Irish people are getting fatter/obese.
I was dragging my heels over whether or not to go to the gym when this caught my eye.
It appears as a nation we are eating a lot of the wrong foods and a lot of food period. We jumped from 18% of us being obese in 1999 to 23% in 2007 and if we don't do something to counteract our bad eating habits that figure will rise.
None of this really surprises me, a quick look around any board will find countless Lipotrim/Celebrityslim/Slimfast users desperately trying to fix quickly what takes a lifetime to create. Junk food is cheap and tasty and a lot of people haven't the faintest idea what constitutes portion control.
It interesting to me that the Department for health is warbling on about salt and fat intakes as though fat and salt are the defining factors in our national fattening. I'd be more concerned by our intakes of carbs and junk calories. But I suppose we must address one thing at a time.
If the government REALLY wants to address eating habits they might consider a campaign aimed at children, the next generation. The food pyramid is all good and well but it doesn't really address anything about how much to eat or why some foods are better for us than others. If we target our children we may have a chance of halting a life time of bad eating habits, and not by telling them they 'can't have' but by convincing them the 'don't want' certain foods. Tricky I know, but better on the psyche.
Anyway, it's all a big gloomy to me, so I'm going to the gym to lift weights until my veins are disgusting and my eyes get very bulgy.
It appears as a nation we are eating a lot of the wrong foods and a lot of food period. We jumped from 18% of us being obese in 1999 to 23% in 2007 and if we don't do something to counteract our bad eating habits that figure will rise.
None of this really surprises me, a quick look around any board will find countless Lipotrim/Celebrityslim/Slimfast users desperately trying to fix quickly what takes a lifetime to create. Junk food is cheap and tasty and a lot of people haven't the faintest idea what constitutes portion control.
It interesting to me that the Department for health is warbling on about salt and fat intakes as though fat and salt are the defining factors in our national fattening. I'd be more concerned by our intakes of carbs and junk calories. But I suppose we must address one thing at a time.
If the government REALLY wants to address eating habits they might consider a campaign aimed at children, the next generation. The food pyramid is all good and well but it doesn't really address anything about how much to eat or why some foods are better for us than others. If we target our children we may have a chance of halting a life time of bad eating habits, and not by telling them they 'can't have' but by convincing them the 'don't want' certain foods. Tricky I know, but better on the psyche.
Anyway, it's all a big gloomy to me, so I'm going to the gym to lift weights until my veins are disgusting and my eyes get very bulgy.
posted by fatmammycat at 2:17 pm
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