UK Health Trends
The BBC have published a report that quite frankly, does not surprise me. A governement study into consumtion trends from 2003-4 has shown that alcohol consumption has increased by 9% and the consumption of fruit and vegetables have decreased by 1.6%. According to the report, it means people are eating less than 4 portions of fruit and vegetables a day. I think that it means people are buying less than 4 portions of fruit and vegetables a day, but whether they are actually eating them is a mystery. Think about all the vegetables that go to waste in your fridge.
I know that there’s a pack of organic mixed salad that’s going mouldy in my fridge as I’m writing this!
According to the BBC’s latest figures 25% of the UK adult population is classed as overweight or obese. And is that surprising when we’re spending 5.8% more on sweets and chocolates and 10% more on soft drinks.
Here’s what the rest of the report says:
“Shadow Health Secretary Andrew Lansley said the public was rebelling against the government’s “nanny state” approach.
“The figures are really disturbing.”
But a Department of Health spokeswoman said the government was committed to reducing obesity and ill health and November’s Public Health White Paper had set out a range of measures, such as restrictions on junk food advertising and better food labelling, to achieve this.
But she added: “We cannot tell people how to live their lives or force them to be healthy.”
That’s a good point. The government can’t force people to be healthy, but if you go to the supermarket and look around, you’ll find that junk food is cheaper than healthy food. Last week, my shopping bill came up to over FIFTY POUNDS - that’s almost one hundred dollars. And that was only for 5 days of food. All I bought were organic fruit and vegetables, 12 bottles of evian, some organic beans, rice and muesli! I didn’t buy meat, dairy, fruit juice, booze, cosmetics or anything fancy. I was shopping for just one person, and look at how much I had to pay!
If I had decided to buy “unhealthy” food, I would have paid half as much.
Poor health is costing the government a fortune every year in sick pay and hospital bills. How about the government subsidises healthy foods and puts a tax on junk food (after all, it’s not a neccessity). Then it could fund the sick days and hospital bills out of the taxes on junk.