When we moved to London, I thought we would be made fun of for being lazy Americans who eat too many hamburgers. Many people in America still eat poor diets and have serious health problems because of it.
But, forgive me for saying, I think the health here in the UK is surprisingly horrible. Since we have been here, the main items in stores and restaurants are chips (fries), crisps (chips) and sweets. No doubt that their sweets beat any main stream candy that walks the planet, but the idea of moderation is not taught or even thought about in the majority of British diets. You are hard pressed to go to a restaurant that serves British food and not find something full of fat, fried or not including chips. I have to look hard in the grocery stores for the healthy option of food or shop at the more expensive Whole Foods equivalent (which is luckily close by home). I am thinking that Americans have improved their diet partly because of the attention so many people have given health in the states. Maybe Britain needs that kind of bad press too? I thought it was just me but now TV programs are pointing this out like Jaime Oliver's School Lunches and You Are What You Eat. This bad press might be good for the nation!
The truth is that it is apart of the culture and thus is a hard cycle to break. A friend told me that sometimes men will brag about never eating a veg in their lifetime! Also, it's cheap and so people who don't have a lot of money or time buy all kinds of fatty, processed foods for their little kids to eat. There are many people in London who struggle to pay rent so food becomes something to fill the stomachs, not to nourish the body. If people are buying crap in the stores, the stores will continue to produce it. I feel lucky to have lived in California and around so many restaurants and grocery stores that supply such yummy and healthy foods. It has really been a privilege to be around people who care about healthy food, can afford it and can move the market!
Unfortunately, I think many people in the UK aren't aware of the health risks that they are putting themselves in when their waist is over 35 inches for women and 40 inches for men, first and foremost. Secondly, If they do know, they don't believe it. I think the saddest outcome is that parents want to make their children happy so they buy them crisps and candy bars which is teaching these kids that it is okay to have a diet full of these things. It seems that this kind of damage could be a life killer at a very slow rate. Those kids will have worse conditions than is being seen now.
Last comment is one that I heard from a professor I used to work with in the German Department at UCSB. He said that the only reason we eat those dreadful sheet cakes from grocery stores is because it reminds us of childhood birthdays year after year (not counting the Costco ones:) This is the point!!! We eat things because we are taught it, because it is our regime, or because we crave it or think we need it. Actually, when you go off these things, you end up not missing them after a while. A candy bar here or there is not going to kill ya, but here or there does not refer to walking from one side of the room to the other! When you end up eating well and exercising, your body thanks you by giving you more energy and using those minerals and vitamins you get from fruit and veg. It's not easy, but foresight will save you more trouble in the future.
I see people caring about health at the gym and at the stores. I just hope that the many who are trying not to look, get the message eventually and don't ignore it for too long.
More information on preventing heart disease:
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/heart-disease-prevention/WO00041
