Obesity - a growing issue?
Poll: Obesity - a growing issue?
Total Members Polled: 236
Discussion
I’ve just read this article: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-8290581...
67% of males and 60% of females are overweight or obese in the UK, the highest proportion in Europe. The government have been trying to address this for years; there have been countless studies highlighting the health risks, impact on the NHS, cost to the economy and so on. Is it time to turn up the pressure on this matter and increase efforts to combat it?
Apparently the risk of COVID19 hospital admission doubles for the obese and quadruples for the morbidly obese. I wonder what the stats are for other conditions - I’d imagine cardiovascular diseases are significantly higher.
Should we ignore cries of ‘fat-shaming’ and stigmatise this in the same way that smoking was targeted, for the general benefit of the entire population? I ask this as someone struggling to shift quite a few pounds from my torso.
67% of males and 60% of females are overweight or obese in the UK, the highest proportion in Europe. The government have been trying to address this for years; there have been countless studies highlighting the health risks, impact on the NHS, cost to the economy and so on. Is it time to turn up the pressure on this matter and increase efforts to combat it?
Apparently the risk of COVID19 hospital admission doubles for the obese and quadruples for the morbidly obese. I wonder what the stats are for other conditions - I’d imagine cardiovascular diseases are significantly higher.
Should we ignore cries of ‘fat-shaming’ and stigmatise this in the same way that smoking was targeted, for the general benefit of the entire population? I ask this as someone struggling to shift quite a few pounds from my torso.
The big issue is we have normalised what was overweight to be now typical, as you said 60%+ are now overweight. I'm not sure what to do, but we need a big kick start, perhaps getting people to look at their stats, and a massive support for healthy eating.
I know BMI is hated by many, however unless you are a rugby player/ body builder it works. I'm what would be described as 'average build', but the brutal truth is to get to the middle of the healthy range, I need to shed 3 stone (19kg)
A lot of people don't know they are 'really' overweight, many would be shocked to know that actually they are clinically obese.
I live in the town which 'officially' has the lowest obesity rate amongst children in the UK, but I would not be surprised if it also ranked very high on eating disorders as well.
Losing weight is really hard, and it's much more than calories in, calories out, much more support is required. You only have to look at the massive increase in the promotion of heavy drinking to women to see what is pulling the other way.
In your smoking example it started by vilifying cigarettes, then banning advertising and then the act of smoking.
I know BMI is hated by many, however unless you are a rugby player/ body builder it works. I'm what would be described as 'average build', but the brutal truth is to get to the middle of the healthy range, I need to shed 3 stone (19kg)
A lot of people don't know they are 'really' overweight, many would be shocked to know that actually they are clinically obese.
I live in the town which 'officially' has the lowest obesity rate amongst children in the UK, but I would not be surprised if it also ranked very high on eating disorders as well.
Losing weight is really hard, and it's much more than calories in, calories out, much more support is required. You only have to look at the massive increase in the promotion of heavy drinking to women to see what is pulling the other way.
In your smoking example it started by vilifying cigarettes, then banning advertising and then the act of smoking.
I do think something needs to be done - we are spending a fortune on treating a preventable condition....
Annual spend on the treatment of obesity and diabetes is greater than the amount spent on the police, the fire service and the judicial system combined.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/health-...
We have managed to make drink driving and smoking socially unacceptable. We need to do the same with this before it eats up the entire NHS budget
Annual spend on the treatment of obesity and diabetes is greater than the amount spent on the police, the fire service and the judicial system combined.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/health-...
We have managed to make drink driving and smoking socially unacceptable. We need to do the same with this before it eats up the entire NHS budget
Edited by funinhounslow on Wednesday 6th May 07:46
Wilmslowboy said:
The big issue is we have normalised what was overweight to be now typical, as you said 60%+ are now overweight. I'm not sure what to do, but we need a big kick start, perhaps getting people to look at their stats, and a massive support for healthy eating.
Exactly. If you watch a TV show from the 70s or 80s it is striking how “slim” most people appear by today’s standards. It's an interesting anthropological question. I recall a paper a few years ago that concluded that 'fat-shaming' was almost inbuilt as unhealthy individuals offered little to early tribal networks in terms of hunting/fighting, and were therefore 'brought into line' through peer-pressure. That changed (around 16th/17th century, I think) as wealthy people became 'portly' - wealth equalled ability to look after/provide for offspring and so being overweight became an attractive element. Similar with being tanned, I think. In those same centuries having a tan meant you did manual outdoors work and therefore likely poor - only the wealthy were pale, so pale skin (hence the 'white foundation' of the Elizabethan era) was desirable and helped cover up blemishes (pox, etc). That has perhaps changed again, as showing a tan indicates more leisure time?
