Obesity in Ireland

JupiterKid

Obesity rates in Ireland continue to climb - in 2022 over 25% of Irish adults were defined as clinically obese and over 60% were categorised as overweight.

Ireland is now second only to the UK for obesity rates in Europe. Absolutely shameful statistic. Sedentary lifestyles, junk/convenience food, total dependence on the car, lack of regular physical exercise and very high sugar intake are the chief contributory factors.

Article linked here:

https://m.independent.ie/irish-news/health/ireland-among-most-obese-nations-in-europe-as-who-says-condition-has-reached-epidemic-proportions-41611533.html

By 2030 if trends continue, Ireland will be among the most obese countries in the world.

What realistically can be done to counter this alarming trend? It really is shocking how many seriously overweight people there are on a typical day out and about compared to even 20 years ago when you would see far fewer obese people, particularly children and young women.

Is it a case of people just being lazy and weak-willed or are there more complex reasons?

Are you yourself concerned about your weight?

Strumms

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058292784/obesity-in-ireland

Total dependence on the car is the fault of years of governments chronically under resourcing our public transport… bad frequency, dubious reliability, over subscribed, lack of variety, lack of comfort (irish rail) and lack of integration and wide coverage too.

That aside, if I started my own business tomorrow I’d have a few bikes, treadmills and cross trainers, as an incentive, you can take an extra 20-25 on a lunch break to put in a couple of kilometres…so if you have a 45 minutes lunch break to eat and rest, take 10 rest after eating and then 30 or so exercising….I’m surprised more places don’t do that… you could kit out a medium size room with decent gear for about 7 grand to suit a medium sized business.

sedentary lifestyles…. Most areas are without amenities of a physical fitness nature, some gym memberships are quite expensive. Ireland is quite a miserable place 7 months a year to be going outside walking at night when summer passes. That said, ordering a bike, treadmill etc… that stuff is a lot cheaper now then before.

junk / convenience food… yep, no excuses there.

concerned about weight ? Nope not this week, I put on some over the last while and after Christmas I was unhappy with my weight but as of today, weight and general healthy appearance is ok…I think.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120490092#Comment_120490092

That aside, if I started my own business tomorrow I’d have a few bikes, treadmills and cross trainers, as an incentive, you can take an extra 20-25 on a lunch break to put in a couple of kilometres…so if you have a 45 minutes lunch break to eat and rest, take 10 rest after eating and then 30 or so exercising….

And get sued for everything you've got the first time an employee slips of a treadmill or has some other accident on equipment you've provided.

Strumms

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120490097#Comment_120490097

I don’t agree. Just have the employee sign a waiver before they are provided with access / authorisation to use it.

you have to do that with the gym I’m in, in regards to accidents and your health status too.

anyway if the business has documentation to show the equipment is serviced by an authorised contractor meeting the recommended service timeframes, everyone is covered.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120490100#Comment_120490100

They could still look to sue if an accident happens. Also a possible insurance nightmare.

If you wanted to go down that road, either pay for employees' gym memberships as a perk or negotiate a group discount for employees at a local gym.

(Not to mention, you'd also need to add another 20 minutes or so in for a shower. No one wants to sit and work all afternoon near a stinky colleague. It would need to be an awful long lunch break, to fit all that in.)

Savetheplanet

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120490102#Comment_120490102

" 20 minutes or so in for a shower" glad you don't live here! Apart from that I think people should not be labelled, would you label other members of society as easily? I doubt it. 2nd part of post not directed at you @[Deleted User]

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120490105#Comment_120490105

What are you on about? 20 minutes to take a shower, dry yourself, dress and then clean the shower after you is not unreasonable.

Unless you're one of those people who would use a workplace shower and leave it un-cleaned after you. We have some of them.

Ubbquittious

This is only going to get worse. We are turning into the people from WALL-E

kneemos

The sugar tax was an attempt at tackling the obesity crisis. Don't see that many fat kids about though,adults are almost exclusively obese or overweight. Maybe they get sedentary once they start work or something.

Dr Turk Turkelton

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120490133#Comment_120490133

There are fat kids everywhere in Ireland.

