"Should obese people blame themselves for their weight problems? Is it really just a matter of having the self control of eating less and exercising more? If you look at a picture of a crowded place from, let’s say, the early 70’s, you’ll find that there are almost no obese people what so ever. They are all skinny! So what has happened since then? In this The Guardian Opinion article, columnist George Monbiot dives deep into what made so many people overweight.
Monibot has a few theories of what might have been the cause, such as: That we eat more than we used to, the decline in manual labour, lack of exercise, etc. But evidence shows that none of these theories add up. So, he turns his attention to nutrition figures in detail and there is no question of what we eat has massively changed:
Today, we buy half as much fresh milk per person, but five times more yogurt, three times more ice cream and – wait for it – 39 times as many dairy desserts. We buy half as many eggs as in 1976, but a third more breakfast cereals and twice the cereal snacks; half the total potatoes, but three times the crisps. While our direct purchases of sugar have sharply declined, the sugar we consume in drinks and confectionery is likely to have rocketed.
The amount of sugar has obviously skyrocketed and whole foods have decreased. And alongside this, the obesity epidemic has exploded. But has this shift happened by accident? Probably not. It seems to be a very conscious action by food companies who have invested heavily in various tactics to keep people hooked on certain foods, tactics such as designing products that use sugar to bypass our natural appetite control mechanisms. Despite that, 90% of policymakers are blaming obese people for not having the “personal motivation” to do something about it.
So, who is really to blame here?
Read the full article here:
The above taken from Diet Doctor site here
All the best Jan
26 comments:
Um excelente artigo.
Um abraço e bom fim-de-semana.
Andarilhar
Dedais de Francisco e Idalisa
O prazer dos livros
...a complex problem.
That is so true!
I ordered Bami Goreng and the box was huge! I can eat three times from it and wondered who´s supposed to eat that at once?
The other day I saw a short docu where they had always three food products and asked people what (not if!) they think has the most sugar. There is sugar in nearly everything, even in a glass of red cabbage, and not just a small amount, too.
Buy fresh and do it yourself. I found a blog with great receipes for that here :-)
Very interesting xx
Point well made.
So true. Our food has changed in a sneaky way. It's back to protein and fruits/veg for us. When I was teaching school, the middle school kids were always starving and always trying to get their hands on candy and chips. When I would see them a few years later, they were substantially thicker which I'm sure made them sad.
...life choices...and education...
I have had a big weight problem most of my life... Part of it is metabolism (since I have to stay at about 1200 calories NOT to gain weight)---but I can't totally blame anyone but ME.... I spent WAY too many years ignoring my health ---and definitely not getting enough exercise and not eating right.
I think back to my parents and that generation. They worked hard --and were always moving. They didn't sit and play with their phones and tablets all day long... They cooked with lard, they didn't add Splenda or some kind of sugar-free stuff to things, their portions were smaller, we were made to eat SLOWER, and we sat around the table having conversations AS we ate slowly. SO much has changed in m7 76 years!
These days, people are in a hurry. They don't sit at the table and chat. They eat 'on the run' as they go from one thing to another. They don't cook much anymore, especially something healthy --but buy frozen, processed stuff to stick in a microwave and then gulp down. It's no wonder we have a weight problem...
My step daughter recently joined a gym and has started eating healthy. Her comment to us: "Healthy foods are SO much more expensive!" That is unfortunately true... She is on a strict budget --so is finding it hard to buy healthy foods...
The Obesity in our country is spiraling ---and people just seem to be getting heavier and heavier.... That is causing more and more Diabetes Type II --which is another spiraling problem....
NO---let's not place BLAME... We humans have the choice as to what we put in our mouths...
Hugs,
Betsy
This is a tricky one Jan but personally I would never blame anyone else for my extra 5 kgs because I read everything that is in the products we eat, my problem is that I don't do enough exercise on a daily basis. I agree with Iris, there's no excuse for unhealthy eating with the scrumptious recipes found here ☺ Happy weekend, I'm going on a hike to work off some calories 😀
it's true...i think we are all a lot less active!!!
Like I learn in my weight lost group that weight issue is not one size fits all.
Coffee is on
People have to make better choices about what they eat and more important is to have some kind of consistent exercise program in your life. Walking for me is the best one.
Very good article. Hope lots of people read it. Hugs, Valerie
That would do it.
I was surprised to notice that veggies do have sugar. One is not aware of it when eating them fresh, but when making a cooked dish , it tastes sweet, even though I add nothing to it , it has onions and radishes also, but no carrots.
That makes one think. I'll have to check the sugar content of every veggie I put in my cooked dish (peppers of three colors, eggplant, cawliflower, red onions, radish, cabbage, tomatoe,cucumber).
I think it is a combination of things. I accept some responsibility for myself but yes, we have been seduced by convenience. And those 'convenient' foods are rarely good for us. And indeed are rarely what I consider food.
Excellent article but unfortunately no real answers. I know that I have a sister that is two years younger than I am. We grew up eating the same things (good or bad) and she has always been thin, still is and I have always been overweight, still am. She has a much faster metabolism than I do, she's one of those people that can't just sit and watch TV, she has to be organizing or dusting or moving around. I can sit for hours without moving, I have to force myself to get up and move about on the weekends, not because I'm lazy but because my body just doesn't urge me to move, like hers does. I walk 3 miles daily and eat low carb but the minute I take a cheat day or cheat weekend I just spiral downhill.....FAST! I don't know what the answer is, but it would be so nice to be able to eat what I want as my sister does and still stay thin.
Very contemplative post ~ strange times we live in and not very healthy!
Happy Day to you,
A ShutterBug Explores,
aka (A Creative Harbor)
Hay multitud de factores , como la falta de actividad física, el consumo de más calorías que necesitamos y también el metabolismo.
Besos
VENTANA DE FOTO google translation
"There are many factors, such as the lack of physical activity, the consumption of more calories than we need and also the metabolism."
I accept full responsibility for my eating. Very interesting points here. Even our plate sizes are different! I have my Mama's dishes and they definitely are a good 2 inches smaller in diameter. ♥
Yes, I agree obesity is on the rise for many reasons. I think the food industry is partly to blame for adding corn sugars to many foods and others sugars and salt. Also, as a whole, we exercise less than a generation or two before --especially children who do not play outside as much. Also economically we all can afford more luxury or convenience type food, and eat out more, than prior generations, and that is mostly unhealthy and high in calories
One of the things I have noticed is we don't eat right because many of us have no time to prepare foods from scratch. When I was growing up, my grandmother (grandparents raised me from birth) cooked everything from scratch. You didn't find any box mixes, crap like "hamburger helper," or cans of prepared spaghetti or ravioli. Everything in my grandmother's kitchen was from scratch, including her pie crust and fillings. Both of my grandparents were thin. My grandmother was 5'2" tall and weighted 98 lbs (44.45 kg). She certainly didn't look like the matronly grandmothers we see on tv and in the movies. I think we see lots of people get large as they age, but exercise and diet (or at least eating right) helps. This was a thought provoking post I just had to contribute to. BTW, my downfall is when you put a bag of chips (crisps) in front of me.
I read an article recently that was totally horrible in the way it blamed people for being obese and I think too many people probably think that way. The type of food is so important in whether we put weight on as well as how much exercise we get and it isn't always easy to make the right choices these days.
Very good article Jan! Thank you! Big Hugs!
There is so much junk food around now too, back in the day pubs sold alcohol, now they all serve food....there are so many eateries these days.xxx
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