Everyday Systems

Hello No S Pals,

I picked this up on Diamond Dallas Page's web page under "Food and Recipes", of all place. This is a Ted Talk, given by Jamie Oliver. This is one of the more profound insights into obesity that I have seen, or read.

Please enjoy:

http://www.ted.com/talks/jamie_oliver.html

Amazing talk. Thank you, Over43.

Thank you so much for sharing. Everyone needs to know this stuff!

I'm a big Jamie Oliver fan, and he puts so much energy into trying to improve the quality of food offered to children across the country in schools. He gets a lot of criticism because he tells it like it is, but personally I admire his courage.

I really enjoyed what he had to say. I am really impressed with him. When I have time I am going to hunt down more of his info.

I use his recipes for Toad in the Hole, Chicken Korma and Plum Bakewell all the time as they are family favourites. His cookbooks are highly recommended, and he is also a big fan of authentic regional italian food. He was quite young when he came into the public eye in the UK as a TV chef, but he is now more associated with campaigning about food quality and health education for children.

Love Jaimie. He's fun to watch, all passionate people are. The hair and flannel shirts are classic. I do question his 10 years shorter life span data, though. The only research I've seen that indicates that is from an article in the New England Journal of Medicine which talks about a POTENTIAL decline in the life expectancy.

That said, weight related health issues may not portend a premature mortality but probably do relate to a poorer quality of life later in life.


A Potential Decline in Life Expectancy in the United States in the 21st Century, New England Journal of Medicine; 2005; 352:1138-1145

Does anyone really know what makes someone finally accept that he/she has to make some sacrifices to make necessary changes? Do people do it because of talks like this? Do the obese and morbidly obese really not know that what they are doing is unhealthy?


I know that in my case it was because I was just so tired of being uncomfortable from frequent overeating and I was afraid I would never stop without finding some way to limit it. I just couldn't stand the idea that I would be bonded to food for my whole life. But it took decades. I just wasn't willing to face the difficulty before that.

I,m not sore Oolala. Apparently some are not aware, ignore the situation, or turn themselves into some sort of tragic character. What was staggering was how much food the one family ate during a week. I can only imagine that the parents had no idea until it was laid out in front of them on the table like it was. I imagine how humiliated I would be if someone sacked food on my table like that.

People probably do it because it's acceptable to be obese, to graze, and to eat huge portions.

oolala53 wrote:Does anyone really know what makes someone finally accept that he/she has to make some sacrifices to make necessary changes? Do people do it because of talks like this? Do the obese and morbidly obese really not know that what they are doing is unhealthy?


I know that in my case it was because I was just so tired of being uncomfortable from frequent overeating and I was afraid I would never stop without finding some way to limit it. I just couldn't stand the idea that I would be bonded to food for my whole life. But it took decades. I just wasn't willing to face the difficulty before that.

Knowing that you need to change something and having a concrete plan to do it are two different things. Having a concrete plan to lose weight and having a concrete plan to lose weight that will actually work and be sustainable in the long term are two entirely different things, as well.

leafy_greens wrote:People probably do it because it's acceptable to be obese, to graze, and to eat huge portions.

Lots of people think it's not only acceptable to graze, but preferable to eating larger meals. Maybe in theory it is, if you were eating the same amount of the same foods in both cases. In the real world, though, people usually don't eat the same kind of foods at snacks and meals. People eat more junk food when they snack. And it's harder to see how much you're eating if it's not all in front of you at one time.