Even Wobblier Britain

One of the less well predicted side effects of the Covid-19 pandemic ...

Britain Is Now A Wobblier Population Post Covid-19

... is the fact that we all ate more during the lock-downs.. 

Now in a different era, pre-1985, this wouldn't have really been much of an issue. But in modern Britain with its fat plague already a national crisis, that is not the case .... its made what was a bad health situation, worse (despite some trying to pretend this fatness is normal).

For instance, NHS research has found that people joining the NHS weight loss scheme are on average, already 5lb (2.27kg) heavier post lockdown, than those who joined pre-Covid19. While a survey of the general public, suggests that more than 40% of adults in England have said they gained weight during the pandemic, with the average gain being half a stone (just over 3kg). 

What makes this situation potentially even worse, is that as so many doctors have not been seeing their patients for nearly two years (a situation that is still largely on-going, even post lockdown), it is very likely that the expanded waistlines of the population in general has not been recorded .... so the true state of the damage will only unwind over a period of time, as people see their doctors in person.

Now we are not alone in this situation. In the developed world many will have had general weight gains over the last 2 years. A study by Singapore University looked at real food orders made via telephone to supermarkets and takeaways, and found that the amount of unhealthy food ordered went up by 11 per cent, whilst the amount of healthy food (e.g vegetables) ordered, fell by 20 per cent, when comparisons between pre and post Covid orders was made. 

I myself have been through this process, and after some struggle have tackled my own personal weight gain demon, and although its an ongoing battle, I reduced my weight by over 14lbs (6.35kg) ... with a little recent setback of 4lbs, all of which is only relevant to this post in that I don't eat takeaway food often, and none at all during the lockdown. So if I put on at least 7lb (I admit that I was probably already carrying an unwanted 7lb pre-Covid-19), during lock-down with no takeaways, how much has the general population gained if they ate a lot more takeaways and comfort food?    

The conclusion of the NHS report was that a lot of 'comfort foods' were ordered, whilst people were in lockdown and felt stressed. Sumit Agarwal, the professor who led the study, said that although they used data from Singapore, they have no reason to think that this behaviour hasn't been replicated or exceeded elsewhere in the wealthy countries  .... and lets be honest, its almost certainly true to say that on average, people in Britain are far less healthy than those in Singapore, so we will likely have exceeded the figures that the Singapore study has unearthed.

As a simple rule of thumb, it is estimated that in the UK, for every 2lb (0.91kg) of weight gain over normal healthy weight, this equates to an increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes of some 8 per cent. It also has long term consequences for the likelihood of developing coronary heart disease  or Alzheimer's disease. Diabetes UK has confirmed that the growing obesity rates was expected to result in an additional 39,000 extra cases of people suffering heart attacks by 2035, and 50,000 plus will likely have a stroke ... 

... They may have to revise these predictions upwards as the latest weight gains become apparent.