37 thoughts on “Largely because it’s bollocks, Laddie”
Boddicker
First he came for your pension then he came for your tea and biscuits.
If the fat potato can’t keep away from the extra slice of cake then no one should be allowed cake
Van_Patten
Why are Labour refusing to talk about the real cause of the health crisis that we have in the UK, which is in turn quite literally feeding into our economic crisis?
Is there no end to his talents – he’s now an expert in health as well?
I wish I knew.
I wish you knew anything about any of the subjects you pontificate and claim authority on but I guess it’s noone’s lucky day today.
What are they so frightened of?
I am guessing it’s those Jewish Sugar barons currently committing ‘genocide’ in Gaza
Or is there sugar sponsorship in play?
The Labour party – in association with Tate & Lyle.
We need to know. Wes Streeting wants to be health secretary for Labour and is not talking about the real issues that face the NHS and how we can address them. There have to be real questions about his suitability for office in that case.
As Boddicker says – not only does he want to decide where your money can be invested and how all government expenditure should be directed, he now wants complete control over how you administer your health and your diet as well – the scary thing is there’s a large enough ‘blob’ of people in the public sector who share his desire for power and control. As the great ‘BiS’ says – it is Murphy’s world (even if he isn’t in direct control of it) – increasingly we just live in it.
Van_Patten
You missed his commentary on Liz Truss which I have adapted to better reflect his ideology:
First, he wants a non- white , trans-privileged society that is focused on the supposed anti religious values of the LGBTQIA spectrum, which is defined to exclude any non – LGBT people, and with the values and principles of any majority group being treated as aberrant and offensive and so to be subject to permitted prejudice.
Second, he wants to define all forms of individual concern, including for one’s family and friends and for the individual themselves, as a threat to the right of the state to control and regulate people and organizations of all types to save the planet.
Third, he wishes to increase business regulation so it cannot function and ensures the consumer can only consume the quality and quantity of goods the state decrees , showing the apparent awareness that the collective economies in place like North Korea produce superior outcomes in terms of inequality than capitalist countries
This is, then, an agenda that explicitly permits the state with a grudge to abuse anyone they wish with impunity. And anything that gets in the way, like individual rights and freedoms and historical precedents, must be vilified or abolished.
This is beyond being called extreme left ideology. This is Stalinism. It should be described as such because no other word in the political lexicon fits it.
Western Bloke
“Why are Labour refusing to talk about the real cause of the health crisis that we have in the UK, which is in turn quite literally feeding into our economic crisis?”
The biggest health problem in the UK is people not exercising. 40 year old women got chubby because they don’t walk anywhere. They used to walk to the shops, walk the kids to and from school, go on the bus to go places (which means some walking), walk to Church. Of my neighbours that aren’t chubby, they’re women who either walk everywhere or make an effort and go to the gym.
But no-one wants to take responsibility for their inaction. This is why “sugar is addictive” comes along. No, it’s not my fault that I’m eating fondant fancies, it’s Mr Kipling’s fault, the utter bastard.
John
Guido was commenting on Mr Streeting only last week.
Trouble is brewing up in Stockton. Local activists are accusing Labour HQ of “blatant nepotism” for selecting the partner of shadow health secretary Wes Streeting for the Stockton West candidacy. Joe Dancey, who has for the last decade been reported to live in London, was selected in October in a two-man shortlist that included a student paramedic from York as his only opposition. Former Labour MP and local GP Paul Williams (of Hartlepool fame) was denied the opportunity to get on the shortlist…
Sam Duncan
“The Labour party – in association with Tate & Lyle.”
Tate & Lyle sold its sugar business in 2010 after cane importers were royally shafted by the EU to assist indigenous beet sugar producers. Such as Silver Spoon, formerly the nationalized British Sugar Corporation, and still the sole buyer of sugar beets in Britain.
Dennis, Noting The Bright Light Emanating From Ely
One look at Richard Murphy and you can tell that proper diet and appropriate levels of exercise are quite high on his List of Concerns™. Not high enough to actually set a good example for the proles to follow, but high nonetheless.
The Meissen Bison
Is Wes Streeting now the Tooth Fairy?
Andrew C
“Dennis, Noting The Bright Light Emanating From Ely
One look at Richard Murphy…”
There was some discussion on health & fitness on Spud’s blog recently, with someone advising him that running or a rowing machine would be good exercise.
