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.

There are no easy answers.

We would literally have to turn the clock back to a world most people wouldn't accept now. A world where women worked in the home and cooked everything from scratch, where very few people had cars, where there were no supermarkets, no £6.00 bottles of wine, no regular meals out for average families, no fast food restaurants, no takeaways.

Perhaps we should just accept that people born from 1960 onwards are going to be the generations that see a fall in life expectancy? After all it can't carry on going up and up forever? That has to be a downturn somewhere?

I quit... honestly, if ppl don't want to help themselves then I doubt I will want to help them.

If I have to be involved, then a huge programme around active travel. Designing cities and residential places to help ppl move around and get to places they need under their own power, not focused on making vehicles move around. Make active transport work in the countryside as well as it can in towns. Cycle paths & pedestrian paths everywhere.

Great public transport --because it facilitates active transport.

Cut the damn social distancing principles for at least some exercise classes & swimming, too.

Encourage risk-taking and early independence for children, so they can walk places.

Encourage dog-ownership for responsible elders: walking needs get them out most days. :)

Encourage ppl to live in smaller properties to help free up living space at affordable prices nearer to workplaces (to facilitate active travel).

I'd add free access to public gyms/pools. I love swimming but at £6 a session I cant afford to go more than once a month. Same with dance/exercise classes. Id go every day if I could afford the class fees.

Actually, my 5 point plan would be Universal Basic Income. All the research shows it works it just not politically palatable even though it saves money, particularly in hiddrn costs. Stress makes you fat, povert is stressful.

1. home economics back in schools with emphasis on healthy eating and budgeting
2. no fast food advertising on TV or radio - one of the worst things when I'm dieting is when I'm tuning in to watch a catch up programme and a fucking domino's advert sandwiches it
3. more money for mental health services so that people can access counselling and talking therapy to try and tackle the emotional side of weight problems
4. improved outdoor exercise facilities e.g. Safer cycling on the roads and outdoor gyms that are placed where there's decent privacy
5. incentives for people who reach their weight target e.g. Discount vouchers for clothes shops or days out - govt could partner up with businesses

Additional revenue tax on companies making/ selling sugar laden/ unhealthy foods ( like Petroleum Revenue tax but on Sugar)
Additional funding for qualified nutritional scientists / health professionals to treat obesity( if you’ve ever asked for advice on diet/ supplements at GP you will understand that a sheet on portion sizes is not enough)
Cooking/nutrition / impacts of obesity education throughout the school curriculum
Focus on exercise rather than competitive sports in schools where you compete against yourself.
Plain speaking - don’t use the word fat as that’s not scientific, but measure body composition and let people understand what the numbers mean, (as BMI is limited and not trusted by many). And take measurements every time you visit the gp.

Improve support and funding for breastfeeding mothers. Breastfeeding has proven links to lowering the risk of childhood obesity. Breastfeeding can also help mothers lose weight after pregnancy (sadly not me but I know plenty of mums who did lose weight through ebf alone).

Improve knowledge of nutrition through education, campaigns and advertising. We all know 5 a day so something similar could be done for other food groups (when I worked in France they had signs up everywhere in schools reminding children of what a healthy plate looks like, that they needed 2-a-day of something dairy and to watch out for sugar. Simple things like that consistently reinforced at school/on telly/online/outside on billboards and bus stops).

Raise the price of junk. Lower the price of fruit and veg.

A ban on fad diets. Anything promoting an unhealthy lifestyle e.g. those cambridge diets, those weight loss 'teas'. If someone would genuinely benefit from a liquid diet or laxatives daily to lose weight then that should be something a doctor signs off and the shakes/laxatives put on prescription.

I feel my final point should be encouraging exercise and being outside. I'm not sure how though. But some way of getting more people active.

Carry out as many bariatric surgeries as Europe

The TREATMENT for obesity over BMI of 35 is surgery - nothing else

The following are facts about obesity:

1. There is widespread prejudice against obesity in the NHS (and understandably through the general population)

1. Surgery SAVES the Nhs money even though the surgery costs around £10k - saves 10 times that over a persons lifetime

1. The chance of you bringing your BMI into the healthy zine once your BMI has hit 35 is 1 in 825

1. And the chance of keeping it off are 1 in 10,000

Again, the TREATMENT for obesity is SURGERY and it SAVES the nhs money

Link that confirms the above :

BBC documentary

Yes to equality and opportunity
Undoing obesity rate in Britain to say French or Japanese levels would be very hard. Plus they have better food culture

Teach children / people about sugar and carbs rather than the old pyramid

If people don't manage to lose weight for themselves (and there's no judgement there, I understand the difficulties) they're not going to do it because the government instructs them to.

sport participation needs to be cheaper

snacks in cinemas need to go or at least have the healthy options

coffee shops filling a drink with so much sugar needs addressing

fruit/veg needs to be much much cheaper

school meals overhaul

food advertising to go

Ban sales of takeaway food and junk food to under 18s.

