Public Health England have issued a report coming to the shocking conclusion that ‘we are eating too much sugar’

Wow, I love the way these reports state what has been obvious for ages but it taken them 5 years to write a report to confirm it.

But in fairness, the report suggests

• A sugar tax between 10% and 20%
• Significantly reducing advertising high sugar food and drink to children
• Targeting supermarkets and take-away special offers
• Sugar reduction in everyday food and drink
• Ensure the sale of healthier foods in hospitals and other public bodies

Here are my thoughts…

EDUCATION

When I was recently a student at a Further Education college (16 +) I was In a class with a load of 16-23-year-old’s. I was shocked at what they ate every day and their attitude to food as well as their extreme obsession with self-image. None of them had any clue about healthy eating and typical diets would be chips, hash browns, microwave burgers and lots of sweets and energy drinks. I am really not exaggerating either.  “‘These sweets only have 200 calories in them..and I am allowed 1500 a day on my ‘diet'” It was news to her when I told her that it was in fact 200 calories per 100grams and you are eating a whole 500-gram bag…

This should be taught in schools for the health and futures of the next generation as well as putting even more strain on the NHS services dealing with conditions caused by eating too much junk.

Although being the selfie and image obsessed, most of them seemed to be miles away from understanding or wanting to understand healthy eating and overweight.

AN INFORMED DECISION

I see children after school hanging around eating MASSIVE packets or biscuits and toddlers in the supermarket walking around with a bumper bags of Haribo.

I am not some squeaky clean living preacher woman who never eats sweet things or lets my kids have them.. I LOVE sweeties and chocolate and booze as much as the next person and at Halloween we all went trick or treating and went bonkers.

But I also know it’s well bad for you and should be a little treat, not an everyday bumper bag.

I have an informed decision whether to indulge in something that I know is not good for me. Kids, I would say don’t. They don’t know what they are eating is bad for them. It is up to us as their parent and their caregivers to make those decisions for them Why is it normal and ok to eat whole packets of biscuits  and let a 2-year-old chomp down on a bag of neon sweets while out on an everyday shopping trip.

I had to ask the baby room at nursery not to give my 1-year-old cake every day as pudding. I don’t even think pudding is necessary every day especially if it is cakes! To me, that sets up bad eating habits from an early age.

A HABIT 

When you walk down the cereal aisle it’s like a funfair of sugary, chocolaty treats directly aimed at children,

Is that the best  thing to give your kids in the morning?  I struggled to find a cereal not packed with sugar. It’s crazy that the cereal aisle looks like the sweet aisle. Eating this everyday for breakfast from an extremely young age is making it an everyday habit, Not just an occasional treat. Worst of all its giving habits to kids who don’t know any better!

YES FROM ME

I think sugar tax is a great idea. It has no benefits apart from a quick fix like booze and fags so should be taxed in the same way. I’m not saying you should never eat it or give it to your children but what I see is excessive gorging on this crap that has been normalized and, therefore, become acceptable. But equally this cannot be replaced with artificial sweeteners. We need to break this sweet addiction epidemic. Artificial sweeteners are just replacing one addiction with another lesser of two evils.

NOT THE ONLY ANSWER

I by no means think that taxing sugar is the only answer to the nation’s obesity problem. We need a campaign for education in schools and stricter rules on advertising and sales.But for me I love a glass or two of vino but  I don’t drink and buy as much wine as I would if I lived in Spain because I can’t afford it! It is just a ‘treat’

That’s what sweets etc need to return to being. Instead of being part of our 5 a day that they seem to be.

I also know many people who have real issues with food and binging related to their self-esteem. I think that needs to be addressed as well. It’s all very well going to weight watchers etc but if the problem is a psychological one maybe a different approach is needed?

Should 16-year-olds be allowed to buy as much toxic gak as they like?

Would love to know your thoughts

This is part of a UK Fitness Bloggers link up and you can read some other people thoughts here

Is sugar tax bittersweet?

Why does ‘slim’ still equal ‘fit’ and does weighing kids at school make them become fitter?

Sugar Rush

http://www.fitnessbloggers.co.uk.