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Why is it normal/OK to be obese in Ireland?.

Stonedpilot

A genuine question.

The amount of people that are gargantuan on this Island is so high I'm surprised the island doesn't sink. It's seen as like a disease by many. I remember living in a houseshare with Eastern European girls and they often commented at how absurdly fat they thought Irish women are.

It's bizarre to me that in other countries it's seen as a problem and thus people try and sort it but here the people whom are tremendously overweight are seen to have an ailment,disease, are poor unfortunates etc like its the same as leukemia or something.

I remember Katie Hopkins was on the Late Late Show making the point you can't be happy and fat (I don't know I don't care frankly) but they cut to a obese lady in the audience who had only just opened her mouth and the audience were in rapturous applause. No matter what she said they would have clapped.
Katie asked the question 'Why are you clapping?. Are you clapping because she is overweight is that it?.'

That kinda sums up the attitude here. Being fat, unhealthy and obese is something to be proud of and God forbid anyone point out it's lunacy to be the size of a manatee.
Strange. Now I will say I have all the respect in the World for people who do something about it work out, eat healthy, get involved in classes, long walks etc. Fair play to them and well done. But then there are other folk whom see it as a God given right to be obese and to be angry with everyone, and to take up a seat and a half everytime they sit on a plane,bus or train squishing whomever is unfortunately beside them.
Had a few incidents recently where I seen very overweight people be angry with total strangers.

I mean I attended a talk recently and the guy doing it was so overweight he got tired standing up and walking around the lecture room!.

As far as I'm aware no country is as tolerant to obesity as Ireland, no way does France,Italy,Spain etc see it as the norm here.

Odd.

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givyjoe

Stonedpilot wrote: »

Yep, we are far worse, in terms of median average head of population.

Like random 100 people in America and 100 Irish picked at random Irish will be far fatter.

B0llocks. I was staying in Long Island last week with my brother. The amount of mordibly obese people is absolutely astonishing. There were on fatness levels I didn't think were possible and have never seen here. We walked around Costco and honestly, out of every 10 people, id say maybe only 7 weren't seriously overweight.

The amount of seriously overweight folks is very, very noticeable. Not even remotely as bad walking around here in dublin. It also seems to have become extremely 'fashionable' to be going the gym here in Ireland, which can only do good. Crossfitting etc which is why there has been such a massive explosion in the openings of crossfit places, regular gyms etc.

bodice ripper

It's ok big ladies, Bodice is here for you.

Dyr

_Roz_ wrote: »

That's a spectacularly ignorant viewpoint.

I'm partially fat because I love food, and don't really care too much if I'm fat. Would I like to be thin? Sure. Is it worth eating tons of food I don't like? No.
.

It's fact so that's the opposite of ignorant.

You're fat because you eat too much. Nothing partial about it.

Why you eat too much is between you and the medical profession but you're fat because you eat too much

Madam Oblong

I never realised obesity only affected Irish women! The men are all in great shape I take it?

rodneyTrotter.

Go out for lunch on any given day and see the size of the portions people are eating for lunch . It’s like how much can we get on that sandwich , wrap or carvery for our money .
Then you get crisps as a garnish and asked do you want soup with that also ? It’s ridiculous the amount of food on the plates .

Cina

If it's ok to tell a smoker to their face "you shouldn't be smoking those, they'll kill you, it's a terrible habit", or an alcoholic "you shouldn't be drinking that, it'll kill you", then why isn't it acceptable to tell a morbidly obese person "you shouldn't be eating that, it'll kill you"?*

*that's right, because they're eating brocolli
https://media.giphy.com/media/xT5LMQJIXaFgN3OPhm/giphy.gif

