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Obesity crisis in Ireland Mod Note post 1

GAA Beo

What can be done about the obesity crisis in Ireland, we are already one of the fattest countries in Europe, by 2030 we will be the fattest I seen in some report. Walk around the streets it's obvious Paddy and Mary are packing on the pounds young and old, men and women. Sedentary lifestyles, alcohol, bad diet, unable to cook, parenting many aspects to this. The amount of fat kids waddling round is a sad sight to see.

What can be done? Some suggestions

- Make Home Economics mandatory in schools

- Encourage organic meat and veg, aim to lower prices make it more widespread

- Maybe some nanny state laws, limit on take aways per area , stricter food advertising

Mod Note Keep this on a discussion and not a fat shamming/name calling thread!

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Obvious Desperate Breakfasts

rob316 wrote: »

OCD packaging needs to be flawless.

Anyway my point is simple choices make a big difference. Leaner meat, brown instead of white bread, lower fat cheese, low fat cheese, light milk etc etc.
No one is asking someone to eat a plate of lettuce, people think "oh I'd miss this and I'd miss that on a diet". You can have all those still just not as much and often.

I hate diets, your eating habits should be for life.

All that low-fat stuff is pure junk.

Full-fat dairy products in smaller portions are way better for you. Fat is not the enemy. Much of that low-fat crap has simply substituted in sugar in place of fat. I’ve lost a good deal of weight in the past while having full-fat dairy products and small amounts of fatty meats. Sounds like you’re a food pyramid disciple.

I honestly thought most people knew that low-fat products were shïte by now. Apparently not! :eek:

RollieFingers

The amount of people you see buying boxes of those donughts from the shop in Pearse Street Dart station is insane.

Wibbs

GAA Beo wrote: »

We also drink less than our grandparents generation I would imagine. Looking at past generations pictures and it's striking how there were no fatties.

We drink more from what I've read. Quite a bit more and more regularly. For all the stereotype of the Irish as drunkards, up to the 90's we had one of the lower rates of liver disease in the EU. In the past the pub was where you had a drink, home drinking was much less a thing for most people. It tended to be in spurts too. So a guy(usually a guy) would head to the pub of a weekend, and he might get hammered, but during the working week he was mostly "dry". Lent was a big thing too and many gave up the grog for lent. These days it's more a bottle of wine of an evening. It's only a few glasses your honour. Nearly every evening. Back when I was a kid the only adult I knew who drank wine was my dad(IIRC he got into it when back in the 50's he lived in New Zealand). That was considered more than a tad weird back in the 70/80's and the "wine section" in an off licence was the size of your average home fridge. With about four different wines.

AllForIt wrote: »

Point I'm making is you can make vegetables tasty. You don't have to deep fry them to make them tasty.

In fairness A it helps.

Obvious Desperate Breakfasts wrote: »

I’m not overweight and buy mince of differing fat percentages. You need them for different dishes.

And the percentage difference will make feck all real world difference. Precious few are getting obese on 12% over 5% steak.

GAA Beo

Ava Flabby Spareribs wrote: »

Many of the parents feeding their kids fast food and unhealthy meals, did home economics at secondary school; I know several.

Organic meat and veg are no panacea, as organic/unorgainc is not a factor.

What do you suggest? Some action must be taken IMO.

Ariadne

I just have one thing to say on this matter. I like big butts and I cannot lie

Dakotabigone

No wonder kids are falling asleep in school from the sugar crashes.

rob316

Obvious Desperate Breakfasts wrote: »

All that low-fat stuff is pure junk.

Full-fat dairy products in smaller portions are way better for you. Fat is not the enemy. Much of that low-fat crap has simply substituted in sugar in place of fat. I’ve lost a good deal of weight in the past while having full-fat dairy products and small amounts of fatty meats. Sounds like you’re a food pyramid disciple.

I honestly thought most people knew that low-fat products were shïte by now. Apparently not! :eek:

You said yourself small amounts are better. I know that but trying to get an obese person from eating full fat dairy without abandon to eating small amounts is more difficult than switching to lower fat products.

freshpopcorn

GAA Beo wrote: »

What do you suggest? Some action must be taken IMO.

That's exactly the thing tough.
I don't know do people want to listen.
There's loads of programs in primary schools now.

Off topic and not food obesity related.
In the first seven month of 2015. Move than 25% off drivers killed in accidents weren't wearing seat belts dispite all the education.

prinzeugen

State intervention is not going to work. And why should I suffer? I have good teeth and if anything, am underweight.

All my favourite soft drinks taste like fizzy cats piss now thanks to the sugar tax.

Lucozade has lost £60m in sales in the UK since it came in I believe.

Better education is what is needed. And forced PE in schools.

The laugh is though that in the UK anyway, the nanny state is saying kids must do more sport but that same nanny state won't allow sport to be played in schools if its competitive or there is the risk of a kid getting a splinter.

And sugar is not the cause of the current "crisis".

People are eating less sugar now than ever. I think the figure is about 20g a day per person form all sources. (Cane sugar, preserves etc).

The ration during WW2 in the UK worked out about 50g a day per person (don't quote me on those numbers. I will look up the exact figures but I am not far off).

Dakotabigone

Berties_Horse wrote: »

You really haven't a clue. They're literally passing out at their desks.

Is it really that execrable?

Obvious Desperate Breakfasts

rob316 wrote: »

You said yourself small amounts are better. I know that but trying to get an obese person from eating full fat dairy without abandon to eating small amounts is more difficult than switching to lower fat products.

No, it’s better to learn how to eat less of the full-fat stuff. Switching to low-fat won’t change any habits.

Berserker

LirW wrote: »

Ban breakfast cereal, problem solved.

