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?

I don't personally think fruit and veg are expensive compared to the less healthy foods. Food is cheap in this country on the whole. It's not poverty causing obesity- those people are the minority. It's the culture of eating that is making us fat- we eat out a lot more, we snack a lot more, we sit in front of our TVs eating bowls of crisps from family sized bags, we buy tubs of ice-cream, we eat pizza, breaded chicken, chips and big bowls of pasta. We buy bags of chocolate bars, eat big slices of cake and huge cupcakes covered in buttercream, we have packets of crisps, yoghurts, cereal bars etc. as daily snacks. We feed our children chicken nuggets and oven chips for tea. We can afford too much food!

Carrots 65p a kilogram
Potatoes 90p kg
Cabbage 75p
onions 95p kg
minced beef £2.55 500g

You could make a cottage pie with cabbage with these ingredients to feed at least four people. And this isn't even from a budget supermarket- these are the prices on Ocado!

Those who are able to resist the temptations of modern eating habits are not obese. If you go to the supermarket and buy UPF and justify that then you only have yourself to blame. Shops only sell what the people are buying.

I think lots of factors are involved. When I was little people had more time to cook from scratch. My mum made health, hearty meals from scratch. We didn't have convenience food. Fast food is now so avaliable. I don't even need to leave the house to get it. I can get a pizza for less than a bag of apples. I think fruits and vegetables should be cheaper. Maybe a drive on cooking healthier or batch cooking. I don't know maybe the cost of energy has also had an impact. People wanting to cook quick and get the gas off.

On a personal and overweight not. My barrier is I eat when I'm sad. Getting a GP appointment for anything is near impossible. I did self refer for counselling, which I'm now not pursuing, and the accessed me but also sent a letter to my HV saying that I'd approached then for counselling. Apparently, this is standard in my Brough when you have children under 5 in the household. I won't be discussing anything with them moving forward.

@TheDarkHouse in what sense? I'm a healthy weight because I watch what I eat and exercise. Not because I had nutrition classes or vast amounts of time or money on my hands. Ultimately, your health and weight are your responsibility but as this thread shows, many people have bought into the idea that it's out of our hands and being fat isn't anyone's "fault". Which - disability, medication etc aside - is bollocks.

Farmers are literally millionaires lol

That is illogical. There is not the smallest shred of evidence that eating whole grains or whole wheat bread and pasta is less likely to make a person overweight then the white variety.

I agree with your post, @FluffyFanny , but then what's to be done? 🤔

Encouraging girls to keep up sport is a great idea

Agree with this.

Proper cookery classes in school mindful of a budget and encouraging sensible swaps.

I used a sure start centre and they offered nutritious cookery classes. These were great and members of the group could show their cultural recipes.

Same. And then I need a snack and go for the cheap crap! Need to be better.

There's this idea in politics that's so simple that most politicians can even grasp it: that policies should be based on what people actually do, not whay you think they should do or what you would do in someone elses siruation.
the hard facts are that people's diets are too energy dense, and the main reasons behind that are that energy dense food is cheaper, easier and faster to fill oneself with than low energy food. If policies were written to address these points, for example making high energy food more expensive, and making low energy food cheaper and easier to consume day to day, (remember, many people have much more physical jobs that leave them very tired and hungry by the end of the day) then the obesity rate would drop. But as it stands, it is easier, faster and cheaper to fill yourself with carbs and sugar than it is to get a full stomach of healthier food.

60 years ago, the community nurse (district nurse as it was then) was one of the few people who would have had a car, even in a rural area. Even then she would have likely done many house calls on foot or by bicycle. I'm not saying we should go back to that, just giving an example of how car use, even for very short journeys, has become completely normalised.

My kids’ school is excellent on teaching cookery exactly as it should be taught but it did mean they came home and criticised my knife skills 😂

Lower cost of healthy fresh food.

Higher tax on UPF processed shite to make it less affordable - this tax is then used directly to subsidise farmers.

Increase physical education in schools but also tie it in with education around nutrition.

