Radio 2 topic today: Fat people- working class or not?

[Manlinose]

Lists of fat famous people aren't terribly useful. They aren't typically middle class, either!There is no simple relationship between social class and obesity, but my 30 years as a teacher convinced me that

 

 

• many children exercise less than children used to in the 60s and 70s and eat more fat and cartbohydrate than they need, hence they gain weight
  
• fat parents tend to rear fat children
  
• cooking real food is a generally middle class activity
  
• until cookery lessons in schools revert to teaching kids how to cook real food rather than designing the packaging, generations of less affluent kids will continue to eat junk food as a staple
  

 

There are a majority of families now who do not not eat together around a table. I suspect that might have something to do with the appalling nutritional standards in many homes. The truth is, Britain has lost its way as far as food and health are concerned.

 

just wanted to quote this post because i agree with it - couldn't have put it better myself

[gnvqsos]

So you get so fat you can't move you then get DLA because you've made yourself immobile through over eating. So you can get DLA for being fat.

 

Can you get DLA for being simplistic and dismissive of fat people?

[Bypassblade]

I bet at least half of those come from working class backgrounds.

 

So they may have done, but they got loads of dosh now so not WC anymore, and still doesn't detract from fact they are FAT.

[Supertramp]

 

That's probably a mistake, but I mention Prescott & Smith at the beginning, they're British, or were. As for the others it said working class fatties, I was pointing out these people are fat, not working class, it did not specify which country. Fatties in UK John Barnes, Razor Ruddock, Gazza (was a right lard arse), Jimmy 5 bellies, that fat youth on that singing programme, Dawn French, Lenny Henry, Adele, that's just off top of my head.

 

They are all working class. Lenny henry - yep

Adele - deffo

John Barnes

Razor Ruddock

Gazza

 

all working class

[truman]

So they may have done, but they got loads of dosh now so not WC anymore, and still doesn't detract from fact they are FAT.

 

Don't you think there's a chance that someone's eating habits are ingrained when they are children?

[Bypassblade]

Lists of fat famous people aren't terribly useful. They aren't typically middle class, either!There is no simple relationship between social class and obesity, but my 30 years as a teacher convinced me that

 

 

[*]many children exercise less than children used to in the 60s and 70s and eat more fat and cartbohydrate than they need, hence they gain weight.

 

That's because they have all the gadgets now, we made our own entertainment

 

[*]fat parents tend to rear fat children

 

No you can get fat parents, and kids like a stick

 

[*]cooking real food is a generally middle class activity

 

We're not middle class & our kids used to have a cooked meal daily, now they've gone we still cook for ourselves most nights & the wife cooks every Sunday for 10

 

[*]until cookery lessons in schools revert to teaching kids how to cook real food rather than designing the packaging, generations of less affluent kids will continue to eat junk food as a staple

 

There I do agree, I mean there is a big campaign to ban smoking full stop, but not to ban fast food outlets, who are causing more problems through obesity

 

 

There are a majority of families now who do not not eat together around a table. I suspect that might have something to do with the appalling nutritional standards in many homes. The truth is, Britain has lost its way as far as food and health are concerned.

 

I do agree with you again there

[Mecky]

Obesity is down to all sorts of factors. Exercise and diet being the main ones. Class would come so far down the list it's not worth mentioning.

 

Alright then, aren't peoples' diet choices to eat processed food, which are typically high in fats and salts, to keep profit as high as high as possible, keeping people in work eand paying tax? e.g. manufacturing food and the NHS?

[Happ Hazzard]

They are all working class. Lenny henry - yep

Adele - deffo

John Barnes

Razor Ruddock

Gazza

 

all working class

John Barnes' dad was a Colonel in the Jamaican Army!

[Mister M]

If the working class were emaciated with haunted looking expressions as they were in Victorian England and before no doubt the thread would full of comments about people being too lazy, idle, or too stupid to cook decent food.

 

Most people's eating habits have changed over the last 100 years - just like most people's lives in general.

 

What has not changed, unfortunately are people's general prejudices, and a willingness to join in the derision of those at the bottom of the pile.

 

How many threads on this Forum criticise the middle class for example?

[andygardener]

But class, or socio-economic status or whatever you want to call it, has a bearing on all these things.

 

People with higher social economic status don't tend to be thinner by virtue of their status alone, but by virtue of their status they do tend to be better educated, have higher paying jobs, and generally healthier lifestyles, which leads to them being less likely to be obese.

 

It is not just about what people can afford so these arguments about the price of McDonalds aren't really relevant either.

 

The link is there, and has been backed up dozens of times by scientific studies.

 

In the absense of specific medical conditions which cause obesity the healthy lifestyle bit is the only part which has an impact on obesity. There are plenty of well paid highly educated people who eat too much and exercise too little and end up obese as a result. Lots of people in highly paid jobs get little or no exercise from their work, work long hours and don't have the time to go to the gym after work. I would imagine a study of obesity in say roofers vs lawyers would probably find that on average the lawyers were more likely to be obese even though the lawyers earn more and will be better educated on average.