It seems to be from about the eight onwards and the twelve/ thirteen year olds are humongous.

ahnowbrowncow

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120490133#Comment_120490133

Because they're inside. Eating.

Trampas

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120490359#Comment_120490359

Or drinking monster and other similar drinks like it’s water.

It’ll be a nation where people will be slim or fat.

LambshankRedemption

There are a lot of contributing factors. Its not just about exercise. Though everyone, including me, should do more! It's mostly about diet. As someone once said, you can't outrun a bad diet. Convenience food is not just the convenience, it's also the cheapest. Good food is very expensive in Ireland. Fast food is cheap, convenient and calorie dense - while at the same time being less fulfilling, so you eat more of it. Then to add insult to injury, cooking a meal from scratch burns up calories in the preparation. Ringing dominos, burns up feck all. Then there are other factors. Restaurants don't help. If you order lasagne in Italy, you get a plate of lasagne. If you order it in Ireland, most of the time you get a side of chips too.

Transport is another thing. It's pretty terrible in Ireland which leads to an over reliance on the car. Property is so expensive few people live near their work so spend lots of time daily commuting -sat in their car. Take out coffee is all the rage, but a grande mocha-cino has more calories than a Big Mac. So a lot of people spend a lot of time sat in their car, drinking 20% of their daily required calories.

Finally, weather plays a part too.

kneemos

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120490791#Comment_120490791

It's a myth that fast food is cheaper than good food.

You'd get armfuls of fruit and veg for the price of a pizza. A chicken is a fiver. A few steaks for a tenner. Nuts,seeds in Aldi or Lidl are a cheap as chips, literally.

I think it's an American thing,where you can get tons of crap for cheap.

magicbastarder

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120490100#Comment_120490100

you can't just get someone to sign your responsibilities away for you.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120490822#Comment_120490822

Not true. The myth is that good quality food, is cheap. Its not.

To use the lasagne analogy above, you can buy a 1kg ready made lasagne in Aldi for €4, but to make it from scratch, would cost at least double that.

kneemos

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120490856#Comment_120490856

Wouldn't call a ready made Lasagna healthy,but a few steaks for a tenner is three quid per meal,few peas and spuds adds up to a fiver,basic,but relatively healthy.

A bag of porridge would probably last an individual a week,some salad for lunch and I'd be surprised if a tenner a day didn't feed someone very well.

brokenbad

Kids nowadays spend a lot of their time indoors online and gaming or glued to their smartphones leaving less time for physical activity.

The rise of fast fashion and energy drinks such as "Prime"

Due to the "win at all cost" mentality and ever increasing demands of sport - particularly GAA from age 12 onwards - a lot of kids who would have been on the fringes of the teams have dropped sports completely.

You see less and less kids out cycling bikes on the roads compared to 20 years ago.

Banzai600

FFS - blaming cars, will you get a grip of yourself . It might be a contributing factor but not the sole reason. Sick of the car bashing, even though i use a motorbike / scooter !! our public transport is sh1t , end of. look at the catchment areas that dont have a luas or good bus service -thats another argument.

Ppl have become lazy, they dont exercise and mostly i think in general its the diet is out the window.

On the whole, a lot of ppl choose convenience now over making dinners, lunches. Ppl are eating more takeaways / fast food - giving kids money for fried food 5 days a week etc during school or weekends.

I work in a big office bulding, v few ppl have homemade lunches, all pre packed, or going to local shop. i myself, 4 days a week make home lunch, same with breakfast, i bring in cereal or homemade yogurt/ frozenberry mix - simple, tasty and filling. `Doesnt make me a hero, but saves me money and keeps me more healthy.

its a generational thing imo , look back up until the 90's , ppl and kids were doing more , not sitting in houses binging on video games / worthless tv reality garbage for days on end. Food was better, less additives, more natural ? Food wasnt on an app, at the click of a button.

the sugar tax was a lock of b****ks - why not educate / inform instead of hiking prices, hiking prices made zero difference and never will.

fast food and shop bought food is expensive now, but fast food is way more expensive imo - yet ppl are gorging themselves through food apps because its handy - thats the crux of it. I was doing work ioutside the house all weekend, and i couldnt tell you the amount of time in two days the delivery guys were in / out of the estate, afternoon and evening.

we do know a couple of families with young kids and teenagers who buck the the trend and, walk / cycle kids to school every day and homemade lunches. Doesnt make parents who dont do this bad ppl - before they jump dfown my throat, ppl have to make the choice themselves.

