Crisp-eating habits in the UK

[norwaysaint]

I've just got back from a week in the UK and couldn't believe the amount of overweight people I saw. My wife even commented that she thought a higher proportion were overweight in the UK than she saw in the US on her recent travels there. This is in the Winchester, Southampton and Bournemouth areas too, so I'm not talking about northern diets, which are often criticised.

 

The one thing that we both noticed particularly is that crisps seem to be a normal part of a lunch in the UK these days. Shops offer them as part of meal deals and people just walk around eating packets of crisps. What role does a packet of crisps play in a lunch? How did that come to be normal? Why do people give them to kids instead of proper food? I often saw parents pull a packet of crisps out of their bag and give the whole pack to a whining child, why are they giving them crisps? There's no nutritional value in crisps.

 

Here in Norway you can't really even buy individual packets of crisps, they're sold in big packs and seen mostly as party food, which seems about right. Are British people eating party food as part of their everyday diets now?

 

Just interested to hear how normal people on here consider it is to walk around eating this stuff as a regular snack or as part of a lunch.

[Doctoroncall]

You should catch up on the series: The men who made us fat.

 

Very interesting stuff on how its a clash of human instinct and food companies creating new markets with a dash of dietary responsibilities.

 

1 in 3 are obese in the US and 1 in 4 in the UK.

[Patrick Bateman]

I've just got back from a week in the UK and couldn't believe the amount of overweight people I saw. My wife even commented that she thought a higher proportion were overweight in the UK than she saw in the US on her recent travels there. This is in the Winchester, Southampton and Bournemouth areas too, so I'm not talking about northern diets, which are often criticised.

 

The one thing that we both noticed particularly is that crisps seem to be a normal part of a lunch in the UK these days. Shops offer them as part of meal deals and people just walk around eating packets of crisps. What role does a packet of crisps play in a lunch? How did that come to be normal? Why do people give them to kids instead of proper food? I often saw parents pull a packet of crisps out of their bag and give the whole pack to a whining child, why are they giving them crisps? There's no nutritional value in crisps.

 

Here in Norway you can't really even buy individual packets of crisps, they're sold in big packs and seen mostly as party food, which seems about right. Are British people eating party food as part of their everyday diets now?

 

Just interested to hear how normal people on here consider it is to walk around eating this stuff as a regular snack or as part of a lunch.

 

Totally agree that it's not right to eat bags and bags of crisps. Sure, many of them taste lovely and some of them lower in fats than others, but they are SO unhealthy - all the saturated fats, salt and carbs. A horrible snack for your health.

 

More and more people do seem overweight, especially kids. When I was at school, in our whole year of 200 or so, we had one "fat kid", now how many do you see? I don't know what's to blame, junk food, TV, laziness, a combination of everything? I do many people filling their trollies with complete crap in supermarkets - their choice I guess, but it doesn't help.

[Thedelldays]

you should see the sights when these people go to SMS....in football tops

[trousers]

I don't know what's to blame, junk food, TV, laziness, a combination of everything?

 

Simple question, simple answer: A significant percentage of the British population have an intelligence deficiency.

[Doctoroncall]

Simple question, simple answer: A significant percentage of the British population have an intelligence deficiency.

 

E.g. Product is low in fat, therefore healthy and as such I can have twice as much ;-)

[norwaysaint]

I really can't understand the mentality, of, when a child says "I'm hungry", giving them crisps. if they were hungry, you can give them proper food, an apple for example. If they don't eat it, they weren't really hungry and you don't need to worry.

 

Perhaps it seemed oddest because I was also really impressed by how easy it is to buy really good quality, healthy food relatively cheaply now. In Asda or wherever, there are rows of easily packaged beautiful fresh fruit, ready prepared. I know there's an issue with packaging too, but there's no good reason for not eating well. It wasn't like that when I emigrated.

[The Cat]

I love crisps and eat them most days. But I'm not fat because in general I eat healthy food and do plenty of exercise. However many people are just plain thick and will just eat and drink whatever they want with no regard to what they are stuffing into their face.

[Special K]

I love crisps and eat them most days. But I'm not fat because in general I eat healthy food and do plenty of exercise. However many people are just plain thick and will just eat and drink whatever they want with no regard to what they are stuffing into their face.

 

No way. when you were on Red Dwarf, you just used to like fish.

