In thinking the govts new obesity strategy is

[laptopdancer]

well, a bit pants?

I agree with the professor in that article.

Our food system is broken. Isn't that a favourite government slogan? And the government does not want to mess with Big Business in order to patch it up a bit.

Hydrogentaed fats, emulsifiers and extra salt? Yes please, we're British. We're happy to put any old ship into our kiplings cakes.

People whinge about the government being a 'nanny state' but then are happy to call the NHS & Social Services when they are too fat to walk/get out of their bath/get up their stairs!!!!

Furthermore, with a BMI of over 35 a person is 100% likely to get arthritis.

100%!!!!!

100%!!!!!

The advice to eat less is correct but just too simplistic. What about all those people who do manage to lose weight and then it goes back on again? There are a lot of factors operating on an individual not just on the final decision on what to put in their mouths. The rise in obesity parallels the rise in supermarkets and the added value processed foods and changes in our lifestyles. When did you last see TV advertising for healthy broccoli or other veg? Also all those papers that come free through our doors usually the massive discounts are the fat and sugar alcohol lines not the healthy stuff. When stressed people are more likely to go for a "treat" and it won't be a carrot. We all know what we should be eating.

Best advice I've ever heard to control portion size - use a smaller dinner plate.

Sounds silly but is actually effective. Doesn't help with snacking, obviously, but would make the 9/10ths of a donut look bigger :-)

No TalkinPeace2 food should never be taxed. Healthy or not.

Andrew
it already is
chocolate, smoothies, sweets, cakes - already have VAT on

niceguy2, actually, there is such a thing as big-boned. I was an archaeologist specialising in skeletal analysis. I have looked at over 1000 skeletons which should be a large enough sample size and the variation in bone sizes was fascinating. Some were small, some were medium, some were enormous.

mumwithdice
big boned - utterly true : but NOT an excuse for a BMI over 28
just an acceptance that a BMI of under 23 looks awful on big framed people
and over 24 awful on tiny framed people

That's fair enough nom nom Grimma nom

I know Talkin and I am against that. And I don't want it extended.

I think it is feeble and pointless for governments to simultaneously discourage citizens from consuming crap while encouraging corporations to sell more crap.

andrewofgg
why are you against the government taking a tax cut on consumption - particularly consumption that leads to excess costs for the NHS and social services?

the point with putting VAT on all processed / high fat / high sugar foods is that it would be ENTIRELY AVOIDABLE
you eat a healthy moderate diet, you pay less tax
you eat shite, you pay tax to fund your future healthcare
is seems a no brainer to me

are you against VAT on booze and fags?

bonsoir
that is why the corporations should have VAT slapped on the shite - up their selling prices by 20% - so they have to cut the net price - bye bye profit margins !

Why Britain is fat:

vanity sizing

the fashion for lycra, low waistbands, pjs, tracksuits and shell suits (or any super-comfortable clothing that just expands as your waist grows)

fructose added to everything as a cheap but calorific sweetener

high consumption of soft drinks

low fat foods (they can tempt people to eat more of it, and it's often full of sugar and salt)

high fat foods in excess - especially takeaways, which many people now eat several times a week

Less exercise - higher car ownership, computer games etc, remote controls, central heating - it all contributes to less energy being consumed

New norms - if more people are overweight, it's easier to think you don't have a problem

I suggest:

Put up very large mirrors all around shopping centres in supermarkets etc so people can see what they look like when they walk, shop, and eat. I am not joking either.

I'd like to see a bit more nuance in the debate though. The idea we are all physiologically the same doesn't sit right with me. I mean - take breastfeeding. Why do some people, when BF, really struggle to keep weight on despite eating like starved cake-addicted horses (that would have been me) while other people find they can't lose the baby weight until they stop? Why do some people seem to have hollow legs?

Don't get me wrong, I'm not arguing that people who are morbidly obese are eating the same as everyone else - clearly they're not. But we're not computers. There clearly is some difference in how we process food and to pretend otherwise means that people who do have weight issues just think "this isn't what my life experience is like" and stop listening.

I'm an arts graduate, so clearly know nothing. But I'm also the thinnest person in my family and I really don't see why I got lucky.

Quite right Bonsoir

Robot
do you fidget?
it is a very common trait among thin people that they actually move almost constantly - fidgeting, changing seating positions etc - and THAT adds up to an extra couple of hundred calories burned a day, without them realising

lashings
can I add TV remotes and laptops to your list?

Why are people saying this is a blow to the nanny state? Surely a real blow to the nanny state would be for the government not to make any pronouncements about obesity at all, and let people carry on eating as much as they want to?

Robot You're right we are all different and who knows why you got 'lucky'

But I think the point some people miss is that if they gain weight easily, that's all the more reason to eat less, eat healthier and exercise more.

There's no point sitting back and saying "Oh I only have to look at food to gain weight" or moaning about slow metabolism because some people's are faster than theirs.

Until, calorie for calorie, healthy foods are as easy to obtain and filling as junk food, and when driving and public transport become so expensive that walking becomes a necessity for the short journeys that make up 80% of most people's travel, the we'll just to get fatter and fatter.

The second will happen eventually. The first won't.

Talking, fair enough. Also, it should be noted that bone grows as muscle needs it to so the more muscular you are, the bigger your bones will be. And muscle weighs more than fat. That said, I think emphasis should be on fitness not necessarily weight loss as weight in and of itself isn't necessarily a problem; it's the contents of said weight.

The main things the Government could do, you can guarantee they won't, due to being in the pocket of businesses:

1. Ban transfats/hydrogenated fats from any product sold in the UK
2. Ban high fructose glucose syrup from any product sold in the UK

There is clearly something wrong with the contents of what we are eating now, more so than the amounts IMO.

I do think encouraging cooking from scratch, even at school, can be helpful. I once made sweet and sour sauce - not the sort with honey, the sort which actually tastes like the stuff from the takeaway. It had six heaped dessertspoons of sugar in it. I don't tend to order it at the Chinese now.

Is anyone else totally in awe of TalkinPeace's 1988 account book?

(I keep meaning to start one although I did have a BF in 1988 who kept one religiously; "bon bons 3p" etc)

Interesting and proves a good point.

Also true about cars. I have three sets of local (between ten and thirty minute walk) shops where I am. I'm hoping to pass my driving test soon but I'm buggered if I'm going to pay for fuel and parking to go to the supermarket and town centre just because I don't want to wear a coat in the winter or get my hair wet. Despite slightly cheaper prices it always costs more because there's more to buy as happens when DH drives there for an item or two

Winter
I don't keep it any more, but as a free range couple (who currently have bugger all income) I have always been aware of how much things cost and have all my bank statements going back to the 1970s and credit card bills to the 1990s and mark up my bank statement with every item every time.

My mother has her accounts going back to the 1960's
I only stopped her recording the newspaper each day when I pointed out that her investment income alone pushers her into 40% tax
but she still knows how much she spends on food every month - TO THE PENNY!

Maybe if less was spent on credit and more directly from the bank, more people would realise that their spending and eating are both beyond their means