Diabetes timebomb

Thursday 23rd June 2011, 3:00PM BST.

Diabetes is often linked to obesity

THE number of diabetics in Jersey will double within ten years unless Islanders make major lifestyle changes, a senior Hospital consultant has warned.

One in three children born in Jersey today will develop diabetes during their life, and by 2020 an estimated 10,000 Islanders will be suffering from the condition.

And the cost to the economy – including social security payments to cover sick leave as well as the price of treating diabetes and other obesity related conditions – will rise from its current level of £15 million to £30 million by the end of the decade.

The costs figure, given to the JEP by Jersey diabetes consultant Dr Peter Bates, is based on statistics from the UK’s National Audit Office and the Obesity Information Centre in England.

• See Thursday’s JEP for the full report


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  1. 1
    Fatboy Slimfast

    You tellin me, they should re name this place whales, congratulations to the girl in the picture for getting her ar*e into those jeans.

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  2. 2
    Shut up and Pay

    -Keep eating the extremely greasy fish and chips and you are on the way. I squeeze my fish once and oil was dripping of it like a squeezed lemon: disgusting (same with the burgers actually)

    -Ready meals (dog food)and Iceland stuff will kill you.

    -What the point of all that icing on cakes???

    -The way of life has to do with it:

    You should have a big lunch followed by a siesta and a light dinner.
    Here, it is 30minutes sandwich at lunch time and god knows what you can be bother to cook in the evening.

    So close to France but so far from getting the best of what they have to offer.

    No comment on the price of organic food either…

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  3. 3
    Shut up and Pay

    The booze is not helping either and the way women drink over here is shocking.

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  4. 4
    Loco

    “congratulations to the girl in the picture for getting her ar*e into those jeans.”
    Well… most of it…

    If there was a tax I wouldn’t mind appearing, it would probably be a ‘fat tax’ as has been proposed in the mainland previously.

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  5. 5
    small money

    with rising food prices we should all be getting thinner.
    xbox = couch potatoe.

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  6. 6
    Toastedteacakes

    Totally fed up with these hospital consultant scare tactics. The hospital should stop wasting time and try to achieve a cut down on waiting lists and give priority to what is needed at present, what a disgrace.

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  7. 7
    pie catcherz

    the fat, the lazy and the ignorant are TAKING OVER THE WORLD. that’s what happens when the last world war is outside most peoples lifetime memory – GAWD ‘ELP US

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  8. 8
    Seymour Butts

    Box of 6 Co-op cherry bakewells – £1.23
    Net of 5 Co-op oranges – £2.25
    Last time I bought both – pre 5% GST!
    Hmmm… Just a thought!

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  9. 9
    Bo

    # 3 get your facts right, alcohol is liver related, and what about the men?

    # 4 nearly there, with the price of fresh food at the moment, its no-wonder so many people are going to the likes of Iceland for cheap meals.

    # 6, yes I agree with you, this is based on a UK trend, not a local trend. I travel to the UK a lot, and I see so many overweight children, this in comparison to Jersey where there are a minority of overweight people

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  10. 10
    C Le Verdic

    #5 ‘xbox = couch potatoe’

    I thought greengrocery was big money!

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  11. 11
    Leah Holmes

    #6 It’s not scare tactics, diabetes is far more serious a condition than some people seem to think. My concern is that the media mention obesity so much now some people will become blase about the threats facing them.

    Still, walk about St Helier and see how often you spot a mother and daughter where the daughter is a good bit fatter than the mum, it’s a worrying reversal of how things should be.

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  12. 12
    Parktown Prawn

    9 Bo

    ermm….there are loads of calories in alcohol you know :-/

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  13. 13
    jeff

    Dont think that just the obese can get diabetes , it can happen to anyone , it is also hereditory , i put on a few pounds and shifted it again at 49 i weigh less than when i was in my early twenties and still recently have been diagnosed as diabetic , its not just bad eating habits it is also lack of exercise , even if you are thin taking your foot off the pedal and being lazy is just as dangerous , the obese have a visual warning of whats to come ,being thin is more dangerous as you think that it wont happen to you , TAKE HEED,

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  14. 14
    Mulvie Le Phew

    You do wonder at what point do these people think to themselves – you know I really shouldn’t eat a full packet of biscuits with my cuppa, I’m starting to get a bit lardy. Don’t they have mirrors, or friends, you can eat healthily on the cheap,problem is many people can’t be bothered cooking anymore.

