Obesity increases risks of death from COVID-19 - Public Health England

[tribalfusion001]

29 minutes ago, Kadilo said:

Really? I thought all the big boys were in. I know Toby are cos they have sent me an email to say so but they can shove it as they now want to serve the food themselves due to COVID. 

Who wants to go for Carvery and be served? Defeats The whole point. Mind you, prob be the way now for all these places as they have the Obesity argument to back them up. 

 

Yeah 5lb ain’t gonna make a dent in some of these people, 5kg would be better but you gotta start somewhere I guess. 

KFC and Wimpy looks to be doing it, but not Wimpy in Rayleigh. The information given on the gov.uk site is sometimes listed as the ltd company not the restaurant name. It's a bit of a mess tbh.

 

https://www.tax.service.gov.uk/eat-out-to-help-out/find-a-restaurant

 

A carvery that has the waiter serve you, not quite the same is it. Harvester is only allowing one person up to the salad bar at a time.

Edited July 27, 2020 by tribalfusion001

[torturedsole]

33 minutes ago, tribalfusion001 said:

Wimpy is one of them and an Indian restaurant was another, most of the places I've never heard of.

The weekdays is a bit limiting as our local Wimpy is also in the scheme.  Since our local Wimpy changed hands last year it's improved no end and I don't mind spending £20 on two mains and two coffees once every few months.  I've been a closet Wimpy fan since the 80s.

[Kadilo]

9 minutes ago, tribalfusion001 said:

 

 

A carvery that has the waiter serve you, not quite the same is it. Harvester is only allowing one person up to the salad bar at a time.

They ain’t gonna be using the salad bowl lol 

[tribalfusion001]

2 minutes ago, torturedsole said:

The weekdays is a bit limiting as our local Wimpy is also in the scheme.  Since our local Wimpy changed hands last year it's improved no end and I don't mind spending £20 on two mains and two coffees once every few months.  I've been a closet Wimpy fan since the 80s.

I had a milkshake in my local one, that was pretty good and I took a takeaway menu from there. I was thinking of trying a burger set but the local one is not included in the scheme.

[Kadilo]

10 minutes ago, tribalfusion001 said:

KFC and Wimpy looks to be doing it, but not Wimpy in Rayleigh. The information given on the gov.uk site is sometimes listed as the ltd company not the restaurant name. It's a bit of a mess tbh.

 

https://www.tax.service.gov.uk/eat-out-to-help-out/find-a-restaurant

 

A carvery that has the waiter serve you, not quite the same is it. Harvester is only allowing one person up to the salad bar at a time.

I put a postcode in for Westcliff-on-Sea area and 100 restaurants came up including a lot of really popular ones. 

Can see some of these getting rammed. 

[tribalfusion001]

1 minute ago, Kadilo said:

They ain’t gonna be using the salad bowl lol 

That's poo, I do like a salad, never mind the beer garden is open and I was in the Rayleigh weir Harvester last week for beers. Jeez that was a sight for fatties, I was the only slim person there lol.

[tribalfusion001]

5 minutes ago, Kadilo said:

I put a postcode in for Westcliff-on-Sea area and 100 restaurants came up including a lot of really popular ones. 

Can see some of these getting rammed. 

I got 18 results, I'll have a look at Southend postcode then. That's a lot better, even got some Thai restaurants, BK, McDonalds, Pipe of Port, Roslin, El Mexicana - is this new?

Edited July 27, 2020 by tribalfusion001

[lkv]

3 minutes ago, Kadilo said:

I put a postcode

I clicked on Cymraeg and it started to look rather dodgy. ????

[torturedsole]

13 minutes ago, tribalfusion001 said:

I had a milkshake in my local one, that was pretty good and I took a takeaway menu from there. I was thinking of trying a burger set but the local one is not included in the scheme.

I should have elaborated that that's for sit in.  Nothing like a nice Wimpy on a plate with knife and fork.  Two notches above Maccy D's.  

[thaibeachlovers]

14 hours ago, robblok said:

Dont think that I am any different then you if there was a pil like that id take it too and eat <deleted> food. I like the unhealthy food more then the healthy food. Though its not as if I hate eating healthy. But some of the bad food is just more tasty.

 

But I just made a choice and i stick with it. That is what i mean with priorities. I feel everyone should be free to make that choice. I don't look down on people who are obese. Their choice not mine. I only have problem with those saying that it can't be changed. That is simply not true.

 

Eating healthy can also make you look like a boring person. I constantly have to explain I don't like the taste of alcohol and that i prefer not to drink as it would only get me fat. So there is also peer pressure the other way around.

Have to add that one can eat bad, fattening food without getting obese. I'm overweight but not obese. The secret is either limiting the amount of food one eats, or doing more, or a combination of the two. Obesity is not necessary and IMO is because they eat too much and do too little. Doesn't have to be in a gym- exercise is free.

