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.

So why would we blame overweight people for having extra hormone in their stomach that they CAN'T CONTROL?

Well you may feel hungry all the time but of course you can control what food you eat. If you don’t buy it you can’t eat it.
It’s perfectly possible to live feeling hungry. If you went and lived somewhere rural where the shops are miles away and take away deliveries don’t exist you’d lose the weight.
From experience the food you consume the less hungry you feel anyway.

So to those that say it is as simple as - move more eat less - why do you think people don't just do that? Nobody speaking wants to be overweight let alone obese so why don't they just move more and eat less?

Because they don't want to or aren't motivated to or consider it too much effort. Because once you've passed a certain point it becomes so much harder and there's no quick fix so keeping going and achieving the desired results takes longer and more effort than they are prepared to put in. The perceived benefits don't outweigh (no pun intended) the sacrifices they will have to make and it's too much like hard work.

But why wouldn't they want to if it is as simple as we are being told here?

There are so many factors. Childhood sexual abuse is a factor in eating disorders. A friend of mine could lose weight but views her fat as a protective layer to guard against sexual abuse. She's an adult now and that man is long dead but the issues remain. Another friend used to say once he hit 15 stone he'd do something about it. He never did. The mechanics are simple but the emotions are not and an individual approach is necessary.

proper education to inform people about various dieta like keto, intermittent fasting, 5:2, 6 small meals a day cos no one diet works for everyone

People need proper education that carbs and sugars in excess for majority is causing obesity. Even my GP admits it when I asked her how she has stayed so slim..her response i cant just eat bread all the time i put on weight.

Bring back home economics so people.know basics

Make cosf of junk or processes food more expensive than healthier food like veg.

Its 80% food and 20% exercise so more focus needs to be on the right type of education and helping people make better choices in the shops through pricing

Lets face it most people would eat at gourmet burger everyday where it costs £6 approx for a burger but when irs £1 or £2 at macD then cheapest wins

@Bercows I see. So it ain't as simple as move more eat less.

@cyclingmad I disagree. It isn't 80% food 20% exercise. It is more likely 80% psychology and 20% physical.

1. Every public sector employee and every business employing more than 50 people must provide an annual weight and blood pressure check for all staff. Companies whose staff get healthier year on year get tax rebates. Companies’ average BMI is made public.

1. Health visitors teach new mothers not to give their children snacks. Eating between meals is relatively recent and driven by the food industry. Nowadays people get more than 22% of their calories from snacks. Making it unfashionable and frowned upon to be eating between meals would help us as a society move away from the constant grazing keeping people fat. This country managed to make drink-driving taboo through advertising, and it should be able to do the same for snacking.

1. Bring back sure start and youth centres, to give parents in deprived areas help in the early years, and to give teenagers something to do which isn’t sitting in front of a screen with a tube of Pringles.

1. All school children do an hour of physical exercise every day, including a morning mile.

1. Do not give planning permission for fast food outlets in deprived areas. Waive business rates for shops selling fresh food basics in deprived areas.

Good ideas avocadoze.

1. Increase in minimum wage and universal credit. You need enough money to eat well 2)changing infastructure to allow grester access to shops eg aldi. Far too many people live miles from supermarkets, especially worse in deprived areas
2. greater investment in education. Sure start or community centres where parents cook communally, learn new skills etc, funded by LA. Realistic to them so nothing too time consuming or complicated. Proper cooking classes in school. Greater understanding of nutrition rather than the billions of plans floating around.
3. rather than making junk more expensive make nutritious food cheaper, eg fruit and veg etc. Discounts on public transport, extra bus roures in rural areas.
4. tackling the busy busy lifestyle many lead where 2 /3 daily meals are grabbed on the hop. Foster a culture where self care, sleep, good food is seen as thr responsible thing to do and not shirking responsibility. 2 days a week wfh if possible. Trying to overhaul the culture of needjng to be busy or feel guilty

More exercise programmes which are accessible to all at a reasonable price
Sugar and junk food taxes
Education on diet and exercise at doctors clinics, schools and community centres
Diet clubs to be more freely available
Cooking clubs locally aimed at healthy eating.

To add to all of these, I'd introduce a series of adverts showing what an actual, normal portion size for different meals looks like.
Dinner plates and bowls are so much bigger now than what they used to be to the point that a current sized side plate is closer to correct portion size than a dinner plate.

A visual aid showing the correct serving size of things like pasta, rice, meat, potatoes, veg, cereal, soup... plated up as part of a meal would be a shock to many I'd imagine.

@TinkersTailor

To add to all of these, I'd introduce a series of adverts showing what an actual, normal portion size for different meals looks like. Dinner plates and bowls are so much bigger now than what they used to be to the point that a current sized side plate is closer to correct portion size than a dinner plate.

A visual aid showing the correct serving size of things like pasta, rice, meat, potatoes, veg, cereal, soup... plated up as part of a meal would be a shock to many I'd imagine.

That's quite a good suggestion. And wouldn't cost much to implement. Adverts could be run on BBC between programs.

Must be loads of people who eat healthy food but loads of it.

Also, standardise dinner plate size to the (smaller!) size they were 40 years ago. Would have the added advantage that they may actually fit better in kitchen cupboards.

