New costa meal deal is irresponsible

[Habanero]

Costa have just launched a lunchtime meal deal with a toastie, crisps and a coffee. The one pictured on the ad with a cheese and ham toastie and a latte contains 754 calories, 34g fat, 15.4g saturated fat and 2.1g salt. You can cut off a bit of the calories and fat by opting for lower-fat milk, but it’s still a third of an adult’s daily calories with no source of fibre and no fruit or veg. This sort of thing normalises overeating: by making this a “meal deal” the company is presenting this as a normal lunch option, psychologically nudging people towards consuming an energy-rich, nutritionally poor midday meal.

Clearly it’s a first world problem and we all have choices and don’t need to buy this, but it’s the normalisation of overeating like this which I think has done more than anything to raise obesity levels. AIBU?

I know what you mean. The whole UK diet is fucked. I put on a shit tonne of weight in a week there when I was on holiday. It is too easy and cheap to opt for a takeaway curry for dinner, drink a huge glass of wine in the pub, buy a meal deal involving crisps etc for lunch. Very little to tempt you that is healthy. Hot cross buns at supermarket entrances, crisps and snacks always near the till. It is one big temptation really. I notice now in uk shops how big the clothes are. The average size of people has really gone up in the last five years since I've been away. Where I live now, I'm in an XL. I tried size 14 trousers in UK and they were loose. It all just normalises being overweight. I was sad to see so so many overweight young people. Really no hope if they are fat at 16. Future generations will blame this generation of parents, as previous generations blamed parents for cigarette smoking. We can all pretend it is individual choice, but it is out of control and we will be having to put it right in fifty years or so.

In my experience, it is really hard to eat enough healthy food on the run (especially when it's packed with veg), to keep you going till dinner without wanting to cry into your computer that you didn't just go to costa and get the toastie and crisps.

I've bought the toastie/latte/cake meal deal from costa for a homeless chap. I'm pretty sure water/salad/apple type meal deal isnt going to make him feel full so for now I will continue to buy him his toastie. I'm sure he will have a good laugh about you thinking he should enjoy a salad in the pouring rain

I've bought meal deals from high street shops and often save the snack element for later. In Costa's defense, the ham in cheese and ham toastie seems to be a posher calibre than what supermarket ham sandwiches offer. (More sliced gammon than processed and reformed) Costa is good for a quick, hot lunch and not everyone has access to a variety of shops.

Has it ever occurred to some, that there might be people who don't really care if they are overweight? As for 'they're a burden on the NHS' well, live long enough, and most of us will be. People who have children are a burden on the NHS. People who get dementia are a burden on the NHS. People who travel in automobiles can become a burden on the NHS. Blah blah blah. Live and let live!

You do know that this doesn't stand up to any scrutiny, right? The NHS isn't buckling under the weight of children (it's steady/declining) or car crashes. It is buckling* under the weight of obesity and dementia, both of which are preventable (the latter less predictably) with diet and exercise.

Except - here comes the shine off my smug victory - his iron levels were found to be shit during an unrelated blood test.

Don't beat yourself up too much. I'm a massive omnivore, and was determined DD would be too. For her first 4-6 months of eating solids, she'd eat everything you put in front of her. Go me, I (too) thought. Then she got increasingly picky in her eating, until she'd go whole days not eating anything except fruit. I was worried (knowing she was going short on a lot of things), HVs unconcerend: "She's eating fruits! Excellent!". It was when she got to 23mo and looked increasingly pale, I sent DP off with her for a blood test and confirmed that, yes, she was anaemic.
Apparently, a huge proportion of children have some degree of iron deficiency. Which made the HVs' (plural) refusal to consider it even more galling.

(Incidentally, this may not be relevant to your own DC, but we found DD's appetite improved once she was on the hi-dose supplement she was prescribed.)

I think adults should be able to make their own decisions about what they eat, and I assume people won't be eating the meal deal every day?

'I know what you mean. The whole UK diet is fucked. I put on a shit tonne of weight in a week there when I was on holiday. It is too easy and cheap to opt for a takeaway curry for dinner, drink a huge glass of wine in the pub, buy a meal deal involving crisps etc for lunch. Very little to tempt you that is healthy. Hot cross buns at supermarket entrances, crisps and snacks always near the till. It is one big temptation really.'

There's this little thing called 'self-control'. When you cultivate it, you find you can manage your own life quite easily without interference from other people. It's amazing! You can avoid going into pubs and buying alcohol, going into bookies and spunking a load of dosh on bets, go to supermarket and buy veg and eggs and lean meats, even make your own curry at home! It's really life-altering and money saving! Everyone should try it rather than blaming the government, businesses and manufacturers for every ill in their lives. 'Oh, I couldn't help myself, the temptation was everywhere!' Imagine if someone said that in court as a defence for stealing mobile phones or handbags. 'But Your Honour! They're all over the place! I can't avoid seeing them. And I couldn't control myself so I just nicked one.' I wonder how far they'd get.

