Dick Dasterdly

Spaniards getting fatter

I recall another article somewhere but can't dig it up now which stated Spanish youngsters are getting fatter for both the reasons you mentioned.

More and more junk food and spending most of their lives sitting in front of their computers.

Mitzyboy

Heh heh ... you're talking about someone who trained for Lands End to John O Groats and has all the gear. When we started to do it, it was the wettest September fior many many years. Got soaked and it rained almost constantly for two weeks. I've got all the gear

Yes, in fact at top of training I was doing up to 30 miles every other day and every month or so would do the trip fromn Oliva to Xativa which was a four hour round trip with one hell of a long hill coming out of Xativa. I did that from March right through to September. Yes, it was hot but as long as I kept hydrated it was fine. I did drop down to just under 10 stones though.

casa del sol

Quite a worrying situation, could lack of work and boredom also be a contributing factor. Young people sitting in front of computers, gaming, texting, and socialising has to be a growing concern for young people everywhere.

I agree junk and convenience foods do not help the situation. Home cooking from basic raw ingredients is best, hope these life-saving and money saving skills are being passed down in families, or else I think we are brewing up big health problems for the future that will turn out to be very expensive for the country and massively reduce life expectancy.

Dick Dasterdly

Times have been changing fast in Spain and are continuing to do so.

The younger Spanish generation is catching up fast with the rest of our decadent Western ways.

To the points already mentioned you can now include binge drinking which has become yet another rapidly worrying trend during the last few years, especially in the more heavily populated areas.

tommy.irene

Gran Canaria Info - Saharan Air Causes Gran Canaria's First Heatwave of 2015

Dick Dasterdly

Tell me about it.
When I used to live in Tenerife it was very comfortable most of the time, but on rare occasions in Summer when the hot air blew in from C.Africa it was unbelievable.

Usually it was only for a couple of days, the temperature lifted well above 40
and it was like standing in front of a hot air fan.
In a matter of hours the grapes in the East coast vineyards would turn from fresh and green into raisins.

Having said that I've been told it's expected to lift above 40 here in the Valencia area later in the week.
Can't say I'm looking forward to it.

tommy.irene

Scorcher prompts forest fire alert for Canaries as temperatures expected to top 38ºC: http://www.islandconnections.eu/…/4…...s-article.html

wilsman77

Healthiest Place to live in Spain is obviously not the Canaries then ;0 Costa Blanca South seems to be just perfect....

Dick Dasterdly

I found that one of the biggest plus points of the Canaries, the Western isles anyway, was that on any given day I could always find somewhere within easy reach where the weather was near enough perfect.

They are micro climates within themselves, always a coastal spot on one side or another with a fresh ocean breeze and comfortable temperature, or occasionally inland in the mountains and rain forests.

Nowhere on the mainland to even begin to compare, nor anywhere so free of pollution.

wilsman77

Dick, that black sand cant be good for you?

Dick Dasterdly

Don't know, never tried eating it before.
Can't say I care for the yellow stuff so much either, gets in every nook and cranny, unlike the black stuff that is very easily dashed off.
Dark sand beaches are actually quite pleasant, I suppose it's only the colour that puts some people off.

In any event there are quite a few yellow sand beaches, some fairly big ones made in more recent times from sand dredged up from the sea bed just off the coast, so there's plenty of sand of all varieties to suit everybody, though I never was one for lying on the beach much anyway, except after dark always tried to keep myself active, eh what.

MagicWriter2014

Some interesting replies here I have to say. But the one thing you have that we are lacking and which can have a profound effect on your whole feeling of wellbeing is the sun. We have finally found it over the past few days and even though it is still freezing cold due to the bitter northerly winds, just seeing it, seeing how it lights everywhere up lifts your spirits up so much. Sadly, it will probably disappear again in the next day or two. The other thing is it is very difficult to eat as healthily ( salads and fruit) when you are constantly feeling the cold and the weather is grey and dreek, you tend to crave comfort food like mince and tatties lol. And as I am getting older and my health is not as good as it once was just the thought of going out jogging, hiking, etc wears me out, although I do enjoy walking when my joints are not too painful (the cold does not help). But I do find your attitudes sometimes to expat Brits can be quite divisive. You seem to suggest that unless folk speak the language, integrate wholly and immerse themselves in the Spanish culture they must belong to the drinking, smoking and eating only junk food brigade. We would probably not fit into either camp as we don't talk Spanish but would like to try and integrate up to a point with the locals, but would still like to retain our British identity and live near to other Brits for companionship and support. the immigrants who come to live in the town I live in tend to gravitate towards their own countrymen whilst still making friendships with the locals and the local supermarkets now stock stuff that they would get in their on countries. Personally I do not have a problem with that. This is just my impression after reading all the posts on here and on other threads.

cricketman

How are you going to communicate with the "locals"? Sign language? Or a serious of grunts?

I have seen both methods used by foreigners in Spain and it makes it impossible to "integrate". The locals will have a very negative view of you for not bothering to learn Spanish. Just as you would have a negative view of people who lived in the UK and couldn't speak English

If you don't speak Spanish then best just admit that you are going purely for the sun and to live a British way of life

MagicWriter2014

We are trying to learn the basics, what I meant was we would be nowhere near fluent and probably never will be as several people have pointed out it takes years to learn another language properly. But most immigrants here tend to talk a sort of pigeon English unless they were fortunate enough to learn it throughout their school years, and that is fine, so why would the Spanish expect us to be fluent? But yes, the main reasons we would be moving to Spain would be the weather, the same as most immigrants move to Britain for work. I don't see a problem with that. A warmer climate, usually means a more laid back lifestyle, which usually means a healthier life purely because you are not stressed out so much continually running around like a headless chicken trying to fit things in to the small slot you have before the weather closes in again. We were in Australia last November visiting a family member ( who is Australin, we are related through marriage) and even though she still works, everyone was so laid back and more relaxed due to the great weather and outdoor life. That would definitely have been my first choice of where to enjoy my retirement if we had enough funds to satisfy the government to let us in, but we don't, so Spain seemed a good alternative re the weather. And she has her own health problems, but she seemed to cope with them so much better partly due to their easy ozzie way of life.

cricketman

I just don't agree with you, that is all

Being on holiday is more relaxing than not being on holiday. Not working is more relaxing than working. But if you are running a family and jobs in Spain then it is pretty similar to anywhere else

What makes Spain better in my opinion is Spanish society and culture, but you would be opting out of that by not being fluent in Spanish.

It is true that the geography and great road infrastruture of Spain is a big advantage, so you can get in your car and escape to different beaches, national parks, cities, villages and beaches very easily, but in London for example, you just jump on a plane to do the same thing