LadyMacBeth_

I'm fat. I'm not proud but I have recently decided that I am not going to let people like the OP shame me either. A couple of years ago I'd managed to lose five stone; and it was fcuking hard. It involved deprivation and misery. It was zero craic. I did it and I felt good, I still wasn't skinny, about a size 12-14 but it suited me. Then my health worsened and my marriage fell apart and my life went into the sh1tter. Piled most of the weight back on, binge eating, which wasn't something that was an issue before actually, not to this extent. I am well aware of my weight, I don't need to be reminded or shamed and not one fat person needs to be told that they are fat, they already know it. I got back with the missus and now I finally feel in a place to tackle the weight, even though my health is at its worst, I started dieting again a couple of weeks ago and I am determined. But it is not for people like you that I am doing this OP, or for people who'd like me to feel ashamed and hide away (which is what I have been doing up to recently), I'm doing this for myself. So I feel good. And you know what? I hear some men on boards fatty bashing away but the reality is that the male attention that I receive hasn't changed in the slightest, even though now I'd be anything from a size 14-18 in clothes. My missus is a size 14-16 and I think she looks fcuking amazing, and she is very healthy and active, she runs, she plays squash, she's strong and sexy and I'd be gutted if she lost a lot of weight because she has a cracking pair of tits and an arse and thighs to die for.

Knine

Feckoffcup wrote: »

Either you go to the gym or you're overweight. That's the way the majority of Irish women. It's rare to see someone who doesn't work out and have a flat tummy especially over 30.

I don't work out ever but I have a flat tummy and a size 10 & tall. Loads of my friends are the same. So it is not rare at all.

tedpan

whoopsadoodles wrote:

How do you know they were struggling with joint pain

He was watching himself in the mirror

uch

LirW wrote: »

You'd be surprised how many people aren't able to cook themselves a pot of feckin pasta.

You might also be surprised how many feckin people don't like pasta

whoopsadoodles

flaneur wrote: »

No they were very overweight and struggling with joint pain on the treadmill.

How do you know they were struggling with joint pain

osarusan

sozbox wrote: »

Yet not a single person went up to the people who had put on weight in the last few years and commented on that. Found it all very odd.

You found it odd that people didn't comment to others on how they'd become fat?

I would not find that odd at all. Fairly standard in our social norms, surely.

In the same way we would compliment somebody on how they still looked so young, but not on how old/grey/wrinkled somebody else had become.

flaneur

whoopsadoodles wrote: »

Out of interest....were they overweight?

Also.....did you see them start and finish?

I ask because cola would be a fairly standard energy replenisher on long runs. For people who can't take gels etc.

Not 1.75 litre mind. But possible they used it for more than just that run.

No they were very overweight and struggling with joint pain on the treadmill.

flaneur

My view of it is the single biggest cause is an increasingly screwed up food culture.
If you want to fix this problem, you have to address the food culture and how people think about and interact with food.

You also absolutely have to tackle the businesses that are just producing absolute junk and marketing it so well that it's being consumed in large quantities.

whoopsadoodles

flaneur wrote: »

I saw someone in the gym recently working away on a treadmill rehydrating with a BOTTLE OF COKE! and not even one of the 'personal sized' bottles .. a full 1.75l or whatever the smaller of the full size bottles is.

Out of interest....were they overweight?

Also.....did you see them start and finish?

I ask because cola would be a fairly standard energy replenisher on long runs. For people who can't take gels etc.

Not 1.75 litre mind. But possible they used it for more than just that run.

_Roz_

Bambi wrote: »

You're on about the cause of obesity.... It's eating too much

You can go off and find out why someone is eating too much but they're still going to have to address the whole stuffing their face issue

That's a spectacularly ignorant viewpoint.

I'm partially fat because I love food, and don't really care too much if I'm fat. Would I like to be thin? Sure. Is it worth eating tons of food I don't like? No.

I'm also partially fat because since childhood I have suffered from anxiety, now have that AND depression, and through years of isolated worrying, fear, and dread, comfort food offered a pleasant instant gratification, as well as the illusion of power (I have the power to give myself this nice thing, when the reality is you've no power at all over your habits). Food still does this for me. My father is also obese, and it runs in his family, so I wasn't raised with the best eating habits - I wasn't raised eating pasta, rice, fruit or fresh cooked veg. I was raised on waffles and chicken nuggets. I have tried pasta, rice, and fruit over the years. Hate it all, except apples and grapes, which I eat.