Something also needs to be done about the fact most families need 2 people to work so don't have time to prepare fresh food, but I don't know what that something is because that issue is quite complex!!!

Add to @FluffyFanny's list lots of different types of beans 49 p per can - quite easy to turn those into a tasty and nutritious meal, but a lot of people may not think of using them. Protein, veg, fibre, and carbs in one . Similar with lentils etc .

My kids’ school is excellent on teaching cookery exactly as it should be taught but it did mean they came home and criticised my knife skills 😂

I hope your response was to delegate the task?

Not from growing carrots they aren’t

The most noticeable difference I have seen over my six decades is that people never seem to stop eating these days. In between every meal people are snacking on nuts, crisps, chocolate, pastries, milky creamy coffees, doughnuts, ice cream, etc. This means that their insulin levels never get a chance to drop. While insulin levels are high anything that is eaten will be put into fat storage on the body. That is why intermittent fasting work so well.

The way Van Tulleken puts it in Ultra Processed People is, it’s a strange coincidence how nations seem to show a societal collapse in willpower at exactly the same time as ultra processed food is introduced.

Ultimately of course it comes down to individual responsibility but you can make it harder or easier for people and in recent decades it has become very much harder to avoid unhealthy food. I am quite good at resisting it (I don’t eat much UPF and have never had trouble keeping my weight down) but I am conscious that it takes a series of active resistances - no thank you, I won’t have a meal deal, no thank you, I won’t have a biscuit just because we’re in a meeting, the only thing the buffet trolley has is chocolate, lucky I’ve brought oatcakes with me…. Eating too much is the line of least resistance in the UK these days and people don’t always have the time or energy to resist.

Planning of new developments can definitely play a part in promoting healthier lifestyles.

I live in a rural area, but as we have a good senior school, developers are building a lot of new homes here. Too many of these new estates are just housing - not even a single shop within walking distance, and little or nothing in the way of bus service either, so the people who buy these houses have to rely on their cars, even if all they need is a pint of milk!

Council planning departments need to look at planning communities, not just dormitories. New developments need to have not just shops, within walking distance, but also access to GPs, dentists, schools, leisure facilities, preferably without the need to jump in the car. Sadly, the evidence from all the building I am seeing in my area seems to show very clearly that the councils can’t or won’t make the developers build in a responsible way, a way that builds the sort of 15 minute communities a previous poster mentioned.

The thing I notice is snack portion sizes. People will sit there on a train and eat a whole pack of biscuits. When I was a kid my mum would have a treat of 2 chocolate digestives after work- I can’t imagine her having more than 2 let alone the whole packet.

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
Our town has a Greggs drive thru. The town next to me has a Greggs outlet.
Our town has featured on investigative programmes for one of the most take aways per head. We are a relatively small town with over 200 takeaways. On top of that,there is an influx of desert bars. They are everywhere! Most of the waffle or freak shakes are over the 1000 calorie mark. I see kids there with a brownie waffle with ice cream and a bottle of coke and cringe. Thieae have become a normal place to go out rather than a treat as they are quite cheap and families love them.

We are not helping the next generation to be healthy.

Exercise! More organised sports at school throughout all ages. Better access to activities out of school so that exercise becomes the norm. You don’t need expensive equipment to keep fit.

And also giving children sugary snacks after school. WHY?

I was surprised by the parents who had snacks ready to give the kids at the school gate as if they couldn’t have walked home without them. It wasn’t even two hours since they had had lunch.

Something also needs to be done about the fact most families need 2 people to work so don't have time to prepare fresh food, but I don't know what that something is because that issue is quite complex!!!
I agree with it being a complex issue and I do also agree that not everyone wants to come home and start a meal from scratch.

However people need to realise that with a little thought they can make life easier for themselves. There are plenty of resources that offer ideas for meals in 15 ( mins) or 30 mins or using a slow cooker with food preped and frozen from weekend/ days off/ doubles up. A lot of people have an air fryer. It doesnt have to be beige food and meals are ready quicker than using a conventional oven.
If you eat well most of the time it allows for the times when you really don't want to do anything and just have a quick fix that isn't the best choice.