1. Education - make 'life lessons' an actual class right from day one - budgeting/shopping/cooking/storing food/ using leftovers should all be part of education not just crappy 'how to make a sandwich' like some food studies classes currently get. (These lessons should include sewing, basic diy, cleaning and general home and family management and the later on writing a CV and making a phone call, using public transport etc) Yes these things should be done by parents but it's fairly obvious that some can't and some won't.

This should then be offered in family centres to adults who for whatever reason didn't have these lessons in schools. People need to not rely on takeaways and ready meals and 'beige' freezer food.

1. Make moving your body the 'norm' at the moment everything is 'weighs' and PTs online making things a 'programme' or a 'plan' glamourising expensive gyms, when did rounders in a park at the weekend stop? When did splash pools for kids to go crazy in when it's hot stop? When did everything start becoming so expensive, yoga in a park now needs a license so then it has to be funded.

Get the whole school mailing every morning, not regimented aerobics but something more relaxed and fun like age appropriate HIT with Joe Wicks type things - again if it's done from the beginning it becomes normal.

1. Stop the BOGOF on unhealthy food, I'm not saying get rid of the food but the lure of it being cheap, swap this to healthy food, fruit, veg etc should be cheaper than convenience food.

1. Stop acting like drinking yourself to death every evening and/or weekend is a hilarious eye rolling thing that students or 'us brits' do. It's not funny it's dangerous and needs to stop being glamourised.

1. Stop selling so much food at places like cinemas, a small popcorn and drink is enough, no one needs huge bags of sweets, ice creams, nachos, hot dogs and buckets of coke to watch a film. They just don't.

@Blackbear19 I'd also put the adverts on YouTube and in-app on phones/tablets, at bus stops, billboards, on public transport. Wherever possible.
Make sure that no matter what, people see them.

Could print up leaflets, booklets.. post them through doors too.

I think it'd be a good idea for schools who haven't got HE facilities too.
They could do in-depth lessons about portion size, food groups, what we need each one for. Really drive the message home. It's important that schools educate themselves on food/nutrition though, I've heard some questionable stuff coming out of the mouths of teachers with regards to healthy eating.

@AristotleAteMyHamster Agree! I was recently given a dinner service which is about 50/60 years old and I was genuinely shocked at the difference in the sizes.

portion control in restaurants and cafés would be good.

any eatery over a particular size/turnover must have at least 20% of the meal options on their menu to be healthier options (high vegetable content, low fat, controlled calories) and these options should be at least 20% cheaper than other meals options so that anyone trying to get budget will go for the healthy option (would need to regulate to stop people getting the cheap healthy option and then adding chips too!)

also regulations on the sizes of dinner plates sold - they have massively crept up. my parents have a set of crockery they got for their wedding in 1969, small medium and large plates, and dessert/cereal bowls. they got us a set from denby for our wedding in 2002 and our medium plates are the same size as their large plates, and our dessert/cereal bowls are twice the size of theirs.

taxes/fines on high fat & high sugar foods to be used as subsidies for fruit & veg to make it much cheaper to feed a family on plants than on junk.

any eatery over a particular size/turnover must have at least 20% of the meal options on their menu to be healthier options (high vegetable content, low fat, controlled calories)

Fat isn't the enemy. One of the best diets I have seen (results wise) is the low carb, high fat diet (LCHF).

Plain packaging for all highly processed food. If it’s in a plain white wrapper with black font, it won’t look so appealing.

A recipe box subscription for a month after the birth of each child. Helps parents learn how to cook interesting and varied meals.

A daily mile run for all primary school kids.

A ban on all processed food advertising and all BOGOFs on processed food.

I'm not poor, over-worked, stressed-out, lacking in time for exercise, lacking knowledge about nutrition etc. I am (a bit) overweight because sugary, fatty and carbh food tastes good. I'm not sure what the government can really do about that tbh.

I've lost 11 stone in weight so I'm no longer morbidly obese but this has left me with some lifelong health issues so would this mean you don't think I should be treated because they were caused by my weight even though I've worked bloody hard for two years to get healthy?

1. Proper breastfeeding support for every woman & baby until 2 years.

1. Fully implement WHO code on breastfeeding.

1. Human milk banks available locally and free to use for children up to 2 years old.

1. 'Baby food' highly processed products no longer available (high sugar/salt purees etc.)

1. All children able to access leisure centres and swimming pools daily for free - age 0-18.

[quote jewel1968]@Bercows I see. So it ain't as simple as move more eat less.[/quote]
It IS not as simple as that.

The reason people don’t “eat less” is because as PP said it’s easier to eat too much. Easier because processed food has more calories, easier to have a second helping when it’s tastes good, easier to eat something than not eat it,
Moving more requires effort and motivation. I hate cleaning and tidying and being “on the go”. I don’t mind walking but only if it has a purpose. My thin friends are constantly busy in and out of the house.

@stargirl1701

What would the 'proper' support look like? Only asking as we tried to thrash this out on another thread and nobody really came up with anything.

I don't think aiming for 2 years will increase the uptake, I think it would be too daunting and put people off. I think aim for 3 months and by then it will be convenient so most people will carry on anyway.