Britain's obesity crisis

More than 200,000 doctors have backed a report calling for urgent action to combat obesity - including a tax on fizzy drinks. But the head of Britain's obesity forum suggests going a step further. Asha Tanna reports.

[lw]

Avoid fizzy drinks, processed food and too much salt. Try to eat a balanced diet, drink plenty of water and sleep properly. Moderate daily exercise is important too.

[meikniessing]

Was over in Britain last week... everything tasted brutally sweet, there were a lot of fast food joints everywhere (no restaurants with normal food). We had a pizza one night, even that was sweet like hell (so sweet it oversweeted all other taste). My tip would really be to go to a pub and eat "oldschool" English food, that Full English breakfast is better for you than all that other oversweetened stuff they throw at people nowadays. And it will keep you stuffed all day long, so in the end you even save up calories :-)

[VictoriaHarrison-qeqw]

I was a child in the 1970's & ABSOLUTELY NO-ONE was obese back then!
So what happened?
I think that between the 70's & the early 2000's "something" has been added to our food that has made it more addictive than heroine. The poor people on 600lb life are clealy addicted to food, but why? Food sustains us. It should NOT be addictive!
My weight has yo yoed all my life. I am currently 122 lbs at 5 foot 3 in but I have been as high as 300lbs. I developed my own diet back in 1990 which is a combination of liquid only Fasting, (4 days a week) eating healthy meals I have cooked myself (no processed tv dinners) & sticking to it like it is a religion! It is NOT easy. With Fasting you are battling against the very natural human desire to eat, but time passes & the longer you can keep the fast up the more amazing your weight loss will be. Oh & excercise does not help!
It is not up to the Gov'mnt to do something. It is up to us, individually. Learn to cook healthy meals. Learn to fast sucessfully, & stick to it but dont make it the focus of your life. No body needs to be overweight. & diets are 90% in your mind & 10& eating less. It is simple maths. Calories eaten against the calories your body uses. You eat less calories, your will loose weight.
Oh & surgery wont help either becuase you are not altering your eating habbits. I take Konjak (a natural herb) to curb hunger & it works, while helping me so I have no desire to gorge on rubbish. & please dont fall for the "Fat Acceptance" trendy fad. All this does is moves us closer to an early grave. Look at the fat acceptance videos on tic tok. All the young people videoing themselves are ALONE! No friends, no family no other fat friends. They are all ALONE! Dont fall for it. But what we need to accpet is the fact that "something" has been put into our food between the 70's & the 2000's to make it massivly addictive, so please DO NOT buy or eat hugely processed food, frozen or even chilled, mass produced tv dinners. They are OBESITY DEATH in a cardboard sleeve!
Good luck! x

[Eva-kdwi]

crazy, everyones going to resort to surgery ! instead of learning how to eat! quick fixes back lash eventualy, sad that ppl forgotten how to eat!

[iamron]

Country with the highest rate of obesity in Europe. Also the country with the highest rate of coronavirus deaths in Europe. Coincidence? I think not.

[finallythere]

No one wants to be accused or guilty of being politically incorrect, cruel, or unfairly judgmental. Especially w kids, whose parents are primarily to blame. But, maybe time to rethink social pressure. People now have become so accostomed to seeing overweight and obese people that it now seems NORMAL! Not to mention the movement to accept obesity and trying to normalize it. While that has it's merits, maybe time for some tougher love, here, .as well???

[simoncooper]

Agree that something has to be done but disagree with taxes and price hikes. Why should i have to pay more because someone else can't control their impulses?

[john_cullen]

That Dr Haslam must be off his rocker! Life changing (essentially permanent) surgery for a problem that can be solved with counselling and proper parenting. He must be saying that just to get a conversation started, because that approach is beyond extreme and impractical. Not to mention it wouldn’t solve the route cause of a continuing cycle of obese parents not properly educating their children on nutrition.

[catguy]

In America, cheeseburgers are the biggest cause of obesity. In Britain, fish and chips are the main cause. It's funny how both of our "signature" foods have ruined each of our countries!

[arranfrommistmantle]

My advice is to Start cooking for yourself. And I mean really making the food from the very basic ingredients. Don’t buy chips from the freezer to „cook“ at home. If you want to eat chips, then go buy potatoes and make them yourself. Then you know what’s in there, it’s most likely going to be healthier and you stop taking that food you eat as it is for granted because you learn about the process behind it.

[RC-ghos]

Charge people for healthcare when there is a direct causal link to their lifestyle? People know smoking causes cancer, junk food causes heart disease, type 2 diabetes and obesity etc. This is not revolutionary. Some people get themselves to the point of illness knowing the risks. Thry try and claim they can't afford to eat healthily, but come on - beans or beef? Rice or pizza? Water or fizzy drinks? Which is cheaper? Individually accountability needs to come into play or this problem will never go away.

[Horror_N_Mtal]

They should treat obesety the same way as they do with alcoholics and drug addicts and that's make them pay for their treatment.

[romanianpirate]

You can`t tax yourself out of health risks.

[Kate-ulvg]

Any1 here for he homework from teacher ‘S?

[storyvi]

Have an idea.
1) No unhealthy food deliveries to your home, walk for your chips.
2) Restaurants must have entrances that only thin people can get through. Obstacles or tunnels.
3) Unhealthy snacks such as crisps, chocolate and fizzy drinks can only be sold on weekends.
4) Stop making clothes in giant sizes. It will force people to lose weight, unless they want to wear
a towel everywhere they go.
5) No private transportation allowed in cities. People have to walk or take public transport.

[HeroDai]

this was 9 years ago. Now it’s even worse

[sasasa]

Most of our society is completely weak willed and uninformed, especially the majorly obese. This would be solved if we took a day or so off from eating a week, and it might help with environment too

[sircurtisseretse]

A 20 percent tax on fizzy drinks. Wow that's going to slim down the UK population! How many calories (actually Kilocalories, but everybody says calories.) are there in a gramme of sugar? FOUR. 4 Kilocalories in a gramme of sugar. (less than 16.75 Kilojoules.) The word to use here is Kilohoax.

[krakatoa]

We see TV adverts saying "Just Eat" what a contradiction? Tax payers should not have to pay for weight loss surgery on youngsters.

[Muhammedthemaverick]

How about introducing physical training programs in both primary schools and high schools

Aswell start building gyms in the schools