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.

Parents over feeding should be treated the same as parents under feeding - it’s abuse.

-Time off work for exercise or hour long lunch breaks so people can walk etc.
-Gym / swimming vouchers
-More good quality PE in schools (e.g. having properly qualified sports instructors to teach classes, take the emphasis off of competitive sports)
-Massive increase in cycle lanes
-Junk food banned from vending machines

Also all MPs sign up to be a health BMI ,if they can't do it then lecturing the public at large who have no advice, education or finance you need to manage a healthy diet then any policy like this will be dead in the water.And publish the menus from to the parliamentary restaurants so that we can see that they practice what they preach.

1. Healthier meals in schools

1. Limits on the amount of salt/sugar ready meals are allowed to contain.
2. Home economics from primary age upwards
3. Recognition that being overweight is predominantly a choice.

1. Ban all diet products - they’re laiden with salt/sugar/artificial sweeteners etc and they are a false economy. While people eat these kinds of meals they are not learning about changing their lifestyles, they’re finding substitutes for the (still unhealthy) foods they crave.

Ditto for all fad diets and diet products, lighter. Life/herballife/juice plus and the like. Again, they teach nothing about controlling weight and are a placebo only. I’m not talking about the kinds of diets where you learn to control your food intake, but the ones where there is nothing healthy about taking a supplement/eating a fry-up every morning in the name of weight loss.

It's interesting to read that school food lessons feature highly in most of these plans.
Two points:
1/ schools already do teach food in as great a depth as possible with time constraints and keeping things affordable.
2/ in lockdown all I could hear was " so long as they've done their maths and English".
Food wasn't a priority then.

A quick and simple first step would be to reposition supermarket shelves.

All high fat/high sugar foods moved to top shelves.

All sweets/chocolate/crisps removed from checkouts.

Canned vegetables/wholewheat pasta/healthy cereals/tinned fish heavily promoted and discounted.

Simple recipe sheets on every aisle and free samples.

No artificial smells of bread.

Replace frozen/ready meals with frozen veg and cheap joints of meat.

Supermarkets can change shopping habits very quickly and effectively but there is no incentive for them to do so unless the government mandates changes.

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.

Thus would only be suitable if none of the HCPs discussing weight were outside the healthy weight range themselves - nothing like being lectured by a hypocrite!

Oh and weightloss clinics would a) need to drop the patronising 'just use skimmed milk instead of full fat' approach (well duh, I haven't had nice milk for about 2 decades) and b) be available outside of 9-5.30 because frankly work are not going to let me swan off during working hours and paying the mortgage is a much higher priority right now

All packaged food to be sold in single portion sizes.

All fresh fruit and veg to be sold loose by weight, not pre-packaged.

@zonedoutallnight

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.

This, a 1000 times this!! Only some of it us education, most of use know we're fat, we don't need to be told we're fat, we know what we should do but stress, exhaustion and medication play a part too.

Make a multi pack of crisps and chocolate bars illegal, massively increase the cost for single bars and packets of crisps. Growing up as a child there were never multipacks, when did it change ?

1. PE taught in schools including 6th form. Increase time spent on PE during the week (double what it is now). Teach kids to swim - Ofsted to check this happens and it is a requirement to be deemed satisfactory. Back this up with free membership of gyms and swimming pools for everyone. Offices over a certain size should include sport facilities and staff should be encouraged to take time away from work to exercise
2. Invest in mental health because it isn't what you eat but why you eat
3. Introduction of legislation to ensure food production is s balanced as possible (sugar, salt, fat)
4. More time at school teaching food tech.
5. Subsidise fruit and veg

• limit the amount of sugar etc in foods
• gps to weigh as standard regardless of what appointment is for and to show the bmi
• parenting classes for those children whose gp or school nurse pick up as overweight with checks to ensure improvement or further measures taken.
• increase cycle lanes
• increase price of unhealthy food like the sugar tax and use it to subsidise farmers doing local fruit and veg delivery, helping small businesses and cheaper healthy delivered produce at the same time.

I disagree with the burden being on government and certainly not schools. Parents are the people responsible for their children not teachers,

@frumpety

Make a multi pack of crisps and chocolate bars illegal, massively increase the cost for single bars and packets of crisps. Growing up as a child there were never multipacks, when did it change ?

There was always multi bags but they weren't cheap. The story goes my DGran bought multi Mars packs to put in my DDads packed lunch when he was an apprentice in the early 60's. My mum put an end to it when they got married because of the ££.

In an ideal world I'd also set a limit on plate size!

Me and the kids use side plates as dinner plates. I find it really helps. Seconds are acceptable but mostly what I plate is enough.

