jamamafegan Posted March 4, 2021 Share Posted March 4, 2021 These basic concepts are not actually beyond the grasp of the vast majority of people: there are simply not enough social and economic incentives to actually deploy that attitude. Wait, what? What more incentive does any obese person need other than being told by a health professional: “you are overweight and obese and if you continue down this path you will probably die early.”If I was told that my eating habits were probably going to kill me then I’d do something about it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Detournement Posted March 4, 2021 Share Posted March 4, 2021 2 hours ago, virginton said: What has changed in the past fifty years is that poor lifestyle choices that would have been called out within families or peer groups 50 years ago most working class men were boozing at the pub multiple nights a week and doing in a 20 deck of snout every day. In 1970 there were 330,000 deaths attributed to heart disease compared to around 150,000 a year nowadays. The difference back then was you couldn't buy any of the processed shite that the supermarkets push onto people these days. There were no products on sale full of MSG or corn syrup which are designed to make you crave more. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gaz Posted March 4, 2021 Share Posted March 4, 2021 20 minutes ago, jamamafegan said: Wait, what? What more incentive does any obese person need other than being told by a health professional: “you are overweight and obese and if you continue down this path you will probably die early.” If I was told that my eating habits were probably going to kill me then I’d do something about it. Can you think of any other habits that folk are told are probably going to kill them that they keep doing? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Detournement Posted March 4, 2021 Share Posted March 4, 2021 4 minutes ago, Gaz said: Can you think of any other habits that folk are told are probably going to kill them that they keep doing? Exactly. If anyone started a thread and said "How do we solve a problem like alocholism/gambling addiction/debt" and people said the answer was for folk not to drink, gamble or spend more than they earn they would be laughed at. Obesity is a structural issue and like every crisis there are people making huge profits out of it and are determined to make more. 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamamafegan Posted March 4, 2021 Share Posted March 4, 2021 Can you think of any other habits that folk are told are probably going to kill them that they keep doing?Fair point tbh 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Todd_is_God Posted March 4, 2021 Share Posted March 4, 2021 36 minutes ago, jamamafegan said: Wait, what? What more incentive does any obese person need other than being told by a health professional: “you are overweight and obese and if you continue down this path you will probably die early.” So why isn't it working? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vikingTON Posted March 4, 2021 Share Posted March 4, 2021 36 minutes ago, jamamafegan said: Wait, what? What more incentive does any obese person need other than being told by a health professional: “you are overweight and obese and if you continue down this path you will probably die early.” If I was told that my eating habits were probably going to kill me then I’d do something about it. What proportion of the 60+% of the population who are overweight do you think are in regular contact with a GP, who informs them in no uncertain terms that their behaviour is killing them? And that message is not particularly effective if it only takes place within a doctor's office and is ignored by the rest of society. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gaz Posted March 4, 2021 Share Posted March 4, 2021 (edited) 5 minutes ago, jamamafegan said: Fair point tbh It's not only that folk are addicted to something like smoking, it's that folk are told from an incredibly young age how bad for you it is and how many folk it will kill and there are still an insane amount of folk stupid enough to take it up. Telling folk "don't do this, it isn't good for you" doesn't work. I've had folk tell me that running is just as bad for me as smoking as I could trip and break my ankle. Edited March 4, 2021 by Gaz 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Detournement Posted March 4, 2021 Share Posted March 4, 2021 Just now, Gaz said: It's not only that folk are addicted to something like smoking, it's that folk are told from an incredibly young age how bad for you it is and how many folk it will kill and there are still an insane amount of folk stupid enough to take it up. Because it's cool. -1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GordonS Posted March 4, 2021 Share Posted March 4, 2021 5 hours ago, D.A.F.C said: Will probably get bad rep for this but theres a massive problem in society health wise in general. Working long hours in stressful jobs Dealing with stress by over eating, eating shite and drinking excessively Being tired and worn down by the above so can't exercise Those three things create a perfect recipe for getting overweight Read the first couple of pages of this and am now leaping to reply. Sorry if I'm just repeating what's been said. I'm seriously overweight. My weight has gone up in 4 stages in my life, all of them stress/ mental health related. In the 3 gaps between those times my weight came down a bit, but never to where it was before. The last 5 years have been a nightmare for my wife and I with something that should have taken no more than a year dragging on endlessly and is still not over. If systems that are supposed to work had worked it would have been resolved within weeks. HR policies and employment rights don't mean anything if its this hard to enforce them. So it's exactly the cycle you describe. We're under a lot of stress and I'm working full time, there are no other responsible ways to get release so I eat in the evenings. It's better than drinking. I'm not sleeping well and I'm too tired after work to exercise and it hurts my back and knee anyway. Besides, walking alone in the dark is no fun at all and I fking hate gyms. There's a lot of stress that comes with life no matter what, but the other stuff, the problems that people create through selfishness, arrogance, dishonesty, cruelty, a lack of empathy, we need to stop tolerating that. We could go a long way to fixing this through fairness at work, in benefits, in justice and in public services. