So just HOW should 'the government' tackle obesity etc...??

@Ankers

Just don't buy the treats! After 25 years of eating very little sugar, I don't even like things with a sweet taste and I dislike chocolate (shock, horror). My big weakness is nuts. I could happily munch my way through a big bag of cashews.

@absent

It's not that I'm 'not bothered' to cook, which makes me sound lazy. I just think it's a waste of time. I'd rather be doing something active and productive. I eat loads of salad and raw veg, which I don't have to cook at all and add some protein and fat to it. I just don't get the obsession with freshly cooked food, especially if you're trying to lose weight. I used to know somebody who always made her own bread, had a regular 'baking' day, made loads of pies and pasties and thickened stews with flour. She put as much salt into her cooking as any ready meal. She was grossly overweight, but used to tell everybody she ate healthily, because she cooked everything from scratch. Prepared food has improved vastly since the days of Vesta curries.

PS. I always eat at a table.

Unfortunately, I don't think the government can put the food genie back in the bottle. The anti-smoking campaign was successful and it seems extraordinary that you could smoke in hospitals, trains, restaurants etc, but food is now everywhere, 24/7, and other than closing down cake shops and banning public consumption of food I honestly think that the obesity crisis will just grow unabated.

Cigarettes were made very expensive so I assume that had a beneficial effect - so maybe something drastic like doubling the price of non-essential foods?

I really don't know

Me too merlotgran.
I wouldnt cook anywhere near as much and eat much more salad and raw veggies.
Having said that, I do think there would be more consumption of some treats.

I think I would eat less if I lived on my own. Before we were both retired I wouldn't bother to stop for meals but grab something on the go even if I was at home. DH is a stickler for regular meals so lunch has become a full stop in the middle of the day.

Like others on here I can't bear waste but you have to be careful not to become a human dustbin.

Here is my contribution as an overweight grandma. I have been active all my life - I played netball and hockey at school and continued playing netball on and off until my 40s. I also enjoyed jogging (but not walking). I have struggled with my weight almost all that time. I cook most meals from scratch. My husband eats the same food as me and is slim. I have 2 sons: one struggles with his weight like me, the other is slim like his father. The main problem I think my son and I have which I don't think the other two have is we don't seem to have a switch in our brain that says 'you've eaten enough'. This has been made clearer by watching my 3 grandchildren. They are all very active and very slim BUT one of them can eat so much that she has been physically sick! Thankfully her father is aware of what is happening and can help her to control it from an early age. It is much more difficult when you're older.
So this is my resolution: to consciously reduce the amount that I eat rather than what I eat. Does anyone else have the same problem?

And at the time I lived alone I did cook from scratch - the only ready meals were Vesta curries and they were a luxury!

I lived alone for a short time and rapidly put on weight, going up a dress size in a matter of months.
I think it was because of the idea that had been drummed into me from an early age of 'waste not want not' and always leaving a clean plate in gratitude of actually having enough to eat. So, not having a freezer or even a fridge in my bedsitter, I dutifully finished everything up and put on weight.
I'm aware of course that there are an increasing number of people who don't have enough to eat in this country, but for the vast majority the problem is recognising when to stop eating, rather than making sure the family has enough to meet nutritional needs.
Perhaps that's something else the government could focus on - what is a reasonable amount of food to deliver a certain amount of calories.
Many people for example think that they can eat an unlimited amount of fruit - not so.

daphnedill I did make it clear, I hope, that I was talking about some, but not all families. I have to say that when I lived on my own, I cooked fresh food every evening and sat at a properly laid table. Of course, some solitary people will eat from trays while watching television and some people cannot be bothered to cook. I wasn't talking about them.

What about people who live on their own, as an increasing number of middle-aged and elderly do? There is also an increasing number of shift workers, who can't eat together as a family.

I eat more when I'm in company, so I'm afraid that wouldn't work for me anyway. I find cooking and eating boring, so I'm in favour of anything which involves the shortest possible time and effort - more than half an hour for cooking, eating and clearing up is a waste of time as far as I'm concerned. I calculate how many calories I eat and if my weight starts to creep up, I reduce the number of calories. I can't do that when I'm cooking for others.

I think there is a very simple solution that would work for quite a lot of overweight people. Return to the days of family meals around the table without the distraction of television, mobile phones and, indeed, anything other than family conversation. Before anybody shouts at me, I am aware that many families still do this – my own included. When you are focused on what you are eating you are much more receptive to the signals that your body sends you to say that you are full and don't need any more, however much may be remaining on your plate.