[tribalfusion001]

10 minutes ago, torturedsole said:

I should have elaborated that that's for sit in.  Nothing like a nice Wimpy on a plate with knife and fork.  Two notches above Maccy D's.  

The menu looked ok, pricier than McDonalds, but I'll try it with 50% off.

[jak2002003]

6 hours ago, tribalfusion001 said:

The eat out scheme is not very good, I checked my postcode today and not many places are taking part. Wimpy is one of them and an Indian restaurant was another, most of the places I've never heard of.

 

A whopping 2/3rds of the covid deaths are fatties in the UK, they are some proper horrible sights wobbling around.

That's because more than 2 thirds of the UK population are obese...so you would expect that number. Probably nothing to do with the virus....but government sees something else to blame apart from their own incompetents at managing this virus....and of course  the fat tax and new tax they are putting on online shopping...will make them more money. 

 

 

Edited July 28, 2020 by jak2002003

[TooBigToFit]

It's not so simple as will power. Food is not like cigarettes, alcohol, or other addictive things like drugs which you can avoid for life. You will always encounter food and you need to eat it to live. And people out there selling junk food and products are literally worse and more-empowered than drug dealers to make you addicted. Governments do little because people scream socialism whenever the govt tries to control things. When they do things will get easier for everyone. Most kids see endless adverts about food before the age of 5 and at school most schools feed them junk. The Internet sticks stuff right in front of kids noses now too. Food might be the largest part of the economy if you look at all its extensions. There's a lot working to get people to eat and buy more and more. I'd like to see bars offer to supersize that drink or offer free cigarettes to customers regularly and see how that goes. Fast food companies are out to get people addicted, expand their stomachs and tolerance with this Supersize bs. Well, that's how I see it.

 

It's not a simple lack of willpower. Change the culture by dealing with capitalists' greed in the food industry and the worldwide obesity story will change.

 

I lost 20 kilos when I was young after joining the military. That slowly came back over the years due to my eating habits. We didn't have access to all the knowledge that is at your fingertips today. In that time, I would have definitely tried some of the tricks we now know. I did try low carb in 2000 for a few weeks and lost about 7 kilos but it's never been easy for me to stay on that diet. As they say, low carb works great the first time but over time you won't lose weight as easily. Now fasting seems to be the way to go which I am trying now. I know I need to lose weight. I don't have all the assets that others have plus I have some issues that stop me from exercising easily like the average person. Still, I know I have to make an effort. Despite what the thin and fit people think, fat people generally aren't happy with their health and looks, and unlike naturally thin people, they face that fact and their failures trying to correct it all their lives. Eventually like getting old, they just accept themselves and try to be happy with what they are. When you guys are older and falling apart or you contract a progressive disease, you'll learn to see the world from their perspective a bit more. 

[thaibeachlovers]

16 hours ago, TooBigToFit said:

Despite what the thin and fit people think, fat people generally aren't happy with their health and looks, and unlike naturally thin people, they face that fact and their failures trying to correct it all their lives. Eventually like getting old, they just accept themselves and try to be happy with what they are. When you guys are older and falling apart or you contract a progressive disease, you'll learn to see the world from their perspective a bit more. 

It is, IMO, all about self will. If one really wants to lose weight one can. However, like me, most won't do the hard yards to do so.

I could lose 10 kilos and get back to my 1996 weight if I really want to, by giving up all the time I use on TVF and exercising, but TVF is so much more fun.

 

However, fat people should remember they will get diabetes and heart problems if they don't lose weight. Also, people will mock them behind their backs, and when they go to hospital the staff will use a crane to lift them- very humiliating.

[Jingthing]

I want to add some real life, more practical comments on this situation.

 

Obesity is a medical condition and indeed a complicated one. It is indeed widespread in many countries certainly including the USA. UK, and Australia. 

 

Studies over many decades have come to the same conclusion. The vast majority of obese people that manage to reduce their weight (and most have done so multiple times in their lives) end up gaining the weight back and often even more. We can make morality judgments about people or we can also consider there are scientific reasons why this usually happens. One theory is that set points are reduced during weight loss and to maintain the weight loss a person needs to starve themselves for the rest of their lives and that just isn't practically sustainable for most people. A small minority of exceptions doesn't prove anything. I'm taking about hard evidence about the vast majority of cases.

 

So now we have Covid-19 that has a much different profile than our last massive global pandemic, the USA Flu of 1918 to 1920.  I say USA Flu because it started in the USA, not Spain. That mostly targeted younger healthy people in the prime of their lives.

 

Covid-19 mostly targets the older and people with preexisting conditions, including obesity. Most people over 50 have at least one preexisting condition.