I have emotional and psychological dependencies on food. Those need to be addressed if I'm ever going to make the changes needed to lose all the weight for good. I'm never going to do it alone, I derive too much comfort from hiding from the world and eating food. People with attitudes like yours (which is many people I know, including my partner) will never support me in addressing those problems. So I go about my day eating my nice food, and warning anyone who tells me to put the fork down or go for a walk to eff off.

Sidenote: I do go for walks, with the dog, and hop on the exercise bike, and eat fresh fruit, and try to watch my calories when I have the willpower. But I need to lose more than those things are going to facilitate, and I need to address my dependency on junk food to strip back the badness from my overall diet, which otherwise would be fine. Given that I'm pretty okay with being fat, and a core belief that I can never actually lose the weight no matter what I do, I'm never going to take that step myself.

sozbox

I was at a birthday party recently with people I haven’t seen in years.

Last time I saw them I would have been a bit overweight, now I’m quite muscular and slim.

All I got for the night were comments on how I lost too much weight blah blah blah

Yet not a single person went up to the people who had put on weight in the last few years and commented on that. Found it all very odd.

whoopsadoodles

flaneur

Bambi wrote: »

You're on about the cause of obesity.... It's eating too much

You can go off and find out why someone is eating too much but they're still going to have to address the whole stuffing their face issue

Yeah, but if you don't deal with the whys, short of stomach stapling, you're not going to get them to moderate their diet.

I do think though there's a lack of understanding about how much absolute junk is being consumed. People need to be much more aware of how bad for you some of the 'food' they're consuming is and how unbalanced their diets are.

If you don't tackle the psychology, the lack of information, the culture and also the big businesses that are pushing this garbage as food with exciting, attractive marketing campaigns, then othing changes.

Just saying : You're fat. Eat less. clearly doesn't work.

jimmycrackcorm

Stonedpilot wrote:

As far as I'm aware no country is as tolerant to obesity as Ireland, no way does France,Italy,Spain etc see it as the norm here.

Years ago I went to Disney in Florida and was amazed they had double wide entry doors to accommodate fat people.

Dyr

flaneur wrote: »

Not necessarily too much, but the wrong type of 'food'.

And you do have to figure out *why* someone is doing that. I don't think very many people intentionally put on a stack of weight.

You're on about the cause of obesity.... It's eating too much

You can go off and find out why someone is eating too much but they're still going to have to address the whole stuffing their face issue

Coffee Fulled Runner

Boom_Bap wrote: »

I think a better question is "Why are people obsessed with other people's appearance?"

Not appearance but health. Needlessly costing the state millions in health care for obese related illnesses. Private insurance doesn't cover all the costs involved either, so a argument about private or public health care is pointless.

tedpan

flaneur wrote:

I think obesity can be quite a complex issue with a whole range of factors. It's never very helpful to jump to any conclusion about why someone's fat. It could be anything.

Hmmm, I don't know about that. There are too many excuses these days.

An excessive amount of food and drink is the reason in 99.9% of cases.

I used to be very obese and decided to change my ways.(still have some weight to lose) Anyone who says different is kidding themselves.

flaneur

Bambi wrote: »

In most cases the cause is putting too much food in your pie hole

Not necessarily too much, but the wrong type of 'food'.

And you do have to figure out *why* someone is doing that. I don't think very many people intentionally put on a stack of weight.

If you ignore the lack of knowledge about how to cook, how to enjoy food or underlying psychological problems about self-esteem or comfort eating and all of those, you don't really deal with why some people overeat.

You can also get some outlying cases like people with thyroid problems who will pile on weight or people who might have undiagnosed heart problems who stop exercising entirely. I know a couple of people who went from quite active to very inactive and put on weight and subsequently discovered the reason they were so lacking in energy was a faulty heart valve that had stopped working.

All I'm saying is that if someone's presenting as obese, you need to get to the bottom of why. If it's just bad diet - deal with it. If it's psychological - deal with it and if it's an underlying medical issue it's vital that you sort that out too as most of them are not particularly good for you if you let them linger.

