POLAND IS GETTING LARGE and Who's to blame? (An Overweight Problem In The Making)

[@JetLagRecords]

Vigo’s Dad, This is fantastic! I subscribed because I love it!

[@philiprenshaw9184]

Poland needs to focus on it's rich history and tasty food, don't end up like the UK, its become an extension of America, too many fast food outlets. As a Brit living in Poland I value Polish culture its landscape and of course its cuisine. Embrace your heritage, once it's gone the chances are it will never return, I should know coming from the UK.

[@patrickfegerline]

How long you living in Poland matey?

[@xdlol59]

My parents are good example. During communism they ate oranges once a year, they didn't had access to chocolate or sweets too much or at all, my father didn't know how to eat banana as a teen, because he saw it for the first time in real life. And basically in the 70's 80's and 90's majority of people were VERY skinny. Now both of my parents are overweight almost obese 😢 I don't know what to do. They just eat too much and they have sitting lifestyle and work.

[@ambientlife2271]

I remember the once a year orange at Christmas, the rest of the year it was lemons with sugar lol

[@gsgrzegorz98]

One thing I'll disagree with is equating physical activity with sports. That's the mistake that our education makes and the result is that PE lessons are basically nothing but playing football. When I was in school I did not receive a single lesson about how not to hurt yourself while going to the gym or about nutrition and different diets. What I did get was a failing grade because I was not able to run for 10km even though I was able to regularly do about 50-70km on a bike in my free time (Yes I'm still salty about this). Walking is not considered a sport. Casually riding a bike is not considered a sport. Casual hiking is not considered a sport. What is good for Poland is is not to have a population of athletes but a healthy population.

[@agata3958]

You were mostly playing football during PE? I'm jealous because we mostly played volleyball which I fucking hate. The rare times we played football or rugby I was so happy...

[@jaizzj.z.3690]

That is very much true, was just about to comment that. Just think about the amount of people who have a house far away from the centre of a town and have to walk for 30 minutes (or more) anytime they need to visit the town (go to school, go to a doctor, go to a bank, do shopping, go to a post office, go to church). Living in a rural mountain region I had a lot of classmates in school who had to walk for 40 minutes every day from the nearest bus stop to their house to commute between house and school. But nobody considers it a "training" or "sport". And yes, you are right, those kids were also not the best ones at running or football and often struggled with grades in sports.

[@DS11129]

