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?

Reduce the prescription of medication that causes weight gain- pay for more expensive alternatives.

Improve the diagnosis and awareness of chronic conditions so people don't get gaslit for years by doctors while their health declines

(I was slim and healthy till I got ill)

I think for a start they shouldn’t be seen as a staple in children’s diets at school and nursery. If you try and eliminate or even reduce UPF it is virtually impossible without ostracising your children.

My son’s wrap around care annoys me too. They just serve processed crap. It’s a biscuit as a snack, then hot dogs/spaghetti hoops on toast/wrap with cheese or ham (the latter being the most acceptable). Then he doesn’t want tea. Breakfast they serve all manner of sugary cereal. I obviously feed him before school and he doesn’t have a huge appetite so won’t eat for the sake of it so mornings are ok. But he always refuses tea because he’s full of junk. Then he might have had a school dinner and the only nutritious meal he’s had all day is at breakfast.

National insurance rates based on weight

Seriously? I hope you're joking.

My BMI is tipping on overweight - I think it’s 24 but my body fat is healthy at 25% I train a lot, my husband weighs 17st and is lean - he is very tall. You’d have to decide a measure for this and the administration would be a nightmare.

there will also be people waiting for NHS treatment to get well enough to exercise. Another contributing factor.

Maybe she meant inversely - what's the balance between costs to the nhs as the result of obesity vs savings to pension payments due to people dying earlier?

...er yeah. That one may not quite have been a Swiftian proposal but I'll take it as satire.

Fortunately Henry Dimbleby has already written a report for the government on this https://www.nationalfoodstrategy.org/

unfortunately the government ignored it.

I think there are a lot of tied-up issues - for example high cost of housing/market issues mean more people in poverty, international food markets/subsidies/food industry lobbying mean processed and manufactured food always cheaper, Brexit means no farm workers to pick UK grown fresh fruit and veg... plus health, social care, planning, education...

Most people massively under estimate how many calories they consume and over estimate how many calories they burn during exercise. I am a qualified rowing coach and in my experience most people have not got a clue what 'proper' exercise is. We are not an elite club insofar as only allowing proven athletes to join, we give everyone a chance so we get all shapes and sizes signing up to our learn to row courses. We often get folk in their 40s/50s who have literally done no formal exercise since they left school or uni, are often very overweight and still believe that taking the dog for a walk or similar is 'exercise'. Sure , such activity gets you moving and is better then nothing but it is not really going to count massively towards healthy living brownie points. I have watched countless people over the years who complete our 12 week course drop huge amounts of weight as they embark on a weights, erg machine and on the water training regime four to five times a week. I find it hard to believe that various 45 min UT2/interval training ergs, one hour weight sessions and knocking out 10km+ on the water 'makes no difference'.

Of course you're right, @TheCadoganArms

It's not an either or - both diet (what, when and how much) and activity matter. Cals in vs cals out may be a little too simplistic but not much. If we're overweight then we've been eating more than we need.

I must admit, @TheCadoganArms, as I'm in my early forties now I find more and more people telling me about their exercise regimes, and when you delve deeper it usually turns out to be walking the dog round the block. Like, that's actually the bare minimum but well done.

This starts so young as well. I’ve got a baby and a 4 year old. Nearly every time we meet friends at the park people bring bloody snacks. We’re there to get fresh air and to run the kids around, why are you giving them packets of biscuits?!

Meet somewhere for a tea and people bring chocolate. Meet for a walk and people bring crisps. Then there’s the peer pressure and “oh go on just let them have some” if you decline as you’ll be eating (a meal) when you get home.

I bumped into a friend the other day and she offered DD some marshmallows.

I know this seems silly but I do wish they'd ban anything except fruit as 'dessert' in childcare settings and school. Kids get so in the habit of expecting a sweet after meals and it makes it harder for parents to manage eating at home.

Normalising kids walking to and from school again somehow - a lot of the problem seems to be inactivity from not doing day-to-day activities like walking between places.

My 2km in 10 minutes on the rowing machine is quite a lot more than other people manage on that machine in the gym, and I can well believe that rowing training produces results. Not that I would want to do that any more than once or twice a week, nor near any body of water either for most of the year.

What should the government do? Tackle poverty.

Again and again the biggest determinant in obesity is poverty.

Want to reduce obesity rate? Ensure people can buy food that isn’t cheap crap. That they can cook (eg pay for the gas or electricity).

No point going on and on about people not wanting to acknowledge they are fat etc… if their only choice is restricted to cheap mass produced crap.

During lockdown I was the healthiest I had ever been and it was the same with the majority of the people I know.

The biggest difference was the work/life balance.

