Demi
Sun, Oct-15-06, 02:07
The Sunday Times
London, UK
15 October, 2006
WHO ate all the pies? By 11.30 in the morning, the racks of steak and kidney, pasties and pork pies were already stripped bare, and a gaggle of disappointed shoppers milled around Tesco’s aisles.
It was just another day in Boston, Lincolnshire, once best known for its stubby church tower, the Boston Stump, but now identified as home to the fattest people in England.
With 18,000 of its adult residents (or 31%) identified as clinically obese, it is, according to the Department of Health, an early warning of the expected shape of the average English town by 2010. At present the national average is 21%.
One senior health official says that Boston’s obesity epidemic is an unforeseen consequence of the influx of about 10,000 low-wage workers from eastern Europe. The locals have switched to jobs in packaging and healthcare — leaving the incomers to take on heavy agricultural work — but continue to consume their traditional stodgy diet.
According to Tony McGinty, associate director of Lincolnshire primary care trust, the indigenous population is still fond of a diet of pork and potatoes. “That is accelerating the obesity problem,” he said.
A local delicacy is stuffed “chine” — a shoulder cut of pork, partly boned, filled with parsley, sold cooked and eaten cold. Lincolnshire sausages are also popular.
Lee Bryant, 34, manager of A&M Labours, the local employment agency which supplies foreign workers for packing and farm work, said: “If the local people were prepared to get off their backsides and get stuck in they wouldn’t be so overweight.”
Within Boston, the Fenside estate, a run-down council area, has the highest proportion of obese people in any postcode area in England, according to Experian, the credit reference agency. Its figures draw on primary care trust data.
Visitors to the estate are directed to the Hemingways, known locally as the “fattest family in town”. A trip to the Asda supermarket, only one mile away, involves them hiring two taxis to take four people. Their driver said he had imposed a limit of two family members per car. “My cab can easily take four passengers but with them in, it scrapes the ground over speed bumps,” he said.
Philip Hemingway, 52, a one-time amateur wrestler, said he had started putting on weight when he retired from his job as a builder’s labourer.
Although he is 5ft 6in tall, he weighs almost 18 stone and is on the waiting list for a new heart valve. He declined to give the weight of his wife Daphne, 54, who is practically bedridden. Hemingway said she was awaiting a knee operation to correct damage inflicted on knee joints because of her weight.
The couple’s twin sons, aged 29, weigh in at nearly 20 stone each and are unemployed. Hemingway said he was concerned about his weight gain.
“I am always looking out for the amount of sugar in things and try to get healthy food. I like things like Scottish beef and I buy plenty of cheese, too. My doctor actually believes we have a good diet regime,” he said.
“I do try to keep us healthy. And I would like to start getting fit again. But it is a vicious circle because I need to lose weight and yet I am not well enough to start things like weight training.”
The centre of Boston is little different from many other provincial towns. There is only one McDonald’s, one KFC and one ice cream parlour in the high street. The town, with a population of 58,000, has about 20 Indian, Chinese and pizza takeaways. It also has four health food shops and five gyms.
McGinty blames the supermarkets, rather than the fast food outlets, for the obesity. Last Thursday at the Asda store, Lyn Edwards, a housewife, had just spent £88 buying a trolley full of processed and frozen food for herself, her labourer husband and their three children. The sole concession to healthy eating appeared to be some salad.
Although Boston is surrounded by fields, few go on countryside walks, according to McGinty. “Because every inch of the land here is intensely farmed, there is actually very little space for people to do cycling, walking and running,” he said.
Attempts by schools to promote healthier eating are being frustrated. At Haven High technology college, vending machines were scrapped three years ago but Adrian Reed, the headmaster, says 60% of the pupils still bring in unhealthy packed lunches.
