The 'Obesity Epidemic'

[PeteS]

Because Mr. R has been in a hospital / physical therapy facility for 4 months now, I have gotten a first hand look at the medical field.
When I see employees in the dining area eating huge plates of greasy poison, I want to ask them if a nice green salad wouldn't be a better option. And these are young women working as aides to the nursing staff and should know better. Obesity is rampant there, very surprising for the medical field.
Perhaps because my parents were European I was raised differently, my Mum always cooked and I do see that American eating habits are not healthy.
And there are all the food additives as well - 'Corn syrup' is listed as an ingredient on almost everything, I avoid it completely.

I only have recent experience of our local hospital, so it might not apply elsewhere but the majority of nurses there are very overweight, some to the extent of serious obesity. Difficult to understand given what they come across in terms of patient care. Local vets is the same.

(Hope Mr R is responding to treatment)

 

[escargot]

I found this interesting. BBC + Royal Society. There's a video/lecture but also (bliss) a transcript.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/ideas/videos/...st=made-in-partnership-with-the-royal-society

Wassat then?

 

[escargot]

I only have recent experience of our local hospital, so it might not apply elsewhere but the majority of nurses there are very overweight, some to the extent of serious obesity. Difficult to understand given what they come across in terms of patient care. Local vets is the same.

(Hope Mr R is responding to treatment)

Yup, when I worked in hospitals I often noticed staff who were so obese it's a miracle they got anything done. Really huge.
While I'm no Twiggy meself I was fit enough for any task required without needing a sit-down afterwards.

To be fair though it's not just hospital staff. You see immense people waddling about every day wherever you go.

 

[escargot]

I agree that I wouldn't be inclined to take health advice from an apparently unhealthy person, but I'd also take into account their level of training in the field.

Yup, with you on that.
When I worked in gyms I'd see the personal trainers going outside to smoke between sessions and I'd tell them 'I'd never take advice from you, stinking of fags!' Their indignation was sublime to behold.

There was also 'What do YOU know about health? You smoke!' and so on. And on, and on. I never tired of ribbing the smokers.

 

[Ronnie Jersey]

I only have recent experience of our local hospital, so it might not apply elsewhere but the majority of nurses there are very overweight, some to the extent of serious obesity. Difficult to understand given what they come across in terms of patient care. Local vets is the same.

(Hope Mr R is responding to treatment)

It gets annoying when a very young nurse / medical worker lectures me on some issue -
'Mrs. D, you know you must walk 5,000 (or 10,000) steps per day' for example, when they are obviously not following their own advice.

(Thank you, Mr. R may be coming home this week!)

 

[Floyd]

Also, it comes back to why they look overweight/unhealthy. For instance, if I had a tiny window of opportunity to eat while performing high stress and physical tasks, I'd load up on quick to prepare/consume foods.

Yes.
I really do think that there is something to be said for routine when it comes to eating (and going to bed and rising for that matter).

I once had a job where I started anywhere between 3am and 8am and finished anywhere between 5pm and 9pm (sometimes later).
It really did play havoc with my system.

I'm not saying that it necessarily was totally to blame for my weight gain on it's own, but certainly a part of it.

And it definitely made me feel worse, that's for sure.

 

[catseye]

Yes.
I really do think that there is something to be said for routine when it comes to eating (and going to bed and rising for that matter).

I once had a job where I started anywhere between 3am and 8am and finished anywhere between 5pm and 9pm (sometimes later).
It really did play havoc with my system.

I'm not saying that it necessarily was totally to blame for my weight gain on it's own, but certainly a part of it.

And it definitely made me feel worse, that's for sure.

I think this is a big contributing factor to the overweight nature of health care professionals. Working shifts, which change endlessly and include nights, wreaks absolute havoc on the metabolic system and your ability to eat proper meals at proper times. When you are eating dinner at breakfast time, then going to bed and getting up to eat another big meal to get you through a long shift, it won't help. And it's well known that night shifts are ruinous to the health anyway. I see a lot of people who work night shifts in care homes, and they are loading up at the shop on energy drinks and chocolate, to get them through.

My late shifts (2-10pm) are bad enough. I end up eating at 11pm and going straight to bed, which I know isn't good for me. It also makes any kind of intermittent fasting very hard. So I can see how any job that involves shift work is going to make for more overweight employees.

 

[maximus otter]

I think this is a big contributing factor to the overweight nature of health care professionals. Working shifts, which change endlessly and include nights, wreaks absolute havoc on the metabolic system and your ability to eat proper meals at proper times. When you are eating dinner at breakfast time, then going to bed and getting up to eat another big meal to get you through a long shift, it won't help. And it's well known that night shifts are ruinous to the health anyway. I see a lot of people who work night shifts in care homes, and they are loading up at the shop on energy drinks and chocolate, to get them through.

