Obesity
 

Iceland and MALTA have more obese people that the UK?! I didn't expect that!

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2...-obesity-study

Re: Obesity
 

But there are not very many of them !

Re: Obesity
 

That's true. But even in proportional terms I am surprised. I envisaged the Icelanders and lean outdoorsy types and the Maltese all eating a Mediterranean diet.

Re: Obesity
 

Mediterranean diet = buckets of oil. :) Yes it's a good type of fat and all that, but at 120cal/tbsp, oil adds up shockingly quickly.

However both those places I always thought were more active... so it does surprise me quite a lot!

Re: Obesity
 

I know what your saying about the oil, could drink the buckets if it wasn't for the high calorie count!

Re: Obesity
 

Likewise. I do calorie counting and when I first started it was one of the hardest things to adjust to, particularly for things like sauteeing and whatnot. Pain in the backside...

Re: Obesity
 

I thought olive oil was not good for sauteeing owing to its low burning point? Or is that just the EVO?

Re: Obesity
 

I use canola or rapeseed oil for sauteeing as its burning point is much higher. For anything that needs taste, though, I use olive oil. http://www.stylecraze.com/articles/o...vs-canola-oil/

Re: Obesity
 

I need to lose about 22 pounds to bring myself into the "normal" weight range, but all my blood stuff like cholesterol and such come back fine and normal.

Re: Obesity
 

I remember seeing lots of tubby people in Malta last year. A severe lack of Mediterranean... gems...

Re: Obesity
 

Really I think stats should focus on obesity, rather than being overweight. The general consensus is that BMI is an inaccurate way to measure weight anyway, it's margins taken from a post war population who because of rationing may not actually have been the healthiest bunch albeit slightly slimmer.

If "overweight" became a more normalised figure, then actually the UK has only a quarter of it's population being obese which doesn't sound too bad, although still clearly needs to be addressed for health reasons.

Re: Obesity
 

Look at photos from the 1970s and even the 1980s. Virtually nobody was fat.

Portion size is ridiculous these days.

Re: Obesity
 

I don't entirely disagree with you, but I have done a lot of research into BMI and the various other forms of what makes "average" weight. From what I've been able to determine, and it seems sensible:

--The boundaries of each category are more grey, they more just exist in their current form for simplicity. There isn't much difference between a person with a BMI of 24.9 (normal) and a BMI of 25.1 (overweight), they're just borderline figures.

--For the vast majority of the population, BMI *is* an accurate way of working out how much weight you should be carrying for your height. The majority of us have average bodies - we are of average height, average build, are not elite athletes or bodybuilders, are not exceptionally small or exceptionally tall. Unless you fall into one of those outlier buckets, BMI is going to be a mostly representative measure for you, within a few BMI points.

--While there is some debate on the accuracy of the "overweight" category, there is next to no debate on the "obese" categories (obese, morbidly obese class 1-2-3). Unless you are an elite athlete or a bodybuilder, if BMI is telling you that you're obese, then you're obese.

--Those who are on the lower end of overweight could probably stand to lose a bit but aren't going to have any major problems because of it. (For awhile, I was in that category, BMI around 26-27ish, but down around 22-23 now; doc told me that I was only a bit overweight but ideally should lose a bit.) However, if you're in the upper half of overweight (27.5+) then you definitely have some weight to lose.

I agree with Jings - portion sizes these days are simply insane. One serving of meat is about the size of a hockey puck, yet if you go to a restaurant you can order giant cuts of meat and even the smaller cuts (8oz steak) are more than you should have in one sitting. Side dishes are loaded in butter and oil, vegetables are often sauteed in so much oil they're barely vegetables anymore. Fast food is so commonplace and so easy to get a hold of that it becomes too much of a "staple" too easily. Places that offer healthy choices are harder and harder to find.

This is getting long so I'll shut up now. :)

Re: Obesity
 

Cyril Smith? And then there was Captain Pugwash.

