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UK government obesity strategy
Replies
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The trouble is, Boris's approval rating has tanked during Covid. Half the country hated him anyway because of Brexit and the half who voted for him have been getting disillusioned by his handling of Covid. Whilst I think losing weight to help improve your outcomes is A Good Thing, someone like Boris saying this makes people less likely to try, rather than more likely. His reputation has changed from a harmless buffoon to 1) a dangerous puppet of Dominic "I thought I couldn't see, so I drove to Barnard Castle to check, also despite having family a few streets away, I drove hundreds of miles to get childcare during lockdown" Cummings, 2) a man who skips COBRA meetings to spend time with his latest young squeeze and 3) a man who killed a lot of our elderly through sheer incompetence.
Personally, I am all for calorie counts on menus. You have to have at least 250 employees, so it's still only going to affect chains, but there were a few frustrating hold outs who are now going to have to play ball. I'm not convinced this will help the wider population, but on a selfish level, this will benefit me as I used to eat out a lot, and this could potentially help me adapt my old lifestyle to a manageable new lifestyle.
Telling people that they are too fat and in the same breath offering 50% off a £20 spend per head in McDonald's if you eat in (starting Monday, Monday to Wednesday for all of August) is idiotic. Mixed messaging. You would have to try really hard to spend £20 per person - truly, you would be looking at around £3 to £4 for an order than corresponded to a reasonable calorie allowance.
Telling me to lose weight and eat out more in the same breath is the sort of thing my mother would do. I would expect more from the leader of a civilised country.
It also feels pretty damn selfish on his part that he is only talking about weight loss after he got ill and had a hard time because he was overweight. Perhaps he wouldn't have caught it if he hadn't bloody well insisted on shaking hands with everyone and not social distancing. I feel as ashamed of Boris as many Americans feel about Trump. He's on that level now.
There are various weight loss programmes which you can get on by referral only - if Boris thinks the whole country is fat, he should make them all self-referral to encourage take up. Remove barriers.
I am incredibly angry with our PM, but I started losing weight before he told everyone to, and I am losing weight for me, not because he wants me to. Just as Dom 'used his own judgement' to break lockdown rules and get away with it, I'm using my judgement to lose weight and improve my life. It just so happens that my judgement is better.11 -
About time the elephant in the room was addressed. I'm all for giving people as many tools as possible to manage their weight and their health. The NHS is way too skewed towards cure rather than prevention and if government policy is changing then I, for one, am pleased. As for Eat Out to Help Out - many of our friends are restaurateurs and this initiative, plus the VAT cut is helping their businesses survive. Not everyone who likes a nice meal out from time to time needs to lose weight. I think it is most peculiar that a previous poster has suggested people are going to rush out and try to spend £20 per head in McDonalds so they can get a tenner off. I don't think people have got the spare cash to do such a bizarre thing. They'll eat what they normally do and get a bit off the bill. OK, a tiny minority might eat more because it's cheap but I'd venture to suggest that they are not the type who would consult calorie charts as a general rule.2
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Has any country had a successful programme at reducing obesity?2
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Most uk GP’s haven’t a clue on nutrition
I went in with a raised ALT liver reading
The Dr informed me to cut my saturated fat
While stuffing his face with a bag of walkers crisps. When I pointed out my total fats are .75grams per kilo of body weight he seemed totally lost.
Only then did he check my bp which he said was perfect. Don’t think he appreciated me pointing out the amount of sat fat in his crisps
I had my GP give me a liver test (ALT and AST) without even mentioning he was putting it in the blood work - even though he wouldn't do a lipid panel because I've had one within 5 years and it was fine. He asked if I had a drinking problem, and started having concerns about my liver. I sent him links to clinical studies on how people that lift have elevated ALT and AST because it is also used by growing muscles.
I more or less told, I drink like once a year or less, and I don't exactly have the body fat for non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, I'll take my chances they're just raised because of exercise.2 -
I’m just glad that the government are drawing attention to the issue. I don’t think anything that is realistically doable at the moment is going to ‘solve’ our obesity problem, but I think these are good steps in the right direction. I think some people will be surprised to find out how many calories are in alcoholic beverages particularly.
Also regarding the 12 week programme being a ‘quick fix’, there is no way the NHS could afford to provide long term programmes for everyone wanting to lose weight. We all know that it takes time and commitment but honestly, 12 weeks is pretty good for the NHS and it is definitely better than nothing so I welcome it. I’m sure that within that programme they would discuss it being a long term lifestyle change and health professionals are unlikely to promote diet culture.5 -
Most uk GP’s haven’t a clue on nutrition
I went in with a raised ALT liver reading
The Dr informed me to cut my saturated fat
While stuffing his face with a bag of walkers crisps. When I pointed out my total fats are .75grams per kilo of body weight he seemed totally lost.
