processed food and obeisity

rebenny · Post by **rebenny** » 26 Sep 2008, 13:35

Hi,
I was watching a programme with dp last night about a man who weighed, well I can't really remember I think it was about 70 stone and we were talking about how this can happen. It occurred to me that a really good way to diet would be to have no processed foods in your diet. i.e you need to make it all from scratch. So if you wanted a biccie you had to bake them, if you wanted ice cream you had to make it... I don;t know I think this sounds like a fairly good way of dieting unless of course you like making (and eating) lots of cakes!! lol
Where would you stop though cause even 'raw ingredients' like flour etc has been processed....
Still food for thought (he he)
L x

Post by Mo » 26 Sep 2008, 13:52

Well, lets say you can buy the basic ingredients but only in small amounts as you want them, and you've got to walk to the shop.
And grow your own veg.

Sounds like that childrens story about the woman who wanted a pancake so she went to the hen, the cow, and the miller before she could make it.

Good idea though, back to basics.

Meanqueen · Post by **Meanqueen** » 26 Sep 2008, 13:59

I think you're dead right, rebenny. I watched a programe the other day about Tipi Valley, the place in Wales where people live in tents and suchlike. There wasn't an overweight person around, they were all thin or average weight. It's HERE if you want to watch it.

Ilona
:-D

kate egg · Post by **kate egg** » 26 Sep 2008, 16:10

If only we didn't have to work to earn a living this would probably be possible to do. I make most meals from basic ingrediants but a couple of nights a week have a rest and hubby has a pizza and I scrat about and find something in the fridge.

If I bake cakes or biccies the kids eat them as soon as they come out the oven :-D

I prefer savoury food like crisps :cry: I am about 2 stone overweight and although I've lost weight in the past I always put it back on plus more. now I am afraid that if I lose weight I will end up even heavier, I know it sounds like a feeble excuse but it really stops me having any willpower to try. I eat a lot of veg, eggs (of course) brown bread, yogurts, lean meat. But I eat too much, and I rather like a glass of wine or 3 in the evening - which often gives me the munchies. I'm just a hopeless case :cry: :cry:

I am fitter than I used to be because I walk the dog twice a day and work in the garden, but not lost any weight.

Going back to the programme you mentioned - what I don't understand is that when people get so huge that they are bed ridden how come they don't lose weight - they cannot get food for themselves so someone must be getting it for them?

Meanqueen · Post by **Meanqueen** » 26 Sep 2008, 21:08

I saw a programme about very large people, once. Members of the family and friends were getting their food because they either felt sorry for them, or they demanded they get it for them. They also phoned their orders through to a takeaway and got it delivered.

I think when it gets to this stage it is an illness, what starts off as comfort eating becomes an obsession. Easy access to junk food has got to be a contributary factor in excessive weight gain. If you couldn't pop into a takeaway or buy ready meals, and had to put together the basic ingrediants yourself, would you bother or just go without?

Ilona

rebenny · Post by **rebenny** » 27 Sep 2008, 08:32

Yea you're dead right. The people who are so obeses that they can't leave the bed are being FED!! This is something that I think is ommitted in these programmes and actually is probably not being addressed in 'real life'. To me this is abuse. Partners and family members are killing their partners with food. I saw one programme once (me thinks I watch too much!!) where it was a mum who was feeding her son (almost to death) and when they delved a bit deeper her motivation was to keep him at home with her and dependant on her as she had lost an older son in a car crash. So sad really, but what they ended up doing was giving the teenager a gastric band and then sending him home to what really was the cause of the problem and his abuser (his mum), when really I think she should have been the one 'treated' as she obviously needed some help.

Back to the scratch diet, v interesing idea, I'd almost be tempted to give it a go, although it wouldn't be a massive change, but at the moment in my trolley the processed stuff is:
breakfast cereals for daughter
a packet of biscuits
dried pasta
butter
yoghurts
fruit juices (from concentrate)
pizza
baked beans
and processed raw ingredients (which I don't think I'd count) such as oil, flour, sugar ...
battered fish (sometimes)

Actually looking at it, i'd say it wouldn't be that difficult as I do cook from scratch mostly and it's more the snack things that aren't so good for me (I didn;t put extra treats he he!!) that I buy and scoff...

Laura x

bluebell · Post by **bluebell** » 02 Oct 2008, 15:46

Very interesting thread.

I hope I am not going off topic here, but watched a bit of Jamie O and his programme about getting people of Rotherham to eat healthily. I could not believe him going into a woman's house and her and kids eating kebabs and cr*p out of polystyrene containers on the sitting room floor. I really felt for her. She admitted to J O that she cannot cook. She did however have an EIGHT burner cooker!

