Government tackling obesity missing a key element

[HeeeeyDuggee]

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-53546151

Government have announced measures to tackle obesity

AIBU to think that although it’s all well and good banning buy 1 get 1 free and advertising before 21:00 what they really need to do is make fresh fruit and vegetables and good quality meat cheaper for people to buy.

It may be a regional thing but buying enough veg for the week here costs a fortune and it goes off within days. Where as you can buy a massive packet nuggets and chips for much less.

Pre covid it was bad enough for lots of families but given the ramifications on jobs and the economy I think lots more families will struggle to afford decent healthy food.

Ps not a fat persons bashing thread I myself am over weight

It's portions/it's sugar/it's carbs/it's cost/it's PE in schools etc etc. I suspect there are almost as many reasons for being obese as there are obese people. But you won't reach anyone if the starting point is "you're lazy and weak willed". How does the NHS tackle smoking and alcoholism, is the approach to that any more successful?

I don't know how they advise people on obesity but for me their smoking, drugs and alcohol rehab (yes I've been to all three!) have been absolutely excellent. They seem to take the line on "it's not your fault you have an addiction but it is your responsibility to do something about it - that's just how it is". A really good mix between understanding/counselling and at the same time reminding you if you aren't willing to try they won't help you.

As an aside from the whole food cost aspect, I think that employers need to allow workers a proper hours lunch break. I have worked in too many offices over the years, where taking an hour away from your desk was seen as not showing commitment or lazy. It has become the norm to eat at desks whilst working. I'm lucky that I'm now in an active job with proper breaks, but DH is still in an office and never gets a proper lunch break. He's actually lost weight on lockdown as wfh has meant he can go for a walk at lunch without worrying about it making him seem unproductive.

We seem to have a very unhealthy attitude and culture towards working and seeming to "not pull your weight" when actually, with breaks, people are more productive.

As I understand it bariatric surgery actually works as well.

I know 3 people who've had it done. They all lost huge amounts of weight at the time but over the years they've all crept back up to where they were to start.

Alloverthegrapevine all the other things you mention can be stopped instantly. Even if I never eat another "bad" calorie again I will still be fat for quite a long time until the weight all came off. Should I be shamed every day for a year or two?
I just saw a woman on tv saying she was on her way home from a weigh-in once when a stranger through a burger at her out of her car window. Did that encourage her or send her home to eat?

@Gwenhwyfar 3 of my local supermarkets DON'T sell tinned lentils. Yes, they may have dried lentils, but who's got time to soak overnight?

You do know you don't have to sit up all night to watch them don't you? You are allowed to go and do something else, such as watch TV or go to bed. They aren't going to rampage through the house if you leave them!

@sirfredfredgeorge the key is finding something that works for you, I didn't state what that was for me, but once I'd found it losing weight wasnt that hard. If people keep trying the same ways to try and lose it and aren't getting anywhere, then yes it's hard and unrealistic, because it doesn't work for them, and obviously isn't addressing underlying issues which are likely contributing. I don't believe that for many it's as simple as calories in Vs calories out (although for some it is), but I never said that.

And the 🏅 of the "but Olympics" is....

, they may have dried lentils, but who's got time to soak overnight?

@KenDodd

South Korea is a really interesting case study for this.

I've heard in SK they also have different social norms, in that if people see you putting on weight its completely normal for them to point it out to you and be quite harsh about it. This is also thought to be a factor in keeping SK slim. If true, I'm not sure it's a practice I'd want here.

They also have a very disturbing cosmetic surgery culture which ties in with trying to achieve some level of aesthetic perfection. I’m not convinced that as a society that’s to be held up as a positive thing.

Another problem I feel is marketing. Sometimes thinks are marketed as healthy but in reality it isn’t but because the label says low fat low calorie etc people automatically assume it’s better for them.

Last time I was in the UK I saw an advert marketing nutella as a healthy choice at breakfast.

before dc I was about 9.5-10 stone.

I got pregnant with Dd and during the pregnancy I got up one morning and stretched and something popped and immediately I was in agony and couldn’t move.
I went to the drs and was told it would resolve itself once I gave birth.

For the rest of the pregnancy and for 7 years later I shuffled around in 24/7 agony.
I was on a zimmerframe with 2 toddlers.
I piled on the weight.
I was treated as though I needed a new hip but wouldn’t get one till I was 60.

After being in agony and with the physio not working I went back to the gps and was told that if I felt the NHS couldn’t help me I could try a private osteopath.
Within 10 minutes of being with the osteopath she had diagnosed me with what was wrong.

I had been walking around with a disc that was bulging out of my back.

I got treated and was ok with my back. The pain went but had developed arthritis in my knees and hips

The problem was I was then massively overweight and here I have stayed in the obese category.
Now with menopause and insomnia I just don’t lose weight.

@Badbadbunny

The government really missed a trick with the lockdown supplies boxes - they should offer a month of weekly "healthy recipe ingredient boxes", like HelloFresh but fairly basic healthy food.

People would throw away the stuff they didn't like or didn't know what to do with and go out and buy a load of processed crap from the supermarket or takeaway instead.

You can lead a horse to water...........

Would they? What study are you basing that on, or is it just your predudices on what all obese people are like?