[Turkish]

There is a girl at work who is very fat. She claims it's because she suffers from chronic asthma and needs to take steroids. However she drinks can after can of red bull a day and her draws are full of multi pack crisps and bars of chocolate. She is also incredibly lazy, not just if work but in life in general. For example, she'll drive to the shops at lunch, the shops are a 2 minute walk away. She also smells of stale yoghurt so I'm sure fatness, laziness and poor hygiene go hand in hand.

 

She is sadly by no means alone. One of the things that wants me to slash peoples eyes out are people that are proud of being fat. Women that delude themselves into believing big Is beautiful. Okay some odd balls might like fatties but 99% of people find them grotesque. Likewise fat c*nts that are proud they do no excercise and rub their belly whilst announcing that it is "all bought and paid for" like their vile appearance is some sort of badge of honour.

 

Anyone can put on a bit of weight, but seriously, do people not have mirrors? Do they not start thinking when their clothes are getting tight that it might be time to swerve the chips and coke for a couple of weeks?

[toofarnorth]

I love crisps and eat them most days. But I'm not fat because in general I eat healthy food and do plenty of exercise. However many people are just plain thick and will just eat and drink whatever they want with no regard to what they are stuffing into their face.

 

This. I'm almost 30 and Always had crisps at school and have continued to have them as part of my daily packed lunch. They are only about 100 calories per pack, and I also have at least one bit of fruit and a sandwich, so really not at all bad.

 

The argument that they are not good for you is a bit odd and could be said about 80% of everything you eat. A healthy diet is often a balanced diet which can include things that in isolation may appear to be bad for you.

[toofarnorth]

Oh and i'm not fat. Far from it.

[Scummer]

This. I'm almost 30 and Always had crisps at school and have continued to have them as part of my daily packed lunch. They are only about 100 calories per pack, and I also have at least one bit of fruit and a sandwich, so really not at all bad.

 

The argument that they are not good for you is a bit odd and could be said about 80% of everything you eat. A healthy diet is often a balanced diet which can include things that in isolation may appear to be bad for you.

 

I agree. I'm 36 and have always had a pack of crisps for lunch, so this isn't a new thing. God-knows how long ago norwaysaint emigrated, but I assume it must have been at least 30 years ago?

[Verbal]

Crisps are weird though. They're basically burned fat heavily laced with salt.

[The Cat]

No way. when you were on Red Dwarf, you just used to like fish.

 

Haha. I do actually eat quite a lot of fish, just had some mackeral for lunch.

[The Cat]

There is a girl at work who is very fat. She claims it's because she suffers from chronic asthma and needs to take steroids. However she drinks can after can of red bull a day and her draws are full of multi pack crisps and bars of chocolate. She is also incredibly lazy, not just if work but in life in general. For example, she'll drive to the shops at lunch, the shops are a 2 minute walk away. She also smells of stale yoghurt so I'm sure fatness, laziness and poor hygiene go hand in hand.

 

I used to work in an office with 9 women. They were forever banging on about going on diets and would reguarly turn up for work with a healthy lunch consisting of fruit and yoghurt while proclaiming to the whole office "I'm being good today". This would generally last until a desperate lunchtime trip to the chippy or chinese, or 10 minutes after a boardmeeting had finished at which point they would hoover up all the left over pastries, crisps and sandwiches that were put in our kitchen.

 

Most of them would then turn on me in disbelief that I could ignore all the free food, or refuse the chance of some chips. I continually told them that if you sit on your bum all day in an office you can't get way with shoving that sort of food into your gob or said bum will just get bigger and bigger.

 

I left the job about 8 years ago and haven't seen any of them since. One of them got married recently and lo and behold the pictures on facebook confirmed they are all still eating far too much.

[Gemmel]

I always laugh when people get huge burgers and chips etc and then ask for a diet coke.

[Special K]

I used to work in an office with 9 women. They were forever banging on about going on diets and would reguarly turn up for work with a healthy lunch consisting of fruit and yoghurt while proclaiming to the whole office "I'm being good today". This would generally last until a desperate lunchtime trip to the chippy or chinese, or 10 minutes after a boardmeeting had finished at which point they would hoover up all the left over pastries, crisps and sandwiches that were put in our kitchen.

 

Most of them would then turn on me in disbelief that I could ignore all the free food, or refuse the chance of some chips. I continually told them that if you sit on your bum all day in an office you can't get way with shoving that sort of food into your gob or said bum will just get bigger and bigger.

 

I left the job about 8 years ago and haven't seen any of them since. One of them got married recently and lo and behold the pictures on facebook confirmed they are all still eating far too much.