Only then did he check my bp which he said was perfect. Don’t think he appreciated me pointing out the amount of sat fat in his crisps
Love it - 'I saw one gp eating crisps and now "most UK Gp's haven't a clue on nutrition"...'..lol1 -
LockdownLoser23 wrote: »Most uk GP’s haven’t a clue on nutrition
I went in with a raised ALT liver reading
The Dr informed me to cut my saturated fat
While stuffing his face with a bag of walkers crisps. When I pointed out my total fats are .75grams per kilo of body weight he seemed totally lost.
Only then did he check my bp which he said was perfect. Don’t think he appreciated me pointing out the amount of sat fat in his crisps
Love it - 'I saw one gp eating crisps and now "most UK Gp's haven't a clue on nutrition"...'..lol
An obese Dr stuffing his face attempting to tell me between mouthfuls I had it eat lower saturated fat diet, maybe slightly ironic 🤔3 -
LockdownLoser23 wrote: »Most uk GP’s haven’t a clue on nutrition
I went in with a raised ALT liver reading
The Dr informed me to cut my saturated fat
While stuffing his face with a bag of walkers crisps. When I pointed out my total fats are .75grams per kilo of body weight he seemed totally lost.
Only then did he check my bp which he said was perfect. Don’t think he appreciated me pointing out the amount of sat fat in his crisps
Love it - 'I saw one gp eating crisps and now "most UK Gp's haven't a clue on nutrition"...'..lol
An obese Dr stuffing his face attempting to tell me between mouthfuls I had it eat lower saturated fat diet, maybe slightly ironic 🤔
Maybe just write 'My GP doesn't have a clue' and not 'most GP's' - bit of a false claim and just because he is eating crisps doesn't mean he doesn't know about nutrition. You shouldn't discourage people from seeing their GP4 -
LockdownLoser23 wrote: »LockdownLoser23 wrote: »Most uk GP’s haven’t a clue on nutrition
I went in with a raised ALT liver reading
The Dr informed me to cut my saturated fat
While stuffing his face with a bag of walkers crisps. When I pointed out my total fats are .75grams per kilo of body weight he seemed totally lost.
Only then did he check my bp which he said was perfect. Don’t think he appreciated me pointing out the amount of sat fat in his crisps
Love it - 'I saw one gp eating crisps and now "most UK Gp's haven't a clue on nutrition"...'..lol
An obese Dr stuffing his face attempting to tell me between mouthfuls I had it eat lower saturated fat diet, maybe slightly ironic 🤔
Maybe just write 'My GP doesn't have a clue' and not 'most GP's' - bit of a false claim and just because he is eating crisps doesn't mean he doesn't know about nutrition. You shouldn't discourage people from seeing their GP
Well of all the Multiple Gp’s and hospital consultants I’ve seen Since leaving the forces not a single one had a clue about nutrition
Is that better2 -
LockdownLoser23 wrote: »LockdownLoser23 wrote: »Most uk GP’s haven’t a clue on nutrition
I went in with a raised ALT liver reading
The Dr informed me to cut my saturated fat
While stuffing his face with a bag of walkers crisps. When I pointed out my total fats are .75grams per kilo of body weight he seemed totally lost.
Only then did he check my bp which he said was perfect. Don’t think he appreciated me pointing out the amount of sat fat in his crisps
Love it - 'I saw one gp eating crisps and now "most UK Gp's haven't a clue on nutrition"...'..lol
An obese Dr stuffing his face attempting to tell me between mouthfuls I had it eat lower saturated fat diet, maybe slightly ironic 🤔
Maybe just write 'My GP doesn't have a clue' and not 'most GP's' - bit of a false claim and just because he is eating crisps doesn't mean he doesn't know about nutrition. You shouldn't discourage people from seeing their GP
Well of all the Multiple Gp’s and hospital consultants I’ve seen Since leaving the forces not a single one had a clue about nutrition
Is that better
No offense, just curious. Do you have education/training in nutrition to objectively make that judgement or is is your impression?2 -
Theoldguy1 wrote: »LockdownLoser23 wrote: »LockdownLoser23 wrote: »Most uk GP’s haven’t a clue on nutrition
I went in with a raised ALT liver reading
The Dr informed me to cut my saturated fat
While stuffing his face with a bag of walkers crisps. When I pointed out my total fats are .75grams per kilo of body weight he seemed totally lost.