Encourage three small meals a day. I'm dreadful for skipping and my metabolism definitely works best when I eat 3 or 4 small meals a day. From speaking to friends I think that's fairly common.

Definitely better mental health services. Exercise does not in my experience help depression. I run for "fun" but only because it's the only form of self harm my psychiatrist is okay with. I know so many people on medication linked to weight gain unable to access therapy.

I used to work with homeless families and I acquired cheap healthy recipe books from the Council for us to hand out along with the keys to temporary accommodation. The sheer number of people who couldn't cook was frightening. I taught an awful lot of people to make lentil soup. Cooking needs to be made more accessible in a way that people engage with.

Encourage drinking of water.

Increase VAT on processed foods, with a higher rate for those high in sugar

Ban supermarket offers on processed foods (eg BOGOF and the like), ditto takeaways

Fruit & veg subsidies for low income households

Increased funding for helping overweight people access education programmes and free exercise and/or subsidised activities

Increased funding to tackle the causes of obesity for example mental health

1. Huge tax on processed sugary fatty foods.
2. Make very easy morning fitness routines for the whole school a daily requirement. Make schools offer alternatives to team sports so that dyspraxic, disabled or overweight children don't feel self-conscious when they exercise.
3. Ban cars in city centres except blue badge holders. Increase safe cycle routes throughout UK. Ones that don't suddenly run out when you get to big, dangerous junctions, Boris.
4. Run Government ads that stigmatise fatty, sugary foods, just like the ads that stigmatised smoking. Make it uncool to constantly snack in the street or to have massive portions.
5. Phase in a law that makes food manufacturers reduce unnecessary fat, sugar, sweeteners, salt and portion sizes to healthy levels.

Definitely increase benefits so people on low incomes can afford to eat good meals. Increase child benefit & remove the income limit so that all families get enough money to feed their children. Give all families healthy start vouchers for children in full time education. Free school meals for all ages, teach all children home economics & involve parents in the classes, teach healthy eating, nutrition. Free entry to sports & leisure centres for anyone on benefits like there used to be & free swimming lessons for children, sports sessions & playschemes during school holidays at an affordable price.

• make the working week shorter.
• taxes on all processed food, NOT a sugar tax.
• subsidies for fruit and veg to make them more accessible.
• nutrition education to be made compulsory for all ages. Right from nursery to sixth form. Including learning things like cooking exciting meals, meal planning and budgeting, and the science behind nutrition and how it effects your body on a molecular level.
• better support for mental health of people suffering from any kind of disordered eating.

I believe nutrition is one of the most important things there is which can impact on every aspect of your life. You are what you eat and we are turning into a nation of doughnuts.

1. free transport to supermarkets; ot may not be expensive to buy fresh fruit and veg, but if you are on a budget and have to go 5/7 times a fortnight that's a sizeable lump in travel.

2. fund community centres etc to run free cooking classes. Bring your food, and ill teach you how to cook it.

3. swimming pool /leisure centre vouchers. I can't afford £25 a week to swim every day, and the exercise referral scheme isn't open to me.

4. a universal packaging system for quick checks like the traffic light system, so people don't buy low fat without seeing the high sugar or vice versa.

5. invest in green spaces and outdoor exercise venues.

I wholly disagree with withholding medical treatment. That's appalling. Don't treat speeding drivers, drivers etc? In my case you're guaranteeing weight increases. 4 months on steroids, and for 2 of those months walking was a huge issue. The combination of lack of mobility and steroids use of course increased my weight. I lost 4 lbs last week though as the meds have kicked in. If I'd been refused treatment, the weight would still be increasing. Illogical.

Also stop relying on medication to fix problems caused by treating your body with no respect.

Totally agree with those saying work/time/stress are huge factors. At present I barely have time to stop and cook tea and I'm working from
Home. At the weekend I made a real effort to cook properly twice as I was conscious the kids hadn't eaten well all week. This isn't ideal for anyone but is a reality and it does worry me. Also I don't think cost is necessarily a factor. I happily pay £6 for a Tesco finest meal
Or Charlie Binghams which is basically just posh processed crap but tastes better.

For me the top 3 would be:

• basics food education and nutrition
• restrictions include fast food outlets opening
• fizzy drinks not allowed beneath a certain age - which I know would be hard to police but would hopefully put some people off at least and solve the accompanying dental issues

What @DianaT1969 said.

Invest in research into the causes of obesity.
Increase the cost of junk food using the money to supplement healthy foods.
Make weight management classes free for overweight people.
Address health inequalities.
Monitor effects of changes.

@Pixxie7 good point about research. Obesity is way more complex than people think.

For those that are suggesting increase in VAT or introduction of a tax - what would you do with the taxes raised?