Apparently we are in denial.
People need to be more honest about how much they eat and drink if obesity levels are to be cut, ministers say.
I think my first reaction is whether we are or not is none of ministers’ concern. How much we eat and what we eat is nothing to do with government and they should butt out.
But, no, undeterred by the fact that it is none of their business to hector and lecture us, they are to develop a strategy to reduce obesity. I struggle sometimes to see this obesity epidemic we are constantly warned about. I look about me and see the occasional person who could be described as fat. Most people, however, are not. Yes, sure, there are some obvious middle-aged spare tyres on view, but obese? No, I think not. Maybe I’m in denial. So much so that I eat what I please and am still only around 10 stone. At 5 feet 7 inches, I’m not going to get into a lather about the fact that a decade or so ago I was a bit lighter. During my twenties and right up to my forties, I was always around nine stone. Nothing has changed in the matter of diet or exercise to cause the weight gain. But having gained it, it remains static, so I don’t think I’ll lose any sleep over the matter.
There is, however, some good news regarding the strategy:
In doing so, it rejected calls to introduce legislation to change behavour, such as a “fat tax”.
Good. We don’t need one. Obesity is not a public health problem. If it is a problem, it is a private or personal one. So, what do the experts say? You know those puritans of the third sector sucking greedily at the taxpayer’s teat?
But the strategy was labelled “pathetic and stupid” by experts, who warned it would to little to solve the problem.
Well, there’s a surprise, eh? Of course they don’t like it as it isn’t calling for more regulation and more taxation, which is where these odious creeps get their income from.
More than 60% of adults and 23% of four to five-year-olds are overweight or obese in England, making it one of the most overweight nations in Europe.
Only if you fiddle the figures so that normal now becomes overweight. Only if you rely on unreliable junk science such as using BMI as a measure. When someone comes out with such obvious nonsense they really cannot expect to be taken seriously. No, we are not in denial. We are being fed a big fat lie.
To achieve this, individuals need to be honest about what they are eating, Professor Sally Davies, the chief medical officer said.
“It is about what we eat, how we cook it and about portion size.”
She said one of the problems was that people were not even honest with themselves about their diets never mind health professionals.
Figures set out in the strategy suggest that the average adult consumes 10% more calories than they should.
I don’t need to be honest with anyone about what I eat. I eat what I like when I am hungry. I never measure calories and don’t plan to start.
But Professor Philip James, of the International Association for the Study of Obesity, said it was a “stupid” and “pathetic” response to the problem.
“It is not simply a question of personal responsibility. There is an environmental problem in terms of the food system we have.”
He went on to say that the junk food industry “manipulated” individuals into consuming their products and that was why legislation was needed.
That says it all, really – so-called expert from a fake charity gobbling from the trough funded by the ever generous taxpayer objects to an idea that doesn’t involve a fat tax or more regulation. We are incapable of making our own choices and need regulation to do it for us, so infantilised have we become.
All of that said, there is some amusement to be gained watching two opposing groups of interfering busybodies getting into a fight about just how far they should be interfering, when the actual amount is zero and they should both get out of our lives.
A so-called fat tax is a kind of collective punishment. A tax on smoked salmon with all that rich omega 8 fat and we punters being urged to eat oily fish! Dark chocolate is now said to be good for you and that will be taxed too, all that cocoa butter! We use butter at home on bread, spread very thinly really. That will get taxed too. It’s bonkers. A Micky D’s is perfectly fine. It isn’t junk food, it is food! the problem is one of energy balance. Some folks do overeat. They will even if their food is taxed. So let them. It is no business of government sticking their noses into private matters. But the health Nazis do not see it that way. We are just naughty children who must be made to conform!
“To achieve this, individuals need to be honest about what they are eating, Professor Sally Davies, the chief medical officer said.”
Eh? I’m honest about the fact that I’m going to eat a massive pizza tonight. What is Sally going to do about it?
I think people like Sally are actually strangers to the meaning of the word ‘honesty’, or indeed ‘freedom’, ‘democracy’ and ‘interfering twat’.
I worked for Prof Philip James once. Well, not directly, he was Director and always knew best.
I was there three years, during which time it became clear he knew very little and the most complimentary name I heard him called was ‘that arse’.
He hasn’t changed.
” “It is not simply a question of personal responsibility. There is an environmental problem in terms of the food system we have.” ”
The good professor has found the necessary external costs with which to beat the fatties, just like second hand smoke.
He hasn’t spotted the other external cost of second hand wind. And methane is 20 times more potent as a green house gas than carbon dioxide. Oh yes …
Winston Smith
“Obesity is not a public health problem.”
It is when disgustingly overweight slobs clutter up the NHS, and take valuable operation slots away from genuine sufferers.
Granted, if there was no “universal” health care it would be a different matter, but as things stand at the moment the majority of people have no choice but to join long queues for things like hip & knee replacements. I’m waiting for an appointment to see a specialist, and I haven’t made matters worse for my self by eating enough food for 2 people over the last 20 years…
“Yes, sure, there are some obvious middle-aged spare tyres on view, but obese? No, I think not. Maybe I’m in denial.”
I’m of a similar size and weight to you, and have the “spare tyre”, but I suggest you are in denial. I am horrified at the number of really fat people I see (for instance) every time I go to the local supermarket. Young, Old, it doesn’t matter. Look at the typical “Mobility Scooter” user – how many of them are just suffering from a spare tyre? Not many, from what I see every day.
No doubt I will now be shat upon from a great height for these views, I agree that the 60%/23% figure quoted above is clearly bogus, but the scale of the problem is certainly greater than “just a few”…
microdave – those people who are fat and are drawing on the NHS have paid for the privilege. The same with the smokers and the drinkers. That’s what universal cover means. Besides, if people eat themselves into a early grave, they will cease to be a burden – again, like the smokers and the drinkers. It is not a public health problem, It really isn’t. Cholera in the water is a public health problem. Obesity, smoking, drinking and other unhealthy lifestyles are not. They are a private health problem for the individual who has made a choice.
I look about me every day – in the workplace, on the city streets and yes, in the supermarket, and I just do not see this epidemic. From time to time I will see someone who is obviously clinically obese, but they are a rarity.
What these people are doing is using the BMI measure to call people obese who are very much nothing of the sort.