Only then did he check my bp which he said was perfect. Don’t think he appreciated me pointing out the amount of sat fat in his crisps
Love it - 'I saw one gp eating crisps and now "most UK Gp's haven't a clue on nutrition"...'..lol
An obese Dr stuffing his face attempting to tell me between mouthfuls I had it eat lower saturated fat diet, maybe slightly ironic 🤔
Maybe just write 'My GP doesn't have a clue' and not 'most GP's' - bit of a false claim and just because he is eating crisps doesn't mean he doesn't know about nutrition. You shouldn't discourage people from seeing their GP
Well of all the Multiple Gp’s and hospital consultants I’ve seen Since leaving the forces not a single one had a clue about nutrition
Is that better
No offense, just curious. Do you have education/training in nutrition to objectively make that judgement or is is your impression?
None taken. I got my sports science degree a long time ago, same with my PTI courses. Never really used them, too busy focusing on my military career.
Currently trying to justify the time and cost Of going back to do my masters in nutrition, mainly to keep my brain active as financially it makes no sense2 -
LockdownLoser23 wrote: »LockdownLoser23 wrote: »Most uk GP’s haven’t a clue on nutrition
I went in with a raised ALT liver reading
The Dr informed me to cut my saturated fat
While stuffing his face with a bag of walkers crisps. When I pointed out my total fats are .75grams per kilo of body weight he seemed totally lost.
Only then did he check my bp which he said was perfect. Don’t think he appreciated me pointing out the amount of sat fat in his crisps
Love it - 'I saw one gp eating crisps and now "most UK Gp's haven't a clue on nutrition"...'..lol
An obese Dr stuffing his face attempting to tell me between mouthfuls I had it eat lower saturated fat diet, maybe slightly ironic 🤔
Maybe just write 'My GP doesn't have a clue' and not 'most GP's' - bit of a false claim and just because he is eating crisps doesn't mean he doesn't know about nutrition. You shouldn't discourage people from seeing their GP
It isn't a false claim, just one unsupported by a mere anecdote. For all the massive amounts of schooling doctors have, nutrition is a very small part. I don't know British standards, but in the US, a typical doctor or surgeon not specializing in a related area will get 2 weeks of nutrition training. Those 2 weeks are generally focused on severe malnutrition diseases like rickets, scurvy, and the like. Physicians are told to refer out to a dietician for a lot of the stuff.
You're also misrepresenting his evidence of his GP's knowledge. He didn't only say the GP was eating crisps, he also stated the GP didn't understand him stating his total fat intake as a factor of his body weight. There's also the less obviously stated fact that needs inference - his GP doesn't register obvious health cues because he thought register a high ATL meant someone had a bad diet when it is far more likely to be the result of resistance training in a person with his physique.
Isn't there a bit of irony in a false positive because physicians are used to looking for disease and so assumptive of dietary issues in the general population, they're ignorant of how actively pursuing fitness will throw off a common test?5 -
I am all in favour of people who want to lose weight being helped to do so but some of this strategy seems a bit off to me.
From what I have read a visit to the doctor will result in a "do you realise you are fat?" conversation. Perhaps there are one or two obese folks out there who are blissfully unaware of their state but I think for most of us we are very well aware that we are fat.
So to me, this is simply going to put people off seeking health care at all unless the "you are fat" conversation can lead to actual, genuine and useful help, rather than a lecture.
I have also read that one help option they will be able to offer is "cycling"and free access to a bike. This I find absolutely, completely and utterly, horrifying. There is no way on god's green earth anyone is going to get me on a bike and I have lost 7 stone. At 20 stone, the very suggestion would have sent me running for the hills as then even walking for more than a mile was an issue for me.
But the very thought of my huge fat bottom on a bike saddle......
So that one is truly bizarre and instead, in my opinion, they should be promoting walking and if they want to help us do this they can perhaps give out vouchers for money off decent shoes and waterproofs. And of course do more to keep cyclists off the pavements.
But in any case, as I think most of us who are actually trying and succeeding to lose weight conclude - exercise is a side show - at first I mean. What really matters is what we put into out mouths. Exercise is good for health but for losing weigh, until you can do more, it is going to lose you very little.
I have had doctors give me a "low fat diet sheet" before and it was completely pointless as it took no account of my personal needs, likes and dislikes, so of course it did me no good at all. Now, I have read they are thinking about offering subsidised Weight-Watchers for goodness sake. Sure, this works for some and my aunt swears by it every time she goes back to lose the weight she keeps putting back on.
