Obesity linked to poverty

I'm always surprised when people say they've put on (or lost) a few pounds - as it's totally meaningless unless it's measured over weeks or months.

Our bodies just aren't clockwork machines that stay at a set weight, are they? Drink a pint of water and you 'gain' a pound. Have a bowel movement and you lose one. Constipation can easily increase your weight by a few pounds too!

Can we delete the word 'lazy' from Gransnet please, especially when describing groups of people we have little to do with?

"They need to be taught". Yes, but by parents, not by teachers who are struggling with a curriculum that is bursting at the seams!

Mibs You really do have my sympathy and understanding (sorry that won't feed you).

This reminds me of Jack Monroe's (bootstrapcook) comments when Jamie Oliver was producing "cheap" "Feed the Family for a Fiver" meals.

Jack said that if she had a fiver, she could produce a feast. Her problem was what to do with the 21p tin of kidney beans, which was all she had in her cupboard.

and yes i do know how to cook butg you cannot cook what you cannot afford to buy in the first place............
you need food, fuel and equipment to do that properly

ladymuck

One big difference in the 'old days' is that most women were housewives. They didn't go out to work, so they had time to cook properly. The cheaper cuts of meat take longer to cook, but women had the time to do it then.
Also, school dinners were better...meat, potatoes and a veg, plus a pudding.
Sheer laziness and lack of time is the reason for poor diets these days.

sheer laziness? no car 16 miles form nearest town often work 14 hr days... how is that lazy? Plse dont assume just dont its appalling what some people assume, modern life is hectic crammed and unworkable realistically unless you are lucky enough to land a decent job lol i have a degree, useless nowadays, am left having to work less than minimum wage as no other work available.. like a lot of folks right now, rent has to come first then council tax there isnt a lot left for the rest no matter how exhausted i become or hard i work

and.. for the record, we do manage most days to eat healthy but often we go hungry, there simply isnt enuff to go round some days

MibsXX

yeah but be totally fair here, back in the @day@ mom usually didnt have to work for the family to survive, she was able to be home all day baking cleaning etc etc so making cheap shops last and cover all sorts of meals was easier in my opinion,,, also those cheap cuts etc then are now either impossible to buy or else overpriced cos some celeb chef made then too popular, and have you SEEN the price of fresh veg nowadays?? my own weekly income is #125.. no benefit top ups, try paying #110 a week rent and cooking healthiliy on that for family of 4

making cheap CUTS last lol,not shops

yeah but be totally fair here, back in the @day@ mom usually didnt have to work for the family to survive, she was able to be home all day baking cleaning etc etc so making cheap shops last and cover all sorts of meals was easier in my opinion,,, also those cheap cuts etc then are now either impossible to buy or else overpriced cos some celeb chef made then too popular, and have you SEEN the price of fresh veg nowadays?? my own weekly income is #125.. no benefit top ups, try paying #110 a week rent and cooking healthiliy on that for family of 4

Good post Seajaye. It needs more than a couple of sloganised headlines to have an effect.

Callistemon I eat much the same as you - almost identical, in fact, apart from the potato. My lunchtime salad is enormous and fills up a whole plate. It's low in calories but gives an impression of being a lot. My weight remains stable but I'm just short of 6ft. If you want to lose weight, maybe you could cut down the portion sizes slightly rather than cutting anything out or changing too drastically.

Oats would add loads of extra calories and carbs. I don't eat refined grains (so no cereal, pasta, bread or anything with flour) and not much fruit, apart from apples and berries.

Obesity is a problem for many people in the UK but it is a complex matter related to all kinds of socio- economic issues and lifestyle choices. While processed and fast food and snacks and alcohol and other 'empty' high calorie foods are easily available and convenient for working families, these will be purchased by many people. We need think about transfering some of the state aid given to meat and dairy production to fruit and vegetable production, increase tax on processed foods and foods containing sugar, and alcohol, and make the healthier choices the cheapest so that it available to all. At the moment unhealthy food is too cheap and readily available. Also exercise needs to be made more accessible and affordable
once kids leave school. Not everyone can afford a gym membership. It will be interesting to see if, post lockdown, the many free online exercise classes remain available but even this assumes you have enough space at home to participate. Our housing, despite being one of the most expensive, on a per metre per person basis, is one of the smallest ratios in Europe. Lots to consider and not an easy solution now that people expect cheap convenient food.

Hollysteers wrote,
but surely if alcoholics and heavy smokers can conquer their habits, overeaters could do the same?

there one big and significant difference though.
there is no necessity to moderate intake of tobacco/alcohol.
there is the ideal option/aim of never touching them again.
that doesn't work with food.

