Why are we so fat?

Of course it's possible. Must have happened in many families where a grandparent remembered someone who lived through the Great Famine or others. My Gran was born around 1900 lived into her 90s and her grandparents were born in the 1830s so lived through it and lived in her time. The effects on the population survivors are still being felt. Epigenetics may be at play too.

For those mentioning epigenetics - there's a good research paper into the Dutch "hungerwinter" of 1944-45 outlining epigenetic changes (environmental factors causing change to gene expression, turning expression on or off). Children conceived during that time and their descendants were more likely to suffer from obesity, hyperglycemia and cardiovascular disease. Possibly the ability to store available food as fat was turned "up" in these people. It is a possible explanation for our lack of control in terms of food in Ireland - carb obsessed, large portions etc. But epigenetics is still under scrutiny by geneticist. And - look at "reelin in the years" - we were all very slim in those reels from the 40s to early 90s.

I can't say wind rain snow or ice has ever stopped me going out for a run. So I think your "not one person" bet would be a losing bet right there because I would take your money every time. But it's going to be raining tomorrow. Quite a few 1000 people will be running the Dublin City Marathon in it. So you'd lose your bet quite a few 1000 times there too :)

That said I can understand people not used to it - using rain and such as an excuse. It's not easy to get over the habit of hiding from rain or other uncomfortable weather. Sure it is practically trained into us from early childhood. The rain starts and parents are suddenly pulling us indoors or running for cars.

I see it when my kids are out playing. The rain starts and most of the kids either run for home or are called home. There have been times my son was out playing GAA with a large group and the rain started pouring and when I look out he is the last one out there training his soloing by himself getting a nice coating of mud up the legs.

It takes getting used to and a bit of motivation/discipline. But in the end it's just water and you wonder what you were ever scared of in the first place. The only thing my son hates about the rain is it makes all his mates run away.

Unfortunately, a graph like that tells you almost nothing. It just looks good for a report some intern had to compile or some news paper wanted for an article. It's otherwise useless really. If one wants to really study the growing crisis of overweight people in society, I think you will find the reasons are many and not really reducible to a sound bite answer. But a sedentary lifestyle of comfort coupled with nutrient low but calorie dense foods have to be high on the list of culprits. Discipline too.

Basic food knowledge has to be an issue too. I have seen people eating Salad thinking they are doing great. Entirely oblivious to the calorific content of the croutons and dressing and other stuff they throw all over it.

Comparing countries probably does not tell much either. For example you lay down fat easier when you are older than when you are a teenager. So if you are comparing a young country to another one with a relatively aging population - the comparison will not be like with like at all.

All that said: BMI as a measure has it's uses but it's not really great. The Podcaster Joe Rogan is "obese" by BMI. As am I. Each and every week I run, fight, do archery, capoeira, power versions of tai chi, gardening/farming, sport with my kids and more. But BMI says I am quite obese. If I sent my BMI figures into a doctor they'd want to make an appointment with me fast. 30 seconds after seeing me they would send me on my way again.

In fact I would not rely on any single measurement at all. I'd collate them all.

All true. But getting into sport and running and the like does also have the effect of making you more conscious about eating a mars bar. And it keeps you active and healthy in ways that keep you away from the cravings for, and the situations in which, you will find yourself sitting around even thinking of mars bars. And if you tend to go for a mars bar when your brain is feeling low emotionally the knock on endorphine effects of sport on the soul can make you a person less inclined to tend to such "foods".

I can not entirely fault the phrase "You can not out run a bad diet" which always gets mentioned quickly in threads like this. But you can out run the entire contexts in which bad diets tend to coalesce.

Also sport and running tend to have you adjacent to communities of people who are good diet aware too. Which can rub off.

So while you are true it takes quite a long run to overcome the calories in a single mars bar - I would think there is a lot more to it than just that 1:1 calorie comparison.

I agree 100%. However when we think of "poverty" in relation to obesity I think it is a mistake to think of "poverty" only in terms of income and expenditure. People in poverty tend to have a poverty in terms of a lot more than money. They have it also in terms of time, amenities, equipment in their home, education, ability to cope with the stress of their lives and more.

It would be all well and good to walk up to a single mother in Lidl buying absolute shite processed foods and fizzy drinks and tell her that it would be much cheaper to buy all this healthy food to cook a week of clean meals. Her response will likely be something like "Where the hell am I gonna get the time for all that???". How many hours is she working just to make ends meet at all? Let alone if she is only working the one job.

Now I cook incredibly healthy and I am good at it. I know it doesn't take all that much effort really when you get into the routine of it and the habit. But when the best you can do is throw things in the oven or microwave and from there to the plate just to not make money "ends meet" but time and effort "ends meet" too - it's not an easy transition to make. And there may be an initial outlay of costs in terms of store cupboard items and kitchen equipment that someone barely over the bread line can't attain. They don't need any of that to fling a frozen pizza onto the oven shelf.

And on top of that transitioning kids - in an already high stress home - from foods that were literally designed to hijack the brain into a "more more more" loop and get them to start eating well - is going to be a battle. Many such parents will fall at the first hurdle and revert. Especially parents who with their heart in the right place falsely think "Getting them to eat anything at all - is better than them going with nothing". So when they reject the good stuff - out come the chicken nuggets.

Not trying to prove anything, just waffling then.

chocolate bars and packs of crisps are about half the size of the 80s

that original food pyramid wasn’t great either. I thought you could eat things like bread to your hearts content in the 90s. Of course I put on weight then. That and the beer in college.

I disagree there, you don't know what meat is in them and they are highly fattening, Turkish people not known for being slim and that is their dish, the fat map shows Turkey to be among the worlds fattest countries

It's very easy to overdo it with the bread. Toast with the brekkie, sandwich for lunch, bit of soda bread with your soup and say a side of garlic bread at some stage in the week.

I think we've kind of moved to the extremes. Gyms are way more popular now than they ever were and lots of people are super fit but there's also way more obese people. The group of people in the middle who are average weight, don't exercise much and have a reasonable diet has shrank as more people either become gym rats or land whales.

I like beer but do notice that if I'm out more that one or two days a week i put on weight. I get moderate exercise and don't drink minerals usually.

You can’t outrun a bad diet.

the public / residents here protested and are protesting against the curtailment and bafflingly new unsuitable routing of public transport in the area, also the metro delay. All on public record. Tonnes of discussion and engagement.

The public / residents here have lobbied the council about the dimly lit paths and road thanks to the new green energy saving and ridiculously shît… new light saving street lights…im on the app and social media… the girl who runs the thing couldn’t be doing more and there is a weight of support with her. Literally nobody wants their estate not to be walkable.

In fact the public / residents demanded for years for the paths to be repaired here, they were cracked, damaged by tree routes, pitted and dangerous. Only being got around to right now, years later, and it took a lady having a fall to get that grim lot in the council to get their finger out. Now they have promised to do something with the light saving lights…so 💁🏻‍♂️ it’s constantly prod, prod, prod, basically having to harass people and manage them ourselves in our personal time into doing what we are paying them to do already. 🤦🏻‍♂️

Very true that actually . It’s the amount of stuff bought in the weekly shop and eaten at home. Used to be a weekend trip to the shop for sweets. Now it’s easy access.

Everything from Cadbury tastes absolutely disgusting now for a while. They have followed the way of the US with cheaper more toxic ingredients. There really should be warnings on the packaging like for cigarettes.