 

Some people (obnoxiously in my view) have politicized Covid-19 saying it doesn't really matter because it mostly targets the older and sicker. Obviously it is particularly tragic when disease strikes the young but that doesn't mean that older and sicker people are worthless either.

 

Now to obesity.

 

My reading has indicated that the number one risk factor for younger people to die from Covid-19 is obesity. But interestingly that isn't number one for older people. For older people it is high blood pressure. Of course high blood pressure is linked to obesity as are many other diseases.

 

So here is what I'm getting at here.

 

We're in the middle of a pandemic. It will likely last for at least a year going forward. It's completely impossible for a large percentage of global obese people to magically become "normal weight" in that time period.  That would involve crash diets (that as said almost always backfire) that would arguably be unhealthy and add an additional risk. 

 

But that doesn't mean that there isn't anything obese people can do to reduce their personal risk of dying of Covid-19.

 

There certainly is a lot they can do.

 

-- Consider themselves at high risk and take extra precautions

-- If not already doing, eat a healthy diet that includes lots of fruits and vegetables

-- Try to lose at least a reasonable amount of weight without crash diets. Studies have shown that just losing only 5 percent of current body weight results in major health improvements. Obviously 10 percent or more would be better, but that doesn't mean that 5 percent isn't worth doing. 

-- Cut sugar, most cooking oils, fried foods, etc.

-- Consider intermittent fasting 

-- Exercise

-- Check blood pressure and try to control with diet and exercise but also use medications if indicated

-- Vitamin D (somewhat more controversially but I'm convinced). Try to get adequate Vitamin D levels either from sunlight and/or supplements. From diet alone isn't practical. There is evidence that obese people need higher doses to get to adequate levels. Also darker skinned people (and people that avoid the sun) need to pay special attention to this. People can get their blood checked for this or just supplement themselves just in case. In some hospitals people entering with Covid-19 are getting megadoses of Vitamin D. Isn't prevention better?

 

What I'm saying here is that the next obese person you might see on the street if she is taking certain measures might not be the super high risk for Covid-19 that she might superficially appear if she has taken certain reasonably doable measures. Yes people can be at least relatively "healthy" and still obese. 

 

Now for the morbidly obese that is another matter. The only thing that really works for that is bariatric surgery and as most probably won't be getting that, so for that group of people, they are going to need to shelter more extremely for the duration of the pandemic. If possible of course. 

 

For people living in Thailand that actually believe there is now almost zero risk of infection in Thailand now and going forward, then they can ignore all of this. 

Edited August 1, 2020 by Jingthing

[Bender Rodriguez]

3 hours ago, Jingthing said:

Vitamin D (somewhat more controversially but I'm convinced). Try to get adequate Vitamin D levels either from sunlight and/or supplements.

vitamin D is stored in FAT

 

if it is stored in fat, it does not circulate in the blood

 

that is why the fatter you are, the more vitamin D you should take

[Jingthing]

11 minutes ago, Bender Rodriguez said:

vitamin D is stored in FAT

 

if it is stored in fat, it does not circulate in the blood

 

that is why the fatter you are, the more vitamin D you should take

Yes I think that is generally correct. But everyone has their own thing going on with genetics, skin color, and sun exposure. It's definitely not a one size fits all type of thing. Also vitamin d deficiency is common and associated with Covid-19 deaths. 

[thaibeachlovers]

On 8/1/2020 at 1:12 PM, Jingthing said:

Obesity is a medical condition and indeed a complicated one. It is indeed widespread in many countries certainly including the USA. UK, and Australia. 

Obesity in the majority, IMO, of cases is not caused, IMO, by medical conditions, unless gluttony has become one.

The equation is very simple for most people- too much food and not enough activity= obesity.

 

On 8/1/2020 at 1:12 PM, Jingthing said:

to maintain the weight loss a person needs to starve themselves for the rest of their lives and that just isn't practically sustainable for most people.

It is my understanding that fat cells once added to the body never go away, which is why dieting till weight is lost then going back to pre weight eating and lack of exercise does not work.

However it's never necessary to starve, and that's not a good idea any time. To keep the weight off, just eat better and exercise more.

Unfortunately, as I can prove, it's more fun to eat too much bad food and not do exercise.

 

On 8/1/2020 at 1:12 PM, Jingthing said:

Consider themselves at high risk and take extra precautions

Any overweight person is at risk of diabetes and heart problems, not forgetting leg joint problems.

They didn't need Corona to put them at risk.

 

On 8/1/2020 at 1:12 PM, Jingthing said:

Yes people can be at least relatively "healthy" and still obese. 

Only for the present. They will most likely suffer medical problems directly caused by obesity in the future, such as diabetes.