to achieve.

I like the approach Hugh has taken on questioning the companies on what they can/want to do to help the problem rather than assume all people are stupid and need telling what to do.

I work in a supermarket and I’m with him on the pricing of junk food. No one wants to spend more than they need to, I don’t mean just people on a budget but surely everyone would look at a Mars bar and say why spend 65p or whatever it is for a single one when you can get four for £1 or sometimes the 7 packs are £1.50. It’s hard to expect people to exercise moderation when it’s cheaper to buy to excess. I like a bar of chocolate now and then but the offers on that stuff is crazy. Most of our store’s offers, probably most others too, come from the biscuit/ confectionary aisle and it’s ridiculous that it’s sometimes better value to buy a 200g+ slab of chocolate than an individual bar. Alcohol has minimum prices set, why can’t junk food be treated the same?

[ppeatfruit]

crumbs I'm not sure that most people DO know how rubbishy those drinks are ( I think that they assume they're alright because they wouldn't be advertised so heavily if they weren't) I mean the way they advertise Lucozade is ridiculous when it's just worse than nothing.

You're right about the pricing of the junk food, of course the govt would lose revenue if they taxed it more heavily. I reckon they should drop the tax on Fresh Food and put up the VAT on the junk.