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

I wish there were classes/gyms for the uncoordinated. I am so clumsy and awkward that I am too embarrassed to go where everyone is moving limbs without having to think about it. Even the yoga class was too fast for me to get myself in the right position!

I'm thinking that perhaps some of our 'more cuddly' grans might be avoiding this thread. I started it because this is a serious subject which costs our NHS a lot of money and not to have a dig at those who fall into this category.

Your contribution would be welcome. Could you perhaps tell us what would incentivise you to lose weight/ get fit and what support you'd welcome perhaps?

worker be would be

One thing that might, possibly, make people realise how costly their conditions are, worker be to send them a annual statement listing the costs of their individual treatments. This was mooted at one time but nothing more came of it

They should stop hectoring people all the time and telling them all the things they are doing wrong. It doesn't work with children so why should adults be any different?

Start singing the pleasures of being outside, even in a city there is so much variety in the architecture to be seen in city streets and nature too in parks and gardens.

Banish all TV cookery shows with chefs (including Jamie Oliver) making complicated dishes with 20 ingredients ten of them esoteric seasonings. I went back to one of my staple cookery books and the first thing I noticed was that the ingredient list for every dish was a third of the length of those you see in modern cookery books and recipes and the cooking instructions so much simpler.

Instead sing the joys of fresh food simply cooked. Of putting quality ahead of quantity It takes no more time to cook an omelette, grill a chop, or poach a piece of fish than it does to prepare a ready meal, add a quick side salad - delicious.

Stop making a healthy life style appear such a miserable life style full of sacrifice and deprivation instead. Instead make losing weight, taking exercise, eating well, drinking less to be a joyful and pleasurable activity, better than the alternative.

My grandchildren already do dance, gymnastics and trampolining (amongst many other sports) at school. My eldest GD has done cooking and learnt some good basic skills. I think it is unreasonable to expect schools to do it all. I think teaching children to get enough exercise and to shop, cook, prepare and serve food is a fundamental responsibility of parents. What could be done for schools is to provide a decent budget for a proper school meals service. I think it is perfectly possible for the vast majority of people to work full-time and provide a healthy diet. We did it and our children do it. Online food shopping has made it easier.
I agree that much of the problem is related to increased portion size, grazing and greed.
I would impose a sugar tax, ban the advertising of junk food and have a sustained public campaign based on a proper healthy diet which has not been dictated by the food industry and its lackeys. I would set up a service to get fresh food to areas of greater need where people live in poverty, have little access to transport and are poorly served by shops.
I think it is a fundamental responsibility of the state to support the health and wellbeing of the people it serves.

Not to worry Jane

I agree that we have something to learn from the success of the Stop Smoking campaigne. It's now far more socially unacceptable to smoke. We all know the advantages and health risks of obesity but that doesn't seem to get through to some people or, as you say, motivate.

I like the idea of measuring MPs waistlines and some sort of consequence if they fail to lose weight though.

Crossed posts anya I was replying to your earlier one.

Anya people only change their behaviour if they perceive some benefit in doing so.
They stopped smoking when it was made clear to them that they would be far less likely to die of lung cancer.
The messages about healthy life style perhaps need to be more positive - if you stiick to a healthy diet, you will remain a manageable weight and be able to do things you enjoy more easily. If you exercise your heart & circulation will stay healthy, your joints will benefit and as ffin says, there are mental health benefits from exercise too.
We need to get away from the bossy eat five a day, don't eat very much fat, reduce alcohol, reduce sugar type of message which doesn't motivate anyone.

Report on Obesity December 2016

Don't know about the smoking Absent

Perhaps if there weren't so many fat and pudgy MPs, then any advice given by them might seem more credible. Maybe their tax-payer subsidised bars should be closed too. By the way, is it true that the House of Commons is exempt from the no smoking in the work place rule?

Worried about the economic and social costs of obesity, Japan has instituted a national law forbidding waist lines larger than 33.5 inches for men and 34.5 inches for women.

Under a national law that came into effect two months ago, companies and local governments must now measure the waistlines of Japanese people between the ages of 40 and 74 as part of their annual checkups. That represents more than 56 million waistlines, or about 44 percent of the entire population.

Violators are given nutritional guidance and “further education” if they are still overweight after six months of dieting. The law has prompted companies to adopt nudges.

With the new law, Matsushita has to measure the waistlines of not only its employees but also of their families and retirees. As part of its intensifying efforts, the company has started giving its employees “metabo check” towels that double as tape measures.

“Nobody will want to be singled out as metabo,” Kimiko Shigeno, a company nurse, said of the campaign. “It’ll have the same effect as non-smoking campaigns where smokers are now looked at disapprovingly.”

Found this from 2008. Wonder if it works? Visions of stroppy overweight nurses reactions if this was made law in this country

Increase the number of adult fitness machines in public areas. I don't want to go to a gym but I might use a machine if it was in the grounds of our village hall.

