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

[Vague_Boy]

Jeremy Vine hosted this topic, which was prompted by a couple of recent surveys which appeared to connect working class people ('the poor')

 

Working class or chavs?

 

Working class people... work.

 

The multi-generational benefit dependent types are not working class.

[aliceBB]

Meat and two veg. has always been a staple for lower and middle classes, maybe the plates and portions are larger nowadays

Not since the 1980s and the widespread availability of convenience foods, it hasn't.

 

Junk food is blamed but how many people actually buy burgers and chips more than twice a week

You would be surprised. Take a look in other people's shopping trolleys to see what rubbish they eat. My brother in law runs a small supermarket in a poor area of South Wales and he says that there are many families there who live off cheap pizza, microwave chips, burgers and fizzy drinks and never buy fresh or even frozen vegetables. It's more noticeable in Asda than in Sainsburys, but it's a time bomb.

 

Or perhaps people believe more food is associated with affluence

I don't think so, these days. But the less well-educated (who also tend to be worse off) tend to get sucked into a disastrous cycle of eating too much fat and sugar, and not enough protein, or complex carbohydrates (e.g.fruit and vegetables). As a result they feel less satisfied and then hungry sooner (than if they had eaten a better meal), so they snack on junk (e.g. crisps, biscuits), which give them a quick fix but aren't ultimately nourishing. They are genuinely malnourished, in fact. Their blood sugar is all over the place and because fat and sugar are comforting and addictive, it's hard to break the habit. Hence the epidemic of Type 2 diabetes.

 

Actually I don't see many obese schoolchildren, but a lot of adult obesity at supermarkets

Just give them time! In 10 years most of them will be well on the way to looking like their parents.

 

A GP in the North East told me that he regularly has to send patients with BMIs of over 50 to Edinburgh Zoo for scans as they are too fat for the normal hospital machines.

[cressida]

Well thanks for that Alice:D

 

That last sentence was an eye-opener though:hihi: