Slime
Tour Winner
It was a rhetorical question, sort of thinking out loud.
Rhetorical questions don't require a question mark but I can see where the confusion arose.
Britain is overweight.
- Thread starter stefanovic
- Start date
It was a rhetorical question, sort of thinking out loud.
Rhetorical questions don't require a question mark but I can see where the confusion arose.
Oddsocks
Ryder Cup Winner
this is the absolute deal breaker, you can walk into a cafe and get a bacon stick for £2-3.00 yet the same place will charge £4-5.00 for a tuna or chicken salad. You can pop into a garage a get a pasty out the fridge for £1.00-1.50 yet a pot of sushi or healthy sandwich will be £2-3.00, an apple or form of fruit salad £1.00-2.00 yet two bags of Percy pigs or a double choc bar for less.
I happen to know this first hand as in 17 I went on a big health kick and with increased exercise and a more healthy diet dropped almost 2.5 stone in 4 months, but it was very evident from the bank account it come at a cost. Even down to supermarket shops becoming more expensive weekly.
It should never be easier or cheaper to eat unhealthy and until this is addressed, any change will be delayed. I’d like to see addition levy’s on unhealthy foods then salad / fruit / veg etc be tax exempt as a start. Even down to cafes etc getting a different tax rate on these typical foods. Yes the gov will lose tax revenue but this will surely be outweighed by reduction in health care costs and end of life care costs.
Rooter
Money List Winner
Agree entirely on this, but it, unfortunately, will never happen, too many fatcats (oh the irony!) have too much to lose. But on your other points, eating a healthy 'trendy' diet can be really expensive! Avocados, nuts, fresh fish, grains are expensive! You could eat uber-healthy on a budget, but it would be pretty basic, greens, chicken thighs, pulses, etc.
Eating healthy on the go is really quite tough, garages and service stations especially. At least if you can get to a supermarket you can buy a pack of pre-cooked roast chicken, banana, yogurt for example. But even things like these promoted 'snack pots' of nuts and fruit etc, usually heavily salted or artificially flavored.
The likes of Jamie Oliver (love him or hate him) do seem to at least try on the education front. 15-minute meals, meals with less than 5 ingredients etc are all great initiatives, but it HAS to start early, I would love to hear stories of kids coming home from school and requesting a change. (I am sure some/many do, but some parents are just plain lazy)
Should childhood obesity be treated as a form of child abuse? (Assuming there are no medical reasons for it)
stefanovic
Medal Winner
Oi Oi tiger!! lol
And yeh, @stefanovic my happy place I am trying to find is somewhere between 12 and 18% body fat, I am not sure the NHS would like my Ironman training plan....
Yes, but have you calculated your BMI and body fat in post #50?
My BMI is 21.5 and body fat was officially 17% a few years ago (it may be a bit lower now).
I don't need to run marathons.
If you do, you RUN the risk of taking too much quality energy out of your body and replace it with energy of a lesser second hand quality (food).
This is called the entropy of the body.
Oddsocks
Ryder Cup Winner
There an easy lesson here, at school give a kid a Mars bar, show him the calories and then stick them on any cardio machine until they’ve burnt it off, then do the same with several common snacks (can of coke, packet of crisps etc) - there is a complete lack of food education and this is a factor. Nan always have me a fresh pork pie, sausage roll etc because it was better for me than chocolate, ironically if you look at its content it’s prob the opposite.
Now, if I’d eaten the pork pie and the pie teacher responded with “ now get on the rower for 45 mins chubby “ I doubt I’d ever eat one again.
Practical education of good and bad foods, fats, good fats, bad fats, food groups, macros, etc and required to to burn off these off should be a mandatory part of the curriculum.
Rooter
Money List Winner
While I agree with the sentiment and the logic, presenting food Vs exercise is in my opinion a bad thing to do and can create bigger issues in eating disorders etc, Not saying I have the answers, but 45 minutes of running on a treadmill should not mean you then get to eat a mars bar.
You cannot out-train/exercise a bad diet. That's a fact. Exercise is the cherry on the top, food education needs to be better.