Exercise, or as anya said, moving, is important. It's not just about losing calories - and one would have to walk a great deal and with gusto to really burn them off . Rather, it's about the benefit to mental health that it often produces. Good mental health enables a positive outlook upon life which in turn will hopefully promote changing personal attitudes to eating.

This alone won't necessarily cure all ills regarding the obesity problem, but it is a good start. Confidence, self esteem and a positive attitude will work wonders. It's attaining that, that matters.

That, along with increased recognition that exercise is important as a part of school life might go some way to making a difference.

I'm not sure the government can do much more. It advises and guides us about healthy eating and exercise, it includes sport and dance in the school curriculum as well as food technology and nutrition, it encourages food manufacturers to label food correctly and display the fat and sugar content etc. etc.
I believe the problem is related to portion size and greed. A while ago I read the book "Why French women don't get fat" and it showed how different our eating habits are. Likewise in Japan and Scandinavia. The British, Americans and even Australians are obsessed with quantity, and unless a government representative came to your house at every meal and threw away half the food on your plate, it's unlikely things will ever change.

All very interesting but that's not the question in the thread heading.

I agree about genetics, thabags.
I believe there's a genetic element in the tendency to become fat, maybe to do with metabolism. Or it could be partly environmental eg being used to big or small helpings of food at family meals. Doesn't apply to every family obviously, there's more to it than that.
My parents were both very skinny, and so am I and my sister. Our children and grandchildren too, but not to the same extent - genetic influence from the other parents.

Things like the Daily Mile are beneficial to children and the programme has been rolled out in Scotland. www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-tayside-central-33006631 Some areas of Scotland have also banned cars from driving any closer than about a quarter of a mile from schools at the start and end of the school day, to encourage walking. Exceptions are made for disabled pupils and other extenuating circumstances.

My grandson in London goes to a beautiful nursery, with bags of room for the children to run around but other children I know of go to nursery there in premises where they have to have artificial lights on all day and have no outdoor space at all. Imagine being cooped up for 8-10 hours a day with no daylight or outdoor exercise!

For adults, I think portion sizes are far too big now. Sometimes, if we eat out, I am astounded by the amount of food brought to the table.

My personality downfall is coffee and cake when we're out. I'd weight less if I gave up those habits. I'm still within the healthy BMI range but I'll need to watch myself.

Does anyone else feel, as I do, that fitness is different from good health? I think they are related but not the same thing. One can be healthy without being fit.

I also think we may not have as much control over our health as we'd like. A good deal of health depends on genes, does it not? I'm thinking of how, when one's risk of things like heart disease is being assessed, family history of heart disease is significant. I think family health history applies to some other conditions as well.

There used to be "celebrity" get fit DVDs every new year, but there dont seem to be as many of them nowadays either.

Yes, sensible ideas but how do we get Mr, Mrs and Ms Average to adopt them?

I think it's hopeless and we have to accept that the NHS will collapse under the strain.

Part of this problem, which as has been said, is complex, is the culture of snacking all day. I see babies and toddlers on the bus being given sweets or crisps to eat, it seems that children and adults have got into the habbit of earing snacks in front of the tv all day and evening. Also, the snacks themselves are often unhealthy - many contain corn syrup which gives a 'morish' taste so that it is hard to stop eating them. If only people ate fruit and nuts if they have to snack, they would soon realize the difference - you start to feel full much sooner and stop eating. What it comes down to is move more, eat less and eat natural, but there is no motivation - and now they claim to have found a gene that makes people addicted to food, so they have every excuse to blame it on this and stop trying. I think all snack type and luxury foods should be taxed so that they are at least double in price (eg a packet of 6 or 8 tunnocks caramel wafers and boxes of three walnut whips are each only £1 in poundland!).

Excellent idea jane, get young people interested in exercise and dance by updating the curriculum.
There is so much information given out and often conflicting advice that it's difficult for people to make informed choices. Moderation in all things and I think educating young people in how to budget, buy and prepare healthy meals.

I have some experience of the problems involved in getting teenage girls to 'exercise'. There are plenty who love their sport but others not so much.

I had access to funding through the New Opportunitues Fund (NOF) and dance was certainly one of the projects we funded in secondary school Out of Hours. It was very popular but when the funding ran out it had to stop as it was reliant on buying in professionals.

Lucky I've had my fair share of hospital visits this year and wow you are so right about fat nurses. Now there's a place to start surely?

Schools don't have so much time left for active lessons, so I doubt whether they would be able to return to cookery lessons ( also cost of setting up cookery rooms.) Which would be my suggestion.
Most young people now haven't the time to spend in the kitchen, cooking healthy meals for their family. And in the long run meals prepared at home probably work out more expensive than cheap, filling rubbish.
Another thing - control the number of these foodie programmes on TV, especially the cake ones.