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gaz Posted March 4, 2021 Share Posted March 4, 2021 Just now, Detournement said: Because it's cool. I know this is a trope, but one thing I've noticed since going into teaching is that it's not really the cool kids who do it any more. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aufc Posted March 4, 2021 Share Posted March 4, 2021 Exactly. If anyone started a thread and said "How do we solve a problem like alocholism/gambling addiction/debt" and people said the answer was for folk not to drink, gamble or spend more than they earn they would be laughed at. Obesity is a structural issue and like every crisis there are people making huge profits out of it and are determined to make more. Personally dont think you can say the two are the same. I dont think a burger has the same addictive features as tobacco and alcohol. I think what i am saying is this. Every alcoholic and junkie has an addiction. Not every obese person has an addiction 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vikingTON Posted March 4, 2021 Share Posted March 4, 2021 (edited) 30 minutes ago, Detournement said: 50 years ago most working class men were boozing at the pub multiple nights a week and doing in a 20 deck of snout every day. In 1970 there were 330,000 deaths attributed to heart disease compared to around 150,000 a year nowadays. The difference back then was you couldn't buy any of the processed shite that the supermarkets push onto people these days. There were no products on sale full of MSG or corn syrup which are designed to make you crave more. The difference in heart disease deaths is down to the fact that we have much better treatment that now allows them to live longer and die of other (also lifestyle linked) causes instead. A truly great victory for public health then. The idea that the era of tins of spam was miraculously free of 'processed shite' in supermarkets is laughable and your corn syrup claim redundant in the UK. This is not the US and the causes are not the same. Edited March 4, 2021 by vikingTON 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GordonS Posted March 4, 2021 Share Posted March 4, 2021 28 minutes ago, Detournement said: 50 years ago most working class men were boozing at the pub multiple nights a week and doing in a 20 deck of snout every day. In 1970 there were 330,000 deaths attributed to heart disease compared to around 150,000 a year nowadays. The difference back then was you couldn't buy any of the processed shite that the supermarkets push onto people these days. There were no products on sale full of MSG or corn syrup which are designed to make you crave more. There have also been massive improvements in medicine. You had a heart condition then, you died. Incidentally, there would have been even more early deaths then if they hadn't had active jobs and lifestyles. You don't need to go to the gym when you do physical work and don't have a car. We still eat like farm labourers or industrial workers but we sit at a computer all day and drive everywhere. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Detournement Posted March 4, 2021 Share Posted March 4, 2021 3 minutes ago, Gaz said: I know this is a trope, but one thing I've noticed since going into teaching is that it's not really the cool kids who do it any more. It's not a trope it's a fact. I'm no longer cool but smoking cigarettes with your friends is great. Club smoking areas improved nights out no end. -1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Detournement Posted March 4, 2021 Share Posted March 4, 2021 2 minutes ago, GordonS said: We still eat like farm labourers or industrial workers but we sit at a computer all day and drive everywhere. I do manual labour like millions of other people so speak for yourself. And we don't eat like industrial workers or farm labourers from 50 years ago. The amount of ultra processed food and especially sugar consumed has went way up. -1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arch Stanton Posted March 4, 2021 Share Posted March 4, 2021 Today is #WorldObesityDay 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Todd_is_God Posted March 4, 2021 Share Posted March 4, 2021 5 minutes ago, Arch Stanton said: Today is #WorldObesityDay Fat chance of me celebrating that 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GiGi Posted March 4, 2021 Share Posted March 4, 2021 P&B once again driving the national agenda. https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/articles/britain_diet 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael W Posted March 4, 2021 Share Posted March 4, 2021 8 minutes ago, Arch Stanton said: Today is #WorldObesityDay P&B also beat the BBC to it with this thread. https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/articles/britain_diet 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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