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.

I used to be a food tech teacher- it's a struggle to get kids to bring in ingredients they're unfamiliar with and it's hard to get enough lesson time to 'cook from scratch' - important to remember the practicalities also the food cooked in school needs to be something that can be taken home to be reheated/ eaten . Saying that the kids used to enjoy cooking risottos, stir fry's, lasagne etc
It is a very hard sell to discuss weight with parents - I now work in children's health and part of my job is the NCMP - parents really struggle to accept their children are overweight and it is very hard to change this viewpoint as it is such a sensitive subject.
There definitely is an issue with the constant snacking of kids (and adults)- any trip to the park or playground I notice parents constantly handing out food
Portion size is also where a lot of people go wrong - big plates of pasta etc

And also...I just don't want to? It has zero appeal to me at all and is totally impractical for many people.

The health benefits are wildly overestimated in any case unless you have certain health conditions, and even then you'd get the same benefits from simply losing weight by eating less and moving more.

There really is no great secret to weight loss. That doesn't mean it isn't hard for many people for a variety of reasons.

@Blackbear19 - the reason I would push into the school is, that if you educate the next generation, you have more of a chance to battle obesity. It's all lovely and nice if government tells people to eat healthy, exercise more and so on. But if you have never been taught how to, its difficult to put these things into practice.

As for which lessons to cut, I had a look at DC secondary timetable, there are lots of double lessons in Art, Music, Drama even PE with 6+ hours for each subject... I would cut into these to put home economics onto the timetable. I would also make nutrition & exercise physiology part of the biology / physics / chemistry curriculum in y 7 & 8 before moving to more abstract teaching.

Portion size is a massive one. Pasta is a good example. For a woman of 5ft3 60g dry weight pasta is an appropriate size. Most people would look at that and think it is tiny.

Generally speaking your hands are your best guide for portion size.

Carbs = size of your clenched fist
Meat = size of your palm and no thicker than a deck of cards
Veg = To heap fill two cupped hands

People don't want to hear it though.

Also the British absolutely massacre their vegetables. The amount of people I know who only eat vegetables that have been boiled to within half an inch of their lives and are not seasoned. No wonder they don't like them.

There seems to be a mistaken belief that people are fat because they don't know what is healthy. This is not in my opinion true. People are fat because they have other issues in their life that they use food to help them with. Mental health problems, relationship issues, poverty and deprivation, low confidence, loneliness. The list goes on. I have just read this morning that the government's idea is to give people the chance to get a free bike repair kit! Utter nonsense. My ideas would be:

1. Counselling face to face for those with obesity. People need support for the other life issues they are dealing with so that they don't use food as a crutch.
2. Free access to swimming, gyms and classes for those following a weight loss programme.
3. Fund school dinners so that the menu can be both healthy and appetizing. Adding a few containers with a bit of shredded cucumber is not going to change anyone's desire to eat pizza. The healthy part is unappetising and inadequate.
4. People on low incomes to have vouchers specifically for fruit and vegetables.

Stop people eating on the street, trains (designated carriages only) and buses. Just like you can't smoke inside, stop people being able to wolf a Whopper.

Invert the size and price of products: eg make a healthy choice bigger (why is a box of carrot sticks and humous more expensive than a Twix) and cheaper than a cheeseburger.

Stop those obscene size popcorn and cokes at the cinema.

Stop the giant bar of eg Galaxy being cheaper than the smaller bar.

Knock "sharing" bags on the head.

Lots more breastfeeding support and education, followed by baby led weaning education and support, and a huge emphasis on 'eating to your appetite' across all ages, but especially children. None of this 'clear your plate or you don't get pudding' type BS that gets people ignoring their own body needs.

Every fast food outlet has to pay a "fit tax" that funds free park runs, kids sports, subsidised gyms.

1. Investment in breastfeeding support and education pre-natally. I'm going back a decade and don't know the recent stats but the Asian community were less likely to breastfeed. Considering BAME have higher rates of type two diabetes and obesity this needs addressing as breastfeeding is associated with lower levels in obesity and other diseases.

1. No special offers on high fat or high sugar snacks like chocolate, biscuits, sweets, crisps, alcohol. Higher the price and keep them as occasional treats.

1. Government subsidies on fruit and veg to make them cheaper whilst making fast food more expensive. No more 99p McDonald's menu type things.

1. Complete ban on junk and alcohol advertising including things like just eat etc.

1. All large parks to have outside gyms. Our neighbouring town has one and I'd use it every day if I could get there easily but it would cost me a fortune in bus fares to get there as I don't drive and the roads aren't safe to cycle.

