Obesity and fast food - is there no hope?

I think the big issue behind all these concerns about diet is the huge increase in serious obesity and all the health issues that produces.

The costs of these diabetes and obesity related illness is enormous and a terrible drain on the NHS.
When it comes down to it there has to be a measure of personal responsibilty about the effects of people dietry lifestyle choices. for themselves and their children.

It was never like this in the 1960s. I cannot help but think that increased portion size, supermarket ready meals and the take away industry sell almost nothing but high calorie fried products.

Macdonald's, KFC, and all other such heavily branded and advertised industries have a lot to answer for.
We used to have just the odd fish and chip shop on our high streets.

This link makes scary reading.

www.nhs.uk/news/2013/02February/Pages/Latest-obesity-stats-for-England-are-alarming-reading.aspx

Just to clarify my point was that I did not think it was odd that a three year old should have a Happy Meal or indeed should run about the room with it - we see this everyday its not unusual, its isn't how I fed my children or my grandchildren but I'm not responsible for everyone. The point I was trying to make was it seemed incongruous to bring this type of food into a slimming group whose members are struggling to manage their weight and many of them are trying to reduce or remove fast food from their diets entirely. Its a bit like going into an AA meeting with a pint of beer in your hand. If it were me I would have probably brought a colouring book and a little sandwich for her but I'm not much fun anyway.

I have no idea what a happy meal is, it is well over 20 years since I bought from MacDonalds, the first and last time.
I had taken the children out shopping for clothes and it took forever. The children were hungry so I bought chips and burgers.
The chips were like tooth picks and the bun on the burger tasted like nothing I had ever tasted, it certainly wasn't bread. Even my children complained of the taste.
I have no idea what the food is like now it may be delicious, certainly thousands of people think it is.
It is the responsibility of parents to feed their children and even if we think their judgement is wrong we cannot do anything about it.
No one could possibly say they do not know the better choices in foods to eat there is so much information out there, if you don't know you must live on a desert island somewhere remote.
I truly believe everything in moderation, it's not a catastrophe if you eat some things that are not so good for you as long as it's not every day.

If a member of the group had turned up with a Happy Meal – or a double whammy burger with extra cheese (or whatever they are called) – it might have been an issue. A child, who is probably more interested in the toy than the chicken nuggets, is not a threat to serious dieters. Get over it.

Get over it absent?? rude!!

I was thinking also that presumably it is the mum that is overweight and at the slimming club so cannot see the problem with the child eating a Happy Meal or whatever. If someone has a problem with being overweight does it mean that the whole world should eat lettuce just incase they are tempted?

No gilly you have missed the point that I just found it incongruous and perhaps a little insensitive to bring chips etc into a room full of people who are struggling to avoid such foods.

I don't think I have missed the point though Teetime. As someone who has been overweight and done all the slimming club stuff I can't see what good it would be for anyone around me to have to avoid eating things that might have tempted me. My DH could eat for England and never gain an ounce in weight. He eats chocolate sitting right beside me with my mouth watering so much I can taste it. I am pretty disciplined (for now) but making him eat it in the other room would be silly and not doing me any good at all. After all it is the overweight person (or the person trying to lose/maintain weight) that has the problem.

This is the last time I am going to make this point! It was the incongruity of chips etc being brought into a Slimming World meeting that took me by surprise - that's all!!!!!

I will say no more!!!

I can see your point Teetime! [Hides behind the sofa - come and join me T?]

Yes, it's a sort of irony, isn't it? Quite funny really...

Teetime, that's life, or rather that's Gransnet! You post a relatively innocuous observation and find you've started a hare running!

Quite! Not to worry T it's Very Gransnet.

anyone join me?

I'll wait till after the school run, then I'll join you happily. In the meantime and (WW of course)

Going back to food disapproval, of which there is loads on this thread, although I haven't read posts since Thursday, I was in a medical centre the other day where there was a silent TV showing things about health, including a picture of a glass of wine with a doughnut. The caption read "You are eating a doughnut every time you drink a glass of wine". I decided I would have a doughnut with my latte in Waitrose when I did the shopping.

Does food disapproval have this effect (contra-suggestibility) on other people? Just wondering because if the reaction is widespread, it might be useful for our health preachers to know and then they might develop a different tack with their information dispersal.

My GS's are allowed what they call "Hotdonalds" for a rare treat and last Thurs the 5 year old came to me straight from school to show me how well he is reading now and had a McD on his way, but was told he wasn't to tell his 3 year old brother. He ran straight in saying "you are going to be very cranky with Dad Bobby because I've had Hotdonalds for tea".

Bags I think contra-suggestibility, if I understand the term correctly, is responsible for the failure of many public health campoaigns, for example the campaign against smoking has not prevented a rise in the number of young women smoking.

How can doughnuts be equated with wine? And what's actually wrong with either of them? I wouldn't eat doughnuts because I don't like them very much, but in the context of a good balanced diet, even one doughnut a day isn't going to do anyone any harm. Just as one or two glasses of wine isn't going to, either.

The problem with this sort of thing is that it puts people off all public health campaigns, not just the one in question.

Calories, janea.

ana doughnuts and wine don't have the same nutritional value, or even the same calories.

A Sainsbury's jam doughnut has 220 calories, 3.2g protein, 32.2g carbohydrate, and 20.6g fat.

A 175ml glass of wine has 119 calories, and 5g carbohydrate. Nothing else.

There are several online articles claiming that a large glass of wine contains a similar number of calories to a doughnut.

I'm presuming that's what the tv programme bags saw was meaning to convey. That's all.

Well, a 250ml glass would have the same number of calories. But to suggest they are the same nutritionally is misleading.

Well, we don't know that the programme was doing any such thing, do we?

I certainly wasn't!

Bags said
there was a silent TV showing things about health, including a picture of a glass of wine with a doughnut. The caption read "You are eating a doughnut every time you drink a glass of wine"
What does that suggest to you Ana?

It suggests to me what I've already said - it's about the number of calories. People often don't take into account, or underestimate, the calories in alcohol.

You asked 'how can doughnuts be equated with wine?' and I suggested an answer.