My mother was one of 11 children and my father, 9. Inner city, hardship, and grandmother widowed with a 6 week old baby, no NHS or benefits then, I often think how did they manage to feed so many on so little, day after day and they all thrived?
There was a knowledge of large scale economic cooking now lost for the majority of families (I certainly don’t want to return to those days!)
Similarly, my Neapolitan neighbour entertains large numbers of people and dishes up massive lasagnes. The secret is a tiny portion of meat, padded out with large amounts of breadcrumbs. No one knows, as the sauce is so beautifully spiced.
I remember, as someone else commented, a tiny, lone lamb chop surrounded by generous helpings of potatoes and green vegetables.
As I eat to live and not the other way round, I’m bemused by overeating, but surely if alcoholics and heavy smokers can conquer their habits, overeaters could do the same?

It's interesting that we consume fewer calories than we used to, but we exercise less. Most families only had one car, if they were lucky. My Dad needed the car for work, so it was the bus or walk for us!

I do think that the reduction in cookery lessons at school has had a detrimental effect on our diets. We need to learn to cook from scratch. I'm in a FB Eat for £1 a day group and the questions the younger mums ask is unbelievable, such as "My Mum has given me lots of tins of fruit, what do I do with them?" They seem to have no idea how to cook! I'm not criticising them - a large majority just don't seem to have the tools to know how to make a cheap and healthy meal!

I think Callistemons food sounds ok, although I have porridge table spoon yoghurt blueberries and sweetener (stevia) for breakfast.. But the total amount sounds fine. Assuming its small portions of everything. I try to have a brisk walk before dinner although having ME I don't always manage. My weight stays stable on this.

welbeck

i hadn't realised that you have to avoid gluten.
that does require more effort.
but your lunch sounded meagre.
sometimes people nibble because they do not eat enough at mealtimes, or not enough filling foods, and consequently they graze on empty calories later.
eg only using low fat dairy products can be a mistake.

I did WW a few years ago and wasn't keen on some of the suggestions such as low fat everything. Some of their own foods seem too processed.
Yes, I eat full fat Greek yogurt and some homegrown fruit with it. Or egg on seeded bread.
The problem has been a slowdown of activity I think.

Fennel

Another question - are oven chips healthy?

I don't know but I don't like them.

Triple cooked chips are the only ones worth eating.
And before I get jumped on, I think I've eaten them about twice in the last five years - I'd rather go without!

i hadn't realised that you have to avoid gluten.
that does require more effort.
but your lunch sounded meagre.
sometimes people nibble because they do not eat enough at mealtimes, or not enough filling foods, and consequently they graze on empty calories later.
eg only using low fat dairy products can be a mistake.

welbeck

Callistemon

Breakfast: yogurt and fruit
Lunch: a hard boiled egg or cottage cheese and salad, drizzle of olive oil
Dinner: protein, lots of veg and potato.

10 days later put on 1lb.

I suppose I could cut out the potato.

when did you last have your personal weighing scales calibrated, and against what standard.
most will not be reliably accurate to 1 lb.
but your diet sounds upside down to me.
why don't you eat more in the morning, say porridge, real oats not that wallpaper paste stuff. make it with water only, no salt or sugar. add a little milk to taste when cooked, or some unsweetened yogurt, greek is tasty. throw on the top a few blueberries, and nuts/seeds.
slice of thick wholemeal toast. tea/coffee. maybe an egg.
eat dinner in the middle of the day.
and a light supper in the evening.

welbeck I do have gf oats sometimes. No bread though, or gf seeded with an egg sometimes.
(I was just quoting last week's menu.)
The scales are fairly new.

I know it is a good idea to have the main meal in the middle of the day or at least not too late. We will have to try to change our habits.

A nurse told me that grateful patients often give them presents of tins of sweets and biscuits. She said if you re tired and stressed it's very tempting to fill your pockets with sweets as you rush on to the next task.

I never had a single cooking lesson at school and my mother was not interested in cooking so, because I wanted to eat well I taught myself. If you can read you can read a cookery book.

I love cooking, perhaps too much, so I am not and never have been skinny. I have always cooked from scratch even at the busiest times of my life. I like to get good value for money and there is no doubt that the best value food is home cooked.

My OH and I both love fish and chips from a good fish and chip shop so we treat ourselves to takeaway fish and chips perhaps two or three times a year. We never have any other takeaways.

Having said all that, I appreciate that there are some folk who don't have good cooking facilities but you can do a lot with a single ring and perhaps a microwave. Free cooking lessons should be offered to all those who need them.

Yes dominated by girls in my sons school, he takes GSCE food and nutrition.

I did domestic science at school, and it made zero impact on me.
We had a list of ingredients to take in, followed the instructions, and out came something like a Victoria sponge at the finish.

Chewbacca

Jamie Oliver. That's one.

He's the only one I know personally and know didn't learn cooking at school.