With nearly two thirds of British adults weighing in as overweight or obese, many of us are constantly battling to curb our eating. But The Guardian's Health Editor, Sarah Boseley, thinks we're being a bit hard on ourselves - after all, aren't we pitting our willpower against the persuasive marketing techniques of supermarket giants?
My lovely grandad, tall and thin and slightly bemused, used to visit us once a week on a Saturday and my three sisters and I knew exactly what to expect - it began as four tubes of Smarties and then, when somebody said something about monotony, it became four packets of fruit pastels. Either way, we expected sweets and he was happy to provide them. I don't think my parents gave it a thought.
It's tougher these days. Children are chubbier. The weigh-ins at the beginning and end of primary school are picking up more and more overweight and obese children. It's not puppy fat, sadly, but the real thing, which could lead to health problems such as diabetes in later years. As that realisation grows, parents are becoming more conscious of what their children eat and being a gran or grandad has become a lot trickier. Of course you want to treat them, especially if you are out shopping with them. Sweets, crisps, fizzy drinks always used to do the trick nicely and without costing too much, but now they have become an issue.
The worst of it is that the kids are unlikely to understand if you suddenly turn into the bad guy who says no. Pester power is well-known. Standing at the check-out, waiting your turn with nothing to do, boredom setting in and racks of enticing, brightly-coloured sugary treats within a child's easy reach, it's likely your small grandson or granddaughter is going to start asking/pleading/beseeching or wailing for something you think they probably shouldn't have but are going to find it very hard to refuse.
Our willpower is pitted against the desire of the food industry to persuade us to eat more, and snack more - not less.
So thank you Tesco, which recently said even its small stores would no longer stock sweets and crisps at the checkout, and let's hope others follow suit. But the problem goes beyond the till. In my researches I was shocked to discover that we are all of us targeted by the food industry in subtle ways that most of us probably don't realise. It is insidious stuff. The marketing people have figured out ways to track how our eyes glance past some things on the supermarket shelves and linger on others. Food companies now pay premiums to get their products displayed on the end-shelves and other prime sites. We find ourselves unloading giant bottles of cola and multi-buy packs of crisps and biscuits that slid off those end-shelf displays into the trolley almost without our realisation.
We think we're to blame for not curbing our eating - or our children's or grandchildren's - but I came to the conclusion that we are being a bit hard on ourselves. Our willpower is pitted against the desire of the food industry to persuade us to eat more, and snack more - not less. It’s surely time for those in government to do something to help us help ourselves through taxes on junk food, subsidies for fruit and veg and tighter marketing rules. And then caring grandparents needn’t be cast as ogres after all.
Sarah's book, The Shape We're In, is available now and is published by Guardian Faber.
Would n't stop me.