No ~lol~. I'm stuffing ham, salmon, beef and cheese.

Yes, I know, anya. I was diagnosed when I was 35 and it was all a bit of a mystery, especially as I don't have a family history. Initially, it was thought I was T1, but I'm not. I've spent the last 25 years trying to eat healthily to keep my weight down and being active, although I'm a natural sloth. I agree with you about not sitting down for too long - just keep moving, even if it's going up and down stairs or doing ironing when watching TV. I'm beginning to get side effects (neuropathy) but the docs are surprised they're not worse. I had two children after diagnosis and I've been evangelical about instilling healthy lifestyle habits with them. Being faced with a real lifestyle-related health problem so young worked for me!

Yup???

We are all stuffing chocolate, pastry and cake. Aren't we?

Please.

Why do these reports always surface at Christmas when we're all stuffing chocolate, pastry and cake?

Condolences DD on being among the 10% type 2 who are not overweight

I'm T2 diabetic and I wouldn't eat any cereals for breakfast, not even porridge, which the NHS recommends. It's not just the added sugar, but the carbs in the grains themselves. My standard breakfast is an eggy one, sometimes with mushrooms, tomatoes, ham or anything else in the fridge.

I think added sugar is a problem, especially when it's 'hidden', but so is any kind of carby thickener, which doesn't show up on ingredients as sugar. Demonising sugar isn't the answer.

Think maybe government could do something about the amount of sugar which can be added to foods. One of my frequent moans is about the sugar in breakfast cereals. Why sell cereals with chocolate in? D H Is diabetic so apart from shredded wheat little else us suitable. Also very much against the use of aspartame so don't let's go down the road of just substituting this for sugar. I guess as someone up thread said. Government needs to sell us the benefits of a healthier lifestyle. Maybe by showing us how older fitter people can enjoy their lives. I certainly wish I had exercised more when I was younger.

1) I think Jayanna's idea for a Wobbly Gym is great.

2) I guess about half my diet is now 'junk food'. I really don't enjoy time in the kitchen with all the washing up, etc. I buy items such as prepared chicken dishes, etc from a supermarket, after checking sugar, salt and overall calorie content, stick them in the microwave and eat with a huge helping of salad with nuts and seeds. The advantage is that I can actually keep an eye on how many calories I'm eating. At other times I eat an omelette, chop or fish plus salad. It depends what people mean by 'junk food'. I don't accept that fresh is necessarily best - it depends what you put in it. Most of my food is low carb/high fat. I rarely eat bread, pastry, potatoes, pasta, rice or cake.

3) There is a very close correlation between socio-economic status and weight, particularly with women. Maybe we should try to understand why poorer women seem to be fatter. I could make a guess, but I don't know.

PS. I'm not overweight.

While I agree it is very complex M0nica there are those of us who are fortunate enough to find that if we just cut down then we lose weight. Against that I can eat as much low carb food as I want and still lose weight.

Two different 'systems' at work here. In the former my intake is less than the energy requirements of my body taking into consideration my BMR and my activity level. Simples!

In the second (more complicated) régime my appetite is firstly limited naturally by the higher fat and protein content if the food (more satisfying) and because my body is having to work harder to break down the more chemically complex fats and proteins (carbs being easier to digest) therefore a probable increase in my BMR and other complex reactions which I only partially understand. Not so simples!

There against I can just eat too much and put weight on.

Sadly bags I've found a great deal of ignorance among some hospital staff. It's true that the water in tea and coffee do indeed count as water. This is a case of a little learning being a dangerous thing as someone thinks the mild diuretic effect of these beverages outweighs the water content absorbed. It doesn't of course.

Jayanna9040, you are very fortunate, and possibly unique. Most nutritionists accept that weight loss is a lot more complex than calories in and out. Look at the work Michael Moseley has done recently on 'resistant' carbohydrates. The effect that fibre consumption can have on the efficiency of the digestive system and the different ways carbohydrates and fat are metabolised.

Exactly.

My mum was told recently (by hospital staff) that she should be drinking two litres of water a day and that tea and coffee don't count. What hope is there for eating improvements in the general population when such ridiculous and wrong advice is given to people at hospital outpatient clinics?

It all gets mixed up and churned around once it is in your stomach. No separate compartments down there. Tea is just water with stuff dissolved in it.