There wasn’t that much was ‘disgusting’ Chris, but boiled to death cabbage and brussles and coldslaw were a no no, along with the stewed apple and custard, with ‘toe nails’ in it. yuk
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Again ,as with so much else there is no one cause but a perfect storm of sedentary life styles , changes in eating patterns , parenting styles etc. A big problem occurred in the U.K. when they stopped teaching basic cooking skills in schools . I remember a friends daughter being taught how to make an apple pie,and she had to take a pack of ready made pastry and a tin of pie filling. My friend grew fruit trees and so sent her daughter with a home made filling. The poor girl got a telling off because some juice bubbled out onto the top which a tin wouldn’t have. A few months ago I walked into a supermarket and a young woman approached me and asked what a leek looked like!
Unfortunately given the amount of sugar and dextrose / fructose bla bla bla that is added to just about everything these days, the only option if you want to eat healthily is to make your own. Yes there are some top of the range products available that are not riddled with utter crap, but, they are few and far between and cost a small fortune.
Otherwise when feeding your child a cheese and ham sandwich on sliced bread with some mayo, every one of those items could contain added sugar. Oh and the cheese might have potato amidon chucked in too 
So whilst people might think they are feeding their child a savoury snack it is far from the case!
I discovered last week that most beers now contain added sugar too. It is no wonder that people are getting fatter and fatter and fatter!!
I absolutely agree that basic (and economical) cooking skills need to be taught in school. You can eat well on a budget but it takes time and commitment and you need to know what to do!
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Well we’re not getting fatter and fatter and nor are a lot of other people. We don’t read labeling either. Do we know something that the overweight don’t? Of course not, it’s just a case of eating sensibly, doing a decent amount of exercise and not grazing on junk at every opportunity.
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Yep… it’s about balance… what is taken in against what is used up…and the more basic the food the easier it is to balance things… eg fresh fruit v fruit pie
Trying not to have nibbles lying around between meals… helps as well.
Went to the US for work when I was 25, I put on 3 kilos in 5 days ! I would think it was all due to quantity and aditives.
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Gracious… that was quick… 
I’ve put on nearly a stone during the years we have been here… just enough to make clothes uncomfortable… so I need to lose a few pounds without “going without”… I reckon the 5-2 regime would work well, so long as I can get OH to do it with me 
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At 25 it was quick to loose too. Now it’s another story, stopped smoking 5 years ago and can feel it very well 
.
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I put on all the weight that I had lost ( plus a lot more) when I had my little accident and couldn’t get out and about and do all my work as normal for several weeks.
Have just started with my bicycle again, finding it heavy going, but trying to do at least 30 kms 3 times a week. Forgotten how hard it is on the backside though ! 
Have resolved not to have any chocolate in the house, can’t throw away what is already there so ashamed to say that I have pigged out. 
Tomorrow is another day …
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Exactly Ann, I agree with that : tomorow is another day 
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I’ve lost weight since I’ve lived in France. I think it’s to do with eating habits as the amount of exercise that I do hasn’t changed. I eat more meals made from fresh ingredients than I did in the past but I believe the big difference is that I now eat my main meal in the middle of the day not in the evening.
I haven’t lived in the U.K. for over 30 years and on my visits there I’m amazed by the choice of ready meals and other processed foods on sale. I certainly don’t envy their British customers who have that temptation week in, week out.
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@Aquitaine says “I now eat my main meal in the middle of the day…”
I think this is the most unusual (for me) aspect of French life, and the one I find hardest to adjust to, although I can see its potential benefits health-wise.
Curiously, I can recall a time in my life when this was the norm in English life: dinner was at dinner-time and dinner was at noon or thereabouts. Tea was a sandwich (jam or rarely sandwich spread) and a cup of tea, the last meal of the day, though my father occasionally put a couple of potatoes in the hot ashes of the fire to roast, and very rarely a handful of chestnuts as a treat.
I was an adult when people started eating a cooked evening meal, it sort of crept up on us. Was it a TV thing? In the 1950s recall having my first evening restaurant meal (in Soho) it was moussaka and the most memorable meal I have ever eaten. I was alone, and felt unreasonably bohemian.
Returning to the subject of midday meals, I should have to rejig my whole lifestyle to eat a cooked meal at noon, and my wife would never go that way. She is a late evening person. But I can see that it has merit health-wise and I shall certainly keep it in mind.
I couldn’t eat at midday, I would be ‘zonked out’ for the afternoon, 8pm is dinnertime here, highlight of the day, it’s not a TV thing here Peter, we 'aven’t got, or want one 
It really works for me. I probably eat a smaller meal than I did when I ate in the evening and I have a snack in the evening. It’s great in the summer when I spend my evenings outside.
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If we didn’t work then we would certainly eat our main meal at lunchtime as it is better for you, we eat far more healthily than we did in the UK and drink a lot less but we both need lose some weight although we are very fit.
Obesity rates are going up here which I put down to the increase in the availability of takeaways/convenience foods and a change in life/work patterns.
It was certainly the change in life/work patterns that made me gradually gain weight… when we moved here.
Neighbours/friends marvel at the way I am always “on the go” … but it is nothing compared to my previous life. Phew, nice to have a rest… zzzzzz
We always eat at lunch time.
We are now following a very low carbohydrate diet and are losing weight.
I do not miss carbohydrates except basmati rice, but if I cook it, cool it down and reheat it makes green starch, which i s very healthy.
I replace potatoes with celeriac and cous cous with cauliflower.
I have found since giving up bread and then eating a sandwich on my recent drive to Munich that I am actually better off without it.
Well I can reliably inform you that breaking your jaw and only being able to eat soup is a fail safe weight loss method.
Gets a bit boring though…
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Yes, must be rotten… how much longer before you can chew properly??
I’m not managing to eat quite a wide range of food - no biting though and not much chewing - lots of cutting up into very small pieces. This also stops you eating too much
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