You’re in charge of the Gov policy on tackling obesity. Give me your five point plan...

[MrsGrindah]

I’m sick of reading lots of vague pledges . What , in your experience , would work? NB I’m not Michael or Boris just interested having struggled with weight all my life. You don’t have to cost it etc..just what do you think would work if it could be done.

Mine would be:

1. Sugar fines or levies not taxes on producers of core foods eg processed food and drink manufacturing. Fines have a completely different association than taxes
2. Weight management education running through a variety of classes eg home Ed, biology, PE etc. at school and also part of any childcare classes
3. School meals to have complete overhaul. No pizza, chips etc. More expensive yes but cheaper than the cost of obesity
4. Zero tolerance on fat shaming in schools.
5. Doctors to have more rights to refuse treatment for weight related health problems ( unless life threatening) until patients agree to a weight loss plan of action that is supported by suitably trained healthcare professionals.

Should doctors also be able to refuse to treat sport related injuries if people promise to be more careful?

Yep fine with me.

Have you ever struggled with your weight?

Have you read my post?

Stop using words like curvy, big boned, slow metabolism and be honest about people's weight, yes you're fat, now how are we gonna work on that

From pregnancy onwards teach people how to shop and how to cook for a family and or children

Higher price on junk food, rubbish ready meals, sugar laden foods

Charge for treatment on obesity related disease that can easily be rectified through diet

So you'd be happy to go to the doctors and be told they won't treat you unless you do as they tell you and lose weight, even though you may be on medication that causes you to gain weight, may have mobility problems that mean you struggle to exercise, may be on a low income with 3 kids as a single parent and don't have time to cook healthy meals from scratch every single day, may not know how to cook because you've never been taught, may be suffering with mental health problems that mean you find it difficult to get out of bed in the morning let alone go for a run, or have an alcohol problem, or have an eating disorder, or any other of the million and one reasons why people are overweight - all those people should be refused treatment simply because they're fat?

My solution - home economics back into the curriculum and immediately invest millions of pounds into high quality and easy to access mental health care.

Healthy school meals!
The food they serve in schools and nurseries in the UK is a joke!

Free counselling

I think you are deliberately misinterpreting my post ? That’s up to you but I won’t be engaging any further.

2, 3 and 4 I don't disagree with.

I would make it up to 5 with

• increased funding to doctors to support weight management initiatives including: subsidised weight loss groups, increased weight management surgery/treatment/medication (gastric sleeve, bypass, meds like orlistat, saxendar, metformin, counselling), free/subsidised exercise programmes

• no advertising pre 9pm for junk food

I disagree whole heartedly with removing medical care for over weight people, what about people who are on medication that causes weight gain, or physically/mentally disabled in such a way as to cause weight gain? What about children who have no say over their diet, do we treat them?

Its equality .

The poorer you are, yhe more likely you are to be working long hours with no support . Time poor, as well as money poor. Convenience is often cheap.

Equality is the key. A more equal society would be my five point plan.

Government initiatives never go far enough. They’re just token.
Here are my pie in the sky ideas:

• incentive scheme for obese and morbidly obese people to lose weight. Possibly pay them some money for every few pounds they lose and manage to keep off for a long amount of time
• nationwide initiative for free exercise classes for all - fun ones like dancing, or tai chi in the park. Anyone can rock up and join in. Big screen in public place so everyone can see. Adverts on the tele that show overweight and obese people exercising and feeling good about themselves. People to be encouraged to challenge fat shaming. We all work together to get fitter as a nation (yep, it sounds a bit communist doesn’t it?)
• interventions for families where their kids, especially those at primary age, are obese. A support worker attached to families like this who teaches them how to make recipes, visits the house to check how the family are doing.
• GPs to routinely discuss weight with obese patients and recommend healthy eating plans. Then patients to be referred to free NHS weight loss clinics. These should not be easy to opt out of.
• support for the psychological reasons for being overweight/ obese (fuck knows how - free counselling?)
• get tough on the food lobby and diet industry who want to keep people fat - fuck those fuckers

Make food economics compulsory from junior school years teaching how to cook real food and include the ingredients so parents don't have the hassle of trying to afford it or remembering to buy it.

I came from a working class but comfortable family though. It wasn’t about money for us . In fact it was the opposite..it was drilled into us that we were lucky to have the food we had so eat up, empty your plate etc. And I was praised for having a big appetite .

I was a fat child and have been an obese adult so I’m definitely not fat shaming here. It’s just a topic I’m very close to.

1/ Bring back cookery in school.
2/ Increase funding into mental health.
3/ improve public transport and make it cheaper so people aren't spending hours commuting daily and can get to a supermarket.
4/ Increase accessible green spaces (is no-one more that 10-15 mins walk from a local park) and ideally with play equipment for all ages including adults.
5/ Lower sugar and fat content in food and drinks and not allow them to replace them with sweeteners and make healthy takeaways a common thing and actually affordable.

get tough on the food lobby and diet industry who want to keep people fat - fuck those fuckers

God yes.. All those Weight Watchers yoghurts filled with god knows what and £££

Co-signing the equality idea.
Have a look at public health England's stats.
People who are at risk of poverty and social exclusion are more likely to struggle with their weight from an early age.
Not just financial equality. No discrimination. Trauma-informed services. Social pedagogues working with families in a supportive way.

It'd be lovely.

Also it's been a while since we had 50% taxes and lots of Reese mogg types emigrating.

My GP commented on my weight - I'd only gone to have my blood pressure checked.

My first thought was 'what a cheek' - but it spurred me into doing something about it, after kidding myself for years that I was just a touch overweight, and could lose it if I wanted to ... I was about 1.5 stones overweight, with a BMI over 25.

But it made me take action: I read up about weight, BMI, the effect of weight on blood pressure etc. I started cutting down, choosing my food more carefully, limiting portion size, etc. I also took up exercise - in the form of walking. My daily steps target is now 16,000 steps (I don't manage that every day, it's intended to be challenging).

I have lost 1 stone (over a pretty long period, admittedly, but it's stayed off) and am hopeful I can lose another half a stone using the same method, as it seems to work for me. It's a lifestyle change not a quick fix.

No sugar fines taxes etc they just punish poor people. Increase benefits, abolish the 2 child rule, bring back home economics. Government subsidies on fruit and veg.

'Public Health Outcomes Framework:
Health Equity Report
Focus on ethnicity'.
Can't link as it's pdf but have a Google.

Another thing Nordic countries get right is lots of time in nature with access to fresh fruit and veg. Outdoor nurseries etc.

Interesting idea. I lost 6 stone a few years ago having been morbidly obese for 10+ years. Here's my two pennies worth.

1. Ban any planning applications for fast food restaurants. We have enough already.

2. Decent home Economic classes in school. Catch up community lessons for others.

3. Ban all chips, pizza etc for school dinners

4. make it easy to exercise. Free local classes. Get more sports clubs going. Fund them and fund them well.

5. A diet club that focuses on feelings not calories.

And yes call fat fat, not curvy etc or body beautiful.

I'm not fat because I'm poorly educated.

I'm fat because I'm exhausted from working a full time job with long hours and taking care of my family and then I'm so exhausted at the end of the day I have no energy to contemplate exercise and I have no brain space left to meal plan further than just shoving something fast and easy into my mouth.

That and chocolate makes me feel better (endorphins and all that)

You want me to lose weight? Let me work a 3 day week for the same money so that I can spend some time caring for myself while the kids are at school and actually getting some exercise instead of giving all my kids energy to everyone else.

Poor now is v different.

Seriously look into it. Poverty is massively associated with poor diet and poor health outcomes