Over the last two years I've dropped from 16 stone down to 12.1 stone. It all started when I had the flu and stopped taking the PPI drugs I was on for acid reflux. I since read that these drugs seem to cause overeating and weight gain in some.
That said, this also coincided with my wife and I choosing to avoid factory produced foods as far as possible and to cook for ourselves using natural ingredients on a regular basis.
I wonder how many people are overweight partly due to medication, the consumption of processed foods and a culture that encourages us to eat when we feel like it?
That said, this also coincided with my wife and I choosing to avoid factory produced foods as far as possible and to cook for ourselves using natural ingredients on a regular basis.
I wonder how many people are overweight partly due to medication, the consumption of processed foods and a culture that encourages us to eat when we feel like it?
When TV adverts openly seem to promote obese people then its an issue
When people call this out and are then castigated by the right on live n let live / who are we to cast the ... blah blah types it's an issue
Remember last year those women dancing that massively obese woman dancing across the screen
Remember all that praise for the obese singer Lizzo
There is a difference between being accepting and promoting obesity. Some adverts do promote it
When people call this out and are then castigated by the right on live n let live / who are we to cast the ... blah blah types it's an issue
Remember last year those women dancing that massively obese woman dancing across the screen
Remember all that praise for the obese singer Lizzo
There is a difference between being accepting and promoting obesity. Some adverts do promote it
I'm a runner and was meant to do the Boston Marathon on 20th April, yet despite being about marathon fit I am overweight. People don't realise that unless they're elite athletes to begin with, you can't outrun a bad diet.
A large Domino's pizza can be over 2000 calories. That's 20 a mile run for a normal person. Two pints of lager is about 500 calories, or five miles. Two rich tea biscuits is a mile. I could go on...
We eat and drink too much as a nation and few people understand just how much activity is needed to balance this out. That '600 calorie' treadmill session is nothing of the sort. The fact is, the overwhelming majority of people couldn't run off 100 calories in one go, let alone that pizza or ten pints.
A large Domino's pizza can be over 2000 calories. That's 20 a mile run for a normal person. Two pints of lager is about 500 calories, or five miles. Two rich tea biscuits is a mile. I could go on...
We eat and drink too much as a nation and few people understand just how much activity is needed to balance this out. That '600 calorie' treadmill session is nothing of the sort. The fact is, the overwhelming majority of people couldn't run off 100 calories in one go, let alone that pizza or ten pints.
The physical and social designs that fill our lives are not always healthy and often promote inactivity. Uncomfortably for car lovers like us, car use is one of the main enablers of physical inactivity.
I am always staggered to see modern housing developments continuing to be built around ring roads with little infrastructure that promotes physical movement and physical sociability. Basics like having few local shops and big roads are strong promoters of poor health because they almost prevent people from using their bodies to do things around where they live. Many suburban workplaces are similar.
Taken together with common social expectations and norms (like expecting easy car parking, or it being really normal for colleagues to regularly bring cakes into work to share etc), it's not hard to see how we are making things hard to maintain healthy weights.
On the other hand, there are also many things that now make it easier - a plethora of apps to focus on things like weight loss, social platforms like Strava, indoor exercise tools (turbo trainers, compact treadmills).
So, I'm feeling hopeful that the social side of things is developing more positively than in my parents' generation - but we have a long way to go in overcoming the physical environment we've built - and still are building - for ourselves.
I am always staggered to see modern housing developments continuing to be built around ring roads with little infrastructure that promotes physical movement and physical sociability. Basics like having few local shops and big roads are strong promoters of poor health because they almost prevent people from using their bodies to do things around where they live. Many suburban workplaces are similar.
Taken together with common social expectations and norms (like expecting easy car parking, or it being really normal for colleagues to regularly bring cakes into work to share etc), it's not hard to see how we are making things hard to maintain healthy weights.
On the other hand, there are also many things that now make it easier - a plethora of apps to focus on things like weight loss, social platforms like Strava, indoor exercise tools (turbo trainers, compact treadmills).
So, I'm feeling hopeful that the social side of things is developing more positively than in my parents' generation - but we have a long way to go in overcoming the physical environment we've built - and still are building - for ourselves.
Roofless Toothless said:
What measure are you using to define obesity?
This is a pretty meaningless discussion unless we know what we are talking about.
"Meaningless" - really not sure that's correct (or useful to the discussion).This is a pretty meaningless discussion unless we know what we are talking about.
