The 'Obesity Epidemic'

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.’
 
We had no snacks or treats. I remember my brother used to run home from school when our Mum came to pick us up, so as to get home before her so he could raid the dried fruit supply that she kept for baking.

Eventually she took to hiding the sultanas in the washing machine, because it was the last place he'd look. Maybe she ought to have asked why he was so hungry that he wanted to eat dried fruit... he was a big lad, and growing and clearly needed more food than I did.

Oddly enough though, he went on to be overweight, and still is, also suffering diabetes.
 
catseye said:
We had no snacks or treats. I remember my brother used to run home from school when our Mum came to pick us up, so as to get home before her so he could raid the dried fruit supply that she kept for baking.
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My nan used to give me her baking currents sometimes, a little handful before I went dashing out to play as she said they were good energy for me.

we were allowed one sweet treat a day. I used to go to the village shop and by a 2p lolly sometimes, or save the money up.
If I was very hungry when I got home from school, I was allowed two Osbourne biscuits (bit like Rich Tea but smaller) with a cup of tea as dinner was about 5.30, and my nan was a wonderful cook and sometimes made puddings but generally puddings were only for after Sunday lunch. There was never a ‘treat’ drawer or tin, never sweets just kept in the house. If you don’t grow up with it being available, sometimes you just don’t ever become accustomed, but if you genuinely didn’t get enough to eat as a child when you grow up maybe you make sure you have plenty of food when you can afford it, which is understandable.
 
catseye said:
We had no snacks or treats. I remember my brother used to run home from school when our Mum came to pick us up, so as to get home before her so he could raid the dried fruit supply that she kept for baking.

Eventually she took to hiding the sultanas in the washing machine, because it was the last place he'd look. Maybe she ought to have asked why he was so hungry that he wanted to eat dried fruit... he was a big lad, and growing and clearly needed more food than I did.

Oddly enough though, he went on to be overweight, and still is, also suffering diabetes.
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Daughter likes the extremely mild Japanese-style curry and has done from a young age; this is very fortunate: onions, carrots, broccoli, potato, none of which she likes very much, will be wolfed down in a big bowl of curry with rice and a request for a second helping.

The main thing we cook together is salmon—fried in olive oil alongside eggs and onion. It's a veritable protein bomb and full of energy.

My wife has always bought quite expensive cuts of beef for the two of them to eat, but salmon we've found—if bought in bulk—is considerably cheaper.
 
Floyd1 said:
Fish and chips were never rationed though.
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Was listening to some chef talking on R4 about fish and chips. He was saying that it's not a set meal 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 every few Saturdays 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 said:
However, fish and chips has never been the cheapest chip shop meal. My family could afford it once every few Saturdays on my father's payday; a huge treat.
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This. We (grandparents and self) only started to have a birthday meal out when I was able to go shares on the cost. So before that fish and chips was a ceremonial event, Taid would go to get it with a bag well stuffed with newspaper and Nain would lay the table beautifully with flowers from the garden and the best china. I would leap up and down on the sofa in front of the front room window in order to make Taid come back faster!
 
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escargot said:
Was listening to some chef talking on R4 about fish and chips. He was saying that it's not a set meal 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 every few Saturdays 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.
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I don't think we ever had fish and chips, or any takeaway. Only once I'd grown up and left home did my parents start eating takeaway food - it was too expensive 'back in the day' for us. And the awful thing was that there was a fish and chip shop only a two minute walk away, so we could smell the chips frying...
 
Kondoru said:
try to eat stuff like stews where I can put in a lot of veg.
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I can put about 7 veg into a good, hearty stew. I make batches in the autumn/winter in a huge pot and freeze portions. I don’t put potatoes in so it can be had with a backed potato or bread. Stew’s always a good and tasty way of getting veg especially if people aren‘t generally that keen on them.
 
Fanari_Lloyd said:
Same here. Sometimes I’ll stand there and think, hmm what can I make, but there is always something. Surprising what you learn when you’re young (and older) that stays with you.
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Haha, yup!
i have a lot of tinned food in (long story) so one day recently we had an Emergency Canned Tea.

