Everyone bitching about Boris' calorie and bike investment etc!!

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Or just bitching about him in general...

So far iv seen a woman slagging him of because he will invest in bikes for obese people but her GP will not give her a tummy tuck.

People with eating disorders complain about calories on menus as it will stop them eating! Understandable but for people like me who BINGE eat and have to calorie count to not become obese would give freedom to!

And so much more... I feel like he can't do right from wrong!!

A friend was complaining last week because the free school meals she was getting for ds are boring 🤦🏻‍♀️

I just SMH... would love to see these people run the country!

I’m all for calories being on every menu. It’s a great idea for anyone keeping track of their weight.

If he wanted to end obesity he would throw money at it. It would be a nation-wide, all encompassing, education-and-poverty-awareness based campaign. Not this fat/poverty shaming bullshit to deflect from his incompetence and the blood he has on his hands. He’s an embarrassment.

There should be calories available on request, but I agree with some that it's not the best to have them on all menus. And I count.

But since it's only in places with more than 250 employees so smaller independents will be ok.

I haven’t read into calories on menus but the effect will be more of marked reflection on the food outlet. It’s going to be a bit of reckoning for some items which are very high.

Salad sales will drop...
Pasta bolognese in Pizza express has about same cal as chicken Caesar.
Healthier options are not always the ones with less calories

I think they’re looking at all the wrong reasons for why people become obese.
To fix something you need to go to it’s roots and see what’s actually causing it, not just stick a bandaid over it.
Maybe preventing wealth inequality and making sure people don’t live in poverty in the first place would be a start?
Also better mental health services for people who need help developing a healthy relationship with food.
And controversial but I think the main reason why we are obese is because we are so stressed, if we worked fewer hours we would have a much more balanced lifestyle and more time for doing things we enjoy (which usually involves spending money so would also benefit the economy).

I'm sure most electorates are whingeing about their leaders

And so they should. Every death from covid (past the first handful) is down to a failure of politicans. If we had better leaders around the world, starting with China, this virus could have be extinguished. We have a right to be angry, and should demand better of our leaders. Boris Johnson has been particularly notable in his failure on covid.

I don't think a lot of people understand eating disorders tbh. Mine was over 10 years ago now and I still have to constantly work to not slip backwards. I never look at calories and I hate the visible "traffic light" system on food. I won't own or use scales. I cannot do any diet, ever. Its like recovering from an addiction. If you have experienced anorexia you can't just do a bit of calorie counting, just like a recovering alcoholic can't have just a sip of beer.

Now, clearly as the op has pointed out there is the potential for competing rights here. While calories displayed on menus will hurt people like me, it may help people like the OP. So whose health is more important? Whose right to be able to eat in a restaurant takes priority? Before we even get into that question we should probably establish if calories on a menu is even an effective anti obesity measure. What studies have been done on it? We've had the traffic light system for a long time now, has that shown any meaningful results? Because it seems to me that over eating is more to do with emotional issues and socioeconomic factors than a lack of education about calorie values. Most people aren't choosing to binge eat because they don't realise the food is high calorie, it isn't that simple.

Basically, I'm happy to have the conversation about competing rights in this situation, but I'm not happy to be thrown under the bus for an initiative that isn't even going to benefit its target group, just so that Boris can feel like he's done something.

Maybe when they consult a bit more they’ll end up doing codes that you can scan to see the calories instead?

None of this is law yet, so can be changed.

Something does need to happen about obesity though.

The change might come from the food outlet itself when faced with declaring their own numbers.

Don't most chains (which are the ones concerned here) have calories menus anyway? On websites and if you ask for it?

The bike idea is ridiculous, £50 voucher for everyone no means testing....the poorest can’t afford a bike, or live in housing with no storage for bikes. Calories on menus? No thanks, everything in moderation, I don’t want my kids growing up calorie counting.

Instead of shutting schools completely during the pandemic, teachers/sports coaches could have run outdoor exercise sessions on school fields/in parks during school time, compulsory attendance. More money into sports accessible to all, and parcels of fruit and veg to the most vulnerable.