“walking is the best exercise by far. Better than rowing or running” Spud announced.
By which we can assume walking is his only exercise and he does no running or rowing at all. Yes, walking is certainly better than nothing and best if you are incapable of anything more strenuous. And how far? He was working his way back up to 3,000 steps a day (after his latest near death Covid experience). That’s about how many steps I take when I don’t actually do anything beyond going to work.
Who knew he was a health & fitness expert as well as everything else?
Dennis, Inconveniently Noting Reality
Walking to and from the refrigerator is not considered exercise.
That takes care of Murphy right there.
Bloke in North Dorset
Andrew C,
At his age running isn’t necessarily a good idea, even on a running machine, but you have to get your heart rate up for a good period. Since I was advised to stop running I’ve found a good cross trainer with a long stride setting is a very good substitute.
As for walking, agreed it has to be a decent pace for a decent distance, ideally with a couple of hills thrown in. The big problem with walking is the time it takes to get a decent amount of calories burned. On my shortest and easiest walk, no big hills, at mid pace (4.5 miles in 1hr 15m), I only burn 530ish active calories.
Paul, Somerset
Try carrying things while you’re walking, BiND. That’s what nobody does any more: carry things from A to B. They might walk/run and they might lift weights, but never together.
My mother was forever complaining about the days when she had to carry bags of sugar back from the shops, and she was as thin as a rake.
Andrew C
@BiND
Agreed you need to be up somewhere in the 3.5-4 mph speed range for walking to be effective. I’d imagine Spud considers a stroll (to the fridge) effective simply because he says it is.
I recently acquired a weighted vest to wear when walking. On the plus side it does mean extra effort is required. The weights can be added or removed as required and can go up to 3 stone – I usually add about half that. You notice it most when you take it off! On the negative side, it does look awfully like a suicide bomb vest.
My favourite (or least favourite when I’m on it) bit of exercise kit is my second hand Concept2 rower. Nearly 20 years old now and good as new. They’re built for non-stop gym use so for home use they’re pretty much indestructible.
BlokeInBrum
There’s very little point in exercising purely to lose weight. The vast majority of weight loss (or maintenance) comes from restricting calorie intake in your diet. Where exercise comes in handy is to keep physically active and fit, and if you are on a diet, to make sure that the majority of weight lost is fat rather than muscle.
asiaseen
My mother was forever complaining about the days when she had to carry bags of sugar back from the shops, and she was as thin as a rake.
Carrying those hundredweight sacks is good exercise.
As an aside, my parents bought a cwt sack of sugar at the beginning of WW2. It lasted us till well after the war.
Tim Worstall
Now that’s foresight. Even planning…..
wat dabney
“The vast majority of weight loss (or maintenance) comes from restricting calorie intake in your diet. ”
Forget calories. Completely. The significant factor in whether you get fat or not is the hormonal response to different macros, not their calorie count. Eat sugar/carbs and you’re storing fat, to say nothing of the damage done to the body by the sugar itself and by the elevated insulin. Eat meat and fat to satiety and there’s no significant hormonal response: you’ll become/remain thin and healthy, with no middle-age spread.
Tim Worstall
Speaking from personal experience – agreed, anecdata is just that, but then science is the collection of individual observations up into a coherent whole – when I exericise significalty my eating goes up and my weight goes down.
Which exercise (say, some sit ups) might change specific measurements. Significant swimming moves mass to the shoulders etc.
In the new house, from next month, should be able to test this a bit more (we’ll have a pool!).
But, for me, exercise goes up, calorie intake goes up, weight and BP etc go down.
Now, true, when I say exercise I’m not saying walk a bit. 1 mile in a pool, 40km on a bicycle, that sort of level several times a week. But that is what happens.
Bloke in North Dorset
There’s very little point in exercising purely to lose weight. The vast majority of weight loss (or maintenance) comes from restricting calorie intake in your diet. Where exercise comes in handy is to keep physically active and fit, and if you are on a diet, to make sure that the majority of weight lost is fat rather than muscle.
The big problem with exercising to lose weight is that people vastly over estimate the calories they burn and equally underestimate that treat they give themselves afterwards as a reward for going to the gym.
