What should the government do to reduce obesity at the societal level?

[waistchallenge]

We're the fattest country in Europe and the upshot is what you see here: people posting threads in desperation about their weight loss struggles. I think we can probably all agree it would be easier to never have gotten overweight in the first place and to never have had to go through these weight loss efforts and experiences.

Apart from the sugar tax, I cannot see that the government has done much, if anything, to reduce obesity in this country; it's higher than ever.

I'm asking here because we all have experience of this to be on here, what-if anything- should the government do to reduce obesity in this country? What would have helped you? Or is it all just ultimately a question of personal responsibility?

@Springingtosprimg if I can find headspace, with a senior role, long hours, a DH, elderly parents and one mid 20s dc at home, do tell me how I manage it when I am v v time poor. It isn't a privilege, it's organisation.

If it's to be tackled on a national basis then the government needs to start giving people vouchers for fresh food that are auditable, instead of benefits and working tax credits. If those people can no longer buy the food equivalent of crap, the crap manufacturers will not be able to sell it and will go bust.

Not so palatable is it? Rather like making fat people pay for their own gastric bands and wegovy.

This would not make a bit of difference to national obesity levels. There are already a ton of websites, books and blogs with recipes and nutritional information on them. Anyone who wants to find healthy recipes can already access all of that information easily.

I don't think people are obese due to lack of information- most people know full well what healthy food looks like and know what is making them fat. It's the motivation that is lacking.

When I was kid, UPFs were unusual, and though we got sugar in things like jam, sweets were much more a weekend thing.

Were they though? I seem to remember quite a lot of biscuits and shop-bought cakes with 'high tea'. There was a corner shop with jars of sweets opposite both the primary and secondary schools and the latter had a 'tuck shop'. This was 60s/70s.

It's not hard but lots of people are trying to eat less fish and meat and you've only got one meal with beans in it.

My point was everything is so samey. You're meals are easy to cook but you're getting a lot of your nutrients from meat which lots of people can't afford.

We need more creativity to utilise other ingredients that provide protein from other sources like lentils and beans which are far healthier than eating large quantities of mass produced meat.

@RosesAndHellebores well I meal plan, shop and cook from scratch at the moment. I also suffer from regular depressive periods where I can’t do that. You are so privileged you are unable to recognise how privileged you are.

Right. I’m a parent who 1) has the skills and finances to afford a healthy diet and 2) is conscious of it.
But that doesn’t solve the issue that my kids are fed crap at school and nursery. It’s so ingrained in our culture we don’t even recognise it.
im confident my kids will be just fine, but nursery and school contribute rather than assist with the issue.

1. Reduce the stress on people - improve NHS, social care, working hours, respite care, job opportunities, wages

1. Incentive creation of healthy convenience foods and clearly label

1. Reduce prices of healthy food (maybe by increasing tax on unhealthy food - as long as making sure people aren't worse off)

I agree. It's so hard if you work and try really hard especially when these places are there to support the development of children

There’s something in the saying “You didn’t make good choices you had good choices.” For some people processed crap is the only affordable option.

Do they not have a packed lunch option?

It’s so ingrained in our culture we don’t even recognise it.

Not here, I recognise the UPF situation which is why I stick to whole foods, well that and low carb

Nursery don’t allow packed lunches.
School obviously do. But I tend to allow my son do choose packed lunch or hot dinner. I do this because I don’t want to make an issue of food for him or set him out from his peers.

On the one hand there’s avoiding/reducing UPF (which at home we do really well) on the other there’s eating disorders and anxiety. He is quite sensitive, slim and active. It’s a delicate balance.

Chris Van Tulleken speaks about this in his book. Id highly recommend it as a read to better understand obesity and UPF.

And also - like I said, my kids will be fine. But I recognise I come at this from a point of privilege that many don’t have.

I think it was taste and same meal all week.

No problem with half opened packs But I think for one person some of that food is going to go off and be wasted. Not the nuts obv.

I used to buy the big tubs of natural yoghurt but some of it would go to waste. So I switched to smaller pots to reduce food waste but it does cost more. And yes it’s a choice.

Increasing breastfeeding rates would be a good start.

Well a packed lunch option won't help children on free school meals. They have no choice but to accept ultra processed food if that is all that's on offer..and so the state begins it's contribution to the rich/poor divide on health issues.

I do worry that people know they can fall back on the NHS to deal with their weight induced diabetes / other health issues.

ultimately, although there is undeniably an issue with availability of cheap processed / chemical ‘food’, people need to feel like the buck stops with them for managing their health.

Im also curious as to the availability now of weight loss drugs. Why has this taken off? Is this cheaper than
health education? More guaranteed? Which MPs company has benefited (if any?)

If I worked from home I would be constantly raiding the cupboards! At least if I am in a workplace that temptation is (mostly) removed.

Also I'm pretty sure it was better for me to walk to work and back twice a day than to sit at home. Even on days when I didn't want to go out walking I had to.

No food is "unhealthy" in moderation. Thinking like this however .......

Could you please tell me why it is that every time I increase my daily walking I lose weight then? I can assure you I'm not eating any less. Not a one-off either, it's been happening since I was 16, still happening at 64.

Yes 4 days working week!
DH works away, I work FT with a DS and would kill for a long outdoor run on a morning rather than stealing half an hour to work jumping on the treadmill

Weight loss itself is very simple. Very very simple.

if you consistently consume fewer calories than you use for a long enough period you will lose weight.

It's all the other stuff around food that makes it hard to stick to that but let's not fool ourselves here.

Take off that “an average adult needs 2000 kcals a day” from all of our food packaging. I am a short woman but I would certainly still consider myself as average, but if I ate 2000kcals a day I would be gaining 1lb a week.

(Yeah it’s shit being a short woman with the appetite of a large man, but life is unfair and unfortunately for me, my stature means I have far fewer calories to play around with every day than I would like).

People’s bodies are too varied for that message to be any help at all, and at worst, it probably gives people an unrealistic expectation on how many calories they should consume.

Educate people on their individual calorific needs,… and ensure accurate as possible calorie information on foods.

They seem to be talking about the quality of school food on Radio 4's Today Programme right now.

Chris Van Tulleken speaks about this in his book. Id highly recommend it as a read to better understand obesity and UPF.

I’m sure it’s a good book but I’ve been off UPF for a fair while, and thought using a way to reduce or stop them would do a lot for the obesity crisis.

I’d be all for people doing that generally