UK most overweight country in Western Europe says OECD

[rob D2]

Yes, even the healthy looking boxes in the us aren't , you gave to be very careful .

 

I've managed to lose 50lbs since may on a combination of slim fast bars and actually using the free gyms in all the hotels I'm stuck in

[njee20]

All food has nutritional value, that is what makes it food. Fried and fast foods often have the highest levels - we call them "Calories".

 

If you eat a varied diet, mainly based on vegetables and fruits with some meat and carbohydrate sources then a Big Mac Meal every Saturday will do you no harm whatsoever.

I agree, but I said no “real” nutritional value, ie it contributes nothing to that balanced diet, sweets, for example. We don’t need them. We derive nothing from them of any real use. You also said there are no unhealthy foods, thats totally different to saying a MacDonalds amongst a varied diet will do you no harm. Unhealthy is very subjective though.

[jonny777]

I found that three Weetabix and 200ml of semi-skimmed milk was about 300 calories. 

 

That might still seem quite high, but at least it keeps me satisfied until lunch; and it saved 250-ish calories from my previous muesli version. 

[alastairq]

As a newby OAP..I buy/beg/get donated/borrow only 'fresh' stuff...as in, veg, meat, and stuff.  Whenever I see things like cottage pie, on the 2nd hand counters in Tescos [previously-prodded?]....I ignore, as I know I can make that myself.....of known ingredients. BUT..I also know I could never make it cheaper than the 70 pence or so being charged for the portion.

 

Getting older, I have found my digestive system becoming more sensitive.....things like, hiatus hernias [iE, two stomachs, like a cow?]...which lead to night time reflux [like swallowing battery acid?]....trapped wind, leading to reflux again...and so on.....luckily I don't think I have IBS....which can seriously limit one's diet......The temporary solution I have come to follow is to avoid cream in the evenings...or too much mashed potato...   or normal ice cream [probably anything with powdered milk in it?...]....lamb, I avoid [the fat?}...much as I like it.....but, oddly, pork fat has little effect on me....much as I like that too.

 

Oddly, Lidl's [gelateria?] ice cream doesn't lead to a dose of the bloats.....I'm not sure why, when the posher brands [from elsewhere] are fatal  in this respect.

 

Curries I love...but try to avoid these days [reflux again].....same with chillies...by making one's own, certain much liked, but awkward ingredients can be deleted....

 

My weight is only of concern to the engineers who design the buildings I walk into.

 

It fluctuates according to the time of year, etc.....I don't consciously diet.....[aside from being careful of portion sizes].....merely adjusting my intake to better suit my body.     I get by......haven't seen the  quack for over a year now.....

[alastairq]

 

 

If you eat a varied diet, mainly based on vegetables and fruits with some meat and carbohydrate sources then a Big Mac Meal every Saturday will do you no harm whatsoever.

 

 

 Is there anything special about Big MAcs on a Saturday?   Would a  Big Mac on a Tuesday be more  harmful, in a dietary manner?

[jonny777]

I understand exactly where you are coming from Alastair. 

 

My problem in supermarkets is that on days when the wife was working late and I was catering for myself, I would tend to buy a curry for two just for me. I would often not have any rice with it - just the curry, but those packs are 450 gms and can be 560 cals. 

 

It is so easy to just drift into these habits without realising. I feel that I can say this as I am currently 5 stone overweight. 

[chris p bacon]

It is essentially a simple calculation between what calories we consume and how much we use.

 

As an example when I did a bit research on the building of the GN mainline, I came across a note on the health of the navvies, their diet was bread, meat, cheese and beer (partly for food and also because water could be unsafe) and their average daily intake was 7-8000 calories. Admittedly they wouldn't live a long life on that diet but they were never overweight.

[Horsetan]

All food has nutritional value, that is what makes it food. Fried and fast foods often have the highest levels - we call them "Calories".

 

...also known as the "see food" diet. You see food; you eat it.

[chriswright03]

Vanessa Feltz summed it up very well I thought when she had shacked up with her personal trainer and lost loads of weight.  'There are only two ways to lose weight. 1. Move more and 2. Eat less.'

 

There are loads of fad diets that are probably as harmful to the individual as obesity.  In the end it is up to the individual to control what they eat and what shape they are.  All the stories of heavy bones and it's not for what I eat just don't work because the individual actually gets into the position where they believe it.

