Crisps bad for tummy or good for health?

Britons eat more than half the crisps consumed in Europe

Becoming fat in Britain is terribly easy. Bar the US, there is no other developed country in the world where, if you go with the flow, you will end eating quite so badly. In Britain, you have to go out of your way, and make a special effort, to find good, healthy food. Healthy food is the exception, rather than the rule.
If you just eat what everyone else eats, and take advantage of the popular food options that are regularly presented to you, then there is a strong chance that, as the years roll on, you'll be joining that growing band of compatriots who struggle to fit into last year's wardrobe or, worse, can't see their toes for their bellies.
To put it bluntly, our country is lumbering towards a fatness epidemic. Around two-thirds of adult males, and more than half of adult females, are either overweight (fat) or obese (extremely fat).
Obesity has grown by 300 per cent over the past 20 years. Among children, the problem is rising twice as fast as among adults. Nearly 16 per cent of children aged six to 15 are officially obese - three times as many as a decade ago. Add those who are 'merely' overweight and you get nearly a third of the entire child population.
This simply isn't happening to the same extent in other countries. Though rising obesity, particularly among children, is regarded as a worldwide problem, Britain's youngsters are second only to the US in piling on the pounds.
In France, by comparison, though obesity is on the increase, the proportion of boys and girls who are considered obese stands at just 4 per cent. Currently, a third of the total number of obese children in Europe are British.
In the words of Professor Mike Kelly, of the Health Development Agency, Britain has created an "obesogenic environment". In the same way that carcinogenic environments cause cancer, modern Britain causes obesity. Part of the problem is lack of exercise, with sedentary lifestyles and an overreliance on cars. But the key factor is the proliferation of unhealthy food and our growing addiction to it.
'Junk food is everywhere'
Up and down the British Isles, bad food is omnipresent, and more wholesome alternatives are elusive. It is as though there is a national conspiracy to get the population to eat fattening junk. Bad food is woven into the structure of daily life. Going for a swim or a workout at the fitness centre may be good for your health - but only if you ignore the vending machine loaded with fizzy drinks and sweets on your way out.
If you want to read a newspaper and keep abreast of world events like a good citizen, then you'll probably need to walk into a shop with a wall of confectionery, crisps and garish liquids called 'juice'.
If you're popping into a High Street off-licence to buy a bottle of wine, it's made easy for you to pick up some confectionery as you pay. Forget wine and olives - in Britain, it's wine and sweeties.
Filling up on petrol? Go on, treat yourself to something from that monumental display of chocolate confectionery, sticky gums, boiled sweets, crisps and savoury snacks and throw in a long-life mini-salami while you are there.
Or what about a more substantial snack, a 'meal replacement' or 'smeal' (a play on snack and meal), as the industry likes to call it? A big, fatty, salty burger or deep-dish steak pie perhaps, carefully microwaved just for you by the languid youth at the pay-point? The market for these chilled, microwavable delights grew by 98 per cent between 2003 and 2005.
While you are there, look out for US-style 'cup-holder cuisine', a handy range of snacks, soups and even cooked meals, designed to be eaten with one hand while driving, that fit into your car's cup-holders. The British have become so accustomed to having bad food thrust under their noses in places and situations not otherwise associated with food that they no longer notice it.

You bring up some good points op, I myself am presently trying to eat sensibly and cut out that junk, I'm not fat as I have a physical job and one of the main reasons I'm trying is because i'm fed up with the after effects of this crap.
eg.....Heartburn,Indigestion,bloating,gas to name a few !!

and like you say, this crap is everywhere, I cannot go anywhere without seeing deals for bad junk food, Admittedly I love McDonalds and KFC but find it even nicer now that I only have it occasionally, Ive cut out the crisps, choc, sweets, fizzy drinks and boy do I feel so much better.....you really do have to search out good food and pay because I rarely see good deals in supermarkets for healthy food and in town its fast food everywhere, its not looking good for future generations.

Hi my name is Tarifa37 and I am a crisp addict. It all started in the 1970s when my parents would visit a country pub on a Sunday bringing me out a coke and packet of golden wonder salt & vinegar crisps. Since those early days there have been few weeks or days when I haven't eaten the odd bag. Nowadays my crisps of choice are walkers cheese and onion and the weekend treat of walkers Sensations Thai Sweet Chilli and they are eaten daily. I try to limit myself to one bag but often eat two ( small multi pack bags). My question is how come I can give up smoking and go days without alcohol but when it comes to crisps I really struggle to fight the craving. BTW I am 6ft and of normal (12.5 st )weight but could do with shifting a couple of pounds plus concerned over the salt. Would love to knock them on the head but they are too strong an addiction.

crisps cant be that unhealthy although they're bathed in fat/oil.
the main bad thing about crisps is the damage they cause the teeth, more damaging than sweets and cola because potatoes are full of starch and crisps stick to the teeth like snot to a seat.
also health scientists say that gum disease is a large cause for heart disease as the infection spreads through the blood.
eat resposibly

reply to post by oibena


I'd challenge the point you make that you have to go out of your way to find healthy food. Schools that serve hot meals have to have, and encourage healthy alternatives and there is a bit of a fitness craze at the moment, at least where I live.

The problem is people rely on chianstores and supermarkets for their food, and the healthier ready made meals etc are usually a hell of a lot more expensive, compare the price of a weekly shopping trip filled with junk to a weekly shopping trip filled with health foods and you're looking at double, possibly triple the cost for a healthy alternative.

No doubt we are unhealthy compared to some nations in Europe, but I'm more than willing to bet that this is due to people shying away from having a home-made meal as opposed to fast food or a 'TV-dinner'.

reply to post by listerofsmeg


Well I haven't had any fillings since I was a kid but then I don't eat very many sweet things now having a savoury tooth ( I did as a child though hence a couple of fillings) Never considered that they were bad for teeth . I always eat them accompanied by cup of tea without sugar so I guess that helps to wash them from my teeth thus avoiding any problems.