What is wrong with good old fashioned calorie counting????? And people being taught about how losing weight actually works rather than pushing people in the direct of "points" which promotes the idea of categories of foods you can gorge on and other categories that are "naughty".
If the NHS really wants to help people they would be better offering subscriptions to THIS site. Or why not build their own centring on UK brands being calories counted?
I guess we will see and personally I am grateful that I started my personal weight lose adventure a year ago so I am at least no longer obese so am slightly outside of being caught up in this unless I choose to be.
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LockdownLoser23 wrote: »LockdownLoser23 wrote: »Most uk GP’s haven’t a clue on nutrition
I went in with a raised ALT liver reading
The Dr informed me to cut my saturated fat
While stuffing his face with a bag of walkers crisps. When I pointed out my total fats are .75grams per kilo of body weight he seemed totally lost.
Only then did he check my bp which he said was perfect. Don’t think he appreciated me pointing out the amount of sat fat in his crisps
Love it - 'I saw one gp eating crisps and now "most UK Gp's haven't a clue on nutrition"...'..lol
An obese Dr stuffing his face attempting to tell me between mouthfuls I had it eat lower saturated fat diet, maybe slightly ironic 🤔
Maybe just write 'My GP doesn't have a clue' and not 'most GP's' - bit of a false claim and just because he is eating crisps doesn't mean he doesn't know about nutrition. You shouldn't discourage people from seeing their GP
Indeed - I do not see how a doctor eating crisps equates to him not understanding nutrition. Although I do think it is rather odd, unheard of in fact, for a UK doctor to be munching on food, and junk food at that, during a consultation. That would be all over The Daily Mail, surely?
Not saying it did not happen, but I do not see how in any shape or form that could be seen as a representative experience.
But all that aside, I believe part of the spending allocated to this particular NHS drive was to give GPs more training.4 -
LockdownLoser23 wrote: »LockdownLoser23 wrote: »Most uk GP’s haven’t a clue on nutrition
I went in with a raised ALT liver reading
The Dr informed me to cut my saturated fat
While stuffing his face with a bag of walkers crisps. When I pointed out my total fats are .75grams per kilo of body weight he seemed totally lost.
Only then did he check my bp which he said was perfect. Don’t think he appreciated me pointing out the amount of sat fat in his crisps
Love it - 'I saw one gp eating crisps and now "most UK Gp's haven't a clue on nutrition"...'..lol
An obese Dr stuffing his face attempting to tell me between mouthfuls I had it eat lower saturated fat diet, maybe slightly ironic 🤔
Maybe just write 'My GP doesn't have a clue' and not 'most GP's' - bit of a false claim and just because he is eating crisps doesn't mean he doesn't know about nutrition. You shouldn't discourage people from seeing their GP
Indeed - I do not see how a doctor eating crisps equates to him not understanding nutrition. Although I do think it is rather odd, unheard of in fact, for a UK doctor to be munching on food, and junk food at that, during a consultation. That would be all over The Daily Mail, surely?
Not saying it did not happen, but I do not see how in any shape or form that could be seen as a representative experience.
But all that aside, I believe part of the spending allocated to this particular NHS drive was to give GPs more training.
I did put a complaint in to The practice manager be fair, I detest locum Dr’s With a passion1 -
Theoldguy1 wrote: »LockdownLoser23 wrote: »LockdownLoser23 wrote: »Most uk GP’s haven’t a clue on nutrition
I went in with a raised ALT liver reading
The Dr informed me to cut my saturated fat
While stuffing his face with a bag of walkers crisps. When I pointed out my total fats are .75grams per kilo of body weight he seemed totally lost.
Only then did he check my bp which he said was perfect. Don’t think he appreciated me pointing out the amount of sat fat in his crisps
Love it - 'I saw one gp eating crisps and now "most UK Gp's haven't a clue on nutrition"...'..lol
An obese Dr stuffing his face attempting to tell me between mouthfuls I had it eat lower saturated fat diet, maybe slightly ironic 🤔
Maybe just write 'My GP doesn't have a clue' and not 'most GP's' - bit of a false claim and just because he is eating crisps doesn't mean he doesn't know about nutrition. You shouldn't discourage people from seeing their GP
Well of all the Multiple Gp’s and hospital consultants I’ve seen Since leaving the forces not a single one had a clue about nutrition
Is that better
No offense, just curious. Do you have education/training in nutrition to objectively make that judgement or is is your impression?
None taken. I got my sports science degree a long time ago, same with my PTI courses. Never really used them, too busy focusing on my military career.