I know you said 5 but number 6 would be a limit on the number of take aways permitted in a certain area. I live in a small town and we have 3 pizza/burger/kebab places, 2 Chinese take-aways, a chippy, a Chinese chippy/take away, 2 Indian take aways, 1 Thai take away, 1 burger and ice cream place, these are all within a quarter mile of each other. It's ridiculous and totally unnecessary.

Eat less, do more. Simple.

cansu

I completely agree with you and would add that people need to be taught how to cook from scratch and more importantly to make food that actually tastes nice AND is healthy. The amount of sad "healthy" meals that I see on instagram and such is so depressing. A dry chicken breast alongside boiled broccoli and a pile of undressed lettuce. Yawn. Who is going to look at that and think oh yes, really looking forward to eating that meal?!

I've never been overweight but I have never deprived myself of food. I grew up on a mediterranean diet and I still eat that way now.

I always dress my salad. I always eat full fat dairy. I eat carbs.

Also - salt your fucking food. Food without salt tastes awful no matter how many herbs and spices you use.

"Investment in breastfeeding support and education pre-natally. I'm going back a decade and don't know the recent stats but the Asian community were less likely to breastfeed. Considering BAME have higher rates of type two diabetes and obesity this needs addressing as breastfeeding is associated with lower levels in obesity and other diseases."

Oh please don't start on the formula shaming. All of these stats on breastfeeding did not take into account income levels, education and class which are far more influential factors when it comes to weight. It is rammed down everyone's throats from day one that breast is best, we don't need more of it. And it's not even the case. We need LESS shaming of mothers for the choices they make, not more.

@Thisismytimetoshine

Schools go vegatarian. You clearly have no understanding of basic nutrition.

It's to counteract the fact children will be eating meat (most likely) when they get home for dinner. Yes it could be good quality or it could be chicken nuggets with smilies. We don't need meat with every meal!

Massive promotion of cycling as transport. Too many people in the UK hate cyclists and the intrastructure is either non existent or poorly designed. There are many distances are too far to walk in a decent time, but will be a quick cycle eg 2/3 miles. Promotion of cargo bikes to help people cycle with small children and carry shopping.

Smaller portions/maximum calories for fast food, restaurants, takeaways etc and put the prices in proportion with larger portions. Portions are enormous in many cases and you can often nearly double the size of a meal for an extra pound or two, so this should be banned.

Continuation of WFH with encouragement to use the commuting time saved to exercise. I've managed to not gain weight despite WFH for the last few months because I've used the 90 minutes I've saved to go for a 4/5 mile brisk walk nearly every day. Subsidised canteens selling healthy food options in workplaces, especially hospitals, factories etc. Ban school children from supermarkets and fast food outlets on schooldays. Free or subsidised healthy lunch for all DC at school

Incentives for low cost supermarkets to open up in food deserts. Make sure 90%+ of the country is within 2 miles of a Lidl, Aldi, Tesco, Asda or Morrisons. Or subsidise more expensive supermarkets so their prices can be lowered. Or subsidise home delivery, perhaps of Hello Fresh type food where you get exactly what you need, partially prepared. Encourage people to walk to a more distant supermarket with a shopping trolley instead of buying unhealthy food from their doorstep.

High tax on fizzy drinks, pasties, sausage rolls, sweets, chocolate, biscuits etc etc and banning of multipacks that make the purchase of a single item uneconomical, eg 60-70p for one bag of crisps/chocolate bar, but you can get 4 for a pound.

Encouraging people to eat less, especially of unhealthy foods and move more is the way to go but the problem is that a lot of the solutions are unpalatable to a lot of people who are quite comfortable eating more and moving less and don't want to eat healthy food in smaller portions. Plus obviously many people have mobility issues.

@DippySticky totally agree. People eat boring crap for two three days, then give up because it tastes horrible and isn't filling.

There is such a lack of knowledge of cooking in the UK. I had a friend who was totally amazed that I would make my own pasta sauce - literally a tin of tomatoes, oil, onion, garlic, herbs, salt. Maximum prep time, 2 minutes, 15 minutes or so cooking, way cheaper than a jar and actually tastes of something.

I wonder why so many people can't cook at all in the UK.

I was taught to cook by my mum and I've been cooking with my 4 year old since he was really tiny. It's so important.

A friend of mine follows slimming world and their recipes make me want to barf.