I was a regular gym user before Covid (I bought a x trainer and weights during Covid) and you’d see it all the time. The Apple Watch tracks exercise calories and from what I can gather if you put your details in its quite accurate. In an hour’s hard session I’d expect to burn in the order of 500 to 600 calories and would be out of breath at the end.
A significant number of people who would come in, do 30 to 45 minutes lightish work, not be out of breath , and then you’d see them in the café having a chocolate muffin or something similar, at a cost of around 400 calories. They then get despondent because they aren’t losing weight.
Bongo
A mile in a pool is pretty impressive.
You see joggers running with headphones and cyclists with earpods, but I don’t think listening to podcasts is possible to make swimming 64 lengths of the municipal baths more bearable. Unless I’m missing some new technology.
Kudos.
bloke in spain
I’d second the Bloke in Brum’s opinion. There’s little relationship between diet & exercise. Not at the level of exercise any of you lot are doing. Eight hours a day heavy manual work maybe. But not even 40km bike rides. What may happen is you put on muscle mass where you didn’t have it before. Try it if you like. Don’t eat anything for 3 days but continue with the exercise. Not counting the content of your guts you might temporarily lose a pound.
The only way to lose weight is to cut down the food intake. Remember. It’s unlikely you’ve ever been actually hungry in the entirety of your life. Your eating is habitual not necessary.
Sebalto
A pullup bar and kettlebells are superb investments. Diet is 80% of the equation if weight loss is the goal though.
Chris Miller
If your new pool is of typical domestic size (28’x14′), a mile is getting on for 200 lengths, which are mostly one kick and maybe one or two strokes each.
Bloke in North Dorset
On the subject oh health, and given the age of a large number of in this gaff ….
This YouTube channel appeared in my feed recently. A physio who specialises in the over 50s. There’s some good stuff and it appears genuine as he stresses the need to see a doctor before doing some of his exercises.
Never personally understood the “exercise more, eat more” thing?
Whenever I did serious exercise in the past, I was more likely to eat less (and certainly less crap as part of that), especially if I was exercising before a meal (and who wants to exercise after..). I tended to be more thirsty than hungry in those situations.
jgh
Mr Google tells me that my walk up the hill to the Post Office and back is 2600 steps / 1.2 miles and about 100m uphill. I’ve done this three times this week, and felt like my lungs were bursting. I think mainly because I still stride as though I’m 20 years old and my brain hasn’t caught up with my body.
jgh
“Whenever I did serious exercise in the past, I was more likely to eat less”
Certainly the three out-of-puff trips to the Post Office this week has coincided with a packet of biscuits remaining uneaten. I just don’t fancy eating anything as I collapse onto the sofa.
Thing is, I’m one of those that can’t do exercise for the sake of it. It has to be part of some task. When I was a local councillor there was about 100 miles a week delivering leaflets, plus 4 miles to and from the Town Hall most days.
dearieme
I’ve lost 17 kg in the last five weeks. The secret is to fall seriously ill. Be sure to choose the right illness.
johnnybonk
@Bloke in North Dorset “t mid pace (4.5 miles in 1hr 15m), I only burn 530ish active calories.” – yes, it is truly dispiriting for slimmers to consider how much walking it takes to burn off a mars bar. Though equally, heartening for those who like to groove on how efficient the body is / how cheap food in the industrial age / etc ….
johnnybonk
Sugar is pure nutrition, the stuff that the body runs on. It is a sign of how abundant is the age we live in that many now consider it to be bad. And don’t get me started on how they now tax it to discourage it, or that they ‘banned’ the king sized mars bar ……. grrr……
Boganboy
Seem to be putting on a bit more blubber these days.
I attribute it to the heat wave. I come back from strolling down to the shops or the library and loll at my desk drinking sugary stuff plus cold water.
The sugar allows me to drink more cold water and thus cool down faster.
Since I’m sure we all agree that if God had meant us to suffer from global warming He wouldn’t have invented the air conditioner, I plainly need to buy one immediately.
BniC
There are some solutions for listening to music or podcasts you can wear for swimming, though I’ve only seen people using them a few times, they were the induction type.
