Obesity Crisis

Probably based on BMI, which (imho) is wrong. At my BMI weight I look old and haggard, but a stone heavier and a much better appearance, even though this is considered obese

i think it is based on BMI , still quite staggering almost third of country in danger

Bring back food rationing. Self discipline is one aspect but also genetic. If I have a bigger than normal meal in a restaurant for instance, I don't feel like eating anything else for 24 hours. I am only one stone heavier now than at 21 when I was a fairly serious athlete and I am now 75.

A bit of fat on the face stretches out the wrinkles.
People look better carrying a bit of weight.

But all you really need is about 4-5 pounds of body fat to see you through an illness.
You won't look your best, but you'll stand a much better chance of keeping many chronic ailments at bay.
People don't see it that way, they're addicted to food and they'd rather suffer than give up those extra mouthfuls each meal.

"hello - I think it is based on BMI , still quite staggering almost third of country in danger."

It is based on BMI and the data is from 2017 so presumably some of those in "danger" will have passed on by now!. Still much better than the US though, and of course the 11% rise quoted is a bit misleading - it has gone from 26% to 29%.  Still serious though.

I think back to maybe 20 years ago or more , overweight folk were quite rare

kids grew up doing sports or played outside


switch to today and most are stuck in front of a console only getting up if theres a trip to macdonalds on the cards

probably morteph , all use to graze cattle now to feed the 7.7 billion

How come the junk food ads are full of thin athletes?

At least be a little bit realistic.

it is alright for you lot but what do I do with my garage full of bully beef tins and lager??  All put aside for the brexit crisis

Sell your bully beef and lager to all the poor immigrants who will be flooding over here now Boris has just scrapped the planned salary limit for immigration after Brexit. (Sorry Leave voters who wanted to limit immigration; you've been done up like (u) kippers!)

Boris Johnson will scrap a £30,000 minimum salary threshold for immigrants arriving after Brexit under his plans for an Australian-style points system.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/boris-johnson-lifts-30k-wage-barrier-on-immigrants-ghzvkx68r

Tax salt, sugar, and oil(the cooking types). Or ban salt and sugar.

I wonder how that will change people's eating habits.

I Love de Cake

They've managed to demonised salt, yet like sageform says it's vital that we get enough.
They tell us the problem with eating a lot of salt is that it can raise blood pressure, but by how much?
Where are the figures to prove it? I can't find any.

By only a small amount could be the answer.

If you have high blood pressure and reduce your salt intake alone, your blood pressure is not going to come tumbling down.

Id take all this nonesence about salt intake with the proverbial pinch.

salt in itself is essential to the body

not the levels most consume though in fast food , tinned food , ready meals etc

same with fats and sugar , moderation

Diet is only one factor.  The much more significant cause of obesity is lifestyle & exercise (or lack of it).
If you exercise enough, you can be a lot more relaxed about what you eat.

As someone about said, kids used to play outside all the time.  Walk to school, spend hours on their bikes.  Seriously, when was the last time you saw a group of kids in an impromptu game of footie, with jumpers for goalposts etc?  I know that sounds an almost comically aged comment (I'm in my 40's), but there's plenty of truth behind it, and I guess most on here grew up with a fairly active lifestyle.  Video games, computers, hysteria over child abductions and so on, have contributed to a generation stuck indoors.  And if you don't have a culture of being active, you're less likely to take it up as you get older.

Also, facilities are dreadful in the UK, unless you can afford to pay for them.  Go to most European cities and parks and open spaces are set up for activity.  Safe bike lanes, exercise equipment in parks, clean and well lit public areas for football/basketball - every Spanish town and village has a communal area that's floodlit where kids play footie and basketball into the late hours.
My local swimming pool is £5 a visit.  In Australia you pay about 50p.  A game of squash at the council leisure centre near me is about £15 for 45 minutes.  I travel a lot to France, Italy, Switzerland, Germany and it's amazing how many old people are really active, walking in the hills and mountains etc.  Towns aren't full of fat people like they are in the UK.  It's a staggering difference.

My missus is a physio at the local hospital.  She despairs at the state people get themselves into.  80-90% of the patients she sees are there due to bad lifestyle choices.  That includes stroke patients, heart conditions, cancers - all caused by avoidable contributary factor and a lifetime of very little exercise.  Most back and knee pain is caused by the fact that there isn't enough muscle in the legs to take the weight above it.

Not sure what the answer is, but there is an obligation on the government to make it easier to life more healthily ( the long term benefits outweigh the short term costs surely?) and also a duty of care people have to take responsibility for themselves.
The end result of not doing so is to look like the USA.  We have been warned!!

@sageform
Aren't natural foods rich enough in both salt and sugar to satisfy the body's needs? I don't think anyone is saying salt is bad. it is clear anything taken in moderation will have its benefits and any dangers can easily be eliminated with the daily exercise already a part of our day to day routine. But surely salt sugar and oils are abused by today's food industry?

I just had 10 biscuits with my coffee for breakfast. That is 25g of sugar. 66% of the daily dose recommended by American Heart Association. So where is my day going to go from here? And I haven't bought sugar and salt in years for this very reason.

If you are a serious sportsman/woman or have a job that causes you to lose a lot of sweat, you do need quite a lot of salt to replace it. Professionals are often given salt tablets after a match or training. It is the other side of the argument that seems hard to get people to listen to. If energy in equals energy out over a 7 day period, your weight will stay more or less the same apart from maybe water intake.

and penalise everyone who includes those things in a balanced diet?

The sugar salt and fat are not the bad boys, it's the lazy fcukers who won't exercise, won't cook proper non processed meals, smoke drink too much and can't pass a takeaway 3 times a week.

Eat a Banana and go to the gym, no sympathy whatsoever.