Agree with wfh helps- more time to exercise after work as not commuting, I'm more likely to walk kids to school etc , easier to eat a healthier lunch - rather than grabbing something quick and full of calories - such as supermarket meal deal= calorie heavy sandwich, crisps and a bottle of juice with nearly as much sugar as a can of Coke (Tropicana)

Treat ‘big sugar’ companies and their products the same as ‘big tobacco’ - tax heavily, plain packaging and health warnings. They are not actual food!

I absolutely loathe exercise. Can't bear it. I walk everywhere though so hopefully that's enough. Anything else - yoga, running, HIITS - eugh. No.

1. Increase the school day by an hour and do a whole school exercise in the yard like they do in East Asia.

1. Increase spending in MH. With grants to get more people into counseling/psychiatry.

1. More funding into leisure centres and outdoor gym equipment.

1. Sugar/Fat/Salt/Alcohol tax

1. Better food education in schools.

1. Daily family friendly park runs

1. Vegetarian/Vegan meals only in school. (As I've said above children will eat meat at home and no one needs meat for every meal!)

A lot of people are time poor due to modern lifestyle.

Make the cost of living and housing cheaper, so both parents don’t have to work full time to make ends meet.

I leave for work at 7.30, work 8.30 to 4.30 pick the kids up about 5.20 from after school club, home about 5.45. Then it’s snack and drink, reading books, homework, showers, stories and bed for 7.30. During this time I am preparing school uniform/clothes for morning, packing swimming kits etc. I find the commute tiring.

Husband works 10-7 so he covers the morning and I just get myself up and ready and to work.

Husband gets home at 7.20, by then we’re both knackered, to then start cooking a full healthy meal when we’re so knackered and it’s so easy to sit on your phone and have a take away deliverer, or just stick some frozen food in the oven that takes 20 mins is so much easier.

My children go to a school where all meals are included and they’re healthy so they are sorted mon-fri. I’m old school I allow them to play out on the green and over the weekend they have outdoors times to run around both days.

That’s just an overview, we also have all the life admin to do, washing and ironing, cleaning, clubs etc.

I completely agree that we are lazy, could batch cook (though then I wouldn’t have any time at all over the weekend to see my kids) agree we could utilise the slow cooker more, I do get all that.

Throughout lockdown when I’ve been furloughed I’ve really enjoyed cooking from scratch and doing healthy dinners.

People are fat because they have other issues in their life that they use food to help them with. Mental health problems, relationship issues, poverty and deprivation, low confidence, loneliness. The list goes on

I fully agree with this. The way we deal with these issues as a society is appealing.

Feel a bit low? Here is a pill (side effects are increased hunger) to make you feel better for eternity... Relationship breakdown, make yourself feel better with wine & chocolate every day for the next 4 months, poverty: I know how many meals I get from a bag of chips unlike a bag of potatoes....

I think we need to re -educate ourselves how to look after no1!

Eg, I like going for a walk to clear my head, if I feel low or overwhelmed. TV is only for the evening,... if you meet up with friends make it acceptable to go for a walk or bike ride rather than coffee & cake.

(Also a cultural difference, when I was living alone/ shared house, my friends would get together at weekends and we would cook together. A lot of fun not expensive (everyone bought something), and we usually ended up with a pretty healthy meal! Soo much better than eating out! )

Is there something to be said about the psychology of eating too. Some people give their children food when they fall over to make them feel better or if they're sad, here have some chocolate it will make you feel better.
That stuff starts early, food is just fuel. I don't know how we change the mentality but that's how we need to view food IMO.

Vastly increase the access to bariatric surgery, after BMI 35-40 it is the only approach with any evidence to support it.
Widespread education into the bio-psychological-social causes of obesity.
Junk food tax.
Further education that 'eat less move more' does not work in the long term, and that not all calories are equal with regards to the effect they have on hormones.
Further research into persistant organic pollutants, veterinary antibiotics and hormones as all are associated with obesity.
Research as to the effectiveness of BMI in defining obesity.

The normalisation is also an issue.

If you see a fat child, then there’s a practically 100% likelihood that they have overweight parents, grandparents etc. If you look at My 600lb Life on tv then you think No wonder this poor person is obese when their mother is also huge. And someone must be buying the food/ordering takeaways. They don’t magically appear in the house.

I agree with portion size, or more accurately portion expectation . I remember once having pizza at the pil’s. It was one slice with some salad. To us that was preposterous! One pizza each please!