Kms of cycle paths i pass from home to work, passing a LOT of schools and the vast vast majority of kids are all droppped off while pasted to their phones not an inch from their face - right before learning the skills they need for life. i know its not suitable for some ppl to let kids walk, but you only have to look at the traffic volumes when the kids are off, but it seems to be a taboo subject.

we make our own lasagne / stir fry / pizzas etc and theyre pretty good. Its not hard, just planning is the key to dinners / lunches for the week - we know exatly whats going into them.

i dont belive for one moment premade meals are any better or would buy any, like a lasagne for instance. But again ppl's circumstances are different and they are entitled to eat / buy what they want. P!ss off with the nanny state agendas, its past ridiculous now.

Run Forest Run

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120490092#Comment_120490092

Ireland is quite a miserable place 7 months a year to be going outside walking at night when summer passes.

This sort of attitude really needs to be challenged more and kicked into touch in our society, if we are going to encourage people to get outside and be more active. Gyms have their place of course, but they are not really a complete substitute for fresh air and healthy exercise outdoors.

Ireland is certainly NOT a miserable place 7 months of the year. We have a very mild climate, with barely any extremes of cold or heat etc. If it's dark or raining... get a head torch and rain jacket/hi viz vest etc and stop being a big pu$$y! Contrary to popular opinion, getting out into the elements is actually great for your immune system and your mental well being too. You're more likely to pick up colds/viruses from being cooped up indoors all winter. (including gyms btw)

If more people braved the elements in winter, instead of sitting on the couch living a life of comfort and opulence, we might actually have a society of healthier people.

ancapailldorcha

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120490937#Comment_120490937

People of yesteryear would spend their time in the pub glue to the horse-racing, soccer or other nonsense. They're probably constituting a large percentage of the obese cohort.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120490962#Comment_120490962

Sounds delightful tbh.

magicbastarder

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120490944#Comment_120490944

people always blame the government for poor public transport. why did the government not prioritise good alternatives to the car? because the electorate didn't seek it; and you can see it today where FF/FG are briefing against GP plans to boost active travel measures.

other posters have been rightly pointing out that it's possible to get ingredients for cheap, but i suspect a lot of the issue is that for many, there's the time and skill required to cook a meal, and if they tried they might get something bland, when it's much quicker to simply buy something ready made.

i once had a discussion/argument online (not on boards) with people calling for driving lessons to be given in school. i was arguing that they should have cooking lessons, not driving lessons. how many people reach leaving cert age unable to do something as basic as cook a dinner for themselves? i was certainly one of them, and still am not a great cook (i am of a generation where having a mother who did not have a paid job was normal) and as such food was always ready for me at home, so i never gave myself the kick up the arse to learn myself. even after i moved out of home, when i'd go to visit my parents, my mother would hand me say a chicken curry divvied up into five portions to bring home to refrigerate/freeze.

LambshankRedemption

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120490822#Comment_120490822

OK, a chicken for a fiver, or 10 packs of instant noodles for a euro.

ancapailldorcha

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120490985#Comment_120490985

Your call. It's my idea of hell. I'm just a bit tired of the constant boomer stick here of blaming everything on younger people.

Because I knew someone would argue it:

1kg ready made lasagne from Aldi. €4.29

Now, here is the price of the mince beef, alone. 500g of 5% fat mince for €4.19 or €8.38 per kilo.

Now, you could I suppose opt for the cheaper 18% fat beef mince (🤮) at €3.99 per kilo, with more than three times the fat content, but doesn't that defeat the purpose?

And that's before you add in any of the other ingredients required. The tomatoes, the cheeses, the pasta, the herbs.

The point is, if the government was truly serious about tackling obesity, then the 5% fat lean option would be priced at €3.99 per kilo, and the 18% fatty version at €8.38 per kilo, instead of the other way around.

I really wish people would stop pushing this myth that good quality fresh ingredients are cheap. They're not.