 

Having spent a fair bit of time in the bus industry the sedentary nature of the job leads to overweight drivers.  There is actually a weight limit for the driver's seats and at times I knew drivers taken off duties because they were too heavy.  One such driver whose weight fluctuated over the years recently passed away from a heart attack at the age of 45.  I spoke to someone the other day who is also obese and they say that this shocked them but I just now they will do nothing about it.

 

Has anyone else noticed that 'some' of the health service staff that tell you that you are overweight are not exactly good role models?

[MJI]

I reckon even though I am overweight and unfit (thanks fall so bad back)

 

I am not that unhealthly

 

sugar is low, fats are low.

 

I can normally shrug off colds (except this year)

 

Just not enough excercise and slightly too much food.

[chris p bacon]

Has anyone else noticed that 'some' of the health service staff that tell you that you are overweight are not exactly good role models?

 

I have,  and had a conversation along those lines. The answer I was given was they were overweight because they worked odd hours, I pointed out at the time I weighed less than they did and was on nights & days with no routine.

[w124bob]

I'm on the Homer Simpson diet!

[Tony Davis]

I decided to lose weight when a friend of the family, who also happens to be a doctor for one of the American airlines, told that, if I didn't, I was looking at a stroke at the minimum (my dad died after suffering a stroke), probable heart disease and diabetes. I weighed 118 kilo's at the time, I am 6'2". I took his advise and lost 25 kilo's, feel a lot better, and reduced my blood pressure medication.

 

I watched a film about nutrition which made the point that, although food is more plentiful and cheap now, a lot of it, fast food, is calorie dense and nutritionaly poor, with the result that people eat it and stil feel hungry because the body isn't getting what it needs.

 

Last thing, sad but true, a friends wife, who is termed "morbidly obese" and was having problems walking (she has diabetes), was told by her doctor that, unless she lost weight, she would end up having her leg amputated, Her response? "well, they will have to cut my leg off then". Her husband was obviously upset over this but didn't know how to motivate her.

[Pete the Elaner]

Yes, even the healthy looking boxes in the us aren't , you gave to be very careful .

 

I've managed to lose 50lbs since may on a combination of slim fast bars and actually using the free gyms in all the hotels I'm stuck in

It does not take much longer to prepare dishes from fresh than to open a box which may have unexpected ingredients in it (usually high levels of salt).

I am a fussy sod too. Anything which involves peas or mushrooms simply has them omitted because I can't stand them. I can also add extra of things I like, such as ginger, or even galangal when I actually see it for sale.

 

My idea of a ready meal is re-heating a portion of something I previously cooked myself from fresh ingredients, before freezing it for later.

[PatB]

Like many fat people I claim to be big boned. Unlike many fat people I have the photographic evidence to prove it. When I had my chest X-ray done for migration purposes i was amused to see a skeleton worthy of an elephant. Might explain why a) I've been able to fall off motorcycles quite severely and walk away with nothing but bruises and a lighter wallet and b) even when I've been either fit or starved to a toastrack (and there've been times of both in my life) my BMI has been outside the acceptable range.

[jjb1970]

The key thing about diet is variety and balance. That's why I sometimes have chocolate hobnobs and sometimes wagon wheels, and I avoid eating too many wisp bars by sometimes eating double decker bars or raisin & biscuit York ie bars. The importance of a balanced diet can never be over emphasised.

[chriswright03]

Last time I went to the gym they had a new machine.  I naturally had a go on it but after a few minutes I felt quite sick.  It had Snickers, Mars bars, Twix and loads of crisps and stuff.

[OnTheBranchline]

The key thing about diet is variety and balance. That's why I sometimes have chocolate hobnobs and sometimes wagon wheels, and I avoid eating too many wisp bars by sometimes eating double decker bars or raisin & biscuit York ie bars. The importance of a balanced diet can never be over emphasised.

And drinking more water. The unforunate truth about going to the pub is that there are a lot of useless calories in that point.

[royaloak]

What proportion of the general population have sufficient muscle bulk that BMI is totally meaningless? 0.001%?

Have you got a source for that?

I am naturally muscular and have a goodly amount of upper body strength, but you expect me to weigh less than my stick insect of a 14 year old Son who hasnt got any muscles to speak of but is slightly taller than me, I would be seriously ill.

 

I have recently had a medical and the nurse stated BMI is a very poor way of measuring wellbeing.

