is this the USA ?
 

a nation of fat folk

obese kids

high heart attack figures

more and more cases of cancers in all shapes and forms

you would think so wouldnt you but infact its the good old UK

has anyone else noticed since we took on things like McDonalds, 24 hour fast foot and microwave cooking from America the nations health has gone to crap

it used to be hardly anyone knew somone with cancer or a heart problem but these days you could stop almost anyone in teh street and tehy will know somone with or has died from cancer or is on medication for their heart and also there used to be only 1 fat kid in the class where as now if your thin your in the minority

fish and chips was a once a week treat , now its a change from a kebab or burger

shops used to have a large variety of fresh produce , now theres a few bags of spuds , carrots and isle upon isle of freezers full of stuff made from god knows what part of the animal it claims to be from

can anyone else think of anything besides gun crime that the USA has passed on to us that we shoudnt realy have adopted :D

Re: is this the USA ?
 

They have messed with our food so much that it fills us but doesn't nourish us.
We get ill as a result and die younger.
Who gains by all this?
1. The multinational companies who engineer our food supply
2. The pharmacutical companies who supply the drugs to mask symptoms.
3. The financial pension providers who pay out for a shorter time.

We are the pawns in a big greed game to gain power and profit.

Re: is this the USA ?
 

Fish and chips was never a treat at our house, far to expensive. Mum cooked good nourishing food for eight whilst holding down a full time job. Think a lot of people have got lazy since the introduction of convenience foods.

Re: is this the USA ?
 

I thought we were living longer than ever before now.

Re: is this the USA ?
 

if you can afford to buy fresh you will lol

seriously though in countries where they have less things like mcdonalds and microwave food there are a lot fewer cases of cancers especially bowel cancers , some countries in asia for example where although poorer than contries like uk and america they dont rely on fast food and microwaves etc and to me it seems since the mid 80s when all this muck started spreading across the UK diseases that were once rare are becoming more and more common place

im not that old but some kids think an oven is somthing that keeps teh kitchen warm while teh microwave is in use

Re: is this the USA ?
 

I read obituary notices - the age is dropping.
The ones dying in their 80s now were fed, for most of their lives, on good food.
More and more now are dying in their 50s and 60s.

Re: is this the USA ?
 

You don't have to buy it!!
There is very little by way of processed food in our house. We buy fresh whenever we can. We have no microwave as I cannot abide the majority of food cooked that way. McDonalds is a no-no in my eyes and I actively encourage the kids NOT to go in that I won't take them!!
We have chippy tea occasionally (couple of times a month tops) and maybe KFC every couple of months .
I cook most nights and there is very little nobody likes.
Drawback is it tends to cost a little more but at least I get my money back knowing we're all as well as possible.

It's not the various franchise's that are entirely at fault, they are there to make a profit. Indeed they do so knowing there are plenty of people out there willing to pay instead of disciplining themselves out of taking the easy option.

Re: is this the USA ?
 

Oh, should've added I agree it is a scourge on society's health.

Re: is this the USA ?
 

what pee's me off though is when you get people saying that they only give their kids the best and you know damn well that they always feed their kids crap...shameful, especially when the kids trip the parents up about what they eat....

'my child never eats chips'
'you make me chips all the time mummy'

Re: is this the USA ?
 

I cook things from scratch too....and it doesn't have to be more expensive either.

There are bargains to be had in the fresh fruit and veg departments of all the major stores.
Today in Aldi I bought a large head of broccoli 49 pence, salad potatoes 49 pence......they had apples at 49 pence, and six kiwi fruit for 49 pence.

I cook in batches too so that reduces the cooking costs.......and I use a steamer.....retains the flavour and goodness, and you cook three lots of veg on one gas ring.

We hardly ever have fish and chips......never have McDonalds and I wouldn't give you twopence for a KFC.

Re: is this the USA ?
 

Mcdonalds n other Crap Food Outlets are a big NO-NO in our house,right or wrong i have always laid the blame on much of the overweights on these places,Mcds even encourage kids to have parties at there crap holes n some numpties think its a kids treat. Get Real.:rolleyes:

Re: is this the USA ?
 

The problem with 'good fresh food' cooked at home is that it is less nutritious than it was 50 years ago.
Intensive growing has reduced the mineral content of the soil (and so the food), and transport over long distances reduces the vitamins in it.
So whether you eat in a wholesome way or not, you still won't be getting the same standard of food that was available 50 years ago.
http://www.physicalnutrition.net/soi...-depletion.htm

Re: is this the USA ?
 

i was overweight even before i'd ever stepped into a Mc d's
we didnt have all these take aways when i was a kid, so what was my excuse for being fat? i was one hell of a greedy kid... so the fast food industry can't be blamed for everything....when it comes down to it...its the parents...end of

bollox to all this 'fast food is making my child obese' 'ban all the fast food places'

Re: is this the USA ?
 