Tim Worstall
That’s a lorra, lorra weight to lose really fast. Are you OK? Ill, yes, but OK after being so?
wat dabney
I use Sony’s Sports MP3 player for swimming. Listening to an audio-books really adds to what it otherwise a very dull way of exercising, making it something of a pleasure.
dearieme
I’m no’ weel but at least I’m out of the hospital.
bloke in spain
Sorry to hear that, dearieme. May you have a speedy recovery. Place wouldn’t be the same without you.
dearieme
Thanks, old fruit. My wife’s cooking will speed recovery.
First he came for your pension then he came for your tea and biscuits.
If the fat potato can’t keep away from the extra slice of cake then no one should be allowed cake
Why are Labour refusing to talk about the real cause of the health crisis that we have in the UK, which is in turn quite literally feeding into our economic crisis?
Is there no end to his talents – he’s now an expert in health as well?
I wish I knew.
I wish you knew anything about any of the subjects you pontificate and claim authority on but I guess it’s noone’s lucky day today.
What are they so frightened of?
I am guessing it’s those Jewish Sugar barons currently committing ‘genocide’ in Gaza
Or is there sugar sponsorship in play?
The Labour party – in association with Tate & Lyle.
We need to know. Wes Streeting wants to be health secretary for Labour and is not talking about the real issues that face the NHS and how we can address them. There have to be real questions about his suitability for office in that case.
As Boddicker says – not only does he want to decide where your money can be invested and how all government expenditure should be directed, he now wants complete control over how you administer your health and your diet as well – the scary thing is there’s a large enough ‘blob’ of people in the public sector who share his desire for power and control. As the great ‘BiS’ says – it is Murphy’s world (even if he isn’t in direct control of it) – increasingly we just live in it.
You missed his commentary on Liz Truss which I have adapted to better reflect his ideology:
First, he wants a non- white , trans-privileged society that is focused on the supposed anti religious values of the LGBTQIA spectrum, which is defined to exclude any non – LGBT people, and with the values and principles of any majority group being treated as aberrant and offensive and so to be subject to permitted prejudice.
Second, he wants to define all forms of individual concern, including for one’s family and friends and for the individual themselves, as a threat to the right of the state to control and regulate people and organizations of all types to save the planet.
Third, he wishes to increase business regulation so it cannot function and ensures the consumer can only consume the quality and quantity of goods the state decrees , showing the apparent awareness that the collective economies in place like North Korea produce superior outcomes in terms of inequality than capitalist countries
This is, then, an agenda that explicitly permits the state with a grudge to abuse anyone they wish with impunity. And anything that gets in the way, like individual rights and freedoms and historical precedents, must be vilified or abolished.
This is beyond being called extreme left ideology. This is Stalinism. It should be described as such because no other word in the political lexicon fits it.
“Why are Labour refusing to talk about the real cause of the health crisis that we have in the UK, which is in turn quite literally feeding into our economic crisis?”
The biggest health problem in the UK is people not exercising. 40 year old women got chubby because they don’t walk anywhere. They used to walk to the shops, walk the kids to and from school, go on the bus to go places (which means some walking), walk to Church. Of my neighbours that aren’t chubby, they’re women who either walk everywhere or make an effort and go to the gym.
But no-one wants to take responsibility for their inaction. This is why “sugar is addictive” comes along. No, it’s not my fault that I’m eating fondant fancies, it’s Mr Kipling’s fault, the utter bastard.
Guido was commenting on Mr Streeting only last week.
Trouble is brewing up in Stockton. Local activists are accusing Labour HQ of “blatant nepotism” for selecting the partner of shadow health secretary Wes Streeting for the Stockton West candidacy. Joe Dancey, who has for the last decade been reported to live in London, was selected in October in a two-man shortlist that included a student paramedic from York as his only opposition. Former Labour MP and local GP Paul Williams (of Hartlepool fame) was denied the opportunity to get on the shortlist…
“The Labour party – in association with Tate & Lyle.”
Tate & Lyle sold its sugar business in 2010 after cane importers were royally shafted by the EU to assist indigenous beet sugar producers. Such as Silver Spoon, formerly the nationalized British Sugar Corporation, and still the sole buyer of sugar beets in Britain.
One look at Richard Murphy and you can tell that proper diet and appropriate levels of exercise are quite high on his List of Concerns™. Not high enough to actually set a good example for the proles to follow, but high nonetheless.
Is Wes Streeting now the Tooth Fairy?
