hIGH OBESITY IN SCOTLAND

[Jock_Tams_Bairn]

Actually Id like to see where they get the results from because if I look around, it seems like the "1 in 4 children in Scotland are obese" is a joke. It seems much more like 1 in 10 or 1 in 15. unless they ship all the really fat kids to an island where they are out of sight of the general population then I cant see where the hell they are getting these figures

[suzy_homemaker]

Mmmm, the rowies sound delicious. Thanks for the link! I'm not too sure where the figures come from, Jock-Tams_Bairn. They kind of surprised me, too, because oats and fish are major staples in the Scottish diet, both of which are among heart disease prevention foods, as fish are high in Omega-3 fatty acids and both oats and fish are low in cholesterol. As a matter of fact, studies have shown oats to help lower cholesterol. As far as obesity goes, 1 in 4 might better represent kids in America, which I'm sad to say. We have so much here, and even in the fast-food restaurant chains portions are being Super-Sized. Then you have restaurants like La Casita or The Olive Garden, the portion sizes of which are absolutely gargantuan; and if people eat everything set before them at places like this, it's surprising we don't have a higher problem with morbid obesity Stateside than we already do. I went to the Olive Garden a couple of months ago, when my ex-husband came to pick up our daughter to go back to NY with him, and I had to split a meal with my brother-in-law's girlfriend, and we both still had almost too much to eat, as the salad and bread sticks kept coming, plus we ordered dessert.

There is a trend towards emphasizing healthier eating in the States, but portion sizes are WAY out of control in the restaurants... and it's normal. Most of us were raised with out-to-dinner meal sizes like this, although some places have made them even bigger than when people my age (29 and holding) were growing up. It's part of how we all got where we are now, to begin with. So, we're used to bigger portion sizes and get a real wake-up call when we're introduced to what an actual portion should be.... and it's considerably smaller. In some respects, maybe it wouldn't hurt any Americans if our nation weren't so "rich" and had so much..... maybe it would be better for all of us if we weren't so industrialized and got back to being like our grandparents and further on back, when their main food source was the family garden with some meat thrown in here and there from time to time..... the fat and salt content of their diet was probably far less than what is in the typical American diet, with much more fiber, vitamins, and nutrients. Combine that with better cooking and preservation methods, and you've got it pretty good.