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?

Haven't read the full thread because there's 17 pages...but I've just started reading "Ultra Processed People" and it seems UPFs are a huge cause. I think the government need to stop unhealthy food being promoted as healthy (low fat, added vitamins etc) and maybe put more focus on taxing UPFs and promoting whole foods. Sugar is the wrong thing to be taxing

I know loads of farmers, they're not poor, they just think they're poor. The private schools round here are packed with their kids.

I've loads of ideas but don't think that any government will introduce them as they won't make money for them and their mates.

More safe walking and cycling routes. Connecting shopping areas and services with areas people live in and along rural a roads. Make them wide and feel safe with lighting in the evenings.

Most sports facilities and clubs (including swimming pools) should be state owned and run. It's not all that long ago that swimming was a cheap activity you could do after school or at the weekend. But now unless you pay £££ for membership there is about 2 hours a week that the pool locally is open for general use and it's busy and expensive.

Make constant grazing and snacking less socially acceptable. Yes it tastes good but you don't need to eat to enjoy a film for example.

Could go on but that would be a start.

Essentially though is your miserable and a packet of jammy dodgers are a pound it's no wonder we are all getting fatter. The UK is one of the most miserable places to be at the moment. No wonder we're getting fatter. Until we have a government that focuses on wellbeing of its citizens I can't see any meaningful change happening.

Hmm, I actually disagree about PE.
I know several people (myself included) who were put off any kind of exercise by PE lessons in school. They might have been great for sporty kids, but the rest often just ended up feeling crap about themselves.
I prefer the way PE is taught in my children’s schools, they’re much more into it.
I think the main goal of PE lessons should be to motivate as many kids as possible to exercise and be active.
It took me years after finishing school to start exercising regularly, because I had just accepted that I wasn’t sporty.
Which wasn’t even true btw. I started running and realised I really enjoyed it without the pressure of the PE teacher standing there with a stop watch. Nowadays I run several times a week.

I agree with @inamarina about pe. The sporty kids will always do exercise, it’s the rest that pe needs to reach. Not just for the exercise they get at school but to help them find activities they will enjoy all their life. I like the daily mile for priMary school children, walking along chatting to mates is something that translates well to adult life.

How is it depressing?

Also thought of something else....

School uniforms should ALL be polo shirts jumpers/hoodies and shorts/leggings/tracky bottoms plus trainers rather ham school shoes. And children and teens should be encouraged to play football/ netball/ rounders/ or even just walk and talk at break and lunchtimes.

I think there are numerous factors at play, with a big one being snacking and sugary drinks. When I was a kid, we didn’t have snacks apart from the odd biscuit or an apple. Now we buy tonnes of snacky crap, supermarkets are full of them. We can’t tolerate being slightly peckish and automatically reach out for something that will give us a little boost. UPFs are a big part of this. They make us addicted to snacking.

It’s really easy to eat too much. You only have to look at the average kid’s lunchbox that would have a sandwich and numerous other items. I’d only eat a sandwich for lunch, and maybe some fruit if I was really hungry. Why does a five year old need twice as many calories as an adult?

I don't know. When I was a child in the 80s I don't recall seeing lots of overweight adults and there definitely wasn't loads of overweight kids.
My diet was terrible, sugary cereal, jam sandwiches and 80s school dinners and lots of processed crap with chips at home.
We were all like bean poles though!
My neighbours all have primary school age children who all look overweight (two severely) They definitely get exercise, I see them playing football/climbing trees/riding bikes up and down but I also see the Deliveroo driver a lot too , one of the mums told me she can't be bothered to cook Monday-Friday so they get takeaways all week... Her daughter is 10 and severely overweight and she's not just having a happy meal, she's having an adult portion Big Mac meal, unheard of 30 years ago.
People are saying people are too exhausted to cook but it's easier to chuck the ingredients for a chicken casserole in a slow cooker in the morning rather than order takeaways at night.

In Japan, employers measure weight circumference of their employees every single year! Those who are over the threshold are referred to a dietician after 3 months to help them lose weight as it’s seen as unacceptable

Yes, overweight people are very rare in Japan - the societal pressure ensures that most people want to stay slim.

The normalisation of obesity here is the problem. The recent ads featuring obese models is awful imo.

Things like sugar tax are the problem. They swap real food for chemical substitutes. Lots of bad things in food that should not be there. If people cooked from scratch and stopped eating processed and ultra processed we wouldn’t be in this situation. Keep it natural. Stop allowing shite on the shelves and there may be a difference.

The UK is one of the most miserable places to be at the moment. No wonder we're getting fatter.

I eat less when I'm miserable and have little appetite, so don't think there's a correlation between weight and state of miserableness.

I think there should be regular Public Service Announcements on TV of the old "Charley says..." variety, telling everyone about the dangers of too much sugar.

people need to take personal responsibility for themselves and be pulled up or charged if they are a burden to society.

Yes! It has to be socially unacceptable and have financially consequences if people choose to eat too much/eat unhealthily.

By celebrating obese models we're unfortunately doing the opposite.

People are very sedentary now, we walked everywhere when we were young as never had a car and we were all stick thin. Different now people just shut the front door and climb into the car, spend all day in pyjamas never leaving house. You see time and time again on here l hate walking, what's the point, type of threads, people hibernate in winter and hardly leave house. Our local park is deserted 6 months of the year. Tv and social media doesn't help. People say they don't eat much, but then they don't exercise at all. They cannot be bothered.

Package sweet food and UPF snacks in plain packaging with health warnings. Ban the sales of it in petrol stations, cinemas, theatres and vending machines. Maybe only available from large grocery shops and limit the purchase like paracetamol. Maybe I am going too far…..

The problem is that it would affect the economy and people would say it was the nanny state being over controlling.

Many people lose weight is Japan for exactly the reasons you say: smaller portions which are home made and varied.

It's so hard. I lived in a country with lower obesity than the UK and a government that didn't hesitate to introduce measures, but rates were still rising and was really noticeable in the younger generation. It feels like anything is just putting a plaster on a flesh wound.

Mexico and maybe some other countries I believe have introduced a black box warning on UPFs which I think did help, something to explore.

I live in NZ, and there are two primary schools near my home. Every time I walk past there are usually kids outside playing - three times in one recent week I had to pick up a ball which had ended up over the fences. I also see classes walking to the library and the swimming pool (which are obviously not far away). One of the schools often has kids out running several times around the block each week. I agree that it is important kids are doing exercise of some sort, especially as some of them don't seem to get much outside of school hours.

Encourage exercise!!!!

School round here sold off their playing fields to developers.
Think lots of schools have done this.

Totally this. Playing fields all sold off round here.

It’s the pursuit of profit over all else. In all areas of life. To the detriment of quality of life and community. Incl food.

In France they did just have one meal, no choice, but it was fresh and a starter, main and dessert. That might have changed now though.

Well that's a big mistake to start with!! The schools in my town all have new buildings on their sites, but there is still plenty of ground for playing and games. Why on earth would they do that??