JT, When I saw the title here I was excited as I have personally seen the issue here in Poland since I first visited in 2001. My comment will be a little long but I want to touch on what I have seen that ties into what you are seeing with some clarification. As I noted in other videos my wife grew up in Communist Poland and left for Germany after the wall fell and the collapse of the zloty leading to her dad losing his business. She has stories of not only her family having family/friends in the states but others she new at the time with family in America. The family would send dollars and there were special stores where you could spend dollars to get the "good" stuff. Sugar and many staples were rationed and as a result it is true those in the times they would seek the sweets and other things that they would not normally have. Yet I feel because of how they grew up they would ration and still for the most part do so today. Which leads me to the second part my wife's generation and those generations before I do not think they really seek out sweets and overeat. I do see them hoard and have lots of leftovers. Like when you go to Babcia who has little but will feed you like a king. Where I see the issue is really those born after communism fell; about 35 and younger. Up until Poland joined the EU there really was not much of a weight issue and I would even go to say I did not really see a drastic change until about 2018. They say things take two generations to make a change and I think we are seeing that today. I know alot of western goods really hit hard in the stores in the late 2000s and have increased well beyond what I would have saw in 2001. More access to things that are just not healthy. This leads to the kids today who's parents kinda are the first generation with abundance to be even more overweight. Tie this in with electric scooters and entertainment systems and you will see what happened in America about 20 years ago happening in Poland today. What I do like is the government has done a great job stepping in to try to fix this and from where I live it does seem like the Poles are embracing the change. You now have the taxes on unhealthy products forcing prices much higher. While inflation plays some role Lays used to be less than 5PLN when I moved to Poland and you could easily get .5 liter coke for less than 3PLN. Now both are well over double that price. Which can be seen as a good thing. You get still get Tymbark Jalbko-Wisnia, for less than 3PLN. ;) Going on to the fitness side I have degrees in a few things one being business and also I am a certified personal trainer owning my own gym in the states for over 7 years so can see a few sides of other issues. I also face my own health battles and managed to lose over 40lbs the past 18 months here in Poland. Hard work paid off and I ran a marathon in Lithuania a few weeks back; running Warsaw this fall. What I find in Poland is the younger generation will flock to gyms if they are near but not the older generation. The older generation in my view gets more exercise not going to the gym as they tend to walk or bike more than those younger than them. Living in a small village and paths between villages I see many kids and adults bike or walk the few kms between towns. In our area it is normal. We had a McDonald's open the town over not long ago so more kids biking. Although food choices may offset the exercise. So for me don't discount those that don't go to the gym. I have my own in my basement but I tend to run or walk more. Sadly most westerners countries don't do that especially in the states and I think living a healthy lifestyle you need to walk and bike daily. Here is a link for Poland's walk/biking score. If you know the health habits of the nations here you can see how important walking is take France for example. One final note as I saw some comments on this. Our food is what we choose to eat. I choose to eat more of the healthier Polish food. As a result when I went home to the states for my oldest daughter's wedding my family and myself got sick off the fast food. This is food we used to eat regularly in the states but eating healthier in Poland we discovered how much garbage it is. So choose to eat healthy ;). Thank you for addressing such an important topic. Health is key for all of us and it just makes us feel so much better. All the best. www.reddit.com/r/europe/comments/18gn6v7/what_percentage_of_european_adults_walk_or_cycle/www.reddit.com/r/europe/comments/18gn6v7/what_percentage_of_european_adults_walk_or_cycle/

[@wojstube9359]

In my opinion, it looks like this. We have too many carbohydrates in our diet compared to the ability to burn them through exercises. Unfortunately, this is a typical feature of highly developed countries.

[@mrfreddie04p]

Polish diet was always rich in carbs. The quality of food was better, people ate less, and, out of necessity, worked more physically and moved more.

[@jaizzj.z.3690]

​@@mrfreddie04p Not always. The regular people who lived off of their farming land rarely had access to meat. For instance Bigos was not made with meat for the longest time because it was food for regular farmers who couldn't access it - actually if they would be able to add meat to bigos they probably wouldn't be eating bigos anyway but something better with that meat. It's not a long time since eating meat several times a week was normalized in Poland. I can't speak for other regions of Poland but in Podhale in my grandparents generation it was still a very real threat to be hungry in winter because the climate was harsh and people were fully dependent on their farming land.

[@piter4e]

Mate, watching you from Australia for quite some time now. Great content, don't stop! Really appreciate your point of view on Poland.

[@edytatehrani3934]

You are right. There are more overweight people in Poland now than there were even 20 years ago. And it has to do with lifestyle changes. Polish people have adopted American lifestyle of going everywhere by car and not walking/biking as much as they used to. They also eat more processed foods and eat out a lot more. These all combined results in higher rates of obesity. This needs to change and I think that younger people catch on it more and begin to change their diet and exercise more, but as you said, people over 65 are in the worst shape. That's why they don't live very long. It's sad, but true.

[@AnnaClaire17]

I grew up in Poland. I didn't realize how greasy our cuisine was until had to change my way of cooking for my husband (he has a huge sensitivity to fried foods, bloats him up and messes up with his tummy). That said, it sure is tasty!

[@sylviasz2628]

Sad but true. Greetings from Korea to all the family. Processed food is a problem.

[@mrfreddie04p]

I do not believe in gyms. Outdoor Recreational activities or, better yet, a healthy dose of physical work are the best.