    They come in from work and put something in the microwave or send out for a takeaway. I can cook a perfectly good meal in the time it takes a takeaway to be delivered. Cook double portions and freeze one for midweek. Jamie Olviers meals in 30 minutes cookbook shows how easy it is.

    People are lazy, everything is someones elses fault. Diabetes can make you blind or deaf, listen up fatties this would mean it’s harder to find the fridge.

    You don’t have to join a gym, we have the most faboulous beaches, I walk my dog at sunrise, we have the beach to ourselves, it’s glorious.

    Get of your fat ar*es, stop being gannets and start eating real food – you never know you might like it.

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  15. 15
    Steven

    What is with the Iceland bashing?

    Most Iceland ready meals score far higher than M&S and Waitrose ready meals in regards to salt, preservitives, colours, flavourings added sugar and saturated fat. Just because it is packaged better doesnt make it better for you, there is no replacement for fresh cooked meals but i am just saying if you are going to try and blame Iceland then M&S etc are also to blame, perhaps more so.

    It is just ignorant, stupid and snobish (sp).

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  16. 16
    Dave lee trevis eh!

    Fancy going around photoing someones backside!
    Talk about big brothers watching you.
    I thought there would be a law against such things
    who knows the star of the show could be you*

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  17. 17
    E. T. Wattsgood

    I have just had grilled fish and boiled spinach for lunch…I really wanted fish and chips!

    Some say that “life is about choices”, I believe that “choices are about life”…and how long you wish to hold onto it!

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  18. 18
    Diane

    “in comparison to Jersey where there are a minority of overweight people”

    Are you serious? Just sit in the cafe in the market for half an hour looking out at the great unwashed public – I think most people, especially Bo @ 9, would be gobsmacked at just how many overweight / obese people there actually are over here!

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  19. 19
    Fatboyslim

    Unbelievable snobbery and bigotry. Look to yourselves if you want to know why Jersey is generally going down the swanny…

    Live and let live – fat people are not the cause of Jersey’s problems, any more than smokers or vegetarians…

    Btw – I’m sure the person in the photo (if it’s not stock imagery) would probably feel embarrassed enough without the hateful comments, or is she fair game because she is a woman?

    (From a slightly overweight but happy man, London.)

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  20. 20
    Shut up and Pay

    @15 Steven

    You answer your own question:
    salt, preservitives, colours, flavourings added sugar and saturated fat

    If that stuff doesn’t kill you!!!

    No surprise there is more obese and people having cancer looking at all the crap you get in ready meals…

    Between adding more salt to a piece of meat and putting less salt on something who looks like meat (and puffed up with water) there is a difference.

    I don’t think that 50% of people who buys ham knows that some are just cheap piece of meat and fat put together and cut to look like the real slice of pork.
    Same for burgers and sausages, if you knew what goes in there you would be sick.

    I heard stories of some working in a production line of

    @9 BO
    Do your research and see how many spoons of sugar are in glass of wine( or alcopop ), and you ll be surprised.

    Just look at Germans who loves their beer.
    The worst thing you can do is drink beer with your food. The yeast (I think) double the size of you food in your stomach.
    This is why you should drink a glass of red wine with your food, which is good for your blood and your heart.

    They should have cooking and nutritional class at school

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  21. 21
    Toastedteacakes

    I would say that’s it’s stress against angry and annoying people who cause the more mellow of us to need hospital treatment, nothing to do with food.

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  22. 22
    Bo

    @ # 20

    I have done my research, I am a diabetic, type one – and theres not one ounce of fat on me, my diabetes was inherited in my childhood 35 years ago when I was 6, my blood sugar levels are very well controlled.

    I eat & drink in moderation, both wine and beer, (i find larger too gassy).

    However, there is NO sugar in wine as it has fermented out, unless it is ‘sweetened’, that kinda gives it away, yet the sugar content is low, unless it is a desert wine. Alcopop, well again, the word ‘pop’ gives it away. How much sugar is in an alcopop, depends how big the bottle or glass is.
    Beer alone would not make you fat unless you drank gallons of it. Three pints of beer are roughly the same calories as one bar of Chocolate!

    You contradict yourself however with your glass of red wine, as you said there is sugar in wine, well by your methodology

    However, why is the diabetic nurse and consultant, warn not to drink too much alcohol, because if you are drunk you will not notice your hypo – which is LOW BLOOD SUGAR, bit of a contradiction in your terms!