I do all the cooking and meal planning in my home, and if they're so cheap, I must be doing something very wrong going by the amounts going out of my bank account every week on groceries.

LambshankRedemption

I live alone and enjoy cooking, but I'm glad someone has supported me with the good food is not cheap.

I know I made some generalisations in my earlier post, but that was just opinion.

When I was working in the office, particularly if money was tight I would make my lunch on a sunday and freeze it. Usually either Lasagne or Chicken vindaloo. Both I could make for less than 10 euro and that was 5 days lunch. It does take time though. It takes prep, organisation and some cooking skill - and thats just for me. Doing it for a family of 4, with two working parents and possibly differing tastes, must be a nightmare for some.

Irish_wolf

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120490822#Comment_120490822

It's definitely easy to eat cheap and healthy in this country if you know how to cook and you can buy in bulk. However, it takes a lot of work in meal prep and requires knowledge of food nutrition which you yourself probably take for granted. Not everyone has the time, money, storage space, and know-how to buy lots of healthy food and spend time preparing it, then also having time at the end of all that to go to the gym. Generally speaking the trend in developed nations are that areas with higher poverty levels have higher rates of obesity. This is not a coincidence.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058292784/obesity-in-ireland

"Is it a case of people just being lazy and weak-willed or are there more complex reasons?"

There are a myriad of different factors involved and there's plenty of research on the subject. Often poorer parents don't have the time or energy after working hard or long hours (or both) to come home and cook a healthy meal for their kids so a bag of chicken nuggets and chips thrown in the oven might cost the same as making say, a chicken stir fry, but it takes a negligible amount time and effort in comparison. They may not have the education required to know how much of what they should be eating, although there's huge confusion in this area even amongst professionals. They often don't have funds to buy sports equipment or gym memberships. Basically due to lack of resources in time, money and education people tend to eat more high energy density, low nutritional food and lead more sedentary lifestyles.

This is a massively complex issue and broad strokes approach (eat less, go for a jog) and quick solutions (reduce vat on veg) probably wont work. You cant just pull people out of poverty, likewise if you give them free healthy food they are probably still likely not to have the time (or the inclination) to cook it. It will take years of educational programs, greater access to sports equipment/programs, and a fundamental change in the way we live our lives to start reversing the trend.

In the short term one thing I would love to see which I think would increase access to sports facilities is a massive overhaul of the insurance system in this country. Every business is legally required to have insurance so the small number of insurance agencies operating here have these companies by the balls, this means the membership prices are extortionate and a single incident could shut the company. Outdoor spaces likewise can end up being closed because of injury claims. These problems are less severe in other European countries where the litigation culture isn't as common. Obviously businesses have a duty of care to their customers but the current landscape means it's impossible for sports centres to operate cheaply, many do not allow children at all for this very reason.

average_runner

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120491031#Comment_120491031

You are comparing apples to oranges there. The pre-made lasange doesn't even have the 18% fat mince, it has alot worst and more processed mince.

So yeah pre-made would be cheaper.

But for a fresh lasagne that you can make for 2 adults and freeze another 4 portions for another time would roughly cost this:

Pasta sheets : 1.50 and you have sheets left over to make another 3 lasagnes

Mince: 4.50

Tomato cans x 2 : 80 cent

White Sauce 1.50

Cheese : 2.29 and more left over for another lasagne

Mushrooms: 69 cent

LambshankRedemption

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120491070#Comment_120491070

You realise you are arguing against your own original point?

magicbastarder

crunching the numbers on the beef - i do a nice not-quite-bolognese and would probably get 5 portions out of 500g.

from what i can see online, 100g of 5% mince is ~120 or 130 calories, 18% is double that.

so it's certainly not insignifcant, but the difference is about 5% the recommended daily calorie intake for an adult male. less than the calories in a can of coke.

magicbastarder

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120490937#Comment_120490937

You see less and less kids out cycling bikes on the roads compared to 20 years ago.

the roads are a hell of a lot busier now. and ask your average parent 'would you let your kid cycle on public roads' and you'd probably get a different set of results compared to 20 or 30 years ago.

