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Obesity, Should the UK government intervene?
Former Member
Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
Obesity is a growing issues in our society but should the Goverment get involved?
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Government should get involved in educating people how to eat healthily and cheaply, and Government should be subsidising fresh fruit and vegetables for poor families. Government should never have got rid of free school milk, and Government should be paying for school dinners to actually be healthy and edible.
If by "intervene" you mean force McDonald's to have narrow doors, like one piece of shit (sorry, doctor- how could I make such a mistake?) suggested, then no. People should be shown how to behave, and people shoul;d be given the means to behave, but people should not be forced to behave.
This is an issue of personal responsibility. People THEMSELVES should realise that they are responsible for gaining and losing weight. Government should nanny people.
If we got rid of the NHS, it may make obese people think twice about refraining to lose weight in addition to reducing stae funding of health.
however i think education and stoppping schools selling playing fields and keeping pe compulsory at school whilst reducing amount of hours of homework set at a younger age to encourage kids to go out
and parents shold be encouraged to encourage thier kids go out and play etc
and the fact both parents work these days mean they cook less real food than their predessesors so there more quick cook and take away fast food(which itself should only be a treat unless to us students
the government could possibly subsidise fruit and veg and unprocessed food as a whole, but as is the case with farming subsidies, its only the supermarkets and fertilisers/weedkilling companies who profit from it
think i summed myself up if i didnt mention anything tell me
It is cheaper for a parent on a low income to feed their children fish fingers, chips, and beans than it is to give them a large portion of fresh fruit and vegatables at every meal. Children can be fussy eaters, of course they can, but quite often it is cost that prevents more healthy food from being served.
Fresh fruit and vegetables would need to come down in price for those on the lowest budgets to afford them.
That is why a "fat tax" would be morally wrong- the people being "punished" for purchasing unhealthy food would be those least likely to be able to afford the extra cost. If they could afford the extra cost a lot of people would.
Home Economics should become compulsory up top GCSE standard, and the syllabus should concentrate on how to prepare good food cheaply and healthily. Fresh fish is as cheap as chicken now, but people don't know how to cook it.
Teaching people how to cook will set them up for life, as most people only buy so many convenience foods because they don't know how to cook. Every so often I get a TV dionner for when I really can't be arsed, but for the sake of ten minutes I'd rather cook my own most times. I think most people are the same, but if your cooking ability is limited to bacon sandwiches you are goign to be reliant on convenience foods, which are filled with fat and salt to make them taste nicer.
I heard about something the government were planning on doing, it was giving "poor people" vouchers or something for so much a week to buy fruit and veg. Who knows if they'll do it.
Not every school does PHSE. I don't.
I think it is a parental responsibility, but as long as we are living in a democratic society, and there is a government and an NHS, the government should spend a lot of money advertising healthy food. I can deny it, and so can you, but if apples were advertised in the same way as a Mars Bar, the advertising would get to us, and we would eat an apple instead. Also, restricting advertising for junk food in the same way they did with alcohol. McDonald's doesn't take you on magical journeys, it isn't a 3pm-bedtime partying with a dodgy looking clown at McDonald's, and the adverts should reflect that.
Perhaps a McDonald's advert saying "Mmmm, I love to have a Happy Meal every few weeks because it shows that I have been eating all my vegetables when Mummy cooks for me at home!"
In the ideal world, of course.
Very good idea, I went to a boys school and didn't even have the choice of Home Economics, yet 'Design & Technology' was compulsory. Up until recently Fruit & Veg were like a foreign species to me and thats the case with a lot of people today.
I went to a mixed middle school and learned basic hom ec, but my upper school was all-boys and there was nothing.
It's no wonder people don't know how to time their cooking tio make sure it's all ready at the same time. Cooking is fun, cooking is easy, but if you aren't shown how to do it then you can't.
My housemate can barely cook a baked potato, its horrendous. We sit there eating salmon and salad and veg, and she prods at a microwaved spud or a TV dinner. It's such a shame people don't know what joy cooking is.
grapes I got the other day were over £2
Also my shopping bill has sky rocketed since I eat healthy foods these day.
i think parents though they do it out of need etc should be encouraged to take more responsibility for their childrens upbringing, people used to eat better when most food was probably far more expensive as % of their wage and our ancestor would probably be envious of our choice and how much we pay
part of problem is that food is something is just seen as a need not somethig thar should be enjoyed and have a variety of flavours
ready meals arent cheaper than normal coooking as well, jus look at price and portion compared to what you can make youself in 40mins or so at most
tinned beans etc are cheap but tinned beans aint too bad, its more a case of lack of exercise these days
grapes have always been a luxury though! part from to french farmers!
ie 50p for a giant lump of lettuce, and 60p for a cucumber, and £1/kilo of potatoes
veg only costs loads wen you buy measly portions for one
and normal food can be quick, ie make more than you need one day and heat it up next, and itll probably taste better than the same ready meal, well my spag bol does
But healthy eating is more than about weight. More and more children are having to have baby teeth filled because of the amount of sugar they consume, not just in the obvious stuff like coke but in breakfast cereals, "fruit" juice, and so on. I was disgusted at how much sugar is artificially added to many fruit juices, especially juices like cranberry; if there's no sugar it's aspartame.
The thing is, people are going to go for the cheapest option if their budget is restricted, its a fact iof life. Make fruit and veg the same price as chocolate, make fresh fish and meat the same price as burgers, chips and fish fingers, and take out the excess salt and sugar in many products, and problems will reduce.
Make kids exercise more and be chained to a desk less and things will make a drastic turn for the better.
But a lettuce will only do enough salad for 2 (3 at a push), same with cucumber. Contrast with 16p for two cans fo beans.
As for the potatoes, try £1.50/kilo. And even if it is £1/kilo, you can get a 2 kilo bag of frying chips for 80p at Tesco. If the budget is restricted the cost counts.
I will credit Tesco for extending their value ranjge to fruit and vegatables, however.
But this is another problem- people expect farmers to get pauid a decent fee for their produce, but that decent fee means that the poorest cannot afford to pay it. Unless there is subsidy it is an awkward balance.
also if you cooking for self, buy reduced clearance items, like my local sainbsurys,500g of mince beef costs like 40p when they trying to clear it before they have to remove it, which is perfectly fine to eat if you cook it that night or day after
But the point is that, although good quality food can cost not much, processed stuff always seems to be cheaper. If a bag of frying chips costs half the price of the equibvalent potatoes, people will buy the chips; it's the same with fruit against crisps and chocolate, drinks, everything.
It's a big problem.
Gissa snog.
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charmer!