To think you can't ban food on trains?

[poshme]

In today's times (sorry rubbish at links) there's an article saying the outgoing chief medical officer wants to ban food on trains unless for medical reasons.
AIBU to think this is completely stupid & unworkable?
Apparently it's because we're snacking too much & too many children are obese.

I regularly catch trains with my kids- usually a 3-4 hr journey. Invariably it's a meal time, and part of passing the time is eating a packed meal. Yes- it's not the healthiest meal in the world & includes crisps & chocolate, but as part of a normal diet it's fine.

My kids are not overweight. In fact they're generally underweight.

If this is implemented they're never be able to enforce it surely?

Eat less move more?

Yes, but don't move too much if you are eating too little otherwise you might fuck up your bones.

It won’t though, it will be cleaner and not as smelly, surely that’s a plus?

Not generally noticed that being an issue - occasionally it can be - but unreliable services, high prices and trains that are completely packed so no seats and huge numbers standing - so that ticker person can't get down train aisle - already make me wish we could drive.

Not being able to eat now kids are older is probably less an issue for us – but when the kids were younger would have meant fewer trips on public transport.

Smelly food should be banned

Personally I’d much rather ban eating in the auditorium of cinemas and theatres! Surely nobody needs to eat a bucket of popcorn during a 2 hour performance?

I don't disagree with that at all - though I supposed the companies would be against it as it must make them quiet a bit of money having glanced at the prices at our local cinema.

I'm reading this thread sat in a rail station chomping on a chocolate bar.

I had breakfast at 6, won't be able to get lunch until 1. It's not a healthy snack, but I need the calories and there was fuckall in the way of a healthy snack.

"There is absolutely no need to eat every 4 hrs"

"Migraine sufferers are advised to leave no longer than five hours between meals and fast for no longer than 13 hours overnight"

My current train is disgusting tbh, but that's becauseany people are just disgusting.

Get people out of the office for a proper, full lunch and you'd be less likely to snack

This would be nice, though cost would be an issue.

I notice that every French town has sort of a workers restaurant where you can get a cheap but nutritious proper lunch - 3 or 4 courses if you want. If we did good value for money proper food like the French that would be half the battle!

people are surrounded by opportunities to eat, and that's what causes obesity

Like the vending machine outside my office door at work. When blood sugar plummets and stress soars, what's realistically going to happen? Chocolate bar, 90p. Jerky (the only remotely healthy snack in there), £2. There's no fruit, no veg, and no fruit juice.

banning workplace snacking and dining al desko would also help

Starting with that sodding vending machine.

Also when I lived there 20 years ago, snack food was far less abundant and when say, Mars Bar here cost 30p, it would be £1 there.

Now they are having their own obesity crisis (all relative and not as bad as here- yet) as things are changing, but they are still a lot better at value for money proper food than we are.

As are Ireland actually though they probably have their own obesity problem due to other factors.

Is there a reason why the person who wants this to be introduced is the outgoing Chief Medical Officer?

She's retiring after 9 years.

But do you feel as though your eating environment has impeded your digestion OYBBK?

*So if all that can't be changed in the average person's lifetime does that just give everyone a pass to eat what they like.

It's pathetic when the CMO makes a suggestion and everyone trots out all the ridiculously complicated reasons why they can't possibly forgo a massive latte and a double decker on the train.*

But it isn't just Lattes and double deckers that are being banned is it @Trewser. It's apples, and grapes, and rice cakes and carrot sticks. People who want to eat Lattes and double deckers will do it just as happily at their desk when they get to work or standing at the bus stop so banning eating on the actual bus/train itself is not actually going to have an impact on obesity.

Of course people should take individual responsibility for their weight and health, but using legislation to control when and where to eat is not encouraging self-determination but doing the exact opposite.

I wasn't really thinking about my digestion it was more along the lines of 'I'm hungry, I have a bike ride after my train journey to get home, I'd best eat something otherwise I'll start to feel queasy'
Followed by 'mmm nice chocolate bar, bit sticky though'.

Absolutely ridiculous. I travel long distance by train a lot for my job. I might be on a train for 3, even 4 hours. I would be sneak eating out of my bag when the guard wasn't there!

At secondary school (late 80s/90s) it was terrible. There was always a massive queue for proper food in the canteen (and it wasn't that good anyway) so there was so much temptation to get by on chocolate and crisps from the vending machines, tuck shop and bloody ice cream van that came in every day. I think at least some of my problems with keeping my weight down over the years stem from what I ate at school between the ages of 11 and 16.

When I left there and went to sixth form college which was much smaller and easier to get a proper dinner (well lasagne and chips. pasty and beans kind of thing) I went from slightly overweight 11 and a half stone to ten and a half stone, BMI 22, in a few months, which was quite telling.

I think the thing to do is to make the healthiest of foods cheap and the unhealthy options really expensive. Note to supermarkets for encouraging offers on 'tat'. Or incentivise everyone to look after their health (dietary and exercise wise) better - a bit like the 'Vitality' insurance scheme.

I am not sure it's a very considered idea really. It would be easier to ban fast food places and mass-produced foodstuffs.

It's a bottom up approach which doesn't really address the main issues of obsity, poor health etc...

obesity even .

Get people out of the office for a proper, full lunch and you'd be less likely to snack.

Two problems.

Firstly, a lot of workplaces are in the middle of nowhere or retail/industrial parks where there aren't cafes. On our nearest industrial estate there are a couple of burger vans and a pie/sandwich shop! A cafe isn't sustainable for just a couple of hours of trade per day i.e. 12-2 hence why they don't generally exist outside towns and attractions with all day trade.

Secondly, even if there are cafes close by, the prices are likely to be extortionate and often a lunch "hour" simply isn't long enough to allow for the walking there/back, queueing/waiting etc.

Perhaps the government should legislate for subsidies/tax breaks for larger employers to set up in house canteens? But then again, our local large hospital has an in house cafe but it's only open office hours so as much use as a chocolate fireguard for the shifts who are stuck with a vending machine churning out crisps and chocolate bars!

I assume by 'local' they mean trains where the total journey is under a certain length of time.

I think they're trying to target people who buy junk food to eat on a journey out of pure habit (I freely admit this is me sometimes). But I think eating and food habits, including awareness of healthy eating and of habitual and comfort eating, needs to be addressed early and broadly, in education. Slapping a restriction on transport is just a sticking plaster and is asking for trouble, IMO.

It's unworkable. The suggestion is that there will be an exception for medical needs - how are you going to check that?

In addition, who wants to be on a bus/train with a whinging hungry toddler?

Could also be construed as a bit classist - the idea that the sorts of people who travel on buses give their kids junk is implicit in the suggestion.

www.secretsfromtheeatinglab.com/ explains why willpower doesn't work.

@SesameOil It's perfectly possible for a bus route to only take an hour. Another of my local buses is on a short route which is only 39 minutes. Not that it really matters. People still eat McDonald's 😂

I think the thing to do is to make the healthiest of foods cheap and the unhealthy options really expensive.

One thing that could easily be legislated for it to ban the practice of supermarkets selling a single Mars Bar for 80p but a four pack for a £1. Not only are they clearly profiteering on the single bar, but it's just encouraging people to buy (and eat) more than they need. (Yes, I know sometimes the multipacks contain slightly smaller pack sizes but the difference "per item" is still far too large to justify).

I'd say that there should be a limit on the reduction to something like 4 for the price of 3. Rather than 4 for the price of 1 and a quarter!

That will either make them sell multipacks at a higher price or single items at a lower price. Either way, they'll sell less and hence reduce peoples' intake and improve health.