“Dennis, Noting The Bright Light Emanating From Ely
One look at Richard Murphy…”
There was some discussion on health & fitness on Spud’s blog recently, with someone advising him that running or a rowing machine would be good exercise.
“walking is the best exercise by far. Better than rowing or running” Spud announced.
By which we can assume walking is his only exercise and he does no running or rowing at all. Yes, walking is certainly better than nothing and best if you are incapable of anything more strenuous. And how far? He was working his way back up to 3,000 steps a day (after his latest near death Covid experience). That’s about how many steps I take when I don’t actually do anything beyond going to work.
Who knew he was a health & fitness expert as well as everything else?
Walking to and from the refrigerator is not considered exercise.
That takes care of Murphy right there.
Andrew C,
At his age running isn’t necessarily a good idea, even on a running machine, but you have to get your heart rate up for a good period. Since I was advised to stop running I’ve found a good cross trainer with a long stride setting is a very good substitute.
As for walking, agreed it has to be a decent pace for a decent distance, ideally with a couple of hills thrown in. The big problem with walking is the time it takes to get a decent amount of calories burned. On my shortest and easiest walk, no big hills, at mid pace (4.5 miles in 1hr 15m), I only burn 530ish active calories.
Try carrying things while you’re walking, BiND. That’s what nobody does any more: carry things from A to B. They might walk/run and they might lift weights, but never together.
My mother was forever complaining about the days when she had to carry bags of sugar back from the shops, and she was as thin as a rake.
@BiND
Agreed you need to be up somewhere in the 3.5-4 mph speed range for walking to be effective. I’d imagine Spud considers a stroll (to the fridge) effective simply because he says it is.
I recently acquired a weighted vest to wear when walking. On the plus side it does mean extra effort is required. The weights can be added or removed as required and can go up to 3 stone – I usually add about half that. You notice it most when you take it off! On the negative side, it does look awfully like a suicide bomb vest.
My favourite (or least favourite when I’m on it) bit of exercise kit is my second hand Concept2 rower. Nearly 20 years old now and good as new. They’re built for non-stop gym use so for home use they’re pretty much indestructible.
There’s very little point in exercising purely to lose weight. The vast majority of weight loss (or maintenance) comes from restricting calorie intake in your diet. Where exercise comes in handy is to keep physically active and fit, and if you are on a diet, to make sure that the majority of weight lost is fat rather than muscle.
My mother was forever complaining about the days when she had to carry bags of sugar back from the shops, and she was as thin as a rake.
Carrying those hundredweight sacks is good exercise.
As an aside, my parents bought a cwt sack of sugar at the beginning of WW2. It lasted us till well after the war.
Now that’s foresight. Even planning…..
“The vast majority of weight loss (or maintenance) comes from restricting calorie intake in your diet. ”
Forget calories. Completely. The significant factor in whether you get fat or not is the hormonal response to different macros, not their calorie count. Eat sugar/carbs and you’re storing fat, to say nothing of the damage done to the body by the sugar itself and by the elevated insulin. Eat meat and fat to satiety and there’s no significant hormonal response: you’ll become/remain thin and healthy, with no middle-age spread.
Speaking from personal experience – agreed, anecdata is just that, but then science is the collection of individual observations up into a coherent whole – when I exericise significalty my eating goes up and my weight goes down.
Which exercise (say, some sit ups) might change specific measurements. Significant swimming moves mass to the shoulders etc.
In the new house, from next month, should be able to test this a bit more (we’ll have a pool!).
But, for me, exercise goes up, calorie intake goes up, weight and BP etc go down.
Now, true, when I say exercise I’m not saying walk a bit. 1 mile in a pool, 40km on a bicycle, that sort of level several times a week. But that is what happens.
There’s very little point in exercising purely to lose weight. The vast majority of weight loss (or maintenance) comes from restricting calorie intake in your diet. Where exercise comes in handy is to keep physically active and fit, and if you are on a diet, to make sure that the majority of weight lost is fat rather than muscle.
The big problem with exercising to lose weight is that people vastly over estimate the calories they burn and equally underestimate that treat they give themselves afterwards as a reward for going to the gym.
I was a regular gym user before Covid (I bought a x trainer and weights during Covid) and you’d see it all the time. The Apple Watch tracks exercise calories and from what I can gather if you put your details in its quite accurate. In an hour’s hard session I’d expect to burn in the order of 500 to 600 calories and would be out of breath at the end.