Fred Astaire

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120490364#Comment_120490364

Virtually every flavour of monster is zero calorie, bar the original which pales in popularity to the likes of Ultra Zero or "White Monster".

Monster has nothing to do with obesity. If anything, the people drinking monster now would have been horsing into Coke/Pepsi/Lucozade before Monster became popular so Monster is probably removing calories from peoples diets.

Run Forest Run

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120491008#Comment_120491008

You can have both... not everything you eat has to be 100% perfectly healthy.

Have your noodles + chicken + throw in a few vegetables... stir fry etc. Simple enough really.

That's part of the problem, some people always think all or nothing when it comes to healthy eating. For a lot of people, this means they will fail when life gets stressful or busy. Try to keep things simple and even on your worst day, you can make something a bit healthier by adding or taking away something. Don't try to take an absolute approach, because you're setting yourself up for failure. Just keep things as simple and convenient as possible.

Besides, for most people, if they just cleaned up their diet by small incremental changes over time... it's far more likely to become a habitual change. And that's what you're looking for. And it's why diets are a bad idea... because most are not practical or sustainable in the long run.

Fred Astaire

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120490937#Comment_120490937

There are 20 calories in a bottle of Prime. Prime or similar energy drinks could not have any less to do with obesity.

Fred Astaire

It's a bit late to be crowing about obesity when we actively encouraged people to become more sedentary, to order more takeaways (as they were one of the few things left open), to not visit gyms (as they were closed), to not play sports - during a period of time where a virus that predominantly targeted overweight and obese people was rampant. An utterly staggering, mind boggling failure in public health policy. That was the time to go on the big push to target overweight and obesity levels in this country - when we had a virus that was more deadly to overweight and obese people.

Fred Astaire

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120491120#Comment_120491120

This is absolutely true - this point about people thinking it has to be all or nothing.

When I am cutting (trying to lose body fat for the layman) - I will have a small bag of crisps (90-120 kcal) every day built into my cutting diet. It's something I look forward to and by allowing myself to have that little treat it keeps me on track with my cut, reduces cravings and I don't feel like I'm missing out. On Saturday's I'll up my calories by 500 or so and allow myself to indulge in a store bought pizza, and still be able to hit my protein goals.

If for some reason I want something else on a normal day, like a bar of chocolate, I'll have it, track it on MFP, and adjust the remainder of my meals/calories for the day to work around it.

When I'm at maintenence my diet is even more flexible.

People think losing or maintaining weight is something they need to do for a period of time, and then they can stop and start to "enjoy themselves again". Leading to binge-diet-binge again-diet again. Or more commonly, people keep following that pattern and eventually they'll stop doing the dieting part and just keep binging. You can enjoy yourself when losing and maintaining weight too - you just need to do so in moderation and be wary of what you're doing.

So people thinking that they can't have the noodles and need to have chicken/broccoli/brown rice every day are just completely wrong.

Ultimately, people need to be aware of how many calories they should be consuming in a day, and more aware of how many calories are in certain foods. If people had that knowledge then things would be looking a lot better.

magicbastarder

'we should use this opportunity of a global pandemic to push people to healthy eating' would have been a hard sell 36 months ago.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120491070#Comment_120491070

Even breaking it down like that, it adds up to €9.81 per lasagne.

What if you have a family to feed, not just two adults?

Which only demonstrates, it costs double what a ready made version costs. Cupboard ingredients still have to be paid for, even if you have more for next time.

Also dry pasta, cheap canned tomatoes, and sauce from a jar - better than ready made, but still not what I mean by fresh ingredients.

Fred Astaire

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120491203#Comment_120491203

Hey everyone, there's this global pandemic going on where being overweight or obese is an overwhelmingly strong predictor of a negative outcome from this virus. So we all need to be more concerned about our weight, we need to get more active, get outside more, exercise more and all be more conscious of what we eat.

Nope, doesn't sound too hard to me.

Instead, telling a load of healthy young people to stay inside and encourage them to get fat by removing access to many forms of exercise and ensuring takeaways were left open - that was a better option for sure...

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120491226#Comment_120491226

There was an obesity problem long before the pandemic.

If anything I saw a lot more people getting out and walking during the Pandemic and also cooking from home. I know I did.

