A report published by the Medical Research Council demonstrates that once you gain weight, dieting does not help you to lose it. 12 million Britons go on diets of one kind or another every year, only around 10 per cent lose a significant amount of weight and most regain it within a year. I have blogged about this before. Dieting itself can lead to psychological responses which result in increased weight gain.
This MRC report is based on a long-term study of 25,000 men and women living in the UK. 5,362 adults born in 1946, and 20,000 born in 1958, were tracked, assessing their weight, blood pressure and lifestyles. Dr Rebecca Hardy told the Sunday Times that weight "For men it goes steadily through life. For women it starts slowly and accelerates in the mid-thirties. Once people become overweight they continue relentlessly upwards. They hardly ever go back down."
The other interesting thing she said was that "Both groups began increasing in weight in the 1980s and since then people have been increasing in mass all through life." So, regardless of when they were born, their weight began increasing in the 1980s.
Cutler et al (Journal of Economic Perspectives 2003) identified the reason for this as the industrialisation of food. Before the 1980s in the UK, if you wanted a curry, you went to the restaurant. Now you can buy it in the supermarket. If you wanted a cream cake, you either made it yourself, or went to the baker. Now it is easy to buy a huge range of previously complex to make or difficult to access foods in the local supermarket. All at great low prices.
They use the change in potato consumption as a good example of how the industrialisation of food production has dramatically changed our eating habits. What began in America has come over here.
"Before World War II, Americans ate massive amounts of potatoes, largely baked, boiled or mashed. They were generally consumed at home. French fries were rare, both at home and in restaurants, because the preparation of French fries requires significant peeling, cutting and cooking. Without expensive machinery, these activities take a lot of time. In the postwar period, a number of innovations allowed the centralisation of French fry production. French fries are now typically peeled, cut and cooked in a few central locations using sophisticated new technologies. They are then frozen at -40 degrees and shipped to the point of consumption, where they are quickly reheated either in a deep fryer (in a fast food restaurant), in an oven or even a microwave
(at home). Today, the French fry is the dominant form of potato and America’s favorite vegetable. From 1977 to 1995,total potato consumption increased by about 30 percent, accounted for almost
exclusively by increased consumption of potato chips and French fries."
Just think about it. What are the foods that you are eating that you know are contributing to your overweight. Is it the pie you made for your tea? Is the cake you baked? Or is the factory produced food that you bought at the petrol station or supermarket? Knowledge is power!
This MRC report is based on a long-term study of 25,000 men and women living in the UK. 5,362 adults born in 1946, and 20,000 born in 1958, were tracked, assessing their weight, blood pressure and lifestyles. Dr Rebecca Hardy told the Sunday Times that weight "For men it goes steadily through life. For women it starts slowly and accelerates in the mid-thirties. Once people become overweight they continue relentlessly upwards. They hardly ever go back down."
The other interesting thing she said was that "Both groups began increasing in weight in the 1980s and since then people have been increasing in mass all through life." So, regardless of when they were born, their weight began increasing in the 1980s.
Cutler et al (Journal of Economic Perspectives 2003) identified the reason for this as the industrialisation of food. Before the 1980s in the UK, if you wanted a curry, you went to the restaurant. Now you can buy it in the supermarket. If you wanted a cream cake, you either made it yourself, or went to the baker. Now it is easy to buy a huge range of previously complex to make or difficult to access foods in the local supermarket. All at great low prices.
They use the change in potato consumption as a good example of how the industrialisation of food production has dramatically changed our eating habits. What began in America has come over here.
"Before World War II, Americans ate massive amounts of potatoes, largely baked, boiled or mashed. They were generally consumed at home. French fries were rare, both at home and in restaurants, because the preparation of French fries requires significant peeling, cutting and cooking. Without expensive machinery, these activities take a lot of time. In the postwar period, a number of innovations allowed the centralisation of French fry production. French fries are now typically peeled, cut and cooked in a few central locations using sophisticated new technologies. They are then frozen at -40 degrees and shipped to the point of consumption, where they are quickly reheated either in a deep fryer (in a fast food restaurant), in an oven or even a microwave
(at home). Today, the French fry is the dominant form of potato and America’s favorite vegetable. From 1977 to 1995,total potato consumption increased by about 30 percent, accounted for almost
exclusively by increased consumption of potato chips and French fries."
Just think about it. What are the foods that you are eating that you know are contributing to your overweight. Is it the pie you made for your tea? Is the cake you baked? Or is the factory produced food that you bought at the petrol station or supermarket? Knowledge is power!
RSS Feed