    What on earth have the germans and liking beer got to do with it, the majority of germans I know and seen are slim and fit.

    This site will give you a few pointers, http://www.weightlossforall.com/alcohol-lose-weight.htm#b

    Your handle is quite appropriate, shut up & do your research properly.

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  23. 23
    Pj

    Shut up and Pay @ 20

    I think English Literature and Language educational courses are of more importance, judging your inability complete a legible sentence.

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  24. 24
    Greg

    Fed up of this island and those politicians !! life become more expensive !!! you have to work 15 hours every day to feed your kids and pay your social security, your taxes, rent for greedy locals. Just got my quallies this year. one more year here and im moving : I want real and fair life for me and my family.

    Why people are fat ? crappy food . best food is too expensive and politicians are hypocrites !!! what they want to do of this island ? a financial center for rich people ? if yes then tell everybody face to face and not bringing shitty shops like iceland and pushing businesses to put price up for food and everything. A year ago I already said that Jersey was going a reallly bad way for everybody , i was right . Its getting worst and worst !! an advice to people, leave Jersey before its too late!!!

    Lets leave the richs together and tourism will stop and life will be crap!!

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  25. 25
    Leah Holmes

    #9 I have to agree with Diane at #18, on regular trips to the UK I see the opposite of what you seem to see. I would definitely say Jersey is worse in the obesity stakes than the UK. And I’m not talking about the islands (where obesity is pretty much unseen) rather cities.

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  26. 26
    jeff

    Totaly agree GREG , im jersey born and felt the need to ship out to the other side of the world 8 years ago because i could see all this crap coming even though you still get this everywhere , at least im not at home to watch my island sink

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  27. 27
    Shut up and Pay

    @ BO
    Thanks for you input.
    I found this:
    The amount of sugar in a glass of wine is small but sugar isn’t the only calorie producer in that glass. Keep in mind that the wine maker converts fruit sugars into alcohol when fermenting wine. So it’s no surprise to see small amounts of sugar in wine and shouldn’t be a surprise that the calories remain in the fermented alcohol. What might be surprising is that the alcohol has more calories per gram than sugar. A gram of sugar averages 4 calories while a gram of alcohol is 7 calories.
    A bottle of wine that’s 12% alcohol by volume contains 90ml or 71 grams of alcohol. Each glass therefore has 14.2 grams of alcohol. This results in 99.4 calories from alcohol and 4.5 calories from sugar.

    Forget the German, it was just to get the picture.

    and PJ,

    I am not English and I can speak and write 3 languages. I do not need a degree in each and I am not here to write an essay.

    I am just saying that ready meals and booze are bad for you.

    Not being English will make me point out that sausage rolls and similar products are not helping either. Healthy fish and chips are rare to find.

    Were are paying tax/health care for lazy fatties who can’t be bothered cooking fresh food, drinking fizzy drink and booze.

    And if they can’t look after themselves, their children will be going down the same road.

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  28. 28
    Toastedteacakes

    11. Leah “walk around town and you will see a daughter fatter than the mum’. You have missed the fact that the daughter probably inherited the fat gene from the father.

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  29. 29
    Toastedteacakes

    24. Greg Why blame Iceland, any discerning customer can decide which products to chose from the shelves. If folk can not exercise will power and eat in moderation that is pathetic.

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  30. 30
    the future

    A low calorie diet can actually cure diabetes

    http://uk.news.yahoo.com/diabetes-reversed-strict-diet-232504283.html

    It is even a cure, so you can go back to eating normally after 2 months.

    Diabetes is only one of the diseases caused by obesity. Surgeons sometimes refuse to operate on obese people until they lose weight pertly because of this.

    Fat is fat, fat people are fat people just as the tall are tall. If seeing a photograph of yourself upsets you because you see a fat person do something.

    If you can tell someone smoking is a disgusting habit you should be able to tell someone a 4000 calorie meal is disgusting too.

    This diabetes epidemic will be partly due to public politeness “don’t tell him he is fat” which is crazy.