A significant number of people who would come in, do 30 to 45 minutes lightish work, not be out of breath , and then you’d see them in the café having a chocolate muffin or something similar, at a cost of around 400 calories. They then get despondent because they aren’t losing weight.
A mile in a pool is pretty impressive.
You see joggers running with headphones and cyclists with earpods, but I don’t think listening to podcasts is possible to make swimming 64 lengths of the municipal baths more bearable. Unless I’m missing some new technology.
Kudos.
I’d second the Bloke in Brum’s opinion. There’s little relationship between diet & exercise. Not at the level of exercise any of you lot are doing. Eight hours a day heavy manual work maybe. But not even 40km bike rides. What may happen is you put on muscle mass where you didn’t have it before. Try it if you like. Don’t eat anything for 3 days but continue with the exercise. Not counting the content of your guts you might temporarily lose a pound.
The only way to lose weight is to cut down the food intake. Remember. It’s unlikely you’ve ever been actually hungry in the entirety of your life. Your eating is habitual not necessary.
A pullup bar and kettlebells are superb investments. Diet is 80% of the equation if weight loss is the goal though.
If your new pool is of typical domestic size (28’x14′), a mile is getting on for 200 lengths, which are mostly one kick and maybe one or two strokes each.
On the subject oh health, and given the age of a large number of in this gaff ….
This YouTube channel appeared in my feed recently. A physio who specialises in the over 50s. There’s some good stuff and it appears genuine as he stresses the need to see a doctor before doing some of his exercises.
https://youtube.com/@HT-Physio?si=8RmtKD1YpReAVQvu
Never personally understood the “exercise more, eat more” thing?
Whenever I did serious exercise in the past, I was more likely to eat less (and certainly less crap as part of that), especially if I was exercising before a meal (and who wants to exercise after..). I tended to be more thirsty than hungry in those situations.
Mr Google tells me that my walk up the hill to the Post Office and back is 2600 steps / 1.2 miles and about 100m uphill. I’ve done this three times this week, and felt like my lungs were bursting. I think mainly because I still stride as though I’m 20 years old and my brain hasn’t caught up with my body.
“Whenever I did serious exercise in the past, I was more likely to eat less”
Certainly the three out-of-puff trips to the Post Office this week has coincided with a packet of biscuits remaining uneaten. I just don’t fancy eating anything as I collapse onto the sofa.
Thing is, I’m one of those that can’t do exercise for the sake of it. It has to be part of some task. When I was a local councillor there was about 100 miles a week delivering leaflets, plus 4 miles to and from the Town Hall most days.
I’ve lost 17 kg in the last five weeks. The secret is to fall seriously ill. Be sure to choose the right illness.
@Bloke in North Dorset “t mid pace (4.5 miles in 1hr 15m), I only burn 530ish active calories.” – yes, it is truly dispiriting for slimmers to consider how much walking it takes to burn off a mars bar. Though equally, heartening for those who like to groove on how efficient the body is / how cheap food in the industrial age / etc ….
Sugar is pure nutrition, the stuff that the body runs on. It is a sign of how abundant is the age we live in that many now consider it to be bad. And don’t get me started on how they now tax it to discourage it, or that they ‘banned’ the king sized mars bar ……. grrr……
Seem to be putting on a bit more blubber these days.
I attribute it to the heat wave. I come back from strolling down to the shops or the library and loll at my desk drinking sugary stuff plus cold water.
The sugar allows me to drink more cold water and thus cool down faster.
Since I’m sure we all agree that if God had meant us to suffer from global warming He wouldn’t have invented the air conditioner, I plainly need to buy one immediately.
There are some solutions for listening to music or podcasts you can wear for swimming, though I’ve only seen people using them a few times, they were the induction type.
That’s a lorra, lorra weight to lose really fast. Are you OK? Ill, yes, but OK after being so?
I use Sony’s Sports MP3 player for swimming. Listening to an audio-books really adds to what it otherwise a very dull way of exercising, making it something of a pleasure.
I’m no’ weel but at least I’m out of the hospital.
Sorry to hear that, dearieme. May you have a speedy recovery. Place wouldn’t be the same without you.
Thanks, old fruit. My wife’s cooking will speed recovery.