I was still working FT but just doing it at home and although it was a struggle juggling it with kids and I’d never choose to WFH, it meant I had much more time to plan, prepare and cook meals from scratch, more time to exercise, no commute so I could afford better quality food, I had actual ME time and I slept a good 8 hours a night.

If you look at the UKs lifestyle vs France (and other countries), we are much more fast paced and have a much worse working/life balance.
And we are much less healthier than French people, so there must be a correlation.

I have gym next to my office that I frequent and it is interesting to observe what people actually do when they are there. While there is a sizable minority who clearly have an exercise programme that they are sticking to and are working hard, many folk just seem to mooch randomly between bits of equipment doing a few very light weight reps before moving on to something else. I often see people on a bike or walking on a treadmill while scrolling on their phone barely out of breath. Yes you have 'been to the gym' but you have not done much while there. This where a personal trainer can come in, I appreciate they are not cheap but they tend to give you a bit of a kick up the arse and get you sweating.

*There needs to be change in portion sizes often when eating out at chain restaurants the portions are huge and unhealthy even for children, and very sugary desserts on offer. Little healthy tasty options available. Perhaps government mandate how many calories per course?

*Some supermarkets the portions offered are unhealthy. I remember going in one and all you could get was a 'grab bag' of crisps not a normal or healthy portion size. It was also noticeable across some of there other food too.

*And end to coffee chains always up selling you to a bigger size or up selling at fast food chains. They never ask you when you want a 'small' or 'or you want veg' it's 'is that a large' and 'do you want fries'

*A ban on how many fast food chains can be within a certain area, much like there a regulations on gambling shops.

*There needs to be a change in supermarkets at every turn sugary foods are on offer at the check out at the ends of isles. This must be because food companies pay for these locations it needs to stop.

*Much better mental health support overeating often is linked to mental health

*More of a culture in sport with our young people that it's not just 'the best' players that get to be on a sports team at school. It seems unless your amazing at a sport you miss out from about 7+ onwards unless you are 'one of the best'. It similar situation with community sports clubs.

*Investment in community swimming facilities and gyms. Where I live it's really hard to get a slot to take your children swimming as it's very oversubscribed.

*More investment in accessible options like couch to £5k, health walks and park run initiatives which are all fantastic.

While I am probably a bit biased rowing machines are superb bits of kit that really do give you a low impact total body work out. I have a love hate relationship with them as they have been a key part of my training for years. I use a chest strap heart rate monitor so can accurate track calories on garmin/strava.

I get gousto boxes and their portion sizes are more realistic of what a portion size should be, the community page often has people complaining there isn’t enough though 🤷‍♀️

Many other good suggestions here but a big one that often isn't mentioned is adequately supporting women who wish to do so, to breastfeed. Breastfeeding has been shown to have substantial protective effect against childhood (and therefore adulthood) obesity (this is not a mere confounder effect).

In general people are overweight because the food they eat is too energy dense. That's because its cheaper to fill yourself with carbs and sugar than it is with fibrous and high protein things like vegetables and meat. Not only is it cheaper but it's faster and easier. People don't have the time to cook nutritionally balanced meals because they're running around working all of the hours under the sun to stay alive. They have no time and no emergy left, and in geberal.obly reveive a small amount of momey for their work. Or they are out of work running around trying to find enough food to keep full on very little money, which in general as I've said requires high carb, high sugar cheap food if.you don't have much money (which the majority of the people in the UK do not)..

Reducing poverty would be a start - in the main it's poorer people who are obese.

But I honestly think we can't put the genie back in the lamp - people are now so used to 24/7 food, coffee & cake shops at every turn, cheap UPF, that I think it's too late.

Who in the past would have thought that one day you could have a MacDonalds delivered to you!

Yes, the French have a much better work/life balance, Working hours limited by law to 35 hours, one hour for lunch - this makes productivity in France actually higher than in the UK with longer working hours.

Also street infrastructure in France is better for pedestrians (wider pavements, more crossings). Shared pedestrian/cycle areas so cyclists don't have to mix with the lorries and buses.

They do cook more from scratch, including at lunchtime, but I remember knowing a lot of French women who kept slim consuming little other than diet coke and cigarettes. Hopefully that has changed.

Pay farmers to actually grow food on their land instead of being paid for it being ‘set aside’ ie growing weeds and wild flowers

The French also used to overlay little dietary advice snippets on food adverts etc., not sure if they still do, though (I just searched for it: "Pour votre santé, évitez de manger trop gras, trop sucré, trop salé", "Pour votre santé, évitez de grignoter entre les repas", "Pour votre santé, pratiquez une activité physique régulière'', "Pour votre santé, mangez au moins cinq fruits et légumes par jour".)

i don’t agree. Two chicken breasts for a family of four. They don’t have enough veg. I am always supplementing them with extra veg and protein.