That's sausages for Techy, veggie burger for me both from the freezer and fried with onions, tinned potatoes roasted up in the air fryer, tinned peas and carrots and instant gravy. :chuckle:
 
escargot said:
That's sausages for Techy, veggie burger for me both from the freezer and fried with onions, tinned potatoes roasted up in the air fryer, tinned peas and carrots and instant gravy. :chuckle:
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I keep a lot of tinned stuff in (more since the first lockdown) and it’s always handy especially if you’re in a hurry/late/haven’t got the shopping in/tired.

The veg tend to be softer than I’d cook them, but other than that, it’s easy and not rubbish food. I suppose it doesn’t have quite as many nutrients as frozen? but there’s not that much difference.. Tinned mushrooms are a staple as you can use them for a lot, and peas and potatoes, and always kidney and butter beans, chickpeas, etc for a quick veg chilli which I do quite often in the winter.
Tinned petit pois are really nice and the tinned new potatoes too; I just add a bit of mint sometimes.
As long as you have something on the ‘meat’ side, or for a vegetarian, you can have a meal done in a short space of time and much better for you than a takeaway.
 
Fanari_Lloyd said:
I keep a lot of tinned stuff in (more since the first lockdown) and it’s always handy especially if you’re in a hurry/late/haven’t got the shopping in/tired.

The veg tend to be softer than I’d cook them, but other than that, it’s easy and not rubbish food. I suppose it doesn’t have quite as many nutrients as frozen? but there’s not that much difference.. Tinned mushrooms are a staple as you can use them for a lot, and peas and potatoes, and always kidney and butter beans, chickpeas, etc for a quick veg chilli which I do quite often in the winter.
Tinned petit pois are really nice and the tinned new potatoes too; I just add a bit of mint sometimes.
As long as you have something on the ‘meat’ side, or for a vegetarian, you can have a meal done in a short space of time and much better for you than a takeaway.
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I read in the Dairy Book of Household Management years ago that tinned food was nearly as good as fresh. :chuckle:

As you say, the lockdown was made easier with the non-perishable food.
 
Just a side note that it took me a few minutes trying to understand the term tinned food.

I think people in the U.S. would say canned food.

I first thought tinned food was spoiled food.
 
Fanari_Lloyd said:
Good enough for me! And yes, definitely not something to turn one’s nose up at.
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Vegetables are healthy to eat even after canning or especially freezing.
The big attraction for me is fibre. I learned in my early teens that it was important for preventing bowel cancer.

Bring on the sprouts. Or tinned prunes. :bthumbup:
 
catseye said:
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.
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Due to contentment, do you think Catseye?
 
I'm showing off now, I realise, but I freeze the excess from my peaches and nectarine trees, Squeeze and freeze my navel oranges in ziploc bags in winter and then make marmalade out of any valencias that I don't eat in summer. I have a couple of kilo's left of last summers beans (spring now down here)in the freezer.

Because of stray chickens, (yep, the villages should be called Chook Hill instead of Peak hill ) having any sort of garden is ridiculous unless it looks like a Stalag Luft.

I have a small veggie garden down the side of the house where I grow anything I can - chicory, beans, broccoli, spinach, beetroot, capsicum, cos lettuce, bunching onions, tomatoes, Kipfler spuds and a permanent bed of asparagus. I companion plant a lot with broccoli in between asparagus, beans in between potatoes - that sort of thing.

I suppose I get it from both Grandparents owning allotments and having had a commercial market garden.

I'm very fortunate now that I have the time to garden due to being retired, and so, I'm generally well sorted for a meal. I find though, that if I don't watch my carnivore portions, I can put on weight.

Here's a couple of photo's of my strip garden.
 

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The retail stores think it is Halloween as they load their stores with stacks of Halloween candy.

Being diabetic I stay away from candy, but my daughter had some three colored candy corn open in her house.

The strong real sugar taste really hit me, so I stopped eating the candy corn.

I assume Halloween is celebrated in the UK and candy corn is sold in stores ?
 
charliebrown said:
The retail stores think it is Halloween as they load their stores with stacks of Halloween candy.

Being diabetic I stay away from candy, but my daughter had some three colored candy corn open in her house.

The strong real sugar taste really hit me, so I stopped eating the candy corn.

I assume Halloween is celebrated in the UK and candy corn is sold in stores ?
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We do have Halloween but no candy corn. Plenty of other confectionery but nothing traditionally Halloween=themed.
 