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  31. 31
    Leah Holmes

    #28 ‘the fat gene’ :-D It’s not as simple as that. Girls whose mothers are obese are far more likely to be obese themselves, and that’s not down to genetics, it’s down to copying their behaviour. Also, your weight prior to the age of 5 plays a reasonable part in whether you will be obese later on in life, so in some cases parents are causing the problem (they are responsible for what a pre-5 year old eats after all). How much you are likely to exercise later on in life is even believed to be affected by how much you exercise prior to the age of 3 (also partly determined by your parents). The genetics of weight are more to do with inheritable traits like the amount of self-will someone has (or doesn’t have in the case of failing to diet), how lazy someone is etc. Some of it is learned behaviour some of it genetic, but everyone can lose weight, there’s no debating that.

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  32. 32
    foxy

    Seriously, everyone overweight should try and improve their lifestyle. In the last few years I have lost my sister to diabetes …she lost toes then one leg and then the other. In the end she was in agony …and it all started in her thirties when she was told to look at her diet. She was 57 – not old these days. Take care everyone

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  33. 33
    Toastedteacakes

    31. Leah you contradict yourself. If you saw a thin mother walking around town with a fat daughter then the fat daughter did not copy the thin mother. More likely to have been the result of a fat father.

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  34. 34
    Cazza

    Sympathise with 33 Foxy.

    I am an insulin dependent diabetic. I am of normal weight for my build and height although I know poor diet and being overweight is a large factor in developing diabetes. I was told that in my case it was hereditary and I didn’t stand much of a chance being as it has come from both my father and mother’s side of the family. I know my grandfather developed diabetic gangrene in his feet. Although I hope to goodness they don’t, the chances of my children developing diabetes is high – I just hope they have inherited more of their father’s genes as his side of the family are diabetes free.

    Diabetes does get me down with having to keep check on blood sugar levels, inject and watch what I eat and drink, etc., so I would urge all those that are at risk to try and change their lifestyle and to lose any excess weight – easier said than done I know – but it sure ain’t no fun being diabetic!

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  35. 35
    homonucleus

    Cut the crap everyone, no such thing as a fat gene.

    Fat people eat too much and dont exercise enough to shift the excess calories.

    Its not rocket science, its pure laziness.

    Never ever met a fat person that doesn’t either; eat too much, drink too much, exercise too little or ‘blame other people/factors/childhood/taxes etc’ for their condition.

    Where is your pride fatty?

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  36. 36
    Mrs L

    35 Comments and only one person has mentioned GST. Let common sense prevail…tax processed foods (oh, right, we haven’t got the brain power to figure that out yet…what nonsense!), takeaway / fast food outlets and lay off taxing healthier food so more people have access to it. Simples…

    The government and its departments will otherwise get the society it deserves (if it hasn’t already!).

    Oh and er, diabetes is more common but not unique to the obese. I lost a friend to it who didn’t have pick on them.

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  37. 37
    Richard

    I think we should start to fine fat bloaters for taking up too much room on the streets and damaging the pavements – its all the fatties on the boat that makes Condor run so slowly !

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  38. 38
    Pip Clement

    There are genes that predispose people to be fat, thin, tall or short and a lot of other things.
    Obviously environment and behaviour plays a role as well.
    Having a good mix of genes in the pool was useful when life was a lot more risky than in today’s Western societies and Mum could not go to Iceland and stock up on pizza.
    I know a few people who live on ready meals from M&S because they can afford /deserve it and they are not exactly low on calories or salt either.

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  39. 39
    Leah Holmes

    #34 I never said the mother was thin, my wording implied the mother was overweight but that the daughter was more so (I used a comparative adjective). Your idea that it’s as simple as “my dad’s fat so I will be too”, do you get that from the media? They’re trying to sell a product. Giving people an excuse for their obesity or telling them there is a shortcut to losing weight, it sells! There is a huge difference between having a tiny predisposition to becoming obese and actually becoming obese, the full articles they quote will always state as much so the media should be tackled for ‘reporting’ so irresponsibly.

    I don’t doubt that it’s hard to be someone who is obese, but my sympathies lie with their loved ones, the ones who can’t do anything about it but get to watch someone risk their life. Also, many of us have grown up with horrible and life-threatening medical conditions that we neither caused nor can cure, from this side of the fence people who continually and knowingly harm their own health seem a little selfish. If that upsets anyone then tough, they should count themselves lucky they actually have a choice.

    I have four good friends that are obese, they are honest about the fact that diet and exercise are problem, one of them does fall into the rare genetic disorder category and even she has managed to lose weight.

    I hate when people are defeatist and say it can’t be done, they’re underestimating themselves.

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  40. 40
    Toastedteacakes

    40. Leah I see your point of view but if a person is predisposed to the fat gene from either perant then it is something they must accept as normal.

