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The Great Obesity Epidemic

I'm with Steve. We could eat very healthy food for not much money from our local tesco if we chose to. It's booze, processed/prepared food, frozen deserts, and personal care stuff (razors) that costs. Porridge oats, cabbage, carrots, dried pulses, soy milk or real mile cost next to nothing and can be the basis of a very healthy diet.
 
merlin said:
25 years of food manufacture Steve?

So are you involved in the industry here in the UK by chance?
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You know fine well, as does avole. It's written above just in case your memory is weakening. I work in the UK and Europe as a technical/quality consultant to manufacturer s. It seems avole and you feel that this means that I can't reliably comment on the quality of vegetables bought in a French supermarket with my own money.
 
It's written where Steve sorry?

And yes, my memory is indeed fading thanks to an illness but thanks for reminding me.

You have a professional interest in the subject being discussed. I'm afraid that makes me cynical. Call it the benefit of experience.

Sean, I don't disagree and price is indeed competitive. Not an overly tasty or appetising list of ingredients though if we are honest. What I've been talking about is the flavour of natural products that I buy abroad and in say Sainsbury.
 
A little salt and/or brown sugar and the porridge is lovely.
A little butter on the cabbage/carrots.
A few spices (cheap as chips from the Indian grocery) and the lentils/pulses are delicious.

Takes a little work and imagination, but delicious healthy food for pennies can be done.
 
merlin said:
It's written where Steve sorry?
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About 6 posts back, and on a number of occasions on this thread over the last year or so. You and I and others have discussed the input of the food manufacturing industry at length, and I spend enough time banging on about my part in it and how we as manufacturers interact with retailers and consumers.

And yes, my memory is indeed fading thanks to an illness but thanks for reminding me.
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I'm sorry to hear that and I'm sorry if I caused offence. I thought you'd remember the content of this thread as I do. It's all still here.

You have a professional interest in the subject being discussed. I'm afraid that makes me cynical. Call it the benefit of experience.
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I have a professional interest in food manufacture, but not obesity. As food manufacturers we try not to kill our consumers, because extensive research shows that the dead don't buy.

However I can't do anything about your cynicism. If you choose not be believe what I say, that's up to you.
 
I think it's all due to diet; too much animal protein, dairy and processed foods.

Check out 'Forks over Knives', an excellent documentary that makes a great case for eliminating these items from your diet. Available on Amazon for less than a buck or on Netflix as well.

This epidemic and our rising health care costs won't go down until folks change their behaviors!
 
stevec67 said:
Explains how you can spout tired racist shit, it seems.
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You went to two supermarkets in France from which you extrapolate to the entire country. Clearly that proves absolutely zero, yet you don't see your method may be at fault, preferring to resort to playground abuse.

Admit it, Stevie, you don't like frogland, do you, you prefer the land of the rosbif, where all is milk and honey. Tasteless milk and honey, that is :)
 
Avole. I lived there for 3 years and I love the place. You know very well I went to more than any 2 supermarkets.

There's no playground abuse from me, I'll leave that to you. Like I said, I expected better from you but it seems that was an empty hope.
 
sean99 said:
I'm with Steve. We could eat very healthy food for not much money from our local tesco if we chose to. It's booze, processed/prepared food, frozen deserts, and personal care stuff (razors) that costs. Porridge oats, cabbage, carrots, dried pulses, soy milk or real mile cost next to nothing and can be the basis of a very healthy diet.
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I used to eat porridge as part of the recommendations. I don't anymore, I stopped ages ago (along with a few other regular 'foods' I consumed) when I decided I wanted to be healthy.

I agree most veg is tasteless in the UK, I suspect due to much of it being forced up in artificial conditions for a fortnight or something. Some of the organic stuff tastes better, eg carrots but it could be expectation bias. I was in Malta on holiday last year and the veg was much better.

The best supermarket price deals are on processed rubbish mainly. It's all about profit.
 
The local chippie, Chinese, Indian or kebab van. Whichever takes my fancy. Could be a kebab and a Chinese this evening, I'm a bit peckish.
 
Simple BBC Program yesterday. Does it offer the truth?

