Fats are highly demonized, it's the corn syrup and sugar in everything that makes people fat, empty calories with no nutrients.
You'll find that the obese are the most malnourished as they are not getting enough of the right nutrients and vitamins.
A substitute for lean meat would be oats and buckwheat (the only product that hasn't been in any way GMO'ed) - cheap alternatives.
I think it's down to getting educated properly, and most people look for a quick fix and an easy way.
Exercise is important, of course, but ask any fitness enthusiast, they'll tell you it's all about what you eat, 90% diet, 10% exercise.

marina wrote:
Oh yeah i remember marina , your quite hot if i remember correctly.

Not that that will influence my attitude towards you.

You remember correctly!

much is made about 'sheeple' (i hate that word) and how they are manipulated and brainwashed into blindly following the 'system' whether it be political or financial or consumerism. Part of that is the encouragement to consume calories and then consume pharmaceutical methods of weight reduction, diet products, fitness products etc etc etc. Foods labelled 'wholegrain' don't need to actually be wholegrain just have the nutrients put back in the finished product, Low fat means high sugar and salt, The list of how people are mislead into believing certain foods are healthy when they are not is massive, Then there is the emotionally manipulative adverts which tell us that food and family, food and 'me time', food as a way to combat unhappiness, food to celebrate, food to fit in. People who attempt to eat properly healthy foods are ridiculed as 'hippies' or worse still are told they might have an eating disorder. People like jamie oliver who like him or loathe him wants to get fresh, non mechanically messed around with foods into schools and homes - foods without additives etc - is vilified for doing so. Official advice over what is and is not healthy is dictated by the food companies and labeling is woefully inadequate.

Cooking skills are no longer taught and shit food is cheaper and more convenient

For the average person who places trust in 'the system' rather than looking outside of it may well believe that they are eating healthily but still be overweight. Spending long hours in sedentary jobs that offer little to no mental or physical stimulation and struggling to pay the basics so therefore lack the time and will to do whats necessary to exercise more, few green spaces available to grow your own,

I believe there is far more to obesity than what we eat or how much we exercise, anti depressants, the pill, steroids, pesticides, manufacturing processes, pressure from advertising and mixed messages on health, the self esteem crushing race to the bottom all contribute.

I refuse to judge people on their outward appearance be they thin, average or obese - it means nothing to me - what matters to me is the person, how they treat others etc. I would no more point out someones size than I would a disfigurement or disability - they know what size they are and should not be made to feel bad about it by others - I do not know their story, and do not feel it is my place to make assumptions based on appearance alone.

as to the op...

If all jobs offered a fair days pay for a fair days work then far more people would be prepared to do them and there would be no need to force anyone to do them.

marina wrote: I agree with some of the things you've said in the thread, and I think you're absolutely right about sugar. I'm lucky that I've always been slim, and probably always will be, but I suppose what I am wondering is why it bothers you that other people are overweight? It's definitely of concern from a public health perspective, but for me what other people do with and to their bodies is no concern of mine, any more than taking drugs or sexual behaviour would be. Let them get on with it as far as I'm concerned.thoreau wrote: In addition to what you've said, I think undoubtedly the poor mental state that many people have due to 'austerity' and all the rest of it must play a part. This is a quote from George Orwell's 'Road to Wigan Pier':
I know that there is a big link between social class, income level and obesity and it's not so much that poor people can't afford decent food, it's that they seek solace in something. Equally, as you say, they seek it in alcohol, drugs, etc, but it's often sought in comfort eating too.

Yep, tell me about it!
True.
YES!!!
Pay everybody equally. It's not fair that a bank official is paid way more than a construction worker or farmer, when they are both putting in the same amount of time, and the skills necessary for the certain job. Not everybody is an Einstein, and not everybody can do physical work. To each it's own.

wake_up_bomb wrote:
OK, I am lol,
It doesn't bother me how other people live their lives, not in the slightest... but I don't' do sugar coating.
I 'research' alot of topics, if that's the word for it, and eating disorders is one of them (along with religion, immigration, politics, technology etc.)
But you're right, live and let live ehh...

marina wrote: You're lucky. Don't develop a sweet tooth; it's a curse!

it bugs me how many think that unemployment is some sort of unintended consequence, a problem that can be made to go away if the economy improves a bit. Having a large pool of unemployed people is a vital part of the economy, without that you get rampant inflation and anything nearing full employment is probably worse than high unemployment for the economy in this crazy system.

In addition, if all you offer unemployed people are shit minimum wage jobs which will see them little, if any better off, I dont blame them for turning them down at all, I would too. We need the unemployed, so the best we could do (in this system) is to make sure they have the skills to do decent jobs where the income could actually support a family, then maybe we could have a constantly shifting group of unemployed people, rather than long term unemployed with no real hope.

Benefits are not too generous, jobs are too poorly paid to make them worth doing. Of course, if jobs are already poorly paid, then using the unemployed as free labour will only exacerbate the problem, everyone must know this.

As for the fat lazy people on benefits stuff, there is a definite correlation between income and health, obesity and diabetes are always going to be more common with the unemployed and those of minimum wage or near it. Shit food is really cheap, but fulfilling in the short term.