Sugar is as bad as it is because it's almost instantly absorbed. Plenty of carbohydrates are the same.
Fiber is what separates healthy carbs from unhealthy carbs, heck, even sugars.
An apple is healthy even though it's loaded with sugar because it's also loaded with fiber.
Apple juice is unhealthy because it's basically just the sugar.
Were I to guess, what's changed in italy is what's changed in the US. Flour has become highly refined, removing all the fiber that used to be present. This gives flour nice properties in terms of baking and pasta making, but it also removes a vital part of pasta.
Yes this.
Also reduced vegetable intake. In many cases the fiber from vegetables can offset some refined carbs intake.
Fiber wraps and gelates fast carbs, and they reach later stages of processing were good bacteria lives and feeds on carbs.
As I recall from others sources, these bacteria produce drugs too, like barbiturate. They make host happier long after meal.
As opposed to a relationship with food that causes overconsumption?
Adolescents still form a relationship with food from a young age, hence why we're talking about young overweight people. I'd rather teach them about nutrition and potentially how to eat the same amount of food but that has much less calories.
If their current diet reflects an overconsumption of calories then they may need to learn how to restrict through eating better foods. Because without a level of restriction of overall calorie intake they will continue to gain weight.
Sometimes I feel we're reluctant to have a conversation around consuming less food when it comes to losing weight. In order to lose weight you need have some level of hunger and that's okay, we don't need to go and reach for something.
Overtime is a recipe for obesity.
When it comes to losing weight its important to remember, its easy to gain fat, its a task to maintain fat and its hard to lose fat. Therefore a little calorie deficit requiring a little hunger and restraint is how you reverse it.
Prosciutto is often eaten with melon, or with figs, so yeah it's processed meat, but then it's eaten with fiber and healthy micronutrients.
Mozzarella could be a problem too (center of Italy), eating a mozzarella with tomato and basil (caprese) is simple, yet the mozzarella is loaded with calories.
Then again, most dishes in Italy use natural ingredients, but that doesn't spare you from getting fat. Take pasta with egg and guanciale (carbonara) is a ton of calories even if home made
I wonder if biscotti is the real deal. In Italy, kids have breakfast with a cup of milk and X amount of biscuits, those are sugar, flour, egg, milk and something else to give flavor. Eat 4 of those and it's 200 calories. Eat 8 of those and it starts to get scary (400 calories) + 1 cup of milk = ~550 calories.
This would be funny to hear for you, but to become fat in the south you just have to have a good appetite: most moms, grandmas and aunts will cook you INCREDIBLE meals (very flavorful stuff), but of course it will also be loaded with fats.
The likelihood of this being a problem related to preprocessed stuff is low
PS This was one of the major complaints of the long forgotten yellow-vests protests in France.
Despite we are now living in safer years, no kids are playing in the streets anymore. Also in the nearby park, they struggle to reach a 5 vs 5 football (soccer) match when we had plenty more for a 11 vs 11.
A prominent psycologist just released an interview: why do italian parents love Sinner, the tennis player, praise his capabilities, his energy and willingness to train, but accept that their kids spend hours sitting on the couch playing games or browsing socials?
I also agree with you about local, family owned shops: in my area there were 2 supermarkets and they were far away. Now there are at least 6 and one is less than 300mt from my house. The family shops are still operating and thriving, but some have changed, adding locally pre-cooked food to the old offer.
So, less sport, more easily available junk food, more parents working late to keep supers open so more use of pre cooked food, more time spent on social media... a explosive mix
You can get plenty pre cooked food that are healthy (and flavorful).
Of course you can also still ask for fries, but that's not common in Italy
A lazy illustration, but there is not a single mention of the EU, the introduction of the Euro, or the single market on the extensive Wikipedia about the topic in the context of France, suggesting minimal impact.
I do look for regional food, though they are more expensive but also Aldi + Lidl are a bless.
When it comes to units, you can't please everybody. Especially if it's tangentially related to the old colonies.
Not everybody measures weight in pounds, and to the primary readership of the BBC, stones and kilograms mean much more than weighing pounds.
Source: Canadian who understands neither kg or stones.
An unrelated point. I’ve noticed more people in the UK measuring their weight in KG. I think I may be in a dwindling minority of people who think in stones and pounds.
When I was young, in lunch breaks you'd head over to the school's cafeteria. And what they had there? "Gevulde koek", stroopwafel, snack-sized bags of crisps, various (sweetened) dairy products, and iirc bananas & apples too. No veggies or fibre-rich food in sight. So of course kids would go for the sugar-laden & salty snacks. For drinks, there were vending machines. My favorite was hot chocolate. Again: high in sugar (no "more or less sugar" option).
Sometimes there were longer breaks due to a teacher falling ill or whatever. Then we'd head over to a supermarket nearby, and buy similar junkfood.
Of course we'd bring sandwiches from home. But not everyone, and not always. Some kids would throw their sandwiches in a trash can, and proceed to buy the junkfood mentioned above.
That school was 6 years of us kids' lives. Plenty of time to pick up unhealthy habits & bring those into adulthood.
Wouldn't surprise me at all if most schools worldwide are still like that. Healthy diet choices for pupils is far from #1 priority for school management given all the other things they have to deal with.
The fix would be to make healthier options the easy pick, and remove all junkfood offerings from schools' cafeterias. But good luck doing that nationwide under the watchful eye of junkfood multi-nationals.
Why give children the option to make the wrong choice? If they were wise and disciplined, they wouldn't be children.
Tldr; highly processed food looses vitamins(micro nutrient starvation) and starch/fiber are needed to slow absorption until it gets to bacteria producing drugs(barbiturate and precursors to neuromediators including), and give signals over vagus nerve to head. May be summary of few books from me too. Do not recall. Add on top chewing fibery food takes time, feeling full starts earlier of being full, and saliva ferments help to digest either.
It's a culture thing.
Sugar (particularly in beverages) and lack of exercise are the main contribution of child obesity increase worldwide.
Don’t blame the potato.