[@Voykkaido]

Although it may not be considered a very "sporty" country, Poland does have the Walking Culture. By this I mean the social activity of going for a walk with friends, family, even on a date. This might not end up in activity stats. Indeed, older people do not seem to be very active. I compare (just as an observation) this to Japan, where you often see way more elderly people hiking in the hills and mountains than younger generations.

[@vocativusss]

There are two more factors, important one - polish children sleep too short, and we are talking about 3-4h of insufficiency daily. According to different studies, polish children occupies bottom or last place when it comes to sleep length in EU. Second important factor - polish children are terribly stressed and devastated psychologically, for many reasons (toxic school environment is only one of them) - permanently raised cortisol and other steroid hormones, untreated mental disorders are risk factor of obesity. We have to raise as well the fact, that we have many teenagers addicted to nicotine, which also raise risk of belly obesity on two levels: chemically and psychologically (addiction is a form of neuropsychological disorder). Adding to this all factors you've raised in the vid - we have, what we have. Obesity percentage rise across whole Europe, not only in Poland, but gain rate in Poland it's unfortunately one of the highest.

[@jaizzj.z.3690]

Very true

[@next-next-finish]

On top of everything else that you said, I’d add the fact we had a pandemic not a long time ago and because people stayed locked at home for almost 2 years, it probably contributed to deteriorating their health (eating because of anxiety, not moving etc.). When I got vaccinated, blood exams and pressure were looking bad and it was a tough but steady recovery for me. I wonder how many other people had the willpower to “go back to normal” after this event, and didn’t give up halfway.

[@c.g.6854]

Half a year in a gym and already starts coaching :D

[@bailaconmara]

Great video!! The food in Poland is just amazing I love it 😍...... The problem Worldwide is too much Sugar in Everything we eat, lowering ALL types and versions will help in every way!! thanks for your vídeos JT🙌🤗

[@michakakol5317]

You knew more process food more fast food and lockdown make us fatter, not our traditional food

[@forgottenhobbies]

This is an interesting topic, and I am glad you brought it up.

[@agata3958]

I think polish traditional food is also quite heavy because we used to be a much colder country. The winters were brutal, with lots of snow (which I miss) and temperatures often going to -30 degress. I was born in late 80s so I remember those times when you could freeze your fingers off if you left the house with gloves. Now I don't even own any gloves because the winters are so mild.

[@ambientlife2271]

When I went to Poland in 2003 everyone was still thin, 10 years later I started to see a lot of overweight teens. I also noticed the streets filled with parked cars which had not been there 10 years prior. Everyone too lazy to walk now may be part of the problem. The introduction of fast food as well.

[@jozeffurtak]

Are you calling me fat ??? 😅😅😉

[@MikaComments]

Niestety ale Polacy nie doceniaja swoich wlasnych zasobow, wartosci jak np. wlasne rolnictwo czy tez wlasne jedzenie i leca jak wariaci za zachodnimi pogladami czy tez jedzeniem co ma zle konsekfencje.

[@katarzynalpzm0arajko-nenow32]

I guess we don't have healthy habits like we're not very sporty ppl. At least most of us aren't. I can compare to Norway as I lived there 2 years. A lot of ppl prioritises their job or their kids schedule and are spending a lot of time in cars. They're starting to recognize the problem when they're 15-20 kg overweight, just like me. 😒 I'm fighting it so I guess it will change over time but not everyone does it. Changing long lasting habits of not moving enough is difficult.

[@tyago1949]

Genius video ! Loved all of it. How about a video on topics more related on political views ? I know it can be a tense subject but my polish partner keeps saying to me that he would never ever move back to Poland because of how the country views certain aspects. I don't have examples to give you unfortunately. But you could you make a video i don't know .... about...Voting, is marriage in decline, how are homosexual people are treated in Poland etc.. Stuff like that. It could be very interesting.

[@ginterka381996]

Niestety to się zmienia na gorsze 😢 Sama mam parę nadprogramowych kilogramów, które chcę zrzucić.

