Dear LPG,

I need to start my message today by making sure that all readers know that I am not insinuating that all English people need to be thinner; perhaps I am addressing just those who know that they would do well to lose just a little, like me…

I was indulging in what I consider to be a rather guilty pleasure of mine the other day.  I was looking at the world through my google shaped glasses and I found some interesting facts.  

It was something that I saw on the news that got me started.  They were talking about how many people in our English neck of the world-woods could lose a little weight.  I suppose this registered with me because I am not the smallest person in the United Kingdom, and consequently I started to wonder about just how we are doing as a nation with our weight problems.

Well I am sure that this is not the only list to be found on the subject but it is the first one that I came across and I was quite surprised to find out that we are not the worlds fattest nation if you know what I mean…

I did a bit of maths when I found the list that I hope LPG will put at the bottom of my post and learned that out of the 210 countries that were part of their research we are not in the top ten.  In fact, we only just make the top fifty at number 49 while the United States of America feature at number 16.  I suppose that the statistics made me feel a bit better about myself, with the Americans being so much fatter than us in general, but we are not exactly at the bottom of the list.  I know that a lot of the nations mentioned are pretty small but it was then that two substantially larger countries stuck out to me because they are right down at the bottom of the list rating numbers 205 and 207 respectively.

I did a bit more research and found an interesting bit of ‘You Tube’ footage which may hold some of the answers although they are looking at the national picture.

The bottom line is that international statistics are all very well, but I know that I have to do something about my personal picture which is not very good.  I wonder if turning a bit Japanese might be the answer?

FL, Penge

FL offers some serious statistics and information about national obesity…

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…and invites readers to learn a little from the Japanese…

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