Water fountains everywhere would help cut down on people drinking sugar/artificial sugar drinks. It would also help cut waste. The Victorians knew what they were doing. I don't know why we regressed as a nation to encouraging shop-bought water and sodas.

@DianaT1969

Water fountains everywhere would help cut down on people drinking sugar/artificial sugar drinks. It would also help cut waste. The Victorians knew what they were doing. I don't know why we regressed as a nation to encouraging shop-bought water and sodas.

Capitalism

To think about doing it the night before? No. I'm not starting to prep a meal 20 hours in advance

And here you have it ladies and gentlemen!

Whining over meal prep which literary takes less than 10 seconds.

@KenDodd

re Bariatric surgery:

I was on the NHS pathway for this. For 5 years.
During that time the group changed but was made up of around 10 people led by 1 dietician. The dietician was simply awful. Not only did she seem to have very basic knowledge of eg food groups but she would witter on about her love of Pringles 'oooh, once you pop you just can't stop, that's me, tee hee' - it was jawdropping stuff, truly.

Over that long period I was able to see that 85% plus of the people in the group were female, low income / unemployed and had unusually high caring responsibilities. The 4 men were all under 30, and were unemployed gamers who said they spent their nights glued to a screen eating pizza / pop looking for companionship and feeling low.

Bariatric surgery is very expensive - for the NHS - all that expensive pathway prep. Then the actual surgery and recovery and long term support and supplements. The surgery recommended by many boards is Roux en Y. That reroutes the intestines as well as reducing stomach size. It often results in damaged nutrition as patients cannot absorb from their food the way they could before. Not sugar true, but also not vitamins and minerals. People need suppelments for LIFE. That's a long term health issue & it should absolutely be a last resort.

The Govt moving products from tills / banning junk food ads whilst simultaneously opening the doors to cheap meat from the US / palm oil loaded crap and pushing UK Bariatric surgery is a disaster, imo.

Fasting costs nothing and intermittent fasting (16:8) is cutting levels of pre-diabetes and diabetes.

We’ve had 10 pages on healthy food and cooking from scratch.

Great. But as a doctor pointed out on the BBC this morning, you can buy 3 bits of southern fried chicken for 99p on your way back from school. A packet of crisps in the evening , a bar of chocolate in the car , biscuits at work,
It’s all the snacking and extra bits that are available everywhere anytime of day of night.

@SchrodingersImmigrant

And the 🏅 of the "but Olympics" is....

, they may have dried lentils, but who's got time to soak overnight?

Oh this! The excuses around here are unreal sometimes. If you’re happy the way you are, absolutely fine. But my word, the number of people who say things like ‘I’m overweight and it’s not my fault, because xyz...’

Yes, some of us have it harder than others, but if you have a problem, find a solution. It takes work to achieve most things in life, and looking after your health and fitness is something that requires effort. Making excuses will get you nowhere.

This article on immunity and nutrition advises against crash diets...www.mumsnet.com/Talk/coronavirus/3978323-Nutrition-and-covid

@Emmmie

To think about doing it the night before? No. I'm not starting to prep a meal 20 hours in advance

And here you have it ladies and gentlemen!

Whining over meal prep which literary takes less than 10 seconds.

Government should make sure it's all soaked. Bloody government. Not soaking our pulses

I have Type 2 diabetes, helpfully aided by gestational diabetes but always there in my history. None of the signs of insulin resistance were picked up on by doctors. The course you are sent on for diabetes is outdated, I had better understanding than the people running the course. I can cook well, eat well, and know what I should be doing. But when I am stressed, drained, sad etc I eat crap. But I am treated like some dumb fatty. The biggest issue isn't the cost, as examples in pp. Mental health is one of the biggest factors behind weight gain. Stress eating, anxiety, work life/zooming about and being knackered outweighing activities, fear, shame all contribute but this doesn't ever seem to be the first thing to address. This country's mental health is worsening and alongside it our physical health is too.

@DianaT1969

Fasting costs nothing and intermittent fasting (16:8) is cutting levels of pre-diabetes and diabetes.

You mean type two diabetes.

As a type one diabetic fasting is incredibly dangerous.

We have gotten into the lazy habit of making excuses for our poor diets.

Fresh fruit and veg aren’t prohibitively expensive. A lack of cooking skills and exposure to convenience meals has led to our impoverished diets.

Meal planning and batch cooking is how I eat better and cheaper.

Anecdata about the group, i appreciate but my point is that no one in that group was unaware (before the dietician's 'input') that eating junk food was a problem. Everyone understood about healthy eating. The reason we were all there was way more complicated than that.
But Bariatric surgery is a very blunt (and mostly inappropriate) tool to try to apply to many obese people. I really worry that Johnson thinks it isn't.

Yes an apple is cheaper than a Mars bar, but an apple doesn't fill you up. I'm just as hungry after eating an apple as I was before. A Mars bar will keep you full for longer.

I do think the root of a lot of weight problems is what people drink, rather than what they eat. In the 1970s or earlier, noone drank wine routinely like a lot of people do now. For a woman in particular, it was a source of scorn if she drank large amounts of any alcohol and many women wouldn't even enter a pub. While these attitudes are not desirable, I would argue that the ' wine o clock' culture has gone too far the other way.