Guest post by Renew Bariatrics

Obesity in the United Kingdom has been growing at an increasing rate in the past 30 years. Since 1990, obesity has tripled to all-time highs, and if the rates continue at this rate, obesity will affect 11 million adults by 2030. Obesity has serious health consequences including diabetes, heart disease, stroke, cancer, sleep apnea, hypertension, and much more.

In 2017 nearly 1/4 of adults are obese. In total, 62% of adults are classified as overweight. With 26% of British women classified as obese. Learn more by viewing this infographic provided by Renew Bariatrics on United Kingdom obesity.

(Much of this information also applies to the US, where obesity rates are at an all-time high, despite some leveling off in a few states. After you view the infographic, take a look at these statistics for more information about obesity in the US).

A few weeks ago I woke up and read a Twitter conversation sparked by an article written by award-winning food writer Jane Black. Since then, I have thought a lot about the article and the conversations that followed in the Twitterverse. Jane’s guest column, on the website of the Stone Barnes Center for Food and Agriculture, points out how elite foodies are fundamentally out of touch with the reasons behind why less-affluent, rural, and/or poor families hadn’t made a switch to healthier eating.

What struck me most about her essay was her observation that one of the main obstacles preventing less affluent people in red-state America from eating healthy didn’t have anything to do with ignorance, lack of desire, or rebellion against elite coastal foodie cultures. It did have to do with economics, but not in the way you might think...