The bike thing is great -- so much demand being revealed. People want to get out on their bikes. Very keen.

There's more nutritional information available about what we eat than ever and obesity rates are still rising, I'm not convinced calorie counts help at a populational level

I have disordered eating and the calorie thing fills me with a mix of panic and excitement.

It’s quite easy to be nudged back into full on high restriction.

The bike thing is a big waste of money when you read up on what it is available for. It’s covering things that should be the basic of basic maintenance that users need to be able to do themselves. If you have to take your bike to a shop because it’s got a puncture what do you do when it’s got a puncture half way to work on your commute. You need to learn that yourself, same with changing your brake pads (1 minute job) and replacing your chain (another 1 minute job). A series of basic educational videos would be better!

I do however like the calories on menus. Doesn’t necessarily mean I’ll have the low calorie option but at least it means I have informed choice and can account for it. I’d also like to see a carbs/fats/protein breakdown but that might be a step too far for now.

I would like an indication of carbs. I’m pretty good at finding low carb but eating not at home can be trickier

Calorie counts are available on quite a few chain menus already? (I know harvester, Wetherspoon and Macdonald already publish calories)
I used to have an ED but been a healthy weight for at least 15 years now. If I buy a packaged sandwich I always check the calories....if I go out to eat, I don't !

I do however like the calories on menus. Doesn’t necessarily mean I’ll have the low calorie option but at least it means I have informed choice and can account for it. I’d also like to see a carbs/fats/protein breakdown but that might be a step too far for now.

www.pizzaexpress.com/help-and-contact/do-you-have-full-nutritional-information-for-your-menu-available

www.zizzi.co.uk/menus/full-menu/starters
Click on allergen filters, scroll down and click on nutritional info.

www.greggs.co.uk/nutrition

Again. Most, if not all food chains have this information

Its a sham, people know eating something high in calories will make you put on weight, doesn't stop a lot of them eating it.. you can put flashing lights, bells and whistles on high calorie foods it wont make any difference.
If youre in the mindset of calorie counting there are apps, takes a matter of seconds.. trouble is a lot of obese people don't give a monkeys, or cannot mentally change their entire eating habit, and therein lies the problem.. maybe dealing with that would be a better strategy.

He’s a prize bell end and the majority of the time I think I my 3 year old could do a better job - honestly sometimes it’s like being governed by a Golden Retriever who just wants to be liked. However, occasionally he does try.....like with this. I mean it’s all a drop in the ocean but it’s better than nothing and a start to addressing the problem.

*I think calories on menus is a great idea.

If I’m choosing between two desserts, and I can see that one of them is 1000 calories while the other is 500-600, I’ll go for the lower calorie one.*

And I (who doesn't have an eating disorder) will just pick the lowest calorie item on the menu even if it's something I dislike and push it around my plate all night. I rarely ever eat desert anyway but I've worked hard to get away from obsessively calorie counting and would like to be able to have the odd meal out.

I agree, I've seen a few restaurants put calories down on menus before this was introduced. Also low fat or lighter options.

I can't see how it's different to every packet of food you buy having this information? (in terms of triggering EDs).

I would say I've been borderline anorexic in the past, and I'm very knowledgeable about the likely calorie count and fat content of most foods. That's in my head so I wouldn't be any more triggered by it being written down.

And why would it spoil your enjoyment of a meal out to see the calories (for someone without disordered eating?) You could eat less the next day to balance it out or shock horror go for a less calorific meal.

Come on, if you're an "obsessive calorie counter" you know which pudding is calorific without the numbers there. You could probably put them in order. I'm finding this a flimsy argument.

And why would it spoil your enjoyment of a meal out to see the calories (for someone without disordered eating?) You could eat less the next day to balance it out or shock horror go for a less calorific meal.

It would spoil my dinner. When I go to eat out I do on my non counting day.

The information is there. For anyone who wants it it takes less than a minute.