Obese, unhealthy Irish ‘in denial’ of their problems

IRISH people are in denial of obesity and other health problems, with 92% saying they are happy with their physical health, while just one in 10 admit they are overweight.

The over optimistic view is in contrast to scientific data that shows that at least 16% are obese, half are overweight and one in five are on long-term medication.

Attitudes to health, and motivations to improve general wellbeing are contained in a new consumer survey by the Nutrition and Health Foundation (NHF), published yesterday.

The survey asked people their height and weight, and worked out that at least 16% were obese and a further 32% were overweight.

Despite this, a mere 9% believed themselves to be overweight, while 92% said they were happy with their health. Three out of four believed they were healthier than their peers.

Manager of the NHF Dr Louise Sullivan urged people to “take a good honest look at themselves, see where they fit in, and make the long-term changes that are needed”.

She said the “denial aspect” has come out quite strongly in the survey.

“I wouldn’t say that only 8% of the country have health issues. The survey shows that 19% are on prescription medication for a range of problems. Obesity has a serious impact on society and I don’t think it’s something that people are recognising the seriousness of,” she said.

“People think that an obese person is someone who is absolutely enormous, or very seriously overweight. But in fact a lot of people are falling into this category, and they may be quite shocked to find out that they are in this category. There is so much in the media now about obesity and people are aware of it, but they think ‘that is somebody else, that is not me’.”

The report also showed that a third of men and half of women have made improvements to their diet or exercise regime in the past six months.

It finds that women are motivated to make changes to improve their appearance, while men are more likely to make improvements to their lifestyle habits as a result of poor medical results, or warnings from their doctors.

Dr Sullivan said it is no harm wanting to look good, so long as the changes are long term.

“If someone is losing weight for a particular event, like a wedding, that is fine. But it depends on whether that motivation will stay after the event and help them to be healthy in the long term. After reaching the target, people often just go back to the way they were before and it’s a continued cycle.”

Seven out of 10 women admitted to being serial dieters, compared with just half of men.

Dr Sullivan said: “People are getting into a cycle of serial attempting and failing. That has an impact on self esteem and enjoyment of life. We need to encourage people to make healthy changes and integrate them into their life long term.”

She said health promotion campaigns need to focus on what motivates people to change.

“People are aware of what they should be doing. We need to be more consumer-driven and look at what triggers people, what are their motivations and what are their barriers.”