There's nine in our house including 4 teenagers who'll eat twice as much as the normal child if allowed!! I tend to cater for a dozen as it is.
Love steamed veg and never cook it any other way. Spuds are always boiled, sometimes mashed, or roasted. We don't have a chip pan / deep-fat fryer cos they're buggers to keep clean anyhow.

Re: is this the USA ?
 

Quite agree Flashy. Although it doesn't help in the long run. It's eating similar foods at home too coupled with lounging about in front of the tv!

Re: is this the USA ?
 

i know people who are as thin as a rake who live off Mc d's food....they never put an ounce of weight on

i'm obese, i dont often eat take aways, i cycle at least 8 miles a week (8 on most days in the summer...accyman and Katex can vouch for this) i eat fruit and veg...but i'm still hugely obese...i very rarely fry things, dont get me wrong, my diet is far from perfect, i'm fat, i'm me, get over it

Re: is this the USA ?
 

Flashy, there is no way you are fat or obese ! You just have a desire to be thinner than you are now. :)
Watched Supersize versus Superskinny last week, the Skinny one lived off fast food on the move ... nothing nutritious at all, but the Supersize lady had all good foods ... she was just eating huge portions of them ... interesting.

Good programme last night MargaretR .. Professor Regan's Diet Clinic .. did you see ? Right up your street. Looking at over the counter diet products and people who were taking Vitamin Pills which were not necessary. By the way, seems Marmite was the best form of vitamin B12 .. only about half a teaspoon per day. Lots more like boiled carrots threw out more goodness than raw ones ... that surprised me.

Re: is this the USA ?
 

Kate, anyone over 13 stone now is classed as obese, ask your doctor

Re: is this the USA ?
 

its all about yer constitution as well shaz, i aint oerweight yet if it dont come out of a chip pan or frying pan it dont exist.:D i would not ban em, but its about using common sense if it puts yer weight on scranning it, don't.:)

Re: is this the USA ?
 

yeah i know what you mean cashy, some people are just prone to putting weight on no matter what they eat i suppose

Re: is this the USA ?
 

Surely that cannot be right.......they must have to take height into condsideration.

I know that when we did pre-op checks we used to measure the height and the weight of the patient to calculate the body mass index ( a far from ideal way of deciding whether someone was obese, but that was the tool that we were asked to use )
Now if I were 13 stone, then yes I would be obese...being only 5 foot one inch.

I thought that there was a move to using the waist to hip ratio to determine whether someone was obese or not.

Re: is this the USA ?
 

I have to agree, we need far less Mc Dees and far more independent Butty shop's if we must suffer heart attacks and obesity, Let's have the good old Sausage double egg bacon and beans butty!

Come on people we have a thread on here about why do people suffer allergies, I personally would rather stick to good old stodgy Made by my mum with dumplings than anything the health freaks can introduce,

be honest, nothing we eat does us any good we could all do with a better life style, but I for one will continue eating to enjoy rather than to live longer, the longer you live the more chance you have of ending up back in nappies and food dribbling down your chin!

Re: is this the USA ?
 

theres always been fat and thin people but my point was that since the introduction of things like microwaves , mcdonalds and such theres a lot more illness about and it just seems to me to be more than sheer coincidence that our population is now what americas is which is a considerable rise in people with cancers or heart conditions or obese because their brought up thinking that the lettuce on a big mac is part of their 5 a day

of course if your genetic make up makes you large your going to be large no matter what but i bet a hell of a lot of obesity is down to crap food stripped of its already minimal nutritional value by microwaving it or a few too many trips to the takeaway, how can anything heated up by radiation be any good for you anyway?

i thought schools were getting their act together and starting to teach kids how to cook but i was soon proven wrong when i was sent to get ingredients to make a piza which incidently cost more than buying one from pizahut then ingredients the next week to make cream cakes

they should also stop this practice where anything good for you costs twice as much and make healthy living more affordable

On top of all this like others have said companies are allowed to pump drugs into our food to gain bigger proffits infact i cant recall the name of the preservitive right now but our food gets pumped with one that is banned in most parts of europe because its been linked to developing cancers

whats teh govenments answer to this - a few posters and adverts saying eat 5 a day which basicly enabled companies to put 1 of your 5 a day on its packet and charge double for it :rolleyes:

anyway i blame America :D

Re: is this the USA ?
 

