There's a thread somewhere hear about how the Swiss are slim compared to British and Americans, I can't find it though (any mods, feel free to move this).

That's probably still true, but the Swiss are eating some pies:

http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/swiss_ne...ml?cid=8446456

That's really interesting. My friend was adamant about the Swiss being much smarter than Americans regarding eating. I just think it's a matter of time before they have the same problems that Americans do. Especially when woman are no longer staying home to take care of the kiddies.

!

How does not staying at home with the children make you fat

dumber then oxes when it comes to smoking

Probably using that as a proxy for eating "prepared" meals (to save time) rather than cooking something "healthy" from scratch.

As the percentage of prepared meals goes up, the veggies and fruit go out the door. The calorie count also goes up with the hidden trans-fats and sugar in prepared food.

As said, there are no miracles. You eat crap, you get fat.

Yes.. that's what I meant.

With less time comes the already prepared meals, which are not at the moment so healthy and nutritious. Therefore the children will gain weight. The video attached to the article spoke a bit about that.

As long as nobody tries to blame it all on EF

http://www.englishforum.ch/food-drin...e-arrived.html

Many times in the States folks blame it on McDonald's for the fattening of Americans. I would think if Americans had to pay what Swiss pay for a Big Mac, there would be some dietary changes.

Interestingly there are significantly more problems with obesity in countries where it is more common to be a SAHM, like in UK and US than in countries where the vast majority of women work, like in Scandinavia. go figure.

Yeah, the Swiss got slimmer for a few years and now there's a counter trend with the current teenagers and kids, but I don't think we'll ever get anywhere near the morbid obesity of US/UK/Australia/Germany, very unlikely.

Food and fat is about self discipline and ready availability. If you control the first and respect the latter you're not going to require a forklift to get into bed.

Maybe are not the Swiss getting fatter...maybe are we, the foreigners. more and more coming to Switzerland and increasing the size.

Sure, but THIS only affects the less than 30% of people who are smokers, but eating too much and too fat affects potentially ALL people. Interesting is that education (or the lack of it) is more relevant than the incomes.

That's quite possible, especially with the recent influx of Germans. Migrants kids are also a bit more fat than Swiss kids, but there is still an overall trend of the kids to teenagers getting fatter, Swiss included.

Oh it is not them, it is just me that moved into the country shifting the BMI mean by a few zeros Sorry epidemiological joke

Related:

Should thin people pay less health insurance? (SwissInfo)

As usual, what about smokers...?

Explain please.

If I'm fat, I don't affect you directly.
If I smoked, I would affect you directly.

Well, you are right, right in regard to the affect of smoking onto non-smokers and obesity onto "non-obese" people.

What I meant is that smoking is a minority affair healthwise, while eating too much affects most people. Have you ever realised that they politely changed the scale. I still remember my visit for surgery in '88, when I felt (correctly) that I had overweight. I then laughingly was told that I by modern standards was just slightly above average and that most of my overweight was based on "heavy bones" or something thelike. What happened ? They, I mean the doctors in one of the organisations of the Council of Europe decided to change the criteria, and so, the criteria I had in mind no longer were relevant. And so, I am not "overweight" but just "slightly above average "

Sorry, still don't understand. Why does an obesity rate lower then the smoking rate affect everyone?

You now put your finger on a contradictory aspect.

A) Smokers affect everybody by their filling the air, making other people fighting for air and get clothes stinking, and eyes hurting terribly, while heavy eaters do not

B) The smokers nevertheless are a minority, while a majority of people likes eating. Non-smokers do not have to reduce or stop smoking but "non-obese" (just slightly above average) people have to think about how to keep things under control !


B2) To give a practical example. I sometimes see in a shop such enticing wonderful confectionary or chocolate or cake, and then abstain from buying it, in consideration of the weight problem ... It is heart-breaking and brings you to tears, but you have to use your brains