Rooter
Money List Winner
Have I checked my BMI? No. I don't need to. Body fat % was done via calipers.
I reckon I'll be OK. I am not sure I am in the demographic that needs your expertise, but thanks anyhoo!
Bunkermagnet
Journeyman Pro
I don’t eat nuts or fish....can’t stand them. I do eat anything else in moderation, that’s all I need to stay happy in skin and mind.
Oddsocks
Ryder Cup Winner
Exactly that! Fast carbs verses slow carbs, fats etc, balanced macros and so on.
I learnt my daily recommended calorie intake at 39 by which time it’s a little too late. Had this been ingrain or even the seed planted during secondary school as part of either PE or home ec, I have no doubt that my diet would be completely different.
As someone who commuted from 2017-2019 via public transport and / or motorways for work, the availability and costs of unhealthy foods against healthy options is just scary,
Jimaroid
Journeyman Pro
That won't work for all sorts of reasons. Although I agree on the principal of improving education, it needs to be the right type of education. A primary reason it won't work is that we're not all genetically equal.
As an example some people cannot eat certain foods, such as type 1 diabetes, nut and fish allergies etc. What is healthy to some is not to others for a myriad of reasons.
Also calories are turning out to be a really poor way to define nutritional health, the same calorific intake can have extremely different affects on different people. And calories are not all equal across food groups. This goes back to my earlier point that we're too stuck in the past when it comes to nutritional health and a lot of messaging based on fat and calories due to some poor science may have made things worse.
Give people knowledge and tools to find what works and what doesn't work for them, combine it with a better understanding and easier access to exercise and let them get on with it. Body shaming should play no part.
stefanovic
Medal Winner
Here are just a few of the risks of running 26 miles.
Heart damage, kidney damage, DNA damage, bone and muscle injury.
Four reasons not to run a marathon - Big Think
One guy explained to me how after having a gym workout every morning he felt he then deserved a big breakfast.
He looked at least 3 stones overweight and no wonder:
Exercise has never been proven to take weight off you. If it did you wouldn't find many overweight people.
All he was doing was burning off good quality energy produced naturally in his body by lesser quality energy from food which is an inferior supplier of energy.
D
Deleted member 1147
Guest
Except, of course, the millions who don't exercise!
Rooter
Money List Winner
Dude, behave. You started a good thread with some really good discussion points. Leave it there yeh?
BiMGuy
LIV Bot, (But Not As Big As Mel) ?
Can you please expand on how the body produces the good quality natural energy you keep referring to?
D
Deleted member 16999
Guest
A natural 9 stone weakling (as you called yourself) giving advice on exercise and diet is like Rory McIlroy asking me for advice on how to play a wedge shot.
Oddsocks
Ryder Cup Winner
Who are fatties?
stefanovic
Medal Winner
I've known plenty of people who have lived healthily into their 90's and one over 100 who did not do hard exercise. Just walking for them.
It is a modern commercialised myth that the more you exercise the healthier you become and the more weight you will lose.
Running a marathon based on the distance from Marathon to Athens (26.2 miles) is even incorrect. It was originally 25 miles.
Look at the number of people who have sadly died just running half marathons who would probably have lived longer had they not.
All I'm saying is that no amount of food you eat will replenish lost energy which is naturally stored in your body by sleep.
D
Deleted member 1147
Guest
There are many fat people who don't exercise - so your statement "Exercise has never been proven to take weight off you. If it did you wouldn't find many overweight people." is inaccurate
BiMGuy
LIV Bot, (But Not As Big As Mel) ?
Overweight people have got that way by consuming more calories than they have used. Simple.
Exercise will not help most of them as they won’t be able to do enough exercise to burn off the calories they consume, never mind the excess they already have stored.
Exercise will not help most of them as they won’t be able to do enough exercise to burn off the calories they consume, never mind the excess they already have stored.
SocketRocket
Ryder Cup Winner
The best way to lose weight is to reduce sugar intake in all its forms. Moderate exercise is very good for us as long as we are not damaging our bodies through over exertion.
