How Do We Solve a Problem Like Obesity?

[Sergeant Wilson]

10 hours ago, jamamafegan said:

 

 

Thoughts on this? Lassie says she lost nearly 9 stone at one point, was pretty happy with how she looked...but then says “I thought that was the answer” and doesn’t explain how she put the weight back on again? She’s blaming it on her biology it would seem.

Is obesity a disease that makes people balloon for no apparent reason or, dare I say it, is this lassie making excuses - did she change something that was working for her before and she simply put the weight back on?

 

It may not be much consolation but...wid. She'd probably rather have a steak pie supper tbf. It would certainly last longer.

[101]

8 hours ago, Thistle_do_nicely said:

I think the main difference isn't even so much in "processed" food (although that's a huge problem in the states iirc with "food style products" replacing actual food over there) more of an abundance/more prevalent consumption of meat than anything else? afaik a standard diet in the last century, leaving aside calorie counting for now, would have contained far more veg and maybe a small portion of some kind of dripping/meat. As the years have rolled on lean cuts of all kinds of meat are abundantly available and even affordable to most working people thanks to the hard work of farmyard-to-table strategists across the land such as Bernard "Boodiful" Matthews. /partridge

Taxing "fat" isn't really all that straightforward either I don't think, apart from at a push on all products with saturated fats, but then if you try to levy taxes producers in all likelihood would just bullshit on how much saturated fat their products actually contain, change to other hydrogenated fats through some kind of loophole or change the recipe to include more salt or something like that to get around it; maybe there is an easy, straightforward way to do it but as it stands solving obesity through taxation doesn't strike me as a nice straightforward blanket thing to do. The Greggs tax debacle thing a few years back leads me to think it's just about guaranteed to get a fair amount of pushback and be seen as an attack on poor people's diets too. Good luck to anyone trying to get people to stop eating as much meat as they do, which as a dietary change is probably the one change that could be made that would make the most difference to obesity rates.

I'm saying all that as someone that eats meat really regularly too, in the interest of keeping it in good faith, it's more trying to just look at it from a pure policy angle.

 

I think we have partly come back to teaching people how to properly cook things like a good quality chicken fed my family of 5 3 meals, a roast, a curry and then into stock for soup. If you buy a barn chicken it's legs have done f**k all and have no meat and the meat there is crap they are a con produced to the lowest possible standards and for the lowest possible price they don't represent good value as I know a fair chunk of people hack the breast meat off maybe a drum stick or two and chuck it in the bin.

We have also, like you say, regressed into eating about 5 cuts of beef. Give most people flank or cheek they wouldn't know how to make it into and edible dish, which of course take a long time to slow cook.

So I don't think the answer is tax on the consumer, far more about education, perhaps a new rate of corporation tax is needed for fast food companies directly taxed on the calories sold maybe £0.001 per calorie sold so a small margarita pizza from dominos would the company £1 a large big Mac £1.32. 

Hopefully the cost wouldn't just be slapped on the products but instead used as an carrot to lower calories in their foods.

[craigkillie]

I don't want those companies to vastly lower the calories in their foods though, because it would inevitably make them less good.

It should be about encouraging people to eat these foods less often, not about encouraging the foods to be less tasty.

[coprolite]

21 hours ago, Aufc said:

Without wishing to sound too harsh, the excuses like busy work, kids etc are exactly that. They are excuses. Whilst it might mean it might be more difficult, there is no reason why a lot of people cannot be healthier

For some people those might be actual reasons. I'm sure for some people those are no more than excuses. Excuses and reasons aren't mutually exclusive. 

There are a finite number of hours in the day. Some people prioritise using that time to work, raise children and sleep instead and can't fit in any exercise. 

Not everyone prioritises themselves. 

[Bairnardo]

I don't want those companies to vastly lower the calories in their foods though, because it would inevitably make them less good.

It should be about encouraging people to eat these foods less often, not about encouraging the foods to be less tasty.

Coca Cola increasing the price but keeping the product the same was certainly preferable to Irn Bru making their product fucking shite, as a real world example....

[Aufc]

For some people those might be actual reasons. I'm sure for some people those are no more than excuses. Excuses and reasons aren't mutually exclusive. 
There are a finite number of hours in the day. Some people prioritise using that time to work, raise children and sleep instead and can't fit in any exercise. 
Not everyone prioritises themselves. 

I do all of the above. I realise not everyone is like that and i am not trying to come across and all high and mighty. However, for the majority of people, getting 30-45 minutes of exercise a day/most day is completely manageable.

Again I am sounding harsh here but if people dont prioritise themselves and stay healthy then why should the NHS prioritise them at great expense?

[Bairnardo]

I do all of the above. I realise not everyone is like that and i am not trying to come across and all high and mighty. However, for the majority of people, getting 30-45 minutes of exercise a day/most day is completely manageable.

