Obesity not caused by lack of willpower ?

[BrilloPad]

Obesity not caused by lack of willpower - psychologists - BBC News

Thoughts?

[NotAllThere]

Is psychology a science?

[KinooOrKinog]

Utter tulip. If obesity isn't a choice, does that mean being a smoker isn't a choice either? What happens when an obese person loses weight? Is that not their choice?

Obesity is caused (IMO) by a combination of things
Lack of willpower
Laziness, e.g. eating takeaways is far easier than cooking
Lack of education, people don't know about nutrition or how to cook
Of course there can be more complex psychological reasons why the overeat in the first place too.

Ultimately everything comes down to choice, it's just some are more difficult to make than others.

[BrilloPad]

Obesity is caused (IMO) by a combination of things
Lack of willpower
Laziness, e.g. eating takeaways is far easier than cooking
Lack of education, people don't know about nutrition or how to cook
Of course there can be more complex psychological reasons why the overeat in the first place too.

The article does mention your last 3 options.

Personally I don't agree with the article - people have to look after themselves without a nanny state. But it does piss me off that if you have no money and 50p to feed your children, would you buy 2 apples or 5 doughnuts? Fruit and veg is too expensive.

[KinooOrKinog]

The article does mention your last 3 options.

Personally I don't agree with the article - people have to look after themselves without a nanny state. But it does piss me off that if you have no money and 50p to feed your children, would you buy 2 apples or 5 doughnuts? Fruit and veg is too expensive.

You can buy a 5kg box of fruit & veg from Lidl for £1.50. If someone would rather eat doughnuts then that's fine. It's their choice. But don't say it's because healthy food is too expensive. Take responsibility.

[NotAllThere]

The problem with the poor eating badly is also partly because when you're a on a limited budget, if you **** it up once, you've very little leeway to recover. Budgetting requires a certain level of intelligence (and willpower).

[KinooOrKinog]

The problem with the poor eating badly is also partly because when you're a on a limited budget, if you **** it up once, you've very little leeway to recover. Budgetting requires a certain level of intelligence (and willpower).

I agree it does. I've been poor. But the article isn't about poor people. It's saying being obese isn't a choice & isn't down to lack of willpower.

[BrilloPad]

You can buy a 5kg box of fruit & veg from Lidl for £1.50. If someone would rather eat doughnuts then that's fine. It's their choice. But don't say it's because healthy food is too expensive. Take responsibility.

If you are near a lidl then great. Have you tried looking in the other supermarkets?

You may note in my post I did say "people have to look after themselves without a nanny state."

[BrilloPad]

The problem with the poor eating badly is also partly because when you're a on a limited budget, if you **** it up once, you've very little leeway to recover. Budgetting requires a certain level of intelligence (and willpower).

It would be nice if it was taught in school.

Maybe the lesson on debt could be replaced with "never get into debt" and the time spent on budgeting instead.....

[meridian]

The thinking that obesity is only ever caused by a lack of willpower is overly simplistic. Like anything, it’s far more nuanced.

Not all calories are equal. The way that calories are processed differs from body to body. There are outliers in physiological conditions that means that some people are more predisposed to process calories and calories sources differently.