My late shifts (2-10pm) are bad enough. I end up eating at 11pm and going straight to bed, which I know isn't good for me. It also makes any kind of intermittent fasting very hard. So I can see how any job that involves shift work is going to make for more overweight employees.

OTOH I worked shifts for 27 years, and although no one's going to mistake me for Darcey Bussell, I didn't end up a landwhale like so many 9 x 5-ers that I see.

Shifts are a convenient excuse for people who want to eat crisps and chocolate, then grizzle about putting on weight.

maximus otter

 

[Frideswide]

Wassat then?

It looks at the neurology of seeing, smelling, tasting food. What "good" feels like And why it's not a simple process.

 

[catseye]

OTOH I worked shifts for 27 years, and although no one's going to mistake me for Darcey Bussell, I didn't end up a landwhale like so many 9 x 5-ers that I see.

Shifts are a convenient excuse for people who want to eat crisps and chocolate, then grizzle about putting on weight.

maximus otter

Likewise, I work shifts and haven't put on weight. But it may depend, if you are in charge of looking after a family, cooking between shifts and then eating to keep yourself awake whilst on shifts...I can see how it happens. I don't think it's an excuse, not in many cases. Like smoking as stress relief - having seen what nurses have to put up with, I can see why they smoke.

 

[ramonmercado]

OTOH I worked shifts for 27 years, and although no one's going to mistake me for Darcey Bussell, I didn't end up a landwhale like so many 9 x 5-ers that I see.

Shifts are a convenient excuse for people who want to eat crisps and chocolate, then grizzle about putting on weight.

maximus otter

I've see plenty of corpulent coppers though.

 

[Floyd]

I've see plenty of corpulent coppers though.

I watched an old, early episode of the Fast Show last night, and the fat, sweaty coppers were on.

 

[catseye]

Also, I would bet that a high proportion don't get a decent sleep when they come in off nights. I suspect there's a lot of 'having to do the housework', getting kids to and from school, etc etc. So even more propensity to try to borrow energy with sweet drinks, chocolate and eating dreadful, quick meals.

 

[Floyd]

I think this is a big contributing factor to the overweight nature of health care professionals. Working shifts, which change endlessly and include nights, wreaks absolute havoc on the metabolic system and your ability to eat proper meals at proper times.

Yes. Regardless of the quality of the food (in my case).

Different metabolisms I suppose.

After two minutes in Cairo, I'm sat on the pan for a couple of weeks, whereas I'd guarantee that Simon 'Indiana' Burchell would be right as rain.

 

[escargot]

Yup, shift/night working plays havoc with the food regime. In my job, you might not know when you'll eat next. I carry fruit and sometimes nuts. No confectionery.

However, many staff are handed a bacon sarnie as soon as they walk in.
Some have several a day. You can easily pick them out.

If I'm offered food I ask for fruit or salads. Maybe a spot of tapas. They think I'm nuts, turning down bacon.

 

[maximus otter]

They think I'm nuts, turning down bacon.

maximus otter

 

[charliebrown]

By chance Netflix has a documentary on “ Living to a 100 “ where there are five places on earth where people live past a 100.

Sardinia, Italy
Okinawa, Japan
Nicoya, Costa Rica
Ikaria, Greece
Seventh Day Adventist Church, Loma Linda, California

Besides eating a “ Mediterranean Diet “, it was found that in these areas the people walked more, and more importantly these people were very social minded.

Companionship was a big plus.

 

[Floyd]

By chance Netflix has a documentary on “ Living to a 100 “ where there are five places on earth where people live past a 100.

it was found that in these areas the people walked more, and more importantly these people were very social minded.

Companionship was a big plus.

A good climate, family, (to help out with children and life in general), friends and a much more relaxed way of life are definitely big parts of it.

The term 'Mediterranean Diet' (which I pretty much live on myself) can be a bit overused, in my opinion though.

 

[PeteS]

Metabolism plays some part I'm sure. I've known a handful of none exercising people who ate vast amounts, often rubbish, but stayed really thin. One such individual despite doing no exercise ran 10k's without difficulty once a year.

 

[Floyd]

Metabolism plays some part I'm sure. I've known a handful of none exercising people who ate vast amounts, often rubbish, but stayed really thin. One such individual despite doing no exercise ran 10k's without difficulty once a year.

It's probably changed now, but a lot of army guys smoked like chimneys.
And I mean the more 'physical' regiments, like the paras etc.

 

[escargot]

Metabolism plays some part I'm sure. I've known a handful of none exercising people who ate vast amounts, often rubbish, but stayed really thin. One such individual despite doing no exercise ran 10k's without difficulty once a year.