 

Old place i used to work had a group of women with the same inclinations, although i'm sure the weekend was where they tucked it all away, as for all the salads they used to nibble at during the week, i'm sure they used to scoff large takeaways and pour gallons of alcopops down their necks on a friday and saturday. Never seemed to lose weight and were always increasing in size. The only thing that seemed to spur them on to a gym was if they got dumped, but as soon as they found another poor sap ready to take them on, they were back in the comfort food zone.

[dune]

I went shopping at Fosse Park (Leicester) the other day and was a bit peckish so decided to have a look in the food hall. Inside there was a Mac Donalds, A pizza express, a KFC, a Greggs, and an assortment of other shops of a similar ilk. And all around parents were poisoning their kids with this fatty nutrient free rubbish. Fair enough this sort of food is OK for a treat, but I think that it's become a staple diet for many.

[swannymere]

Due to the current financial climate and the possibility that the government won't be able to meet its pension obligations, shouldn't us fatties be congratulated for trying our utmost to not reach pension age? What uses more cash, the treatment of diabetes and other diseases related to diet or the provision of a pension and care for 20-30 years?

[Turkish]

I went shopping at Fosse Park (Leicester) the other day and was a bit peckish so decided to have a look in the food hall. Inside there was a Mac Donalds, A pizza express, a KFC, a Greggs, and an assortment of other shops of a similar ilk. And all around parents were poisoning their kids with this fatty nutrient free rubbish. Fair enough this sort of food is OK for a treat, but I think that it's become a staple diet for many.

 

Personally there are few things that annoy me more than seeing fat little children munching on a Macdonalds or KFC. Their parents must be think, blind and stupid if they take their already overweight child to these places.

[Jack]

Some people can get away with eating what they want. Most can't. If someone enjoys crisps and isn't fat, fair enough. Crisps never bothered me much, rather eat fruit. I eat properly and go to the gym regularly, and it's still not easy to keep weight off. I guess that's the main reason.

 

As for the 100 calories a bag arguement, as has been mentioned, what a load of sh*t. They're still all salt and saturates, with no nutritional value. Same as McDonalds. Why someone would go out of their way to eat that sh*t is beyond me. It doesn't even taste good.

[Thedelldays]

Personally there are few things that annoy me more than seeing fat little children munching on a Macdonalds or KFC. Their parents must be think, blind and stupid if they take their already overweight child to these places.

I think, if you have a little fat kid..and I mean, clearly way over weight and not the growing up puppy fat..then that is a kin to child abuse

[norwaysaint]

I agree. I'm 36 and have always had a pack of crisps for lunch, so this isn't a new thing. God-knows how long ago norwaysaint emigrated, but I assume it must have been at least 30 years ago?

 

Well, there were always those who thought crisps were a normal part of a lunch, but I always thought they were either fatties or chavs. Your post sums it up a bit for me though, it's the idea that having party food for lunch every day is okay and normal, because you've always done it. There's no nutritional value there, it's not adding to your lunch. It's just a greed thing. Worse when parents buy big multi-packs to feed to their kids though. Why? I can't think of a single reason. They're just teaching their kids that food like that is a valid part of a lunch. It's become a very British thing to do. If your kids are hungry, why not take the chance to give them some apple or a piece of fresh chicken?

[notnowcato]

Sounds like you've been out of the country for some time norwaysaint. If that is the case why the f**k did you come during the off season?? Not even friendly season but the f**kin OFF SEASON! Don't come on here all righteous when you dont even have the jacobs to arrange such a trip and take in a game or 2.

[Deano6]

Sounds like you've been out of the country for some time norwaysaint. If that is the case why the f**k did you come during the off season?? Not even friendly season but the f**kin OFF SEASON! Don't come on here all righteous when you dont even have the jacobs to arrange such a trip and take in a game or 2.

 

He came here on a marketing trip funded by Del Monte to push their produce and employ scare tactics against their competitors. To be fair he's done a great job on you lot!

[norwaysaint]

I came during my summer holiday. As a teacher I get ****ing tons of holiday, but I don't get to choose when it is.

[Jillyanne]

Trouble with kids being obese nowadays is this - X Box, Playstation, Ipad, Iphone/any other mobile device, PC, Laptop, DVD players etc. I used to 'play out' when I was a kid with my brothers, tennis, cricket, conkering, making bows and arrows in the woods. Kids these days just don't do any of that, sad really.

[manji]

Trouble with kids being obese nowadays is this - X Box, Playstation, Ipad, Iphone/any other mobile device, PC, Laptop, DVD players etc. I used to 'play out' when I was a kid with my brothers, tennis, cricket, conkering, making bows and arrows in the woods. Kids these days just don't do any of that, sad really.