If people really do need to be talked to like that, like children, then taxation is going to be the only way to get them to really understand IMHO.
 
There was a debate about whether sugar is addictive, and should it be treated like a dangerous drug, on the BBC 1's The Big Questions programme yesterday.

The first guy who spoke in favour of the proposal goes I think to Overeater's Anonymous. He said it was highly addictive. When he starts eating chocolate etc he gets an inner rush, which makes him feel good. The problem is once he starts he can't stop and this is why he's addicted to sugar.

The bloke also said that manufacturers of foodstuffs don't make it easy to know the amount of sugar in it, plus supermarkets deliberately try and sell customers discounted sweets and chocolate by having them near the till.

All this makes complete sense to me and many people swap one form of addiction for another.

It is common for drug addicts/alcoholics to indulge in sweetstuff as a substitute - along with sex, gambling, overworking etc - to deal with the emptiness they feel inside when they first stop using. I wonder if the situation works in reverse? Do any obese people become drug addicts/alcoholics, when they quit overindulging in food?

The next guy on Simple Questions was a doctor. He said that science is pointing in the direction that sugar is addictive. He was followed up by a spokesman for some consumer think tank, who went "No it's all a big conspiracy and of course there is nothing wrong with eating a normal amount of sugar." This bloke was fat.

Whether or not sugar is addictive, there are more obese people in the UK percentage-wise than anywhere else in Europe. This presents a real problem for the NHS and medical services.

Jack
 
Sugar is not to my mind, physically addictive, but there could be psychological elements as to why so many people like to consume so much of it. People often associate sugar with an expression of love/affection in childhood.

Birthdays, visits to grandparents, reward for some achievement, making a young person feel they the centre of everything they know. People want to re-enact that feeling and use sweet foods to bring back the emotional security of being very young.

Just a thought.
 
Brian said:
I used to eat porridge as part of the recommendations. I don't anymore, I stopped ages ago (along with a few other regular 'foods' I consumed) when I decided I wanted to be healthy.
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I alternate my eggs breakfasts with porridge breakfasts. Is porridge unhealthy now ? I don't eat the microwave variety.
 
Does this help to explain why some people can appear to eat anything with no weight gain, while other poor souls are frightened to eat a slice of cucumber in case they break the scales. It's not down to metabolism but microbes.

By comparing the gut microbes of the hundreds of study volunteers with their blood sugar responses, Segal and Elinav have been able discover that our microbes might be the key to why our blood sugar spikes with different foods are so individual. The chemicals they produce, it seems, control our bodies to this extent. What is particularly exciting about that fact is that - unlike our gene - we can actually change our microbes. And that is very good news indeed for any of us who find that our favourite foods turn out to be "bad" for our blood sugar levels.
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Watch 'Trust me I'm a doctor' tomorrow (Wed) night to get more information on what might be a breakthrough in dietary knowledge.
 
It's a small part of the jigsaw but given that it's changing all of the time (and that it's only in part influenced by genetics and more but environmental factors), it's something of a moving target.

At the end of the day, if you cut back sugar intake you WILL reduce the chances of developing issues associated with T2 and obesity.
 
gassor said:
Does this help to explain why some people can appear to eat anything with no weight gain, while other poor souls are frightened to eat a slice of cucumber in case they break the scales. It's not down to metabolism but microbes.



Watch 'Trust me I'm a doctor' tomorrow (Wed) night to get more information on what might be a breakthrough in dietary knowledge.
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Fascinating stuff. More info. here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-35193414
 
The problem for me with it is this. Change the diet based on "advice" and the composition of the gut microbes will change. That change will have an impact on homonal responses throughout the neuro endocrine system. Some of which will be undoubtedly good. Some may be bad.

With time, the system will adapt to the new balances and will receive input from external sources such as drug regimes, exercise levels and even mental state. This will mean that the foods that contribute to your "issues" will most likely change once again, and a modification of diet will be required. How often this change will happen and require attention I don't know. Maybe once every few years? Maybe once every few weeks?

But the system is constantly changing and adapting - something the article doesn't seem to highlight.
 
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