Yup, my ex was like that. (May still be, I dunno.)

He'd shovel down vast amounts of crap, like chips EVERY DAY at work, and whatever other rubbish he could find.

Especially confectionery. I used to buy cheap cough sweets for when I had a bad throat, 6 packs for 50p, which would last months.
He once found them and ate the lot in an evening when I was out. Didn't ask, didn't even tell me until I noticed they were gone.

Quoting myself here -

He used to brag that he had a high metabolism and so would never get fat.

Dunno where he got this idea but he LOVED it.
I, being short and chubby, obviously had a low metabolism which was nothing to be proud of.

I'd tell him this was rubbish and he'd argue, until we saw some pop science TV programme about nutrition which mentioned that thinner people have a lower metabolism which made their bodies less efficient at processing food into energy and body fat. (Also probably simplistic rubbish.)

After that he shut up about metabolisms.

 

[catseye]

People who are blase about 'having a fast metabolism' shouldn't rest on their laurels though. Metabolism can change dramatically throughout life, as any woman who has changed shape vastly after menopause without changing their diet at all, will tell you.

My eldest son - now approaching 35 - was seven and a half stone at five foot nine, all his life up until the last year. He's now starting to put on a bit of weight. He was fully medically examined, as he was so thin, but nothing was found to be wrong, and now he's filling out.

 

[Swifty]

People who are blase about 'having a fast metabolism' shouldn't rest on their laurels though. Metabolism can change dramatically throughout life, as any woman who has changed shape vastly after menopause without changing their diet at all, will tell you.

My eldest son - now approaching 35 - was seven and a half stone at five foot nine, all his life up until the last year. He's now starting to put on a bit of weight. He was fully medically examined, as he was so thin, but nothing was found to be wrong, and now he's filling out.

Same thing in our family. My Mum told me men in our family fill out when they get to their 30's and I did.

 

[escargot]

If you can have a choice, why deny it to you or your family?

That's the point, that poorer families can't offer a choice past 'eat or go hungry'.
This was literally what was available to me and, it seems, to others on'ere.

I needed no coaxing to finish all my vegetables. If I didn't, I'd go to bed hungry.
Luckily I liked meat/veg/gravy, or 'food' as I knew it.

As I've mentioned, we'd also claim the pea juice to eat with bread and butter. Every scrap of food was eaten.

I was once so hungry I found the skin my mother had cut off the cucumber to make posh sandwiches for visitors.
Spread some marge on sliced bread, chucked the cucumber skin on and wolfed it all down. Crunchy. Delicious. Full of vitamin C.

The concept of 'leftovers' did not exist.

 

[catseye]

That's the point, that poorer families can't offer a choice past 'eat or go hungry'.
This was literally what was available to me and, it seems, to others on'ere.

I needed no coaxing to finish all my vegetables. If I didn't, I'd go to bed hungry.
Luckily I liked meat/veg/gravy, or 'food' as I knew it.

As I've mentioned, we'd also claim the pea juice to eat with bread and butter. Every scrap of food was eaten.

I was once so hungry I found the skin my mother had cut off the cucumber to make posh sandwiches for visitors.
Spread some marge on sliced bread, chucked the cucumber skin on and wolfed it all down. Crunchy. Delicious. Full of vitamin C.

The concept of 'leftovers' did not exist.

I think this is the difference between 'how life was' (when food was expensive, the previous generation had grown up with absolutely nothing and children were brought up with 'take it or leave it, there's nothing else') and how life is now, when we have a far more child-centric view and children being left hungry would get parents reported to social services.

I grew up like you. One meal served and that was all. Parents didn't deliberately cook food that their children wouldn't eat, because that would lead to waste. But there were no such things as 'snacks', sweets were a once a week treat, and most homes never had things like crisps or fizzy drinks except at Christmas, so we were usually hungry enough to eat most things. I just happened not to eat potatoes, so I wasn't given many of them. I don't remember being hungry, other than just prior to a meal.

 

[escargot]

Fish and chips were never rationed though.

Was listening to some chef talking on R4 about fish and chips. He was saying that it's not a set meal and the cost and value vary widely.

His example was that you can order it at Harrods and it'll cost a fortune, because the fish and other ingredients are brought in fresh every day to be prepared and cooked to order.

If you pop to the chip shop you'll pay a fraction of the Harrods' price because the costs are lower, for example with frozen fish portions bought in batches. Nobody at Codrophenia or The Frying Nemo is hand-choosing and gutting fish.

However, fish and chips has never been the cheapest chip shop meal. My family could afford it once a week on my father's payday; a huge treat.

When I was a kid, in a town with its industry and housing constructed by Irish navvies and brickies, that would be a helping of chips and sloppy (never 'mushy') peas.

