Another depressing thread

MT62

There are way more fatter, younger kids today than when I was at school in the 70s twaddle. We didn’t have all the takeaways like they have today.
We also played out way more than they do today.
Fair enough, some older people can be overweight, that’s it, we are older, gone through the change, etc.
I was slim up to late 40s, but two knee injuries soon scuppered that, unfortunately.

Young children aren't the concern. Middle-aged and older people are. And you can't get away from the fact that there is such a huge gap between people in different groups. The chances are that if you lived in Richmond-on-Thames, you'd have on average 20 more "healthy" years than if you lived in Blackpool or Middlesbrough. That can't be explained away by going through the change or bad knees.

nanna8

The UK, on the whole, is still pretty good re life expectancy so I wouldn’t be overly concerned. I was wondering what Monaco does , probably because it is very wealthy. I am surprised at Hong Kong doing so well because it is very crowded but then very clever people - you can’t beat Chinese medicine. As for Australia, we have always been obsessed with healthy food and diet so maybe it pays off ? One of the first to ban smoking all over the place

It's not life expectancy itself which is causing concern, but the length of time people spend in poor health. People are living longer - and being kept alive with modern medicine - but they are spending longer in poor health. Not only do individuals themselves spend many years with sub-optimal health, but it's expensive to treat them. Not only that, but if people of working age are too ill to work, they need to be supported and can't contribute with their own work/wages.

It's concerning that there is an almost 20 year gap between the average healthy life expectancy in the most deprived areas and the most affluent. There is even a stark gap within individual cities, towns and boroughs. This would suggest that there is something about having more comfortable living circumstances which results in better health, despite genetics.

There are way more fatter, younger kids today than when I was at school in the 70s twaddle. We didn’t have all the takeaways like they have today.
We also played out way more than they do today.
Fair enough, some older people can be overweight, that’s it, we are older, gone through the change, etc.
I was slim up to late 40s, but two knee injuries soon scuppered that, unfortunately.

The UK, on the whole, is still pretty good re life expectancy so I wouldn’t be overly concerned. I was wondering what Monaco does , probably because it is very wealthy. I am surprised at Hong Kong doing so well because it is very crowded but then very clever people - you can’t beat Chinese medicine. As for Australia, we have always been obsessed with healthy food and diet so maybe it pays off ? One of the first to ban smoking all over the place

Allira

Norah

Whitewavemark2

I think diet (processed food) is a huge factor.

Another factor is the poor state of the NHS.

I agree. Perhaps people could scratch cook really food, apart from eating processed foods, takeaways and ready meals.

Perhaps many people are time poor.
Rushing out to work in the mornings, organising children for school, picking them up from after-school clubs, childminders, getting home, trying to get a meal on the table, clear up, supervise homework, children's activities, sort out washing, clothes for the next day etc.

Perhaps those who've never had a full-time job as well as bringing up a family don't realise there isn't always time to cook a made-from-scratch meal every night of the week.

I couldn't agree with you more, even though I don't believe that poor nutrition is the only driver of poor health in later years. It's much more complicated than that.

Norah

Whitewavemark2

I think diet (processed food) is a huge factor.

Another factor is the poor state of the NHS.

I agree. Perhaps people could scratch cook really food, apart from eating processed foods, takeaways and ready meals.

Perhaps many people are time poor.
Rushing out to work in the mornings, organising children for school, picking them up from after-school clubs, childminders, getting home, trying to get a meal on the table, clear up, supervise homework, children's activities, sort out washing, clothes for the next day etc.

Perhaps those who've never had a full-time job as well as bringing up a family don't realise there isn't always time to cook a made-from-scratch meal every night of the week.

Whitewavemark2

I think diet (processed food) is a huge factor.

Another factor is the poor state of the NHS.

I agree. Perhaps people could scratch cook really food, apart from eating processed foods, takeaways and ready meals.

Peas are a snack. They sell bags of peas in their shells in season and people eat them as we would crisps etc!
Fih is an important part of the diet in Finland; there is a huge amount of fish for sale in the markets. They also eat a lot of berries in season.

Just AI’d a typical Finnish weeks worth of food.

Very simple and wholesome. They eat a lot of leftovers as well. Eating in the works canteen also seems common.

Rye bread is consumed at every meal I think. I guess it can be an acquired taste, but I find it “sour”.

I never had cookery lessons at school. Am not interested in cooking but, having a brain in my head, I know about nutrition. Luckily, M&S supplies all our food requirements.

Allira

I never had a cookery lesson at school, apart from the first year at High School. Somehow I've managed.

Neither did I - not even in the first year at secondary school. I did learn about nutrition in biology and learnt how to read recipes. Sorted.

MT62

Calendargirl

Doing away with proper Domestic Science and Cookery lessons at secondary school was a huge mistake.

So many young and not-so-young people haven’t a clue how to cook nourishing, economical meals nowadays.

Boiling up a bit of pasta and making a few brownies seems to be the extent of food preparation, according to one mum I spoke to recently.

This.

It's not the young who are obese. It's the baby boomers, who apparently did have domestic science lessons (if they were female).

