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?

@TheDarkHouse everyone is different then I suppose but we’ve never had an issue with a chicken breast each with the associated potatoes and veg or whatever it comes with, pasta dishes are plentiful with food left over etc and I get the family of 4 box

My DH is a big man, he is 6’7 so his intake is a lot bigger than average. I try and hit 100g of protein plus a day so I guess we’re not an average family.

You do know why we want sone set aside land for wild flowers ?

Hint - bees - without which farmers struggle to grow anything

The price of veg might be lower, but the time and addiction all money you need to turn them into a meal, from pans to gas to Tupperware to time and energy costs more. Having the facilities to cook and eat, and the mental capacity seems to be getting harder in an era of high rents and spiralling cost of living.

stress also causes weight gain through cortisol and blood sugar/cholesterol mechanisms in the body. We are a very stressed society, from sensationalist online news papers to that latest tv show about gruesome murders you’ll binge watch before bed.

and agree with pp about school meals. DS never had dessert before he had them every day with his school dinner. Now he wants dessert at home too. It’s hardly setting up heathy habits.

How much marg and vegetable oils do people eat in a day? Sweets, chocolates, crisps etc are eaten often on the hoof and in addition to meals, whereas no one snacks on oils and margarine.

Come on, @Westfacing, I bet you've got some Lurpak stashed in the glovebox for when you're feeling a bit peckish 😀

President butter is where it is at. It comes in long tubes so you can eat it like a Cadburys Flake.

It’s the combination of fat and sugar that our bodies like.

Why the fuckity fuck is this not a personal responsibility issue? Why do you think its up to the gvt to sort? I think they've got some other issues that really need to be prioritised.

Its a collective responsibility and given it puts an enormous strain on the NHS and welfare state it’s in their interests to act on it too.

Spend a day observing the customers in MaccyDs, burger King, Greggs, dominoes etc and then ask again why obesity is on the rise. Now you don't even have to leave the house, you can have calorie laden fat/salt/sugar delivered straight to your door

Better education about food and nutrition In schools, making it a compulsory part of the curriculum all the way through high school.

The problem is they teach kids about good and bad foods then serve it up in the canteen!

Education on how to eat well, how to understand nutrition and how fucking important it is. 90% diet, 10% exercise.

Not rtft, sorry. There's something here about urban planning, designing places that encourage movement by foot and that are safe. The WHO recommends kids get 1hr exercise per day, apparently 85% are not getting that. The amount drops off through primary school years, and it's worse for girls than boys. I wonder if partly because of the prevalence of football. So designing places that girls can play and socialise, not pushed to the margins of an open space. This needs different design, thought to how different groups of society use a space. Able to walk to school. To the shop. To work. Safe cycling routes. Green space. All this needs designing in. So that moving is part of daily life, not a big deal or effort.

Lurpak I wouldn't touch that with a bargepole! Now President, that's more like it - but I'm currently only buying British butter.

Make healthier foods cheaper than the junk food. Four bars of chocolate £1.50 and grapes £2.50 - they need to swap them

Introduce cookery in schools, and not how to make a Victoria sponge and scones, how to make cheap filling meals from scratch. I used to teach teenage parents and did some weaning and cookery with them. They used to say to me "teach me how to chop like a mam" 😂 many honestly didn't know how to chop an onion or peel a carrot. If people had the skills they'd be more likely to cook fresh food rather than eat upf ready meals or just have chips and gravy and bars of chocolate which is what many of them ate most days

make healthy foods cheaper than crap processed junk. honestly cannot believe the price of fruit and vegetables now. its cheaper to buy a 6 multipack of crisps than it is just to buy 1 cauliflower. I have myself cut down on my fresh fruit and veg consumption simply because of the cost. which is a shame.

This thread shows how little people are willing to take responsibility for what they put in their mouth and how much they exercise.

Yes theres an issue with UPFs but for as long as its fine to make excuses 🤷🏼‍♀️

@bigyellowTpot me too - I reserve fresh berries for the kids! Can’t justify eating them myself.

Can you elaborate?

For me, nothing I don’t think. I’m addicted to sugar and binge eating and it’s bad.

but I wish exercise that was fun had been normalised through my school days, rather than PE to be dreaded in PE knickers in the freezing cold. I’m in my 40s and I still haven’t truly got over the exercise dread.

The amount drops off through primary school years, and it's worse for girls than boys. I wonder if partly because of the prevalence of football. So designing places that girls can play and socialise, not pushed to the margins of an open space.

Our walk today took us past the secondary school at lunchtime. There was a lot of activity in the playgrounds - mostly football, overwhelmingly boys.
At school leaving time there's quite a lot of bikes... I think I've only ever once seen a girl among them.
There's so many contributing factors... male dominance of shared spaces, girls uniforms and shoes, body image, not wanting to get sweaty, insufficiently supportive bras in some cases....

Maybe a surcharge of, say, 50p from every milk chocolate bar sale could go directly to subsidise a punnet of grapes or a pack of apples?