Again I am sounding harsh here but if people dont prioritise themselves and stay healthy then why should the NHS prioritise them at great expense?

In what way are these people being "prioritised" by the NHS? Dont the NHS routinely tell folk to lose weight/get fitter before receiving surgery for example?

The NHS also spend money on smoking cessation as an example, should that also be removed? Smokers certainly arent prioritising themselves.

[Steve_Wilkos]

People should have to be publicly weighed when buying fast food. 

If your BMI is good - normal price.

Bloater - at least 2x the price and alarm bells ring loudly with a robotic voice repeating "blimp alert".

The ridicule and extra cost would help bloaters stop eating unhealthily on a constant basis.

[Steve_Wilkos]

Humiliating people who have low self esteem and addiction issues will not encourage them to get into shape.

Mollycoddling them clearly isn't working.

[Bairnardo]

Mollycoddling them clearly isn't working.

^^ Daily Mail headline writer energy

[vikingTON]

54 minutes ago, throbber said:

Humiliating people who have low self esteem and addiction issues will not encourage them to get into shape.

Nobody has an 'addiction' to the dessert end of a buffet table. And nobody has an addiction to sitting on a sofa instead of doing exercise either.

Edited March 7, 2021 by vikingTON

[vikingTON]

26 minutes ago, throbber said:

Considering 30-50% of all cancers are preventable through lifestyle choices and the likelihood of developing other major health problems like heart disease, strokes and diabetes can be hugely reduced by healthy living it’s still interesting to see it’s only fat people who get the whole “you brought his on yourself” attitude for their ill health.

Being overweight is the dominant lifestyle cause of the cancers, heart disease, strokes and diabetes that you mention. That is the absence of 'healthy living' that results in these burdens. It is also the biggest non-age cause of hospitalisation and death for Covid as well. 

So quite why you think that fat people are being unjustly singled out is utterly bizarre. 

[Cosmic Joe]

5 minutes ago, virginton said:

Being overweight is the dominant lifestyle cause of the cancers, heart disease, strokes and diabetes that you mention. That is the absence of 'healthy living' that results in these burdens. It is also the biggest non-age cause of hospitalisation and death for Covid as well. 

So quite why you think that fat people are being unjustly singled out is utterly bizarre. 

Any chance you could take a day off from being a heartless p***k? 

[BFTD]

Accelerating nicely into thread closure/time on the naughty step.

I'd post a popcorn GIF, but I'm on a diet, so just imagine me noshing on a courgette.

[vikingTON]

13 minutes ago, Cosmic Joe said:

Any chance you could take a day off from being a heartless p***k? 

I have no need to deal in mealy mouthed platitudes rather than hard facts. This isn't a support group. 

[Bairnardo]

Accelerating nicely into thread closure/time on the naughty step.
I'd post a popcorn GIF, but I'm on a diet, so just imagine me noshing on a courgette.

HibsFan was bullish early on about how bombproof his threads, but let's not forget Clive, this is the first super sunday the current thread has faced, so it will be interesting to see how it copes..... Clive

[Michael W]

46 minutes ago, throbber said:

Considering 30-50% of all cancers are preventable through lifestyle choices and the likelihood of developing other major health problems like heart disease, strokes and diabetes can be hugely reduced by healthy living it’s still interesting to see it’s only fat people who get the whole “you brought his on yourself” attitude for their ill health.

Obesity is one of the largest cancer risk factors, though. It is related with some of the other factors (poor diet, excessive consumption of certain types of food) but it is nevertheless a key factor. Not to mention the added risk of other illnesses (cardiovascular disease etc.). 

I posted the story earlier in this thread, but a poster pointing this out received a fair bit of backlash in some quarters for "fat shaming". Drinkers and smokers have been "shamed" for years about the health impacts of consumption for years and how this risks their health. I don't see why we need to trod on egg shells about the effects obesity carries as well. The vast majority of UK covid deaths are in people with underlying health conditions, with a significant proportion of this group also being obese. The damage obesity does to your health is all too apparent - it might be inconvenient or hard to hear, but it's a fact. 

We talk a lot about excercise, limiting alcohol consumption and having a balanced diet. This is all good and well, but we seem to shirk the obesity part of it. 

[Bonksy+HisChristianParade]

6 hours ago, Sergeant Wilson said:

It may not be much consolation but...wid. She'd probably rather have a steak pie supper tbf. It would certainly last longer.

You must be desperate. Even after ten pints there’s zero chance of me harpooning that whale. She’s got arms the size of a normal human’s thigh.

[Moomintroll]

I've cracked the code, a fat teacher knocked him back.

[Sergeant Wilson]

8 minutes ago, Bonksy+HisChristianParade said:

You must be desperate. Even after ten pints there’s zero chance of me harpooning that whale. She’s got arms the size of a normal human’s thigh.

You say that now.