And no, don't call fat - fat

Call it 'suffering from obesity'

Obesity is a MEDICAL condition, NOT a judgement

People HAVE extra fat, they are not 'fat' - language like this is unhelpful

Promotion of British fresh produce, including education about what is in season when and is therefore available at best prices. Backed up with proper Home Economics lessons (rather than just Food Tech).

Well Ive been fitter and healthier and lighter that I have been in years since covid. All because I have more time . I am obese but feel great compared to when I was morbidly obese. I absolutely do not want to be as slim as doctors would like.me.to be. I will be happy with an ' overweight BMI' and don't really care if people think I should be slimmer. Once I get to a BMI.of 28/29 I will stop losing weight and focus on maintaining it and see long term maintenance at that weight as a success. Which after 40 years of being mainly obese or morbidly obese , it would be a.massive success.

What about the schools giving seconds or does that make the hungry children go without?

Affordable family gym memberships

Get rid of so many takeaway shops near schools

Meal deals - should be healthy options like the super 6 should be in more supermarkets

More family fun runs etc

I don’t have a plan really, we are all responsible. schools should be teaching how to cook proper meals

1. Abolish fruit and wholegrain pushing advice and SAD food pyramid in favour of keto/low carb.

1. Subsidize organic meat, fruit, veg and dairy from the country and encourage fishing ftom the uk for the uk market. Make this type of food far cheaper than baked beans, pasta and biscuits.

1. Increase price of all junk by 500%

1. Invest shit loads into mental health so that people can start a range of therapies quickly and as long as they need.

1. Chuck the competitive crappy p.e. lessons we have at school in favour of more non competitive, diverse ranges of 2 hours a day exercise sessions for kids where they can try a range of activities and then choose what they want to do.

I have 7 points but I think they are equally important.

1. More budget for preventative healthcare. Exercise and diet coaching on prescription, weight management drugs and weight loss surgery.

1. Legislation around take-aways. Must offer menu choices that meet nutritional standards. You cannot get a healthy take-away round here, there are no good options.

1. Legislation to enforce flexible working. When both parents work standard hours and have a commute too, it is very hard to get in from work and start cooking healthy stuff which generally takes longer and more effort than throwing something beige in the oven.

1. Make nutrition and diet a regulated profession and do not allow unqualified people e.g. Slimming world consultants with no real training or personal trainers with no training / online certificates to offer nutritional advise.

1. Overhaul school dinners from nursery upwards so that they have not offer healthier choices.

1. Do not allow take-always or food shops writhing 1/2 mile of secondary schools.

1. Set maximum levels of salt sugar and fat for prepared dishes and ready meals.

Discourage the plethora of fast food outlets, high fat and sugar takeaways, and the easy availability of cheap,low nutritive value snacks everywhere you go. This has happened over the past 30 years.

They might be of value to the economy and attractive to the consumer, but I'd say they have been and are responsible for a massive change in people's eating habits.

You really can watch a film without a bucket of popcorn and a gallon of coke.

Also,help parents to understand and be capable of producing simple,nutritious food and how to budget, both for that and more generally. There is poverty of knowledge as well as poverty caused by income.

There is no easy fix. Posturing and bluster by the present government will do nothing for those who need it most.

And no, don't call fat - fat
How are you suggesting they police that? Fat is fat, sorry. Pretending every obese person has a medical condition that makes them so is ridiculous.

1. Taxes on unhealthy food, prob an increase in VAT. These incentivise companies to switch to healthier versions/smaller portions - see soft drinks levy. Also discourage people from choosing less healthy options if they aren’t so cheap.
2. Home Ec in schools - we seem to have forgotten how to cook from scratch as a nation.
3. Ban junk food advertising pre 9pm and control digital targeting at kids.
4. GPS to actively promote weight loss Eg couch to 5k, walking plans, not convinced cycling is that accessible.
5. Possibly higher taxes on alcohol, reluctant to add this but I know my healthy eating goes out of the window once I’ve had a few!

Basically need to follow a similar approach to smoking - I think the biggest impact there was the rise in tax and not allowing smoking in pubs. Seemed draconian at the time but has had a big impact. We need to be similarly bold to tackle obesity.

Oh and I don't want bariatric surgery either I can't think of anything worse , even if it makes me.skinny

@LaurieFairyCake Yes I’ve just read Jenni Murray’s Fat Cow Fat Chance and it does make you wonder why surgery ..whilst not without risk etc. ..still isn’t seen as an acceptable option.

More women only spaces with women only staff to work out would be great.

Well as a starting point, I probably wouldn't be encouraging McDonald's to offer half price food from August...