Obesity not caused by lack of willpower ?

[sal]

That is way easier said than done.

About 6 months ago I lost a bit of weight. By giving up refined sugar. That stuff is highly addictive. But its easy for me - well paid job lots of money so I can afford to buy what food I want.

Alas I seem to have empathy with those less fortunate - something not many CUK posters are burdened with.

While being financially well of can make fighting obesity easier. Being less well off financially isn't an excuse for being obese, it just makes it harder to combat/avoid obesity, hence the link to laziness/lack of will. It' harder, not impossible. Either way in the majority of cases it IS a choice.

[BR14]

While being financially well of can make fighting obesity easier. Being less well off financially isn't an excuse for being obese, it just makes it harder to combat/avoid obesity, hence the link to laziness/lack of will. It' harder, not impossible. Either way in the majority of cases it IS a choice.

Well you can all sod off.

bunch of namby pamby pencilnecks.

[darmstadt]

It would be nice if it was taught in school.

Maybe the lesson on debt could be replaced with "never get into debt" and the time spent on budgeting instead.....

Once upon a time it was but as the education system has since been replaced by bollocks, then the subjects that would actually help you live a life after school have been dropped.

[BrilloPad]

Once upon a time it was but as the education system has since been replaced by bollocks, then the subjects that would actually help you live a life after school have been dropped.

Indeed. And I would like these changes reversed. I remember hearing that Meccano set instructions contained deliberate errors to make children think!

I don't believe that its the parents fault in the majority of cases - I note that the poster who suggested that has no children. Thank God.....

[Jog On]

From the article:

"People who live in deprived areas often experience high levels of stress, including major life challenges and trauma, often their neighbourhoods offer few opportunities and incentives for physical activity and options for accessing affordable healthy food are limited."

Funny that there aren't many obese people in Africa, despite deprivation, limited budgets and lack of facilities.

If you are "forced" to eat unhealthy food, you can either eat less of it, or find ways to burn the excess calories.

With the exception of a very limited cases of actual genetic causes (my mom was fat and my brother is fat, so it must be genetic that i'm fat doesn't count). Or are you telling me there is a huge wave of genetic mutations that drives the skyrocketing of obesity levels in the last decades.

Obesity IS a choice. Or rather staying obese is. There is wealth of free information on nutrition, exercise out there, ZERO excuse for not taking advantage of. Healthy food doesn't' cost more than junk food, sure it's might be less convenient per £.

Obesity is 99% laziness, not willing to get help/info on how to prevent it, nor how to "threat" it.

I think there's an element of addiction and comfort eating to self-medicate as well. As BP said refined sugar is highly addictive, as is junk food. Combined with bad life situations you could equate comfort eating with alcoholism. Ask an alcoholic why they drink and a comfort eater why they eat and you'll probably get a similar answer.

I've been both...

Also getting in and staying in shape is a loooong and frustrating journey and healthy lifestyle just isn't 'fun' if you like your treats which most people do. Changing habits and 'treats' into delayed gratification and the benefits of feeling and looking better is long, hard work.

Sugar is a drug - just look how many cakes and biscuits you see in your clientco offices brought in by all those happy people who love their jobs so much.

But yes, on the flip side there is a culture of 'body positivity' coming from America that promotes lack of responsibility for personal choices. People are free to treat themselves however they want and they will get out of life what they put into it.

That said there are those less fortunate and born into bad situations who could use some help with the root cause of all addictions which is a general improvement in quality of life and removal of the need to self medicate the depressing reality.

[GJABS]

What has changed is the increased abundance of presentation of high calorie foods nowadays compared to 40 years ago.
40 years ago people tended to cook and eat at home. There was generally a separation of the act of purchasing food, and the act of eating it - separated by days typically. Also the people purchasing and preparing the food was not the person consuming it.

40 years ago the wife would typically purchase and prepare the food, and she would be consious not to spend too much, as she was accountable to the husband for the spending. Also, as she was mainly buying for others, she would not be driven by personal hunger in terms of what she chose for the family

Whereas nowadays people tend to buy food for themselves at the time they plan to eat it. Wives tend to eat their husbands (financially at least) and are not beholden to them. Temptation is everywhere. People walk past cafes, fast food restaurants, chocolate machines etc all day every day, and it seems entirely natural to partake.


Another factor, and this is just my personal opinion, is that I believe eating fast food boosts your appetite above and beyond what it normally is. So that by consuming "just one" chocolate bar one time, your appetite rises to far more than you actually need to eat. This is, IMHO, the reason why fat people say they are hungry all the time - they just haven't figured this out yet.

The solution: Put all fat people into jail maybe, feed them proper food. They might whinge about their loss of freedom, but they won't be feeling hungry, and they'll be losing weight.

[woohoo]

The solution is easy, we offer poor people an inclusive holiday in Spain twice a year. That way poor people are encouraged to diet to get the perfect beach bod. We obviously don't want to send too many to the same resort or being fat will become the norm.

It's visionary.

[Old Greg]

The solution is easy, we offer poor people an inclusive holiday in Spain twice a year. That way poor people are encouraged to diet to get the perfect beach bod. We obviously don't want to send too many to the same resort or being fat will become the norm.

It's visionary.

It will be great for their literacy skills as well to complete the 16 page visa application.

[JohntheBike]

Indeed. And I would like these changes reversed. I remember hearing that Meccano set instructions contained deliberate errors to make children think!

I don't believe that its the parents fault in the majority of cases - I note that the poster who suggested that has no children. Thank God.....

Meccano set instructions contained deliberate errors to make children think

interesting. Given that I always built from scratch, i.e. never followed the instructions, I would not have noticed that. Two models I remember building after seeing the films, were a vintage car, after watching Genevieve and a destroyer, after watching The Yangste Incident depicting HMS Amethyst. Genevieve kindled my love of old cars which continues to this day.