I know I cook far more now than I did before the pandemic, because I wasn't commuting 3 hours a day to and from work and had time to cook.

kneemos

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120491031#Comment_120491031

How much of that kilo Lasanga is mince?

Just buy the mince,a bag of spaghetti and a jar of sauce. Basically the same thing anyway.

kowloonkev

Talking about obesity and the main argument seems to be which kind of lasagne is healthier? Shouldn't it be neither?

Fred Astaire

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120491255#Comment_120491255

Sure, there was an obesity problem before Covid, but it has been severly worsened by Covid.

Your 'anecdotal' evidence of people getting out more is quite frankly, bullsh*t.

https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/health/the-devastating-impact-of-obesity-on-kids-revealed-as-levels-rise-5pc-during-pandemic-42046846.html

https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/news/increased-obesity-in-children-due-to-pandemic-effects-41466769.html

We know for a fact that extremely obese people were 17 times, yes, 17 times! more likely to require intensive care than other people with no underlying conditions.

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/health/obesity-linked-to-hospitalisation-and-icus-for-covid-19-patients-1.4361841

We were basically encouraging people to get fat when we should have been doing the exact bloody opposite.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120491263#Comment_120491263

Did you even read the posts?

The point is, buying the mince, pasta etc is fine - but claiming it is cheaper than buying a ready made meal, is untrue.

Fred Astaire

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120491266#Comment_120491266

It is true that Lasagne is a high calorie, high saturated fat food - especially the processed kind that was linked earlier. I wouldn't be opposed to someone having it every so often but having that on the regular is going to mess you up - even if within your caloric range your cholesterol is probably going to go through the roof.

I'd be interested to see the nutritional content on that 1kg lasagne linked earlier.

You could make a somewhat healthier lasagne by keeping the mince to 5% fat, loading up with veggies and ensuring that your cheese was lower in fat for example.

Banzai600

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120491000#Comment_120491000

im still of the opinion to buy meat / veg, make up dinners / lunches is not difficult. " planning " is key. Each weekend, we know what we will be cooking ( if not already in the freezer for dinner ( say lasagne for example one of the nights ) , and utilsing all the food we buy. Its not some new thing, ppl have been doing it for years. Plenty of meals with basic food you can cook. making / preparing your own food is better imo, and it doesnt cost the earth. Lets say pack of pre-grated cheese, we use these for lasagne, pizzas etc, all in the same week, so nothing gets wasted - again its planning.

i have absoloutely no doubt the amount of food that gets thrown away by ppl in this country is off the charts. We are a throw away society, clothes / money and food etc. Ive seen it.

and yes, i agree, cooking should be part of the school curriculum or "home ec" as we used to call it. Basic skills. I know of a few adults who actually cant cook - wtf , really??!! nuts. My 15 yr old nephew who cooks his folks and brother a dinner looks like bear grylls compared to these two, beggars belief.

there is some sh1t you cant get on an app or on a p0xy instaspam page, wake up ppl. life skills.

kowloonkev

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120491300#Comment_120491300

I just found it amusing as if the lasagne is now the staple of the Irish diet lol. Doesn't that just sum up the problem.

Banzai600

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120491070#Comment_120491070

as above.

we get six portions from ours, thats 6 dinners , with air fry chips or salad only and chips. much nicer than anything you'll buy. lasagne freezes ok as you probably know. Roux is handy to make if you dont mind sitrring for a bit.

GerUpOttaTa

Was concerned about my weight about 4 years ago so we adopted a dog and iv'e dropped from 98kg to 85kg through walking alone. Tried the gym but just too many assholes and never liked competitive sports so that was out. I'd walk about 15,000 steps a day and along with 100 push up's every evening before my shower i haven't felt as good or in as good shape since i was in my 20's (50 now).

My big worry for our population in general is people's inability to cook a simple healthy meal. Read recently per capita food delivery companies like Deliveroo and their ilk make more profit in Ireland than any other country in Europe or was it the world?? We've houses on our estate and no joking i'd say they get take out at least twice a week as the delivery bikes come and go.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120491285#Comment_120491285

The pandemic is over, can we move on, please?