Long-Awaited Obesity Action Plan 'Watered Down' As Govt 'Missed Opportunity'

[Arthurgray50@blu]

http://news.sky.com/story/govt-misse...-plan-10541003

I have a major problem on this matter. IF, the government want to try and cut out Obesity in Kids and adults. They are targeting the wrong people.

If the Government want to target Manufacturers, then they have to target Fast Foods chains.

9/10 when kids come out of school, the first place they will go to is a chip shop or burger bar.

I work near FIVE schools, and l see 99% of the kids going to Burger King, or McDonalds or even going to a Kebab shop.

That stupid prat chef Jamie Oliver, thinks that by putting a Sugar Tax will stop them buying sugary dinks. I bet he still sells all the fizzy drinks in his restuarants

I like to have a sugary drink. And people depend on sugary drinks. Its like Red Bull.

Are Manufacturing Company going to lose thousands of pounds and reducing sugar, just to please the Government. I very much doubt it.

Its like Plastic bags. Some shops now have taken that to the extreme, by placing Crime Tags to baskets. As customers are now taking baskets home

[jamiefrost]

Lost for words, why target the fast food chains, how about parents take some responsibility don't give them any money to spend there.

And as for every child going for fast food don't see any children doing that where I live.

Jamie Oliver, like him or loath him he has done a lot of good with some of his campaigns

The issue with sugary drinks is that they have become the normal drink for a lot of kids and the amount of sugar is a problem. It is NOT just a problem with fizzy drinks but also flavoured milk and fruit drinks.

Not sure how people can depend on fizzy drinks if you depend on them then can i suggest you have an addiction problem, either sugar or more likely caffeine.

Maybe it's the area you live in but stealing baskets doesnt seem to be a big problem, not sure of the original premise of the ban on plastic bags but it seems to have generally worked.

J

[Stephen]

But ALL sugary drink including energy drinks are available in Sugar free so there is a CHOICE there in what you buy.

Same goes for people and their diet habits. Why punish the manufacturers because people are lazy and go for the 'easy' option.

Also I am sure if you surveys those kids it would not actually be 99% of them, especially as 9/10 kids is NOT 99%.

We have had the bag tax in Scotland a lot longer than England and people here are sensible, there is no stealing of baskets and trolleys. People either take bag or recyle bags, which in the case of facts is pretty much what the majority do in England.

You could just about cure it overnight - just take their mobile devices off them, and force them to go out and play instead.

(at least that dumb pokemon game does get them out).

---------- Post added at 23:48 ---------- Previous post was at 23:47 ----------

Originally Posted by Stephen

Same goes for people and their diet habits. Why punish the manufacturers because people are lazy and go for the 'easy' option.

People are not Lazy, they prefer the taste, I hate some of these "diet" drinks.
How is picking one can over another on a shelf taking the "easy" option ?

[Stephen]

I was more refering to the fast food.

I find now a lot more people are opting for sugar free or diet fizzy drinks. Shops are tending to run out of them quicker that the full sugar ones.

As a diabetic I always go for diet drinks so notice it.

Yep coke zero and dr pepper zero are my two drinks used to love coffee but gone right off it and as usual Arthur is exaggerating with his "99% of kids" bit but i do think the onus is on parents. When i was a kid you were out the door first chance you got and didnt go back in till parents were shouting in the street, these days the little darlings want all their gizmos and have a concentration span as long as the power cable in their device. No more going into woods and making dens or even air rifle shooting that used to ge one of the big time wasters as i was growing up they have imagination but just don't seem to want to use it.

I instinctively oppose hitting manufacturers as people have a choice and these days the healthy and the not so healthy are on the same shelves in the same section it's minimal effort to balance your diet. I'm diabetic too but while there are a growing number of us doesn't mean the range of products should be impacted by some people's laziness or ignorance. Bring the old cooking classes back into schools and get the kids into better food that way.

I want the government to control finances ,to look after my security ,to create opportunities for wealth creation ,i do not want the government to legislate against private companies for the benefit of fat kids ,that is the responsibility of parents

---------- Post added at 19:28 ---------- Previous post was at 19:23 ----------

Originally Posted by RizzyKing

Yep coke zero and dr pepper zero are my two drinks used to love coffee but gone right off it and as usual Arthur is exaggerating with his "99% of kids" bit but i do think the onus is on parents. When i was a kid you were out the door first chance you got and didnt go back in till parents were shouting in the street, these days the little darlings want all their gizmos and have a concentration span as long as the power cable in their device. No more going into woods and making dens or even air rifle shooting that used to ge one of the big time wasters as i was growing up they have imagination but just don't seem to want to use it.

I instinctively oppose hitting manufacturers as people have a choice and these days the healthy and the not so healthy are on the same shelves in the same section it's minimal effort to balance your diet. I'm diabetic too but while there are a growing number of us doesn't mean the range of products should be impacted by some people's laziness or ignorance. Bring the old cooking classes back into schools and get the kids into better food that way.

It's easier for some people to absolve themselves of responsibility and pass it on to the government .Those same people are usually the first to shout loudest when they feel their individual freedoms are being attacked by the government as legislation is passed to limit freedom or in this case limit the amount of the sugar a person can have

[Taf]

If you look into artificial sweeteners in depth, there is a lot of data that shows that using them tricks the body into thinking you are taking in sugar. And that has several knock-on effects for health.

The Sugar Tax will not stop anyone drinking sugary drinks, it will just make them pay more.

I have weaned our family (2 are diabetic) onto many low sugar foods. But now manufacturers are adding artificial sweeteners such as Steviol to many staples.

High G.I. foods are preferable to stop sudden sugar spikes, but I actually sometimes demand a sudden sugar spike when exercising or working hard.

High GI would be complex carbs right? Anything where the body processes it slowly rather than quickly and causing a spite such as white bread and pasta?

[Taf]

High G.I. carbs take longer to enter the bloodstream as glucose. E.G. brown rice, brown bread, etc. There are many other carb-rich foods that take longer for the body to process to glucose.

[mrmistoffelees]

Originally Posted by Arthurgray50@blu

I work near FIVE schools, <snip>

Oh, how surprising......

How about we actually debate the issue and not take swipes at each other

[tweetiepooh]

I find one issue in the UK is the lack of tasty and healthier fast foods at reasonable cost. Maybe its just part of the culture too though and our climate. But if you watch travel food programmes you can see that other countries have vendors selling much larger selections of food (some healthy others much less so) at good prices, more choice, good flavours. Thinking of one of my favourites would be a noodle soup, good stock, a few bits of "extra" like meat/fish, some veg and noodles. Often this is filling, pretty healthy, tasty and can be not too expensive. Nice street food in places.

Here food is either tasty, filling and unhealthy where the healthy options are usually less interesting, tasty, filling or are expensive. This would lead back to good ingredients being much more costly. I don't usually want the "healthy" option because it is too often less appetising, too small (doesn't fill me) or too expensive.