Getting away from the foods issue, things I do not like from America:

Baseball Caps
Trainers ... well, when using as a fashion item.
Jukeboxes.
That siren that our emergency services seem to have adopted.
Having a spelling check on our forum which is American.
Frank Sinatra.
Being called a guy, when I am obviously not (well, don't think I look one any)
Chewing gum ... chew myself, but now hate how some of our citizens spit out on pavement as a marker.

Things I never hope will come here is their heavy tipping and guns of course.
Also their badly made clothes, particularly men's suits and shirts.
Some of their T.V. programmes (not all) and the incessant adverts they insist in during broadcasts ... believe me, worse than ours.

And by the way, that's nonsense about genetic make-up making you fat .. just fat parents feed their children like themselves, so develop fat kids.

Re: is this the USA ?
 

just a general observation from my own surroundings , the folks who live in the suburbs and are more dependant on a car being parked at the front door seem to be a bit bigger than the people I know who live 'downtown' and use public transport to get around . Best examples I can use for the US are NYC and San Francisco , both high density population/low car ownership cities (both cities also have the lowest number per capita of licensed drivers). The opposite arguement to this is that urban areas have more fast food places than the 'burbs' which should mean that city folks would be bigger .
Think it just boils down to folk not walking as much as they used to do , even if its just to the bus stop

Re: is this the USA ?
 

"Good programme last night MargaretR .. Professor Regan's Diet Clinic .. did you see ? "
I am watching it on BBCiplayer as I write this.
It is not a programme which I would normally watch because I have no interest in taking diet pills.
I noticed straight off that Prof Regan is an obstetrician and not a nutritionist.
As a warning not to take diet pills it was worthwhile screening for a mass audience.

I noticed that the emphasis is more on calorie counting and less on nutritional content.
It made no reference whatsoever to the effects that prescription drugs and food engineering hamper the body's capacity to obtain nutrients from food.
(I have been damaged by prescription drugs so am unable to absorb what I need, no matter how healthy the food is that I eat.)

It compounded the myth that fat intake is bad "fat=calories"
Fat is an essential nutrient for brain function. The type of fat is what matters.
Chemically engineered trans fats/hydrogenated fats may contain less calories that saturated fats
BUT they are unnatural to digest and disrupt metabolism.

As for the section on vitamin pills - misleading - because it is basing intake on the RDA(recommended daily intake)
Different people need different amounts- what would be enough for some would be indequate/too much for others.

By looking at their diets and saying 'you are getting enough from your food' is misleading - how did they measure the nutritional value of the food eaten - I have already provided a link to show that
food produced now has less value than that available 50 years ago.

I agree that taking vitamins without researching can be dangerous,
but I contend that prescription drugs are MORE dangerous.

"By the way, seems Marmite was the best form of vitamin B12 .. only about half a teaspoon per day."
I have tried to find out the type of vitamin B12 in Marmite and cannot.
Not all B12 are the same and have different functions in the body
There are four types -
Cyanocolbamin, hydroxycolbamin, - the scientifically produced/chemically engineered types= problems
Methylcolbamin and adenocolbamin(dibencozide) - the naturally occuring types which are more readily used by a body.

I could go on for ages yet but won't because you have probably lost interest already.:rolleyes:

I will conclude by saying that the programme was 'light in content' and designed so to reach an audience who are more interested in their dress size than their health.

Re: is this the USA ?
 

well i aint lost interest, cos i never had any.:D:D:D:D

Re: is this the USA ?
 

MargaretR - Why should there be a 'problem' with the use of hydroxycolbamin because it is scientifically produced? - if I had the choice between suffering the ill-effects of pernicious anaemia or having my regular injections of B12 - I know which I'd prefer!:) And would doctors continue to give B12 injections if there were 'problems' entailed?

Re: is this the USA ?
 

Your body has to convert it to methylcolbamin before it can be used.
Some of its value is lost during that conversion.
Hydroxycolbamin is used by doctors because it is more stable for storage.
Methylcolbamin for injections has to be refridgerated and stored in darkness.
I know a scottish ambulance driver who imports the crystals, mixes it, and does his own injections.
He made the 1st stage of his recovery having hydroxycolbamin from his doc, then recovery came to a standstill so he began to treat himself and got out of a wheelchair and back to work in one year.
Thankfully we are never given cyanocolbamin by our NHS, but that is used in USA. It has a cyanide molecule which breaks off and lingers in the body .
Hydroxycolbamin is an easier way for docs to administer B12.
I take methylcolbamin by absorbtion from lozenges held between my cheek and gum for a minimum of 45 minutes.

Re: is this the USA ?
 

Margaret, what are your views on other scientifically produced treatments?

eg treatments for diabetics, and people on synthetically produced thyroxine?

Re: is this the USA ?
 

I dont know anything about them sorry
I have only researched and learnt how to cure my chronic fatigue and peripheral neuropathy.