[@impatryk2860]

Spal je, nie będę sugerował jak 😉

[@patrickfegerline]

Witam w klubie

[@jod5834]

you are correct 100%

[@slawekwojtowicz]

Nasze grzechy sa w tluszczu przechowywane

[@mrfreddie04p]

Polish food is great, but you have to be sensible about it. As with any cuisine, one can make good or poor choices.

[@_Pat_1111]

If you think butter is the problem, you are completely lost.🤣

[@MrGuma888]

On the one hand, I agree with your observations, but on the other hand, look at such Czechs. They drink a lot of beer, eat fried cheese and huge pork knuckles, "knedliki"and somehow they don't look as bad as us Poles.

[@bozenab1218]

Processed food from foreign supermarkets.

[@annaboczynska5601]

True especially among young people that's sad. But on the other hand loads of people go to gym. which is good. This strong overweight problems started when fastfoods like M.......opened in Poland. During communism the problem was not as big as nowadays

[@yabu8523]

7:38 Nawet zwykła woda jest w ten sposób oznaczona. Lista składników zwykłego jabłka robi piorunujące wrażenie. To wszystko jest czystą chemią.🤣

[@BeataBeata-v8i]

Raz, że jedzenie jest coraz bardziej przetworzone, ale dwa jest psychodogiczny aspekt tej sytuacji. Zgodnie z pewną teorią psychologiczną tycie jest skutkiem braku poczucia bezpieczeństwa. Zestresowany człowiek je więcej. Niby kiedyś ludzie byli biedniejsi, ale każdy miał pracę , mogł liczyć na rodzinę i pomoc sąsiadów. A teraz nikt nie wie co będzie jutro. Weźmy takiego nastolatka, który jest przerażony stanem planety. Kto kiedyś o takich rzeczach myślał.

[@jakubosiejewski9859]

I don't think the problem is that "Polish people have too much money", in my opinion it's the opposite, we can't afford healthy vegan alternatives, we work long hours and we can't cook healthy food (so a lot of Polish people just eat pre-made junk food), we don't have enough free time for exercise. It's not that we're getting richer, it's that the liberal government is taking our free time away.

[@Immigrantwriter]

rich countries are getting fatter, but among these countries it's the poorer people that suffer the most with processed, fattening foods. Somehow the richer the country, the harder it is to afford healthy lifestyle.

[@mrfreddie04p]

Excuses, excuses. Cooking healthy meals does not take that much time and effort. Vegan diet is not necessarily healthy. One thing I would change in Polish diet - I would limit the consumption of pork, which I do not think is a good choice. When it comes to exercise, you can walk instead of driving or use the stairs instead of the elevator. Go for a bike ride on a weekend. You don't have to spend time visiting the gym.

[@Immigrantwriter]

@@mrfreddie04p you would think so but cooking requires resources like time, skill level and also access to healtjy fresh ingrediente. White flour, plastic cheese, poor quality meat, oily stuff is often quicker and cheaper. And its addictive. Poland is still not that bad but UK and US for example shit food is often more accessible.

[@xdlol59]

No. In USA it is the case, but in Poland vegetables are very cheap.

[@Adriano70911]

Kraj wielorybów i lewaków przykre

[@ABYTE64]

people can't afford better food cuz taxes are so high

[@rawenragnars4631]

CZŁOWIEKU..CO ZA OIERDY Z TYM KOMUNIZMEM..DOUCZ SIE A POTEM JUZ NIE RÓB Z SIEBIE BŁAZNA I NIEDOUKA.

[@chrisj699]

Nie krzycz tak bo powielasz tylko stereotyp niedomytego i niezbyt rozgarnietego polskiego awanturnika. Zamiast tego moglbys merytorycznie wytlumaczyc bledy w przekazie popelnione przez autora. Moze wtedy wszyscy moglibysmy sie czegos wartosciowego nauczyc.