Healthy living strategy launched, page 1

Healthy living strategy launched

news.bbc.co.uk

A £372m anti-obesity strategy aimed at "transforming the environment" in which people in England live has been launched by the government.

Ministers said support and information, rather than "hectoring and lecturing" were key to helping individuals live more healthily.

The strategy includes a £75m "aggressive" campaign to promote healthy living to parents.

In the UK, nearly a quarter of adults and nearly a fifth of children are obese after sharp increases in the last decade.

(visit the link for the full news article)

We'll have to wait and see if this is another all spin and no substance initiative from the government - it sounds good, but labour nearly always sound good, until it comes to results.

Here's a novel idea - tax the hell out of bad foods, and use the money raised to support organic and healthy foods by bringing the prices down.
Mc.D's, BK, KFC will do for a start, and don't fall for the PR stunts like the Mc.D's "salad" range.

Another point, is that the government weren't so shy about "hectoring and lecturing" when it came to smoking - why should obesity be different?
Because it's trendy to be "concerned" about obesity, and "disgusted" by smokers.

news.bbc.co.uk
(visit the link for the full news article)

reply to post by budski

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A point to consider is that there are 'tiers' of junk-food and the only option whether you eat good or bad junk is one of economics.

Assuming you were to live on a predominantly junk-food diet as a benchmark, If you you or your family is economically affluent, you can afford to shop in supermarkets such as Sainsburys where their instant meals and junk-food is of a fairly decent quality.

However, if you are at the bottom end of the economic spectrum, you may be more likely to shop at somewhere like Netto where the junk-food and instant meals are of a far lower standard and worse for you in terms of quality and additives.

I think the original argument has merit. Here in the U.S. we do tax the hell out of cigarettes. Obesity is a huge (pun intended) problem and one that burdens the healthcare industry and affects the cost of services for all Americans. We now offer incentives in the workplace for healthy living, including reduced benefit costs for those employees that participate in certain health and fitness regimens.

Placing a tax on some foodstuffs such as fast food chains could have a positive effect on diet. Economically, it could be detrimental. I suspect legislators are more concerned about economic health than personal.

I also agree that cheap food doesn't necessarily mean junk food. A home-cooked meal can be healthy and inexpensive. It just takes planning.

Check out my blog: Esoterica in America

Yes, but if you make junk food more expensive, those parents are less likely to offer it to their children. Cheap, affordable and healthy food needs to be readily available. As does nutritional education in schools. The more we do to empower the children to make healthier decisions, the less likely they are to follow their parents' bad habits.

The only alternative I see is to tag obesity as a form of child abuse and force dietary changes on the family. Sounds too draconian to me and discounts for genetics and other biological factors.

Check out my blog: Esoterica in America

reply to post by budski

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I'm sure you remember the news reports showing mothers passing fish, chips and burgers through a school fence after the school stopped serving junk food within the school.

Obese people have more heath issues than acceptably weighted people. (generally speaking) The health service in the UK is fantastic. I'm very lucky and don't have a bad word to say about it. If the demographic projections for the obese have been underestimated then the health service will get squished. It's already getting squeezed.

Anything the government is willing to do to educate people is a good thing, perhaps they could have a coming clean about the aliens session while their feeling so friendly.

MonKey

P.S. Where's a militant vegan when you need one?

reply to post by citizen smith

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It's interesting you should say that, as it seems to be a commonly held misconception.

The recent Jane Moore programme about ready meals (and supermarket pre-packaged foods in general) actually showed that there is less fat in a kebab than in one of the top supermarkets "healthy eating" range.

There was also less fat and additives in the tesco basics range than in their quality range.

reply to post by ChiKeyMonKey

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Because I've been a bit ill, I've only been eating veg and pasta/rice for the last couple of weeks, and I never knew that cutting meat out of your diet could make such a difference, although I only ever eat meat in small amounts.

Having said that, I have no intention of turning veggie, but I may cut down on meat even more.

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