This article mentions the current American shortage of laxatives/stool-softeners and explains why this has come about.
It's not just an American problem of course; Brits eat rubbish too.

(Bowel cancer is what worries me. The more fibre I eat, the safer I feel. Bring on the prunes.)

By Arwa Mahdawi in the Guardian -
The US has such a love affair with laxatives that there is now a national shortage. This is not normal

Disordered eating isn’t the only factor feeding into a boom in bowel problems. Our guts and brains are connected and anxiety often manifests itself in stomach issues. The pandemic has obviously taken a big toll on our collective mental health and that has filtered down to our gut health.

Of course, there is a more obvious culprit: the food we eat. Many of us eat a lot of crap because that is what tends to be convenient, cheap, and tasty. Ultra-processed food (UPFs) make up 57% of the UK diet; among children and lower-income people that number is as high as 80%. The UK is outdone only by the US: UPFs make up 73% of the US food supply, according to Northeastern University’s Network Science Institute, and provide the average adult with more than 60% of their daily calories.

Our ultra-processed diets are resulting in more than an uptick in laxative use and cutesy colon-focused social media hashtags; the US and UK are also seeing a significant rise in bowel cancer in people under 50.
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I think we all have a problem here.
There's great accounts from everyone - including myself - on the relationship between them and food in their childhood. But trying to 'analyse' the current trend towards obesity, or even what counts as excessive, isn't served by all the 'In my day ...' tales, regardless of how good they are, and how much we can relate to.
'In my day ...' doesn't exist now. Obesity was, as far as I can recall that long ago, rare. But that doesn't seem to be the case now, in the present day. You can't compare like-for-like, until you figure out what has changed.
1) Food supply has increased.
2) Food variety has increased.
3) People's attitudes of what is healthy and what is not has changed.
4) People becoming more sedentary.
5) People's tastes have changed.
6) Cookery classes have changed to 'home economics'? (I admit, this factor might be tenuous)
7) Giant food ultra-processed producers have become more aggressive in their sales techniques. And made it cheaper, to increase profits.
8) People's time management has changed. (Consider: Overtime work is often only voluntary on paper, and usually essential to the firm).
9) Attitudes are passed down, but not necessarily adhered to - because our lives are a different experience.
10) It's quite convenient for the authorities to blame poor health on being fat. This one is tricky - sure, being overweight affects the health, but how about the health issue causing the increase in weight? And it's cheaper for a doctor to listen to the symptoms of an illness and say "Well, it's because you're fat. Next patient, please".
11) Instead of confronting these, and many issues, concerning society and it's weight issues, it seems de rigueur just to say "If you're fat, it's your fault!" and "Overweight people shouldn't get NHS treatment!"

While it might be said that in most western countries, obesity is more apparent, what is actually being done to confront the many factors as listed above?
 
Stormkhan said:
While it might be said that in most western countries, obesity is more apparent, what is actually being done to confront the many factors as listed above?
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Very little to nothing.
Depression and mental health may be behind some of it, and stress. Because it makes us feel good to consume something that is fatty and savory (like pizza) or incredibly sweet, but then the receptors begin to dull so you need more apparently. So if you’re stressed or depressed and can afford it, i can understand eating very unhealthy foods just to get a little bit of contentment.
High fructose corn syrup is a real nasty and it’s in a lot of things.

Years ago I began to drink Lucozade as I was so tired all the time (probably stress and perimenopause). I’d buy packs of the small bottles and really look forward to drinking three of them a day.
I never ate anything sweet apart from fruit, but my god did I start putting on weight. when i changed my diet and cut the lucozade out, all that weight gradually came off and when I mentioned it to my GP he nodded and said there was no mystery about it, it was all the sugar and fructose that had put the weight on. He said natural fats were fine (like for instance in Greek Yoghurt) but sugar and fructose will always put on the pounds and sugar is addictive, I think. It takes a very determined person to have an open packet of biscuits or tin of chocolates open and not eat them.

I’ve noticed in the last several years, the first thing a doctor will do at my surgery (no matter what you go in for!) is ask you to step on the scales. But although they may give out diet sheets (maybe) they’re not asking why the person is overweight and sometimes it’s more complicated than just ‘eating too much’ there are other factors involved like e.g. PCOS etc and they just haven’t the time to address it.
 
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