Obesity...can we blame the food industry?

[Bigtallfatbloke]

Ok...so much of it is down to self control, but I reckon the food industry needs to take some of the blame. The Mrs was in Waitrose earlier...they wanted £3.50 for a plastic bag containing a plastic carton cointaining 14 blackberries (she counted)...she put it back and told the checkout girl she would go and pick them herself.
Point being that fresh fruit n' veg is often expensive in the supermarkets.

 

[Abitrary]

I think it is more to do with evolution. Mankind is going to have to get used to more synthesised foods if he is going to search for a new home in other galaxies. I just can't see us backing a healthy big cardbox of apples and crisps for lunch

 

[buggi]

Sometimes yes, and the Government for letting them get away with it. for years they have allowed manufactured crap to be cheap, and healthy foods more expensive, and it's only now that people are starting to be educated.

but then sometimes people are just greedy too.

 

[Elmer Fudd]

You can't really blame the food industry. It's down to the people who buy 3 t.v. dinners for one and eat them all in one sitting, then the box of eight frozen fresh cream éclairs and for supper microwave their frozen egg foo yung and spare ribs in barbecue sauce. Some people just don't know when to keep their gobs shut.

 

[col]

Its only a six box of eclairs,of you dont mind

 

[Elmer Fudd]

Its only a six box of eclairs,of you dont mind

Ah Ha ! You go to Iceland !!

 

[feckless]

Blaming the food industry for obesity is just abdicating from personal responsibility.

If people don't like being fat, they should lay off the pies (or cakes or biccies or beer or wine or whatever it is they just can't stop stuffing down their gullets). Doing more would help too.

Sure, food is inadequately (and sometimes dishonestly) labelled, but it's not that hard to work out that eating less may not be a bad idea.

f

 

[piedwagtail91]

people complain abot a nanny state and then complain when there isn't one.
making a meal used to involve some preparation of veg. and use of pans and cooker. now it's waddle out to car, squeeze in behind wheel ,drive to drive through and back ,waddle into house, eat something resembling cardbaord and cotton wool then argue as to who has to get up and throw remains in bin.
if people eat more than they need to it's not the governments fault, possibly the food industry should be a bit more responsible in the content of ready meals,which wouldn't be necessary if people could still cook, but if you eat too much "good" food you'll still be overweight.

 

[Fab Foodie]

It's the fault of the individual, not the fault of the food Industry. There are a lot of socio-economic and lifestyle factors to be added to the equation:
Food has never been as cheap or as easily available as it is today. The cost of food as a percentage of a households budget is much lower than before. Food is available any-time any-place, no 3 meals a day any-more. Food plays a much larger social role than before. People are more sedentary in their lifestyles. Kids do less sport, less playing in the street, less walking to school, shops, mates. We all use our cars too much. We have more information and knowledge about good nutrition than we ever had, yet we're less healthy etc. etc...go figure...

I'm sure somebody will be along soon and say it's all the fault of McDonalds/KFC/Tesco/Multinational food companies...

 

[Bigtallfatbloke]

it's all the fault of McDonalds/KFC/Tesco/Multinational food companies

 

[walker]

Are you looking at someone to blame for your own size BTFB?


Some industries could be blamed for their advertising of said products to make them look more attractive than they really are. But I think the situation is it's a case of time. More and more people in this country are working longer hours than they ever did before, thus leaving them less time to actually prepare a meal themselves, so they just pop to said fast food joint, pick up a passing burger or four, then head home, relax for an hour before heading to bed. 3 minute dinners that are cooked in their own fat in the microwave seem that bit more appealing, but this is then where the lazyness starts and then people put on wait. I think it is actually down to the government to make people work less hours in a week. the legal limit should drop to 35 hours a week, giving people more time to do more activities and also preparing fresh meals

 

[jonathan ellis]

I do 40-60 hours a week and eat properly (ish)

if you drop the hours the 'public' will just spend more time in the pub/KFC

IMO

 

[walker]

I do 40-60 hours a week and eat properly (ish)

if you drop the hours the 'public' will just spend more time in the pub/KFC

IMO

but will they? if you take a place like Australia, where the hours are less than here, everyone seems to manage 4-5 hours a day of physical exercise.

 

[Kirstie]

I live and work around people who are very fit and active, so I perceive the whole obesity thing differently. However, this weekend was an eye opener. I went into Birmingham for the first time in ages and just walking the streets was really struck by the amount of overweight people there were walking around - of all different backgrounds/ethic groups etc. One of my friends who lives in brum and teaches at one of the universities there says that on average his students are getting fatter and fatter by the year: i.e. the year 1intake just keeps on getting bigger!

 

[cookiemonster]

The food industry is not really to blame. The blame must lie with the fat, greedy and lazy members of the public eating themsleves to death. It's self control. Pure and simple. No-one forces you to go into a MacD/KFC etc. What pisses me off with these people is that they refuse to look at their own actions which caused them to be 10stone+ overweight and unable to walk 6ft withouth weezing.

Make people who are obese through greed pay for their own health treatment instead. If they realise that they will have to pay the full cost of their stroke/heart attack/diabetes treatment. it will help bring the obesity rate down and save the NHS a shedload of cash IMO.

It's just self-control.