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World Obesity

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Deskdiary | 08:02 Thu 20th Nov 2014 | News
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According to the report, obesity now costs the about the same as smoking and armed conflict, and more than alcoholism and climate change.

It will not be long before obestity will overtake smoking - less and less people are smoking, but more and more people are becoming fat.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-30122015

Does anybody have any ideas how to stem the tide of people become fatter and fatter?

I have the utmost sympathy for those who are fat because of an underlying medical condition, however the vast majority of people who are fat are so because they eat too much and move too little.

Short of punitively taxing fat laden/sugar laden food to make it less attractive, which is a spectacularly bad idea as that punishes those of us who enjoy these foods occasionally, the only thing I can think of is to make fat people social pariahs the way smokers now are.

It has always puzzled me why gambling addiction, alcohol addiction, drug addiction, even sex and porn addiction are seen as 'illnesses', fat people are seen as 'victims' and yet smokers are seen simply as disgusting who deserve all they get!

Personally, I find it more distateful seeing a fat person eating a pasty than a 'normal' sized person smoking a fag.
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Eating is normal. Sucking smoke into your lungs and expelling it for others is not. I fail to see how you come to the conclusion you do.

It seems to me that everything one does in life is costing the economy a fortune. Perhaps if no one existed the economy would be fine.

If you want folk not to get fatter there are a number of options. Some off the top of my head. Grow/import less food so folk have to go without. Ensure commercial food related companies do not go overboard loading up with high energy ingredients and ensuring portion sizes are reasonable. Make it obligatory that ready made meals contain a good balance of main ingredient and five-a-day veg.
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"Eating is normal"

Indeed.

But eating to excess is not, and eating so much that you become so fat that you put a strain on your health most certainly is not.
It can't be that abnormal or it wouldn't be the subject of discussion.

There are both family environment and genetic/mental issues involved in overeating, whereas you have to choose to start smoking. Smoking addiction follows after keeping at it against all common sense until you can tolerate it.
One thing 'they' never take into consideration since the obesity explosion, is what is added to our foods whilst growing or being farmed and what chemicals have been used in the manufacturing process etc. read the labels on some 'simple' normal food products to see the rubbish that's added and see how if you eat them we are putting crap into our bodies!

Some time ago there was a tv programme explaining how in the sixties manufacturers wanted cheap substitutes for certain ingredients in our food and if I remember correctly this started the obesity off when they changed what we ate. Also, in the US the idea of super sizing portions was done to increase profits of a chap who had a particular fast food outlet (never heard of this person) in those days which was then pushed onto customers when they found out how much money they made by doing so.

Years ago the only fast food we had was fish and chips and didn't eat them on a daily basis, now look at the variety of fast food outlets, the fat most come in and the daily consumption of them.

The manufacturers put profit before ingredients and the programme I saw was a real insight into how this all started. With world population growing they are going to have to increase food supply and I'm sure it won't be in a healthy way whatever they do.

Don't think you will ever stem the tide of obesity, we would have to go back to being without fast foods and that will never happen. For parents to be at home to feed their children proper meals, don't let kids buy fast foods on their away home from school AND the very least that needs to be done is stop manufacturers adding rubbish and chemicals to our food
There are no excuses at all

If you eat more food of a calorif value than you are burning you gain weight. You cannot manufacture energy, if you can then you have broken the basic rules of physics as we know it and you should put yourself forward to science. So genetucs or whatever this counts.

As for what can be done I really dont know.

Perhaps lard arses should be made to pay for tubby related illnesses?

One thing is for sure though,mire bycycle lanes is simply doing a Canute.
i'm a lard *** as you put it .i cycle and walk but i'm still big and yes i smoke
oh my a@@@ was deleted but not the A@@@s typed above
So am I, so what is your point?
What about all the children that were obese as babies and are now obese as young adults through no fault of their own but due to their parents eating habits, a lifelong habit is very difficult to deal with and is now considered an illness, shall we punish these people the same way?
No punish the parents and make them pay fir their kids rehabilitation.

There will alwats be some exceptions, if you want to focus on the odd case and nott start addressing the problem then you will get nowhere.

If nothing is done the NHS will not be around in 30 years.
I think education is the only way to be honest and I think that parents that cause obesity through stupidity or neglect should be prosecuted for child abuse!
and people that are off work or unable to obtain through obesity and related problems should be made to attend gym based exercise programs to carry on receiving benefits.
it's a tough one, you can't force healthy life styles on people you can only educate. One thing would be to stop giving benefits in cash and get the supermarkets to issue healthy food for vouchers so they don't spend it on kebabs, baccy and white lightening. We should also look at punitive tax on take aways and unhealthly food generally. The thing is no government will take the measures that are necessary for fear of upsetting voters so they'll just tinker round the edges and nothing will change. PS I am unsvelte myself!
Fat people are seen as 'victims' because, the fact is, we 'need' to eat.
I'm not fat, btw....
I have what is commonly known as a beer belly or spare tyre, however I rarely drink beer, I do however eat too much, I don't eat junk food but unfortunately even good healthy food will still put the weight on if you eat too much of it. If I lost a few inches off my belly I would very happy with my shape and weight. However my food is a big thing for me and I am not prepared to give up so much of the things I love. I was once on a diet eating mostly fish and the weight fell off me, unfortunately I can no longer afford such luxuries on a regular basis so the weight has gone back on.
I knew this would come up on AB today and I knew that smokers would be as usual treated as a filthy smelly bunch who drain the medical services whereas the overweight were to be empathised with and treated with compassion.
One may choose to smoke at first but thereafter it can be a need - just as one chooses to stuff oneself and then can't break the habit..

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