Re: Obesity
 

It is ridiculous. When my missus and I go for a pub lunch, we order one meal and split it. In NY last December, we'd order a single starter, as a main course, and split it.

I honestly do not understand how people can get that much food into their bodies.

Re: Obesity
 

Weren't we conditioned back in the old days to finish all your food before you could go out and play and because there were staving people in Africa?

Re: Obesity
 

People in Africa are still being staved.

Re: Obesity
 

Cyril Smith was a circus freak show in the 1970s. Nowadays there are 10 of him on every flight, and you can barely get round supermarkets for all the blobboes on scooters pushing a hundredweight of pizza and Coke.

Re: Obesity
 

Husband and I were in Chicago two weekends ago. I ordered a sandwich... the thing was MASSIVE. It was my main course, and my husband and I split the leftovers for lunch the next day. One "main course" made 3 meals, in the end.

(We also had a starter, but even if we hadn't, I would have managed, at most, half that sandwich.)

Re: Obesity
 

You have to try much harder. You can't just go and give up at the starter ;)

Re: Obesity
 

Thats very true.

Re: Obesity
 

Yes. And the truth is that is why I'll eat everything on my plate at a restaurant that has serving sizes twice what it should be. I feel more guilty about wasting food than I do about over eating. Although eating what I don't need and throwing it out are both wasting it.

Re: Obesity
 

Food has just become too cheap, too processed and too easy in many Western countries. I think the government could play a bigger role in regulating the advertising and the marketing of certain foods.

Re: Obesity
 

Its the perverts I feel sorry for, sure they're easier to catch but who wants to fiddle a fatty?

Re: Obesity
 

Restaurants serve huge portions because people don't send food back.

Too many people go into restaurants with the expectation that they're going to get a huge dinner AND tomorrow's lunch out of it. If people simply sent back excess food, restaurants would stop serving it.

Asking for a doggy bag is really inexcusable, especially when the doggy is you.

Re: Obesity
 

Can't believe you mentioned Malta and that kid with the ridiculously long username hasn't posted something in the thread.

Re: Obesity
 

The restaurants want to maximise revenue so they oversell on quantity. Not unlike British supermarkets. The impetus is to sell larger quantities and get the consumer to take personal responsibility for not over consuming. Fine in theory, not so fine when the health service gets the enormous bill for obesity related problems.

Re: Obesity
 

I'm all for a rule like what's in parts of the US, where restaurants have to have the calorie content on the menu. My parents were in NYC recently and couldn't bring themselves to order meals listed at 2000 calories, and when they did, they only ate half, and brought the other half back to the hotel to have as leftovers.

I think a combination of that, and generally restaurants selling smaller portions, would be great to help combat obesity...

Re: Obesity
 

Yes. They do that at (ahem) McDonalds in the UK and I have modified my choices on more than one occasion.

Re: Obesity
 

Yep, they do in Canada as well. :) The handful of times I've been there I've chosen different things based on that number staring me in the face... particularly around fries as a side!

Re: Obesity
 

Is this just specific to Ontario? In BC they don't list the calories on the menu, its on the packaging after you order and receive the food, and you can ask for a brochure that lists the menu items and calories, but never seen any of the fast food places list it on the menu.

Re: Obesity
 

I've noticed that vanity sizing now applies to men's clothes. The last few pairs of jeans I've bought are too big even though they are supposedly the same size as ones I already own that fit nicely.

Re: Obesity
 

Agreed, In most fast food places i've been to, they have a separate "Nutrition Menu" which lists the values of their meals and drinks, never on the menu...

i don't look at the calories of fast food, because I only have it as a treat now and again, and i can tell just by looking at a Baconator that it's about a billion calories

Re: Obesity
 

I live by the adage that you should eat anything you like but in moderation (unless it's chocolate or cheese).

I personally don't believe in diets at all.

:)