I don't think there's anything particularly "PC" about that!

Dyr

flaneur wrote: »

I think obesity can be quite a complex issue with a whole range of factors. It's never very helpful to jump to any conclusion about why someone's fat. It could be anything.

In most cases the cause is putting too much food in your pie hole

Cee-Jay-Cee

The way I see it is that people use PC crap to justify themselves being fat. Like that woman on the late late. It's seen as some sort of badge of honour to defy the masses and declare that your happy being fat whereas if they were really honest they'd admit they're not happy and wish they were a regular size. Applauding her was not helpful but the fact it was in defiance of Katie Hopkins does sort of justify it in that case but ordinarily she shouldn't be applauded.

I seen an extremely large woman and her slightly smaller but still rotund husband on a flight last summer. She had paid for two seats as there was no way in hell she was going to fit one seat. Anyway she tried to do up her belt but the two ends were about a foot away from each other so she called over a hostess and asked in the most ignorant and demanding manner, for an extender belt. It was if the hostess was to blame that she needed an extension belt. She then bitched and moaned about the seats for most of the flight. It was as if her attitude was 'I have a right to be fat and everyone else is going to have to Accommodate me!" rather than her having to make allowances or finsessions for her huge bulk.

flaneur

I think obesity can be quite a complex issue with a whole range of factors. It's never very helpful to jump to any conclusion about why someone's fat. It could be anything.

However, I don't think that means that we can just pretend that obesity is not a major health issue that needs to be tackled. There's irrefutable evidence that for many people it is directly linked to diet and exercise.

Also the high sugar diets that we are consuming are opening a world of problems with diseases like diabetes.

blacklilly

I don't think it's ever been considered acceptable to be obese. It's also not acceptable to laugh/sneer/bully someone that is.

Speaking from experience, I was a very ill child which meant I was underweight and spent a lot of time in hospital between the ages of 3-6, during this time I was put on steroids which bloated me and that's where my experience of bullying began.
I started comfort eating and the bullying got worse. I experienced this throughout my entire primary school education. I was hit,punched, spat at, stood on, pushed and shoved nearly every single day. I was called every hurtful name you could think of. Que more self loathing, I dropped out of every sport I played (scoccer, gaa, tennis, swimming).

I remained overweight throughout secondary school and college although thankfully didn't experience any further bullying.

At my largest I was a size 18.

I tried exercising on so many occasions but I was so self conscious due to my appearance always being commented on and slagged that I couldn't give it a proper go. I felt that everyone would be looking at me, judging me and laughing. I made excuses as I had zero self belief. I was so caught up in my experiences as a child.

About 2 years ago it all changed for me, I literally woke up from being this overly self conscious, low in confidence, not good enough person and thought to myself that I didn't want to live like that anymore.

I started exercising and looking after my diet, I am now 4.5 stone lighter than I was at my heaviest and a size 10.

What I'm trying to say is, I didn't enjoy eating myself fat, I didn't like myself, I had been so badly bullied that I felt absolutely worthless.
My parents didn't neglect me, they tried everything but when you are being pulled apart both emotionally and physically for 8 years of your life, you are fortunate if you can survive it.

I do not believe obesity is simply a physical issue, it cannot be viewed in isolation of the emotional side.

LirW

bluewolf wrote: »

I much prefer boiled broccoli to crunchy broccoli. And I'll happily eat a plate of it.
There, I said it.

Nothing wrong with it, that's personal preference.
I for example despise the most popular fruit: Apples. Go away with anything that even smells like it.
But at least you're aware of your preferences, what you like and don't like and you certainly know the texture and taste of crunchy broccoli compared to mushy one and made your decision based on that.
It gets sad when people don't even know how a cucumber tastes or children not being able to name certain fruits or vegetables.

flaneur

I agree with the overcooked vegetables. You can steam or even boil (quickly) vegetables without destroying them!
You're not trying to make carrot soup.