& Greens want to legalise all drugs 🙄

MT62

Yes blinking drugs. Our town stinks of cannabis. Police & council don’t seem to bother as I’ve seen people openly smoking it walking through the town centre.

Sorry replying to Oreo

Yes blinking drugs. Our town stinks of cannabis. Police & council don’t seem to bother as I’ve seen people openly smoking it walking through the town centre.

Whitewavemark2

Finlanders are the happiest people in the world.

Look at their mortality rate and health outcomes all higher than average.

What do they eat, ‘fish’?
Ours is all full of micro plastics 😩

Calendargirl

Doing away with proper Domestic Science and Cookery lessons at secondary school was a huge mistake.

So many young and not-so-young people haven’t a clue how to cook nourishing, economical meals nowadays.

Boiling up a bit of pasta and making a few brownies seems to be the extent of food preparation, according to one mum I spoke to recently.

This.

I blame councils for all these takeaways, vape shops.
Selling off school playing fields, my mums garden wall is what was our school wall. We used to run up & touch it when doing cross country, before running what seemed miles back.
Now miles of new houses.
No money spent on recs.
I noticed the poorer areas have the Astro pitches, super, duper flood lights & fancy fencing all around.

I never had a cookery lesson at school, apart from the first year at High School. Somehow I've managed.

Doing away with proper Domestic Science and Cookery lessons at secondary school was a huge mistake.

So many young and not-so-young people haven’t a clue how to cook nourishing, economical meals nowadays.

Boiling up a bit of pasta and making a few brownies seems to be the extent of food preparation, according to one mum I spoke to recently.

butterandjam

twaddle

butterandjam

Whitewavemark2

The U.K. has now fallen to number 20 out of 21 countries. Healthy life expectancy has fallen to 60.7 years for men and 60.9 years for women.

The decline of our health is so significant that in more than 90% of us, start suffering from serious illness before we reach pension age.

The findings help explain why 2.8 m people are too sick to work, and deaths are rising in the 25-49 age group,.

Inequalities is health are deep and widening .

We only fall above the USA in health stakes - what an embarrassment.

Health Foundation think tank.

What UK and USA populations have in common, is a massive rise in the consumption of junk/processed food and resultant obesity in ever-younger age groups.

Obesity carries huge risk to physical and mental health.

www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/weight-management/adult-overweight-obesity/health-risks

True, but the consumption of junk food isn't evenly distributed. It's not national, it's regional. The areas with most obesity happen to coincide with areas with most fast food outlets and lowest income. That suggests there's something else going on beyond a national taste for fast food/UPF.

I was in M and S food this am where affluent people were food at eagerly spending a lot of money on a vast range of highly processed ready made food and meals designed to appeal to middle class people with aspirations to eat "quality food".

They are buying a heavily advertised expensive delusion of eating healthily.

I'd argue that in UK the consumption of HPF,, is NOT limited to the poor or the uneducated. Increasingly, it's the lifestyle choice of affluent people with lots of money + a microwave/ airfryer. People who watch umpteen middle class cookery shows showing them how to cook; then buy it ready made from Marks and Spencer.

What's wrong with this country is an entire population with declining life skills, lazily filling in the gaps by living at second hand online.

Not everyone is capable of spending hours peeling, chopping, cooking, every day.
Some of us resort to ready meals sometimes and that is not because we have been persuaded by advertising, are particularly affluent, aspirational nor are we delusional.

Nor are we lazy.
I've cooked for over 65 years, with my mother, for a family, for DH and myself and if we want help from M&S, Charlie Bigham or whoever else, I'm not ashamed to accept it.
We grew a lot of our own vegetables and try to still grow some now too.

All my DC cook from scratch, apart from an occasional takeaway.

You cannot generalise.

There's a lot of evidence that many UHP foods not only encourage us to eat more calories than we need but also destroys a healthy gut biome which helps to reduce the level of inflammation in our bodies. Eating foods that are not UHP is better at helping us to regulate our appetites. Of course the odd highly processed meal won't harm us but perhaps too many people have too much of their daily diet from these products?

Finlanders are the happiest people in the world.

Look at their mortality rate and health outcomes all higher than average.

eazybee

I would say poor diet, smoking/vaping and lack of exercise has more to do with it.

Definitely! And drugs of course.

I think those are good points, winterwhite. Processed food has become a sort of bogeyman. I don't think there's much wrong with them, if eaten only occasionally. One advantage of any processed food is that the nutrition is printed on the back of the pack, so you know exactly what you're eating, which is handy if you're counting calories or reducing saturated fat or carbs. Eating too much for individual needs is what makes people put on weight.

If you can find some exercise you like, there really are many advantages.

I certainly agree with the decline in primary care services. Patients are reluctant to bother the doctor and often get fobbed off with a nurse or pharmacist anyway. Even if you do get to see a doctor, they don't have enough time to examine/talk to you properly and lack of continuity of care means they don't know what's normal for you.

Somebody scoffed at the Greens suggesting that the wealth of the nation should be judged on well-being rather than GDP. It's an impractical idea, but I think the Greens have a point. I just get the impression that people aren't very happy.