I do think that people should regulate themselves. Obesity is higher in poorer people, they aren't going to, or taking their children to Costa.

However, I do think they were a very bad choice for Hospital outlets, given the nutrition and lack of choice. Combined with machines with only fizzy drinks in, choice to far too limited.

Healthy eating when out and about is getting easier thanks in part to the Vegan options nearly everywhere.

A lot of people would eat that for lunch. Costa is not a charity or government subsidy... it’s a business and it want to make money. If people mislead themselves and get overweight then that is the individuals fault.

'It is buckling* under the weight of obesity and dementia, both of which are preventable (the latter less predictably) with diet and exercise.'

It's buckling under the weight of too many people living too long and developing health conditions they used to die from and increasing funding cuts and privatisation, that's the inconvenient truth.

Dementia, preventable with diet and exercise. Yep. That's been well proven. Not.

Latest radio advert suggests 400, 600, 600 calories. So this costa is way over the 600 lunch recommended.

Mind you. How much is the supermarket meal deal? Sainsbury's, Tesco?

mealdeal

Yes. I've just looked it up. 750?

So I guess costa is no worse than anyone else?

And actually @SerenDippitty the latte I bet is double the calories of the crisps, if not quadruple.

I don’t think a toastie for lunch is outrageous tbh and if you wanted to keep it slightly healthier you would have it with a black coffee or tea instead of a latte and you’d choose the fruit over the crisps.

Op fails to say in her opening post that this meal deal has a choice of a ham and cheese toastie or cheese and onion toastie, a bag of selected crisps, popcorn or piece of fresh fruit, and any Primo or Medio drink (that’s small or medium to you and I)

All types of places like costa and supermarkets do meal deals and it’s nearly always possible to buy a slightly healthier option if you wish, including salad, a pot or piece of fruit or water/black coffee. I can’t think or anywhere that I’ve had a meal deal lately that didn’t have these options available to make it slightly healthier.

Just becuase it’s a meal deal doesn’t mean they are forcing you to have the highest calories options. Adults have to take some responsibility for what they eat ffs

Thanks world. Yes, we are getting to the end of the three months when he'll be retested, and he is eating more and, also, looking a lot pinker. I'm lucky that we found out when we did because we hadn't noticed that he was paler and paler - in the same way you don't see children get taller - and it's only now I can see the difference.

I think I had this idea, 'milk is good' and stopped thinking past it. When he didn't finish a meal I'd be relieved - well at least he had a glass of milk

he whole UK diet is fucked. I put on a shit tonne of weight in a week there when I was on holiday. It is too easy and cheap to opt for a takeaway curry for dinner, drink a huge glass of wine in the pub, buy a meal deal involving crisps etc for lunch. Very little to tempt you that is healthy. Hot cross buns at supermarket entrances, crisps and snacks always near the till. It is one big temptation really

Sounds like its your diet that is fucked! And you have no self control. Don't blame that on everyone else.

Dementia, preventable with diet and exercise. Yep. That's been well proven. Not.

Keep up!

The study found that women with high stamina had an 88 percent lower risk of dementia than women who were moderately fit.

www.shape.com/lifestyle/mind-and-body/exercise-decreased-risk-dementia

Road sorry but this pisses me off It is buckling under the weight of obesity and dementia, both of which are preventable (the latter less predictably) with diet and exercise.*

There are thousands and thousands of people with B12 deficiency in the UK. It can causes many problems, but one of the main ones is dementia. My memory has already been affected and I am 44. My diet is naturally very high in B12 but my body doesn't absorb it properly. People like me need an injection monthly but the NHS will generally only give it once every three months which isn't sufficient. This injection costs 50p. Yep, £6 per year. But they won't do it. We shall all cause the NHS significant sums of money even though we eat healthily. But they'll do IVF and all sorts of other treatments for free. They'll bring in sugar tax to provide after school clubs and stuff for kids (allegedly) in the hope of saving the NHS money down the road. But those of us with existing conditions which will cost the NHS plenty can basically get lost

Note 'the latter less predictably'.

Sorry about your condition.

This is surely just a blatant ad for Costa? That sounds just like every other meal deal in existence, but is presumably new and needs advertising?

Keep up!

Keep up yourself. One study, that does not assert it is preventable, is not proof of anything

Note 'the latter less predictably'.

There are many studies, you could google it yourself if you like.

Take some responsibility for your own diet.

Yes, Pret already mentioned as one of a very small number of outlets where there are some low calorie options with veg. M&S is another. But the options are limited.

Public health issues like so many people being overweight or obese are a matter for government because of the high current and long term financial costs to the exchequer, and social costs.

You can also have a fairly low-calorie lunch at McDonalds in the form of 6 chicken nuggets.