Is obesity a class thing?

But kitlong doesn't it worry you that your obesity is preventing you doing everyday things?

People are people
They come in all shape, size & colour.
However they also come with an ability and thought process that is as individual as a finger print.

Kitlong to be truly happy with one's self is an achievement indeed.

Sorry to join in a few days late - I'm too fat to bend over to plug the charger for the laptop in, had to wait for a skinny family member to come and do it for me. I just hate the way that skinny people seem to think that being fat equals not having pride in oneself/self respect etc. I'm fat because I enjoy food. I don't drink, don't smoke but do eat anything I fancy. I also dress well, bathe daily (yep, even though apparently fat people don't wash), have my hair done every month and am (very) highly educated. I have no illness or health problems (GP insists on full bloods whatever I go there with)- I am completely fit, healthy AND fat. Obese fat. Not a little bit fat but a lot fat. My advice is worry about yourself and no-one else and eat more as fat people wrinkle less!

I'm quite fat, but then I live on a council estate so it isn't my fault.

anniebach I am a Sunday's child.

Bonny - does that mean plump?

I'm overweight but not obese.

It must be the wot does it, I'm afraid, as we eat very healthily. Or perhaps it is my social class (one up from the lowest class as I am not obese, just what DH would call 'pleasantly plump').


Actually, just read mumofmadboys's post and decided that it is genetics.

mimiro sorry if I misread your post.

I have noticed that the under 25s seem to be going to the gym or running/cycling much more than previous generations.
When passing our local senior school you very rarely see many overweight boys or girls.
Nor do I see any smoking whereas when my DS & DD were at senior school there were quite a few of the older ones walking along road with a 'fag'
I think drinking habits are also changing amongst the young

Maybe for our DGC the message is getting through.
Here's hoping

am off to give lessons to familys in need.
and remembered some cookbooks packed away

op thank you for triggering memories

ninny
first i was not making excuses
just pointing out that oj and coke have the same calories.
second the nearest real store to were i live is 11k away.
there is no public transportation.
as for aldis and similar the nearest is 46k.

and i say again education is key to bad choices when you have money and working around when you are low income.

as for diet coke af any kind it is incredablly bad for you along with most artificially sweetened foods.
i don't drink cokes
i have to buy frozen fruit and veg since its 6-9 weeks between grocery shopping.
and no there is no delivery here either.
i live on 555 pounds a month including my mortgage.i am 5'7 inches tall and weigh 63 kilos.
i eat well
i have spent years educating the people who come to our foodbank.

I'm beginning to think it's something to do with addiction to fatty and sugary foods.
We get a religious weekly newspaper, with has a women's supplement which has recipes.I've written to them twice about the amount of fattening/addictive ingredients in these recipes such as different types of sugar in savoury dishes, and tomato sauce etc. And meat etc fried instead of baked etc.
I know that many young people in this community are becoming obese and addicted to 'nosh'.
I wouldn't call them low down the social scale either.

The OP is correct in that statistically people from lower income backgrounds are more likely to be overweight than people from higher income groups. That doesn't mean no one who is poor is thin or vice versa. In the past it was a sign of wealth to be fat, now that isn't the case. Sociologists suggest several reasons for this, most of those explanations have been described in this thread- cheaper foods which require less preparation tend to be higher calorie foods. A bag of chips is more filling than a bowl of salad and more of a treat. etc

Personally because I often cook for one, I usually by frozen; but it seems to me when I go to Iceland that it is possible to buy multiple-serving packs surprisingly cheaply (per head)..

So, for a family of 4, a pack of chicken steaks and a bag of chips could be three pounds.

It shouldn't make any difference though for staple foods, in fact frozen is better - frozen veg is fresher, no waste and no preparation.

Here's one example:
groceries.iceland.co.uk/search?w=frozen%20chicken&ref=http%3A%2F%2Fgroceries.iceland.co.uk%2Fbrand%2Fworld-famous
Yes they are cheaper than what I buy.

Frozen is cheaper than fresh. Its that simple.. just as organic is more expensive than ordinary fruit and veg, and the same for meat.

I agree, ninny - I was going to say the same thing.
I very rarely buy frozen food so don't know the price compared with fresh.
eg how much are a bag of frozen chicken drumsticks, and a bag of frozen chips?

Perhaps the "lower classes" (aka poorer people) have different jobs to the middle classes. They work where you don't wear a business suit, or a "smart casual" outfit, and you don't get your hair done and your nails painted so as to present a smart face to the public. Instead you wear a practical uniform or a nylon overall, or something that can get dirty and be thrown into the washing machine at the end of the day. There isn't the same incentive to be slim and elegant all day when no-one else beside you cares what you look like, and when you finish work you don't suddenly turn from a pumpkin into a fairy godmother.

Think you are just making excuses mimiro, diet cheap coke is available, cheap fruit and vegetables offers in Tesco, Lidl and Aldi @ 49p. Personally I don't think it's a shortage of money that's the problem you only have to look at different families shopping trolley to see some are piled high with snacks, crisps, biscuits and cakes as well as their normal shopping for meals I am amazed at how much some people spend.

I'm always surprised that some areas of cities don't have good access to high-quality cheap fruit & veg. I think Aldi & Lidl have done a really good job there, not only in selling it themselves but in keeping the prices low in the other large supermarkets.
I can remember reading about 'food deserts' in Bristol - I was gobsmacked.

blaming the us for uk obesity is ridiculous.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fast_food_restaurant_chains

granted the usa list is longer but a huge amount of these are regional and the usa is 37.92 x larger than the entire uk.
urban areas have more fast food places.
yes convenience and cheap prices contributes.
so do genetics,excercise,and for us ladies menopause is the enemy.

economics concerns it as well .fresh fruit and veg are expensive,some citys have very little available.and its usually very small green grocers with high prices.

those fizzy cokes are 140 calories per can
same amount of 100% oj is about the same???

no one cause no one answer

even food banks cannot really help.most food is tinned or packaged rarely fresh/no ability to store it
our food bank has a different take on things,we worked hard to get local farmers and grocers to contribute fresh,but it took years of door knocking and pleading.local first responders came and turned one of our rooms into a cold storage room.
education is another factor,few schools have cooking classes any more much less nutritional educationrealized that when friends daughter caught kitchen on fire trying to boil an egg.(she just let it boil on and on til the water was gone.)

Maybe all the 'upper class' obese people are just better at hiding away in their big cars and big houses ...

devongirl and paddy I think you are both quite right. Now that so many people are seriously overweight it is becoming the norm. A very frightening prospect and one that our NHS just cannot cope with.

I think people have been rather harsh on the OP - I also see a big difference in attitudes towards obesity depending on the financial/housing/job situation. Of course there are thin people on benefits, and fat people on round the world cruises. I don't know what the answer is but feel a lot of young people in particular have lost their responsibility to look after themselves for the sake of their future.