In Oldrids, the town’s department store, blazers for Boston grammar school pupils go up to a 46in chest size, and trousers for schoolgirls are available in waist sizes up to 38in.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-2404684,00.html
London, UK
15 October, 2006
WHO ate all the pies? By 11.30 in the morning, the racks of steak and kidney, pasties and pork pies were already stripped bare, and a gaggle of disappointed shoppers milled around Tesco’s aisles.
It was just another day in Boston, Lincolnshire, once best known for its stubby church tower, the Boston Stump, but now identified as home to the fattest people in England.
With 18,000 of its adult residents (or 31%) identified as clinically obese, it is, according to the Department of Health, an early warning of the expected shape of the average English town by 2010. At present the national average is 21%.
One senior health official says that Boston’s obesity epidemic is an unforeseen consequence of the influx of about 10,000 low-wage workers from eastern Europe. The locals have switched to jobs in packaging and healthcare — leaving the incomers to take on heavy agricultural work — but continue to consume their traditional stodgy diet.
According to Tony McGinty, associate director of Lincolnshire primary care trust, the indigenous population is still fond of a diet of pork and potatoes. “That is accelerating the obesity problem,” he said.
A local delicacy is stuffed “chine” — a shoulder cut of pork, partly boned, filled with parsley, sold cooked and eaten cold. Lincolnshire sausages are also popular.
Lee Bryant, 34, manager of A&M Labours, the local employment agency which supplies foreign workers for packing and farm work, said: “If the local people were prepared to get off their backsides and get stuck in they wouldn’t be so overweight.”
Within Boston, the Fenside estate, a run-down council area, has the highest proportion of obese people in any postcode area in England, according to Experian, the credit reference agency. Its figures draw on primary care trust data.
Visitors to the estate are directed to the Hemingways, known locally as the “fattest family in town”. A trip to the Asda supermarket, only one mile away, involves them hiring two taxis to take four people. Their driver said he had imposed a limit of two family members per car. “My cab can easily take four passengers but with them in, it scrapes the ground over speed bumps,” he said.
Philip Hemingway, 52, a one-time amateur wrestler, said he had started putting on weight when he retired from his job as a builder’s labourer.
Although he is 5ft 6in tall, he weighs almost 18 stone and is on the waiting list for a new heart valve. He declined to give the weight of his wife Daphne, 54, who is practically bedridden. Hemingway said she was awaiting a knee operation to correct damage inflicted on knee joints because of her weight.
The couple’s twin sons, aged 29, weigh in at nearly 20 stone each and are unemployed. Hemingway said he was concerned about his weight gain.
“I am always looking out for the amount of sugar in things and try to get healthy food. I like things like Scottish beef and I buy plenty of cheese, too. My doctor actually believes we have a good diet regime,” he said.
“I do try to keep us healthy. And I would like to start getting fit again. But it is a vicious circle because I need to lose weight and yet I am not well enough to start things like weight training.”
The centre of Boston is little different from many other provincial towns. There is only one McDonald’s, one KFC and one ice cream parlour in the high street. The town, with a population of 58,000, has about 20 Indian, Chinese and pizza takeaways. It also has four health food shops and five gyms.
McGinty blames the supermarkets, rather than the fast food outlets, for the obesity. Last Thursday at the Asda store, Lyn Edwards, a housewife, had just spent £88 buying a trolley full of processed and frozen food for herself, her labourer husband and their three children. The sole concession to healthy eating appeared to be some salad.
Although Boston is surrounded by fields, few go on countryside walks, according to McGinty. “Because every inch of the land here is intensely farmed, there is actually very little space for people to do cycling, walking and running,” he said.
Attempts by schools to promote healthier eating are being frustrated. At Haven High technology college, vending machines were scrapped three years ago but Adrian Reed, the headmaster, says 60% of the pupils still bring in unhealthy packed lunches.
In Oldrids, the town’s department store, blazers for Boston grammar school pupils go up to a 46in chest size, and trousers for schoolgirls are available in waist sizes up to 38in.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-2404684,00.html