disgusting, fat, ugly people everywhere!

[Bob the Builder]

Burb, I suspect (though I don't have the scientific or medical background to comment) that you are correct regarding sugar. I don't think though that in society today, the answer is quite as black and white as you might suggest using my favoured examples of cold beer on a Friday and good Burgundy on any day. I suspect that these would also be digested into simple sugars and affect the body's blood sugar level (not to mention the other effects of alcohol).

Beer and good wine are some of the parts of life I enjoy most, along with good food. My current approach is to try to enjoy these all in moderation, with Friday night and beer being a considerable struggle for moderation. I do agree that one of the problems with food is the crap that is put into processed food and I try to cook my own food as much as possible from scratch with fesh ingredients.

I have also noticed that 8 years of living in Singapore has aded to my waistline and over the past 6 months I have been trying to remedy this by eating sensibly and exercising more. The change has been slow but steady, with weight loss of about 6kg, but more noticably is the change in the way clothes fit, or the need for another hole on the belt etc. My realisation was that since it took 8 years to put onthis weight, it's going to take a good while to get rid of it, without removing some the parts of life I really enjoy.

[Tack]

I'll wade in too.

Obesity, alcoholism, drug and gambling addictions, smoking etc are all huge problems. We probably all know many perfectly intelligent folk that own these conditions. I doubt any claim that these things are fine. They know they aren't and yet the condition persists by and large. Society does actually award enormous credit and praise on those that overcome.

Fat people have the hardest time of all the above I reckon because they cannot hide their weakness. To feel judged and ugly 24/7 doesn't do the trick to make you lose the weight. And yet that 'should' be a huge motivator because it is so soul destroying. Most only lose it if at all when faced with actual health issues or when they reach the realisation of the certainty of future health problems. Ranting at them isn't the answer then! (not aimed at you there M because I realise this IS a rant forum)

So the answer is...almost no chance of there being one. Measures like decent nutritional education from birth up in schools etc, total reversal of the current situation where crap food is much more readily available and much cheaper than its healthy counterpart and huge promotion of active activities in the form of free sport, incentives to walk/cycle (financial and path creation etc) etc will all help.

As for a beauty contest; you have to let the girl who is deemed most beautiful win, don't you? Or not have beauty contests!

[Fyn]

I think when you make judgements about a person's life based on what you see in a few minutes you tend to have an inaccurate conclusion more often than not.

I agree with you there but in the case of Lil M's paygroup, his playmates eat the same sort of rubbish every week. It's always cookies of all sorts, chips and lollies to name a few, for snacks. If you see this happen every week without fail, you tend to wonder.

[BFG]

We should do what we did with smokers.

Have a yellow box outside all the eateries in Singapore (which would only be allowed to sell organic healthfood) where you would be allowed to stuff a cream cake in your face.

If you make the boxes the same size as the smokers boxes it'd be funny cos you could only get one fat b*stard in at a time and you'd could start up a book on who would win the next obese git fight when someone else wants to scarf down a chocolate eclair...

PC enough for ya?

[slinky]

Well, it would seem that your wondering is based on more than a few minutes in passing and you may very well be on to something. But, I'm sure there are people who see my kids eating ice cream after lunch at the pool nearly every weekend too. What anyone 'wondering' doesn't know is, there is almost never any ice cream in our freezer at home so ice cream after lunch or dinner is not a daily thing for them. I don't like to see children eating junk 'all the time' either because they inevitably grow up with a warped sense of what nutrition is at best and at worst they grow up with weight problems that stay with them a lifetime.

Edit: Was commenting with regard to Fyn's comments - BFG got in before me

[Aliya]

I feel sick now after that cake. Yuck.

I agree with teaching kids to eat well, having said that MsA has got away with a couple of things, like that dessert she scarfed down on Sunday and the day of her birthday we had homemade organic cakes and biscuits. I think treats are fine (as long as they are not cheesecake) as long as their diet is well balanced. That is what it is all about - balance...

[slinky]

I think treats are fine (as long as they are not cheesecake) ...

Oooh, I don't know, A, I sometimes have to succumb to the calling of the Oreo cheesecake at Starbucks..... (Don't we have a drooling smiley???)

[Fyn]

Actually it's their lunch. I said snack because to me if at all I'd only have them for snacks but that's what some of lil M's playmates have for lunch.

Oh and A, nothing wrong with treats. Lil M loves his icy poles too.

[Aliya]

Oh I agree, treats are good, but as you said it is when parents say "oh they like crisps, chocolate and biscuits" for everything that alarm bells ring. Except I shall be a really awful fellow parent, if I see kids eating like that for lunch I could never keep my gob shut, MsA will be furious with me soon!

[Burbage]

Burb, I suspect (though I don't have the scientific or medical background to comment) that you are correct regarding sugar. I don't think though that in society today, the answer is quite as black and white as you might suggest using my favoured examples of cold beer on a Friday and good Burgundy on any day. I suspect that these would also be digested into simple sugars and affect the body's blood sugar level (not to mention the other effects of alcohol).

Blood sugar is glucose. Sucrose is a disaccharide which is broken down into glucose and fructose. The glucose is absorbed directly into the blood.
Starches are also converted into glucose very rapidly. (carbohydrates in your beer and wine will turn into glucose)
Alcohol is different. it is not converted into glucose but goes through another pathway. But it is used to fuel the body since the by product of acohol detoxification is energy in a different form for your body. The gluscose is therefore not used as energy and contributes to a high blood glucose level. When this starts to fall the body triggers its starvation response and begins to lay down fat.

The bottom line is this. If you can keep your blood glucose level steady then you will not lay down fat. In order to use up body fat you have to deprive your body of fuel, which is the method used by the Atkins style diets. A low fat diet will remove the building blocks of fat tissue, but will not burn up body fat since you'll be taking in too much energy in the form of carbohydrates. there is nothing simple about it, but there is one simple rule.

If you eat sugar and simple starches to excess (which means practically any for sedentary people) your body will lay down fat deposits. If you avoid them completely and use complex carbs (or alcohol, but it has other problems---you've never seen a fat wino) your body will not lay down fat.