To think peoples lives are crap enough without needing the government to interfere with Meal Deals

[Jeansmeansheinz]

FFS just let people have the pleasure of a Meal Deal. I really don't need the Government telling me what I can and can't eat.

Only on MN everyone would be existing on water and lentils for lunch

Also meal deals aren't £5.

Or in much of the world.

People have really latched onto the idea of UPF. In reality, UPF is not a monolith.

Everything has chemicals in it. Water is a chemical. Many of the scary-sounding names in ingredients lists are just normal things like salt (obviously too much salt is bad, but no one things a homecooked dish is UPF just because it's got salt added), or things that are common in non-Western cooking. People get scared because they don't understand what the words mean and the recent media hysteria over UPF has whipped things up.

It's possible to put a meal deal together that doesn't have any "scary chemicals" in it: all meal deals include plain chopped fruit, and plain fruit juice as options for the snack and drink. You can choose sushi or a salad without dressing. Even the sandwiches, a pre-packaged cheese salad sandwich or BLT isn't that much different from a homemade cheese salad sandwich or BLT.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=kmY56Q1Gx-Q&pp=ygUVU2xpZGVycyBzaG93IGZhc3Rmb29k

i think the point may be that firstly there are sandwiches that are stuffed with sugar/fat/salt that a consumer in a hurry might not expect. Secondly, if you can add a fizzy drink or chocolate to your sandwich for much less than you would have paid to buy it separately, then you might feel ripped off by not having it/be attracted to the bargain.

there is lots of stuff in supermarkets stuffed with sugar people don’t expect. People don’t expect pesto to contain sugar. Tesco green pesto does!

Definitely. Pub meals are always huge. My husband's family grew up with the rule that you must clear your plate. My husband has had to train himself that its okay not to eat it all. He could eat it all but he doesn't want to be overweight. I often go for a small plate option because I just cannot eat it all and it puts me off because there is just so much..

Is there a reason they think meal deals are the reason for Welsh obesity? Might it not equally be beer, crisps and Welsh cakes?

There's so much judgement and classicism wrapped up in food. Someone eating a Waitrose pre-prepared kumquat and puy lentil salad is going to be perceived and judged very differently than someone stuffing a Tesco triple cheese sarnie in their gob; Mumsnetters certainly respond very differently to the idea of a Charlie Bigham fish pie than an Asda frozen chicken tikka masala. Not because of health but because of perceptions of money and class.

Couldn't agree more! healthy snacks are the preserve of the wealthy. Poor people should shell out for Tupperware and start cooking up lentils after a long day at work in their damp riddled expensive rental.

Obese people cost the NHS twice as much as slim people.

In that case maybe they should adjust income tax and NI thresholds to be proportionate to BMI. 😁

Why can't meal deals just be made healthy?

Why can't UPFs be clearly labelled with reduced designs on packaging?

Where do we teach children to cook healthy? I really don't think learning to cook the odd spag bol at school really cuts it.

No, they jolly well are not. Across the world, poor people eat better than in the UK. It;s only here that cooking healthy is supposed to be wanky and the preserve of the middle class. Go to anywhere in Asia and there will be healthy meals on the side of the road cooked with no stove or microwave or MH support or any of that....

What about a system where to eg you get medical certificates etc to go to a fast food restaurant eg mc Donald's etc

Something like that should help cut down on unhealthy eating

Hoping this is a joke rather than that you want to live in a dictatorship

So many people on MN spend so much time thinking about what other people eat. So much time thinking about other people's 'obesity problems.'

I suppose threads like this where they all congregate helps to make posters feel that their disordered thoughts are normal. They are not.

Threads like this will run to pages and pages because the posters are in the grip of a deep-seated, complex and compulsive mental disorder.

Eating disorders are not related to actual body weight. Eating disorders are related to how much time a person spends obsessing about food, about thinking about eating, about denying oneself food, about other people eating, about comparing what they eat to what other people eat.

Obesity rates are climbing in most places. It's certainly not the case that most of the world other than the US and the UK is not obese either. In fact the UK is nowhere near the top of that particular table.

The government could stop pandering to their friends in big food chemical manufacturing and actually make changes that benefit peoples health.

Don’t know if it’s been mentioned up thread but the BBCs Panorama on Ultra Processed Food is well worth a watch. The parts about the food safety legislation in the UK vs the EU are shocking I thought.

Threads like this will run to pages and pages because the posters are in the grip of a deep-seated, complex and compulsive mental disorder.

All posters on here have a 'mental disorder' Okaaay

Like anything it depends what you choose. All of the supermarket meal deals have a range of salads, sarnies and wraps as well as a range of snacks including boiled eggs and fresh fruit. If someone doesn't now buy a meal deal as the cost of the 3 items is too much they'll just choose something else. Someone who can't make sensible decisions around a meal deal isn't exactly likely to be hitting the salad aisle, unless they tackle a much broader spectrum whats the point.

If the government truly cared about public health, it would ban cigarettes and massively increase spending on mental health provision. Not fanny about with meal deals.

But it won't.

So it could be debated that the alternative of some of the food production companies get to produce all the calorie laden, high processed, high fat amongst other things in their food creations then ?

Perhaps people shouldn't have to work such long hours and should get more money, both would more likely lead to healthier eating.

Why then do we have various laws or do they amount to dictatorship too?

For context

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=kmY56Q1Gx-Q&pp=ygUVU2xpZGVycyBzaG93IGZhc3Rmb29k

Obesity is becoming a global problem. Has become a global problem.

The US is the 12th most obese country on earth, and the UK actually comes pretty far down on the list, at 29.

Most of the countries in the top ten highest obesity rates are developing countries or former developing countries, and obesity is a particular problem in pacific islands, and in a lot of Middle Eastern countries. Iirc none of the countries in the top ten most obese countries list are in the West.

People need to exercise some self control. Nobody is forced to shove all that crap down their gullet. The culture of victimhood has much to do with it.

But people are victims. Of the massive, extremely powerful, rich and unscrupulous food corporations who put huge amounts of research into how to make food out of ever cheaper and nastier ingredients, while tweakjnv it to make it hyper-palatable and addictive. Avoiding UPF is hard. Fighting your appetite day-in, day-out is hard. Doing that when you are tired, busy and poor and when that diet is all you've known is borderline impossible.

They are. Because processed food and sugary drinks now becoming widely available and people are moving away from their traditional diets. In fact, the richest countries like Kuwait are now the most obese.

But I still can't buy that healthy food is only for the middle or upper classes.

I agree that the obsession with UPFs at the minute is ridiculous, just like a few years ago there was an obsession with veganism. Everything in moderation has worked for years. My gran isn't stressing about whether her bread is cheap bread from Morrisons or if it is artisan sourdough and she is still kicking at almost 90 despite the cheese sandwich on white bread she has had almost everyday for as long as I can remember which is nearly 40 years.

Having a sandwich for lunch isn't going to be the death of you. Being obsessed with ufps isn't going to make you immortal. A bit of common sense needs to come into these conversations.