I saw a sight the other day that sums things up IMO in Southampton City Centre. A massively obese woman driving a motability scooter. in the shopping basket fixed to the front was sat a similarly obese boy (about 7) eating a large family pack of crisps.

[View From The Top]

Trouble with kids being obese nowadays is this - X Box, Playstation, Ipad, Iphone/any other mobile device, PC, Laptop, DVD players etc. I used to 'play out' when I was a kid with my brothers, tennis, cricket, conkering, making bows and arrows in the woods. Kids these days just don't do any of that, sad really.

 

It's the parents fault. They see kiddy fiddlers in behind every tree and drug dealers & pimps behind every bush & are scared of letting their precious child out of their sight.

 

My 10yo lad is allowed to go and play in the same way I did & has similar rules, which boil down to be home when you're told to be' don't play in the river & don't talk to strangers.

 

My 7yo daughter walks her dog with her brother & they walk to school by themselves. The world is no more dangerous then when we were young, we just think it is.

 

All my kids take part in sports, my nipper to a high standard in cricket & football and fast food is considered a treat, which when they are allowed it, it's through gritted teeth on my behalf.

 

That said, we have ipads, xbox, PS3 etc & they all eat crisps yet are all tall, slim, happy & fit.

[aintforever]

Trouble with kids being obese nowadays is this - X Box, Playstation, Ipad, Iphone/any other mobile device, PC, Laptop, DVD players etc. I used to 'play out' when I was a kid with my brothers, tennis, cricket, conkering, making bows and arrows in the woods. Kids these days just don't do any of that, sad really.

 

Spot on, I expect kids diets today are way better than when I was younger. Problem is the Playstation is just too damn good, running around outside climbing trees just cannot compete.

 

Plus you don't even need to go out nowadays to make friends and chat to girls, it's all online.

[Jonnyboy]

I saw a sight the other day that sums things up IMO in Southampton City Centre. A massively obese woman driving a motability scooter. in the shopping basket fixed to the front was sat a similarly obese boy (about 7) eating a large family pack of crisps.

 

don't suppose you got a photo?

[manji]

don't suppose you got a photo?

No I wish I had.

[buctootim]

It's the parents fault. They see kiddy fiddlers in behind every tree and drug dealers & pimps behind every bush & are scared of letting their precious child out of their sight.

 

My 10yo lad is allowed to go and play in the same way I did & has similar rules, which boil down to be home when you're told to be' don't play in the river & don't talk to strangers.

 

My 7yo daughter walks her dog with her brother & they walk to school by themselves. The world is no more dangerous then when we were young, we just think it is.

 

All my kids take part in sports, my nipper to a high standard in cricket & football and fast food is considered a treat, which when they are allowed it, it's through gritted teeth on my behalf.

 

That said, we have ipads, xbox, PS3 etc & they all eat crisps yet are all tall, slim, happy & fit.

 

Exactly this.

[Doctoroncall]

Trouble with kids being obese nowadays is this - X Box, Playstation, Ipad, Iphone/any other mobile device, PC, Laptop, DVD players etc. I used to 'play out' when I was a kid with my brothers, tennis, cricket, conkering, making bows and arrows in the woods. Kids these days just don't do any of that, sad really.

 

It's been shown that kids are just as active now as they were 20 odd years ago. It's down to the cr@p diet and too much sugar.

[GAS]

I've just got back from a week in the UK and couldn't believe the amount of overweight people I saw. My wife even commented that she thought a higher proportion were overweight in the UK than she saw in the US on her recent travels there. This is in the Winchester, Southampton and Bournemouth areas too, so I'm not talking about northern diets, which are often criticised.

 

The one thing that we both noticed particularly is that crisps seem to be a normal part of a lunch in the UK these days. Shops offer them as part of meal deals and people just walk around eating packets of crisps. What role does a packet of crisps play in a lunch? How did that come to be normal? Why do people give them to kids instead of proper food? I often saw parents pull a packet of crisps out of their bag and give the whole pack to a whining child, why are they giving them crisps? There's no nutritional value in crisps.

 

Here in Norway you can't really even buy individual packets of crisps, they're sold in big packs and seen mostly as party food, which seems about right. Are British people eating party food as part of their everyday diets now?

 

Just interested to hear how normal people on here consider it is to walk around eating this stuff as a regular snack or as part of a lunch.

I like a few bags of cheese and onion after 8 pints of guinness. I find it staves off the hunger until I can have kebab on the way home.

