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

Time is an issue for many families. Fresh food needs to be prepared and cooked. Families where mum and dad work several jobs between them don’t have a lot of time and energy left to plan, cook, and shop for meals. Low prep, cheap, palatable frozen food is a reality for many people. They aren’t lazy, they are wrung out.

lol at the Gov coming out with all this though , six weeks after having to be shamed into not stopping free meals by a footballer!!!

Some people don’t have freezers- I don’t! It broke 6 months ago and I can’t afford to replace it. If I had the money, I’d give back my rented oven and washing machine first before replacing it- they cost so much in the long run but I need them so I’m over a barrel. So frozen options don’t work for everyone.

Also I am out all day at work. Click and collect slots aren’t always easy to get and I’m caring for my mum who has health conditions so the last thing I want to do is go into a germ filled supermarket. To stay stocked up in fruit and veg you have to go to the shop every few days. I absolutely do not have time for this. At all. I barely have time to sleep at the moment.

Fact is people cba cooking up a massive batch of chicken and lentil casserole and eating that with jacket potato /mash/brown rice.

They'd rather have a Greggs instead. They KNOW it compromises their health but let's face it, don't care

A shocking percentage of schoolchildren leave primary school obese. The Government needs to up sports activity in schools as well as dwell on food issues.

When I was working I met lots of new mothers who could not cook just ready meals .Slow cookers or a Pressure cooker are brilliant to tenderise cheap cuts

@Ineke

A shocking percentage of schoolchildren leave primary school obese. The Government needs to up sports activity in schools as well as dwell on food issues.

When did schools become responsible for everything? What happened to parental responsibility?

I think they need to bring back proper Home Economics at school, for all the kids. Teach them how to budget, prepare economic meals and use leftovers.

I think a lot of people are clueless or lazy when it comes to eating in the UK. The amount of pre-packaged or ready meals here versus other countries, is astounding.

I totally agree with using the sugar tax to subsidise fruit and vegetables. My favourite apples are Pink Lady which are usually 50p each even bought in a pack in a supermarket. Yet in Morrisons you can buy a pack of 5 or 6 doughnuts for 50p. I’m not even a fan of doughnuts, so for me it’s a no brainer what I would spending my 50p on. However for someone on a budget or with little willpower, their 50p would more likely go on the doughnuts.

Someone upthread mentioned that bananas are cheap and filling, which is undoubtedly true, however unfortunately I absolutely loathe bananas. Even the smell of them if someone is eating them near me! 🤮

@silentpool

I think they need to bring back proper Home Economics at school, for all the kids. Teach them how to budget, prepare economic meals and use leftovers.

I think a lot of people are clueless or lazy when it comes to eating in the UK. The amount of pre-packaged or ready meals here versus other countries, is astounding.

Well, our "home economics" lessons in the 70s were nothing like that.

All I remember is baking cakes, scones, biscuits, flapjacks, pies, flans, trifles, eccles cakes, etc etc. The only "main course" we ever made was sausage and mash using bought sausages, so the only "preparation" was boiling and mashing the potatoes. We didn't do anything at all re budgeting, using leftovers, etc. Nothing about nutrition etc.

I suppose, like everything in school, it's down the how good your teachers are.

Can people stop comparing the most expensive apples available with the cheapest shop bought cakes as 'evidence' that fruit and veg are too expensive and cake is too cheap?

If people wanted to eat healthily on a budget, with not that much effort, most people could. But a lot of people just don't want to.

@Ineke

A shocking percentage of schoolchildren leave primary school obese. The Government needs to up sports activity in schools as well as dwell on food issues.

Whilst I agree, they also need to move the emphasis away from team sports and towards personal fitness, such as jogging, walking, gym, swimming, cycling, etc. So more "PE" rather than games. Team sports can do more harm than good for the non sporty kids - they just promote bullying, social exclusion, and just reinforce self image of being useless at sports etc.

A shocking percentage of schoolchildren leave primary school obese. The Government needs to up sports activity in schools as well as dwell on food issues

I would say get rid of homework in primary would help.
I know Dc wouldn’t have done the activities they did do if I had insisted they did their homework. A lot of children dropped out of these activities because of the workload of homework which gets more and more in senior school means less and less activity

I do just feel the need to point out that one of the meals in my school is macaroni cheese with potato wedges and garlic bread.
School dinners need a real overhaul too.

macaroni cheese with potato wedges and garlic bread.
This demonstrates that people should not always have choices.
If everything has to be what the children Want you will get the above but they could have as easily macaroni with crusty brown bread or macaroni with baked potato, maybe a bit of salad thrown in but given the option people will choose garlic bread and wedges.
I thought the nutrition value was set and meals had to follow rules.

School meals should be overhauled but the problem is too many children are just too fussy eaters to eat balanced meals. There would be too much food wasted and parents would complain when kids come home hungry

Your options are no better Blue. That meal which ever version of it has minimal nutritional value. The garlic bread and the wedges will be made with minimal oil or salt, they’re not allowed to go above the limits of the daily allowance. Any cheese used is the low fat version.

@FlamingoAndJohn

I do just feel the need to point out that one of the meals in my school is macaroni cheese with potato wedges and garlic bread. School dinners need a real overhaul too.

I’m genuinely shocked at that. I’m by no means a health freak, and definitely don’t shy away from the carbs, but that’s an appallingly unhealthy meal. I’d have thought that there would be some sort of nutritional and health consideration applied to school catering.

There is GC, but in most schools you build your meal from a grid of options, so children can end up with a meal like that. Vegetarians mostly. In the primary school I worked in there was a little salad bar where you could add tomatoes, raw carrots, cucumber, sweet corn to whatever you chose.
Everything is within the ‘healthy eating guidelines’ in terms of salt, sugar and fat. There was no ketchup or salad dressing, certainly no salt and pepper.
But you end up with some odd combinations.

I read very widely on this and one strong argument for Japan having no obesity is they don't eat wheat or dairy.

@Bluemoooon

macaroni cheese with potato wedges and garlic bread. This demonstrates that people should not always have choices. If everything has to be what the children Want you will get the above but they could have as easily macaroni with crusty brown bread or macaroni with baked potato, maybe a bit of salad thrown in but given the option people will choose garlic bread and wedges. I thought the nutrition value was set and meals had to follow rules.

Your options are still all carbs, though. Macaroni cheese in itself isn't a great option. Not much to go with it that's remotely healthy.

Although obesity is low in Japan it’s not zero, it’s just below 4% which is around 4.5 million people.

@Bluemoooon

macaroni cheese with potato wedges and garlic bread. This demonstrates that people should not always have choices. If everything has to be what the children Want you will get the above but they could have as easily macaroni with crusty brown bread or macaroni with baked potato, maybe a bit of salad thrown in but given the option people will choose garlic bread and wedges. I thought the nutrition value was set and meals had to follow rules.

This isn’t what the children choose to have. When school reopened on 1st June children were given this. No options.

DH works for a Japanese company in London. The staff usually come over from Japan for 2 year stints. They become obese astonishingly quickly once they live in London.