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  41. 41
    Leah Holmes

    #41 I disagree because their parent DOESN’T need to be obese, even with a predisposition, and if they parent is obese they should explain to their child that it is due to their lack of exercise and their bad diet, nothing else! (And it’s not A fat gene.) If predisposition was all then how come people with a predisposition can have healthy-weighted grandparents, great-grandparents and further back…? Regardless of the many genetic interactions every Doctor will assure you that with proper diet and exercise obese people can lose weight. You’re making out like some genetic predisposition is a reasonable excuse and it simply isn’t, it’s all about choices.

    I would be overweight if I drove more and never said no to fatty food. You would be overweight if you did, EVERYone who is a healthy weight would be overweight if they lived that lifestyle. If I see my weight creep up due to being overly busy at work and not getting enough exercise time I do something about it. Healthy-weighted people choose everyday to say “no” to certain foods and to walk when they could drive. It’s not always fun but we do it rather than risk our own health and risk costing the taxpayer even more. I don’t beileve for two seconds that we have some stunning ability to do this and that obese people are incapable, and I don’t believe in assisting people to stay obese by telling them they can’t lose weight and encouraging a defeatist attitude. Still, if I had a family member or friend trying to lose weight I would be careful what I ate in their presence etc. some people don’t seem to get much family or friend support and that’s something we should also be encouraging (can’t be easy to choose a salad when your mate is tucking into a nice pizza).

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  42. 42
    Toastedteacakes

    Leah 42. Some people are born with bigger bones and need more fat to cover these big bones FACT

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  43. 43
    homonucleus

    @42. You are talking nonsense.

    I think you meant to say that some people are born with willpower and pride whilst others couldn’t care less and need more fat to cover their lazy arses.

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  44. 44
    Jersey Boy

    42 Toastedteacakes.

    I think you are confusing muscle and fat.

    Leah Holmes: totally agree with you, its about lifestyle. example: you go eat with some friends and everyone is eating burgers so why cant the fat people? but then the difference is, that’s the only burger they will have that week, and they went to the gym the day before. thats where its all about balance.

    Of course if one has pizza every night and doesnt do any exercise (even just walking to and from work – I know there are people at my work who, on the 3rd floor, get the lift to go to the ground floor!! I mean seriously they cant be bothered to walk DOWN the stairs?), dont be shocked when people say your fat.

    Anyway, hasnt someone just found a cure for this? Ironically the cure is an 8 week low calorie diet. lol.

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  45. 45
    Leah Holmes

    #42 ToastedTeaCakes, that’s a brilliant one, never heard it before :-D Fat to cover their bones? What anatomy text did you get this from? Actually, probably none because it would be obvious from just looking at the make up of the human body that you’re wrong. But of course people have different sized skeletons, so what? That might affect their weight, but weight itself isn’t the issue since being overweight is judged relative to other factors (age, height etc.)

    #44 Unfortunately the diet tested for the study is dangerously low on calories, high risk to anyone whose heart is already under a lot of pressure and certainly shouldn’t be undertaken without a doctor’s approval. It’s a shame when ‘solutions’ like these come along because someone will always jump on it and risk their health to lose weight instead of doing it the long-term way (i.e. the way that sticks). If someone considers how long it took them to put the weight on then that should give them an idea how long it should take to lose it.

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  46. 46
    Diane

    42 Homonuceus – Yay! Spot on.

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  47. 47
    Overpopulated

    Anyone who is making excuses about people being overweight ought to watch the Embarassing Fat Bodies programme. Last week they had a couple of people who were 30 stone – and had diabetes one of them was only in his 30s.

    The only way you get to that weight is by eating too much fatty food and not enough exercise.

    They were explaining about the surgical intervention used to effectively save these people’s lives and it was not pretty.

    Put me off eating too much that’s for sure!

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  48. 48
    Leah Holmes

    #47 Saw a bit of that programme, and yes it does put you off your food, that’s for sure.

    Interesting that the annoying doctor guy did actually say “99.999…% of people who are obese will lose weight by eating less and exercising more, conditions that actually cause obesity are incredibly rare”.

    Still, a family friend has one such condition and has managed to lose weight through diet and exercise, indeed, even if you have one of these rare conditions that is still the way to lose weight, it is just far harder for you as your brain doesn’t receive the same signals (due to eating food) as everyone else’s brain does.

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