[BadgerBadger]

Crisps are the least of this countries dietry and food culture problems - it really is a poor show FFS

[Dig Dig]

Why focus on crisps? It's just 1 of 100's of crap things people consume every day as part of their normal diet. The amount of fat, sugar, salt and chemicals consumed every day in every meal is staggering.

 

Cronic diesease is rising because our bodies spend all its time trying to flush out the **** we put in it.

 

Most people are just simply unaware or too lazy and addicted to even care.

[BlakeySFC]

I always laugh when people get huge burgers and chips etc and then ask for a diet coke.

 

I do that. Can't drink normal coke, it makes my teeth overly sensitive for 2-3 days afterwards because of the herocious amount of sugar in it.

 

Hardly have any fast food, but when I do it's probably about once every couple of months.

[alpine_saint]

I always laugh when people get huge burgers and chips etc and then ask for a diet coke.

 

I understand what you mean. However I do that, simply because regular Coke is hideously sweet.

[svetigpung]

Whenever i get back to the UK i notice how the country is getting bigger for each year. This isn't happening to the same degree in Europe but we just HAVE to copy the yanks, again.

The problem stems from tubby parents who dont even see themselves as overweight. The way they dress shows that. Their poor kids dont have a chance.

Crisps are a small part of the problem. Its their atitudes that have to change. I wonder how many have some fruit at home. If they are hungry give them an apple, once in a while anyway.

And as has been mentioned...get them off the soffa and outdoors. It wont kill them , yet.

[notnowcato]

Average life expectancy in Sweden 80.9 years, average life expectancy in the UK(including Scotland..) 80.5 years

 

Lets not let facts cloud the emigrants judgement though.

[buctootim]

Average life expectancy in Sweden 80.9 years, average life expectancy in the UK(including Scotland..) 80.5 years

 

Lets not let facts cloud the emigrants judgement though.

 

And for England only its 80.8 - directly comparable to Sweden. Scotland and NI are a full 3 years less.

[Doctoroncall]

In the US, the average calorie in taken has risen by 28% over 30 years.

[Thedelldays]

And for England only its 80.8 - directly comparable to Sweden. Scotland and NI are a full 3 years less.

 

Have you seen those deep fried pizzas they eat north of the border

 

Disgusting

[Ken Tone]

Crisps aren't particularly fattening as such. Yes, proportionately high in fat, but there isn't much substance in a packet so you aren't actually consuming much fat in absolute trms. (Try crushing one small and see how little there actually is in a packet)

 

However each packet contains loads of salt. So you will die of a heart attack before you get too fat --- look on the bright side eh?

[Ampersound]

My view on it.. Parents, exercise and cheap food/booze.

 

Parents probably dish up too much food to start with.

 

Not enough exercise.. Not much more to say there.

 

Cheap fast food.

 

Can't blame crisps too much. We give our 5 year old a pack lunch for school consisting of a sandwich, apple, a small container with about a 3rd of a 20g packet of a crisps and a squeezy yogurt. Yet there are some kids in his class already overweight at 5 years old! What hope do they have?

 

I also believe that excess alcohol doesn't help.. Not that i'm tea total (I get free beer thanks to my wife's work) but the number of people I knew back in the day that doubles in size with the amount of boozing they did.

 

Some overweight people I see seem not to worry about drinking 2 ltrs of coke a

day yet munch on salads etc.

 

It's just going to get worse until we all look like the people in the film Wall-E

[The Cat]

I just had some salt & vinegar Tyrells crisps with my lunch. Probably the best crisps in the world.

[The Cat]

Yesterday I saw a huge fat bloater of a woman in the shop. Her basket consisted of a 22 bag multipack of Walkers, 3 sharing bags of chocolate, a fridge pack of coke, butter, cheese and 4 packets of biscuits.

 

Maybe we should start weighing people when they enter a shop and limiting them to buying a certain amount of products depending on their weight?

[Whitey Grandad]

I'm lying in Southampton General waiting for a date next week for a coronary bypass operation. Had a 'small' heart attack Tuesday morning and was brought in thinking it might be indigestion but blood tests showed otherwise. Angiogram yesterday showed all three coronary arteries almost blocked in several places do a bypass is the only realistic long-term solution. I've never smoked but I had got overweight and not eaten particularly sensibly and diabetes had set in. Used to get home and have dinner too late, worked too much in the evenings so please all of you, eat sensibly, sort out your lifestyles and don't think it won't happen to you. I'll let you know how the operation goes. If anyone has been through it I'd be interested on your comments.