Do you know of a definition of obesity that suggests there is not an issue we need to deal with ?
Baldchap said:
I'm a runner and was meant to do the Boston Marathon on 20th April, yet despite being about marathon fit I am overweight. People don't realise that unless they're elite athletes to begin with, you can't outrun a bad diet.
A large Domino's pizza can be over 2000 calories. That's 20 a mile run for a normal person. Two pints of lager is about 500 calories, or five miles. Two rich tea biscuits is a mile. I could go on...
We eat and drink too much as a nation and few people understand just how much activity is needed to balance this out. That '600 calorie' treadmill session is nothing of the sort. The fact is, the overwhelming majority of people couldn't run off 100 calories in one go, let alone that pizza or ten pints.
Well said.A large Domino's pizza can be over 2000 calories. That's 20 a mile run for a normal person. Two pints of lager is about 500 calories, or five miles. Two rich tea biscuits is a mile. I could go on...
We eat and drink too much as a nation and few people understand just how much activity is needed to balance this out. That '600 calorie' treadmill session is nothing of the sort. The fact is, the overwhelming majority of people couldn't run off 100 calories in one go, let alone that pizza or ten pints.
It seems that many people simply assume that eating fast or processed food is the norm nowadays and that a short bit of exercise is all that is needed.
Exercise is unlikely to have a significant impact on many people when they eat rubbish food or drink to excess.
I've spent my whole life so far hearing that I'm skinny, people are perfectly happy telling me to my face on the assumption that its fine to say it. Yet get offended when I started pointing out they were fat whenever it was mentioned.
I'm 5' 11 and 73kg which puts me at around 22.5 bmi. Which is more towards overweight than underweight within the normal range.
Peoples perceptions have changed, especially with films and media portraying that its good to be overweight.
I'm 5' 11 and 73kg which puts me at around 22.5 bmi. Which is more towards overweight than underweight within the normal range.
Peoples perceptions have changed, especially with films and media portraying that its good to be overweight.
Robertj21a said:
Well said.
It seems that many people simply assume that eating fast or processed food is the norm nowadays and that a short bit of exercise is all that is needed.
Exercise is unlikely to have a significant impact on many people when they eat rubbish food or drink to excess.
Building on this, many people I know become seriously overweight over a decade...25 to 35..and then 45.It seems that many people simply assume that eating fast or processed food is the norm nowadays and that a short bit of exercise is all that is needed.
Exercise is unlikely to have a significant impact on many people when they eat rubbish food or drink to excess.
Eating an extra packet of crisps a day or drinking an extra can of coke... starting at 10 years old....becomes 20 stones overweight at 30.
Robertj21a said:
Well said.
It seems that many people simply assume that eating fast or processed food is the norm nowadays and that a short bit of exercise is all that is needed.
Exercise is unlikely to have a significant impact on many people when they eat rubbish food or drink to excess.
The problem is that, ignoring the easy argument of bought in junk food, making a lot of food taste amazing naturally involves adding calories. Be it frying something over baking, or adding a large burger bun to a patty made of meat that isn't too lean. An egg fried with lots of fat tastes so much better than one cooked on non stick/1kal a spray oil.It seems that many people simply assume that eating fast or processed food is the norm nowadays and that a short bit of exercise is all that is needed.
Exercise is unlikely to have a significant impact on many people when they eat rubbish food or drink to excess.
As someone who isn't overweight and eats healthy, I can tell you its a sacrifice!
I feel for those poor Keto sods who eat burgers wrapped with lettuce
People also have different metabolic rate and work occupations that are of different physicality.
The bloke working in the hand car wash a day can eat a lot and not be obese.
Edited by hyphen on Wednesday 6th May 08:25
Wilmslowboy said:
Roofless Toothless said:
What measure are you using to define obesity?
This is a pretty meaningless discussion unless we know what we are talking about.
"Meaningless" - really not sure that's correct (or useful to the discussion).This is a pretty meaningless discussion unless we know what we are talking about.
Do you know of a definition of obesity that suggests there is not an issue we need to deal with ?
The OP links obesity to health. But I remember once reading that people with low BMI have similar health and morbidity outcomes to those with high BMI. There is a mathematical formula to calculate BMI but where you draw the dividing lines to define where any individual fits depends on many factors, like race, for instance. Didn't they move the lines in the USA once, thus moving millions into the obese category and giving the 'health food' industry a mighty boost?
As they say on the adverts, other methods of measuring obesity exist. It would be nice to know exactly what we are talking about otherwise this will all end up as just fat shaming, which we have seen examples of already.
And if you want to know, yes, I could do with losing a couple of stone.
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