From her point of view how brave to be seen on TV by the nation.

Sadly, what chance have kids got when their mums don't know how to cook, for what they were spending every night on take-aways!!!

Post by **saint-spoon** » 02 Oct 2008, 16:03

Through reasons of my own I decided to compare our local sadsa with son of morris and weighted roses to see which one offered the most fresh produce and which catered for the ready meal brigade. Unsurprisingly the weighted rose had the best fresh to ready ratio where as sadsa was by far the worse and what they did have as fresh was woefully poorly restocked (virtually no choice). It thereofr comes as no surprise that weighted roses is next to the posh area whereas sadsa is next to the less desirable part of town. Is this the same shop based produce quality thing constant throughout or does weighted roses drop itâ€™s standard to mainly ready meals if it is situated in a less wealthy area?

taff · Post by **taff** » 02 Oct 2008, 16:13

It might depend on the size of the place too. We've got an asda wallmart here, it is truly huge, it would take me the best part of a day to walk all the way along every aisle and look at stuff. We've also got a large tescos and another smaller asda, and a large sainsburys. There's also a small sainsburys in this village too.
Marlborough though, which is about 20 minutes away is a very prosperous area with a lot of money, and they have a waitrose.
In my own head and I'm not sure this goes for everyone, in terms of quality of produce, from best to worst, I'd go with
waitrose
sainsburys
tescos
asda.
We don't seem to have any morrisons around here, it's seems more of a northern phenomena. Best breakfasts there though ;), and I'd recommend the morecambe one, just for the singing waitress.

Post by **saint-spoon** » 02 Oct 2008, 20:26

i do live pretty far south by the way..... and we have definately got a son of morris.

rebenny · Post by **rebenny** » 05 Oct 2008, 08:15

The price wars are def on here in Ireland. For years we have been really over charged here, and the competition authoroty have ensured that prices have been maintained at firly high level(so stupid). I now shop in A.L.D.I., because any other equivalen is just too much for my very low income family. I shop there because I feel I can stock up with as much fresh fruit and veg as I like, someing I can' t do in he local supermarket as they seem to think it ok to charge 3 tikes as much, especially for more 'exotic' fruits like pineapples and mangos. I also feel I can buy the organic ranges there which I can;t don in oher supermarkets.
But yes, I think to make it tempting for people to cook healthy and nurious foods with kids he cost really has to be lower than buying crappy ready meals. Perhaps because many mums aren' cooking with their kids anymore it really does affect childrens interest and ability to cook. Maybe schools could do more home ec, although I do think schools have enough on thier hands teaching other subjects, I don;t know, perhaps free cooking demos.. How do you break a non cooking cycle?
INteresting thread, am enjoying thinking about this, makes me feel like I'm doing a fairly good job feeding the family the way I do!!

stace · Post by **stace** » 05 Oct 2008, 08:42

Hi Taff

We have a son of morris just down from me! )t'

No cafe in there though :cry: But fresh meat, fish, deli!

I shop there all the time as its so close!Its in haydonwick? do you know it?

stace (f+

kate egg · Post by **kate egg** » 05 Oct 2008, 08:47

Its worrying looking at what kids eat, and how they feed themselves if left to it - pizza, burgers, bacon butties, scrambled eggs on toast is about as much as my lads would do.

Although I cook a family meal almost every night, like my mum did, I cannot imagine that the kids are going to do it when they have their own homes and families. The schools teach food technology but they don't seem to do much cooking like we did.

Another problem now of course is alcohol intake, so many kids are blasting their livers and eating cr*p, what on earth is their health going to be like by the time they get to 40 or so?

jo68 · Post by **jo68** » 05 Oct 2008, 08:50

hi

i cook as much as pos home cooked food i would love to have the time to cook my own all the time and stay at home but i have to work and some evenings dont get home until 5 oclock then hubby goes to work those are the days were i may get a pizza out of the freezer.

my daughter had a friend whos mum did not cook anything at all she would go shopping and buy all ready meals my daughter thought it was fab when she stayed over.
but her friend loved comming over to us for sunday lunch or tea in the week she loved home cooked meals.

once i sent over some stew and dumplings for her mum and sister )t'

jo x

jo68 · Post by **jo68** » 05 Oct 2008, 08:59

hi kateg

my son 15 wants to train to be a chef when he leaves school he has spent many times in the kitchen with me )t'

but at school they are not alowed to put the oven on the food tec person goes around and puts it on for them so how can they learn properly if its not hands on.

jo x