Edited December 27, 2017 by royaloak

[Dava]

Has anyone noticed the relationship between obesity and mobility scooter users? Which condition comes first?

 

Can be observed in all-day breakfast patrons of Tesco's Cafe in Boston, Lincolnshire for example.

 

Dava

[Arthur]

 

 

Has anyone else noticed that 'some' of the health service staff that tell you that you are overweight are not exactly good role models?

Reported in a number of newspapers earlier this month, one in four nurses are obese

 

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/health/nhs-nurses-obese-stats-figures-survey-results-a8091781.html

 

 

I have,  and had a conversation along those lines. The answer I was given was they were overweight because they worked odd hours, I pointed out at the time I weighed less than they did and was on nights & days with no routine.

And in response, Nursing Times trotted out the same ‘causes’

 

https://www.nursingtimes.net/opinion/its-time-to-offer-support-not-criticism-to-overweight-nurses/7022419.article

 

Essentially, it’s everybody’s fault and not the individual nurse.

 

Hardly a credible position for somebody giving healthy weight advice to others with busy and hectic lifestyles.

 

Having appeared on some weight loss, reality TV programme, Ann Widdicombe was subsequently asked to write a weight loss book. Her response, “I’ll give it to you in two words, Eat Less.”

 

.

[Nearholmer]

There’s an oft-repeated point made above about poor food being cheaper ....... I don’t believe a word of it.

 

Even in ‘expensive’ shops, enough cabbage, carrots, potatoes etc to leave you feeling stuffed will cost not a great deal.

 

The issue is, I suggest, that cr*p food is often easier, rather than cheaper.

 

I’m as guilty of bone laziness as the next man, and laziness when it comes to cooking is the biggest problem, and the biggest gift on the planet to junk food purveyors, because with good, cheap ingredients and a bit of effort, it isn’t hard or expensive to eat well.

 

And that with due respect to shift workers, because I do know that it is very hard to get eating regimes right when on revolving or irregular shifts.

 

PS: a 500cal breakfast sounds OK to me. Surely it’s only a problem if you eat loads through the rest of the day (that was me, yesterday and the day before!)

[chris p bacon]

There’s an oft-repeated point made above about poor food being cheaper ....... I don’t believe a word of it.

 

The issue is, I suggest, that cr*p food is often easier, rather than cheaper.

 

In a nutshell.

 

My BiL owns (as franchisee) 10 McDonalds 'restaurants' they turn over just under 30 million a year, I have said that as obesity rises so do their profits.  The most popular are the drive thru's where the fat ones don't even have to expend energy getting to the counter. . .and don't start me off about litter from these endless fast food outlets.

[spikey]

Has anyone else noticed that 'some' of the health service staff that tell you that you are overweight are not exactly good role models?

Two things shocked me about the hospital in which my wife got most of her cancer treatment.  One was the number of fat nursing and auxiliary staff, many of whom were often to be seen lurking outside buildings having a fag.  And the other was the removal of four seats from all waiting areas and their replacement with two fatty seats, each, as we proved, wide enough for myself and my wife to sit on side by side.

Edited December 27, 2017 by spikey

[APOLLO]

I had a quadruple by pass back in 2011. The cause of my blocked arteries was purely cholesterol build up caused by bad diet over the years (before i got married). In on Sunday, Op Monday, out of intensive care Thursday, home Sunday. I have nothing but praise for the NHS & Wythenshawe Hospital South Manchester - BUT

all main meals had to be chosen day before as they were cooked in South Wales & trucked up - the menu was not healthy - chips, pies, sponge pudding custard etc - the stuff my surgeon said had caused my problem in the first place !! - Then around twice a day came the cart selling crisps, chocolate and all the other shyte. Yes I remarked to the staff / surgeon and was told "This is what everybody wants" !!!. Unbelievable. I stuck with Hospital porridge for breakfast (and have kept with that ever since), soup and whatever for the meal. Actually the food was quite good - though "wrong".

 

I now subscribe to the "Harry Secombe" diet, and it's quite simple.

 

Rule 1 Eat whatever you want - BUT eat far less of it, and always leave yourself a little hungry at the end of every meal.

Rule 2 If you are not hungry - don't eat & wait till you are - but then always apply rule 1.

 

Simple, and it works (for me). Blo*dy difficult this time of year though !!!!.

 

Brit15