This was known as an 'Irishman', named after the workers who lived cheaply so as to send money home to their families.

 

[escargot]

children being left hungry would get parents reported to social services.

We kids didn't go hungry though. We ate what we were given and it filled us right up.

My own children were treated the same.
I did hand out treats now and then, outside special occasions, which never happened in my childhood home.

I didn't get snacks or treats either.
There was no snacks tin to raid on their return from school.

 

[Fanari_Lloyd]

ded no coaxing to finish all my vegetables. If I didn't, I'd go to bed hungry.
Luckily I liked meat/veg/gravy, or 'food' as I knew it.

As I've mentioned, we'd also claim the pea juice to eat with bread and butter. Every scrap of food was eaten.

I was once so hungry I found the skin my mother had cut off the cucumber to make posh sandwiches for visitors.
Spread some marge on sliced bread, chucked the cucumber skin on and wolfed it all down. Crunchy. Delicious. Full of vitamin C.

The concept of 'leftovers' did not exist.

Same here, @escargot While we weren’t poor, my grandparents had been through the Depression and WWII and waste just wasn’t a thing. We had an allotment and a hen-run and there was nothing so delicious as veg just picked that morning and cooked for dinner (still isn’t). No-one really forced us to eat but we were extremely active and hungry when meals were served.

Even decades later, fast food was never a thing for me, except occasionally. I’ve always cooked from scratch even when working full time. I’m self employed now and at home so it’s easier to have a good diet, and I do the 8 hour intermittent fasting, high protein low carb, (with nuts and fruit) and make sure I complete the exercise rings on my smart watch which is easy enough as I am always dashing around, up and down and doing some weights in the gym. People in full-time work and shift work don’t have those options often. I know a lovely nurse and she is a large person. Sometimes she take pictures of what they eat or the treats that they have and it’s all fat and sugar and starch, but it also gives a bit of an energy boost so…

My partner and I eat cooked-from-scratch or fresh 99% of the time, and it’s not cheap. The frozen/processed food deals are what most people tend to buy when they’re struggling; the quick fatty, sugary snacks and meals.

I think you need to know how to cook and how to be thrifty but many people have very little time apart from the money. It can be done, but it’s something I learned at my nan’s knee pretty much. And those overly processed foods are often very tasty and fatty and can be hard to wean off, I think.

 

[escargot]

Same here, @escargot While we weren’t poor, my grandparents had been through the Depression and WWII and waste just wasn’t a thing. We had an allotment and a hen-run and there was nothing so delicious as veg just picked that morning and cooked for dinner (still isn’t). No-one really forced us to eat but we were extremely active and hungry when meals were served.

Even decades later, fast food was never a thing for me, except occasionally. I’ve always cooked from scratch even when working full time. I’m self employed now and at home so it’s easier to have a good diet, and I do the 8 hour intermittent fasting, high protein low carb, (with nuts and fruit) and make sure I complete the exercise rings on my smart watch which is easy enough as I am always dashing around, up and down and doing some weights in the gym. People in full-time work and shift work don’t have those options often. I know a lovely nurse and she is a large person. Sometimes she take pictures of what they eat or the treats that they have and it’s all fat and sugar and starch, but it also gives a bit of an energy boost so…

My partner and I eat cooked-from-scratch or fresh 99% of the time, and it’s not cheap. The frozen/processed food deals are what most people tend to buy when they’re struggling; the quick fatty, sugary snacks and meals.

I think you need to know how to cook and how to be thrifty but many people have very little time apart from the money. It can be done, but it’s something I learned at my nan’s knee pretty much. And those overly processed foods are often very tasty and fatty and can be hard to wean off, I think.

All good points.

We have meals with fresh cooked vegetables most days. Techy finds this a huge luxury because he wasn't brought up with it.

His mother didn't bother much with cooking and none of his girlfriends did any better.

Me, I'll whip up hot meals from nearly nothing. Anything is better than fast food.

 

[Fanari_Lloyd]

Something quite sad that I read last year: This was my main doctor through much of the 80’s and 90’s. He was a big man and tall, but so very pleasant, a quiet, reassuring sort of voice and he always went out of his way to explain things.

At one point in the late 90’s he did lose a considerable amount of weight. He also told me he was studying Reiki and would fully take it up when he retired, which he did in the early 00’s I think.

Clearly he did find it hard after retirement to keep the weight off and was on one of those mobility scooters when he had the accident that killed him. It upset me as he was such a nice man and not even very old.

Retired GP dies in the Cotswolds

‘The officer said the maximum weight limit for the scooter was 147 kilos, 23 stone 3lbs. The coroner asked Dr Kowalczyk's son what his father weighed.

Mr Carington said his father's weight was a 'State Secret' but he believed he weighed about 21 stones.’