What? A really good healthy breakfast is the proper way to start the day. A bowl of porridge or one of the original bixes can make up a good part of that.

Berserker

Dakotabigone wrote: »

The amount of parents who have their Sunday dinner with their children in Macdonalds is gone beyond a joke at this stage.

Fast food is a huge problem. I've a mac d and a local chipper near me. Queues out the door of the local chipper and the drive thru has a queue of cars every evening when I pass it. Must cost people an absolute fortune. You'd save load cooking at home.

rossie1977

GAA Beo wrote: »

Eastern Europeans I meet and see out and about all seem to be in better shape than us, particularly the women are thin. What are they doing diet wise? They like a drink too. It seems to be Brits/Irish/Yanks that are the worst affected.

We also drink less than our grandparents generation I would imagine. Looking at past generations pictures and it's striking how there were no fatties.

We drink then head to fast food joint straight after.

We also consume an insane amount of processed food filled with salt and sugar.

Rubberchikken

the drive thru mac d here always has a queue and the local chippers do great business.
school kids, secondary, head straight for the chipper/sweet aisle in tesco/local deli for hot food every day.
i dont see that changing anytime soon.

wine consumption is a big part of the issue.
where people were happy with tea/biscuits/toast late evening now its glasses of wine and snacks on occasion.
these add up big time. add in sitting for a large % of day and you'll have weight gain.

i agree with full fat food over low fat but portions would have to change for this to be effective imo.

prinzeugen

Berserker wrote: »

Fast food is a huge problem. I've a mac d and a local chipper near me. Queues out the door of the local chipper and the drive thru has a queue of cars every evening when I pass it. Must cost people an absolute fortune. You'd save load cooking at home.

Fast food may become an issue if you eat too much of it. Same with everything other food/drink.

But is it just fast food? You had Jamie Oliver on the BBC banging on about salt and sugar yet the next day he was in a paper boasting about his new burger full of fat etc. Hypocrite!

Unfortunately in this PC world, it seems we must all suffer because we cannot risk offending the few.

Dakotabigone

Fanta filled fcukers

freshpopcorn

When I was in secondary school almost every student went down town every day for there lunch.
Some got a hot chicken/wedge/etc roll.
Or a cold meat/salad roll.
Some just got wedges or a sausage roll.
Drinks varied to be honest.

The kids who were overweight tough would have a large filled roll, portion of wedges, crisps,etc.
One lad who I was good friends with would be like I want to loose wight. Teachers/etc all did everything to support him but he just wouldn't commit to anything really.

JupiterKid

Lack of physical activity combined with an overindulgence in fast food, processed food and high fat, high sugar snacks and fizzy sweet drinks is the nub of the problem IMO.

If you look at old newsreel footage of 60 or 70 years ago, most adults used to cycle bikes as cars were an unaffordable luxury to most. People, usually men, did binge drink at weekends in pubs but home drinking was very rare until the 1970s/80s and nowhere near the extent it is done today.

When I was a young child in the 1980s I played outdoors with my mates all the time. Now children lead much more sedentary lives. There was only 1 or 2 overweight children in my class.

McDonalds was a rare treat back then - now some families eat fast food every single day.

con___manx1

GAA Beo wrote: »

McDonald's is the worst, packed day and night, kids stuffing themselves. If it was up to me I would ban McDonald's entirely but I suppose that isn't feasible.

Iceland banned McDonalds. not one in the whole country.

freshpopcorn

con___manx1 wrote: »

Iceland banned McDonalds. not one in the whole country.

Did they actually ban it tough?
I was under the impression it left due to the 2008 recession.

Planemo

con___manx1 wrote: »

Iceland banned McDonalds. not one in the whole country.

Loads of Subway though, and KFC.
But Icelandic people are slim because the food is so expensive you cant afford to get fat (that's my theory anyway).

Marengo

Why is all the bad stuff the tastiest

Marengo

Just posting now and I'm sure it's mentioned but the points system has to recognise sporting achievement and those who partake in PE to a certain level.

joeguevara

I think lack of knowledge on nutrition is a major factor. My father was trying to lose weight and couldn’t understand why he wasn’t. I went through his diet and he was shocked when his supposedly health breakfast of granola, yoghurt and fruit was coming in at 700 calories. He was drinking fruit juice and didn’t realize the calorie content. Also he thought fat was bad because it was drilled into him but ate carbs excessively.

Education on balanced diet should be in primary school.

freshpopcorn

joeguevara wrote: »

Education on balanced diet should be in primary school.

I know a good few teachers. They are various programs about diet/exercise in schools now.

I'm in my late twenties and we even did stuff about it.

joeguevara

I think diets are the main cause of obesity. People abstain from food because it is easier than self control. Instead of learning about what can work long term people buy in to dads about suns, or carb abstinence or points as it easy to follow a regime than knowing about how a calorie deficit is the only long term way of losing weight. When you abstain it inevitably leads to an almighty blow out and put back more weight than you started with.

Fads don’t work. But it’s easy to follow in the short term.

ceadaoin.

joeguevara wrote: »

I think lack of knowledge on nutrition is a major factor. My father was trying to lose weight and couldn’t understand why he wasn’t. I went through his diet and he was shocked when his supposedly health breakfast of granola, yoghurt and fruit was coming in at 700 calories. He was drinking fruit juice and didn’t realize the calorie content. Also he thought fat was bad because it was drilled into him but ate carbs excessively.

Education on balanced diet should be in primary school.

I think they still teach kids the food pyramid which is totally wrong.

suicide_circus

calorie rich foods taste better

igCorcaigh

suicide_circus wrote: »

calorie rich foods taste better

Pretty much this, but along with low prices and wide availability. Junk food is everywhere. These are the driving factors IMHO.