Currently trying to justify the time and cost Of going back to do my masters in nutrition, mainly to keep my brain active as financially it makes no sense
Thanks for the note and your service. Definitely have the background to make intelligent observations.
Personally I don't have much of a problem with a doctor not having extensive nutrition training. Should they have the ability to recognized problems caused by poor nutrition and general recommendations, and refer out when needed, sure. However see the specialist for nutrition guidance. Just like I wouldn't expect an orthopedic surgeon to do brain surgery. I would expect them to refer out to a specialist if during an orthopedic exam there appeared to be brain/nervous system issues present.
And IMO, despite what some people will say, the 2 weeks of nutrition training that in included in general med school studies is 2 weeks more than the vast majority of the population has2 -
Theoldguy1 wrote: »Theoldguy1 wrote: »LockdownLoser23 wrote: »LockdownLoser23 wrote: »Most uk GP’s haven’t a clue on nutrition
I went in with a raised ALT liver reading
The Dr informed me to cut my saturated fat
While stuffing his face with a bag of walkers crisps. When I pointed out my total fats are .75grams per kilo of body weight he seemed totally lost.
Only then did he check my bp which he said was perfect. Don’t think he appreciated me pointing out the amount of sat fat in his crisps
Love it - 'I saw one gp eating crisps and now "most UK Gp's haven't a clue on nutrition"...'..lol
An obese Dr stuffing his face attempting to tell me between mouthfuls I had it eat lower saturated fat diet, maybe slightly ironic 🤔
Maybe just write 'My GP doesn't have a clue' and not 'most GP's' - bit of a false claim and just because he is eating crisps doesn't mean he doesn't know about nutrition. You shouldn't discourage people from seeing their GP
Well of all the Multiple Gp’s and hospital consultants I’ve seen Since leaving the forces not a single one had a clue about nutrition
Is that better
No offense, just curious. Do you have education/training in nutrition to objectively make that judgement or is is your impression?
None taken. I got my sports science degree a long time ago, same with my PTI courses. Never really used them, too busy focusing on my military career.
Currently trying to justify the time and cost Of going back to do my masters in nutrition, mainly to keep my brain active as financially it makes no sense
Thanks for the note and your service. Definitely have the background to make intelligent observations.
Personally I don't have much of a problem with a doctor not having extensive nutrition training. Should they have the ability to recognized problems caused by poor nutrition and general recommendations, and refer out when needed, sure. However see the specialist for nutrition guidance. Just like I wouldn't expect an orthopedic surgeon to do brain surgery. I would expect them to refer out to a specialist if during an orthopedic exam there appeared to be brain/nervous system issues present.
And IMO, despite what some people will say, the 2 weeks of nutrition training that in included in general med school studies is 2 weeks more than the vast majority of the population has
I generally agree, I just think with the increase of weight related health issues
And the strain it puts on the health service
That the front line/first port of call GP would benefit from more education in this field6 -
Theoldguy1 wrote: »Theoldguy1 wrote: »LockdownLoser23 wrote: »LockdownLoser23 wrote: »Most uk GP’s haven’t a clue on nutrition
I went in with a raised ALT liver reading
The Dr informed me to cut my saturated fat
While stuffing his face with a bag of walkers crisps. When I pointed out my total fats are .75grams per kilo of body weight he seemed totally lost.
Only then did he check my bp which he said was perfect. Don’t think he appreciated me pointing out the amount of sat fat in his crisps
Love it - 'I saw one gp eating crisps and now "most UK Gp's haven't a clue on nutrition"...'..lol
An obese Dr stuffing his face attempting to tell me between mouthfuls I had it eat lower saturated fat diet, maybe slightly ironic 🤔
Maybe just write 'My GP doesn't have a clue' and not 'most GP's' - bit of a false claim and just because he is eating crisps doesn't mean he doesn't know about nutrition. You shouldn't discourage people from seeing their GP
Well of all the Multiple Gp’s and hospital consultants I’ve seen Since leaving the forces not a single one had a clue about nutrition
Is that better
No offense, just curious. Do you have education/training in nutrition to objectively make that judgement or is is your impression?
None taken. I got my sports science degree a long time ago, same with my PTI courses. Never really used them, too busy focusing on my military career.
Currently trying to justify the time and cost Of going back to do my masters in nutrition, mainly to keep my brain active as financially it makes no sense
Thanks for the note and your service. Definitely have the background to make intelligent observations.
Personally I don't have much of a problem with a doctor not having extensive nutrition training. Should they have the ability to recognized problems caused by poor nutrition and general recommendations, and refer out when needed, sure. However see the specialist for nutrition guidance. Just like I wouldn't expect an orthopedic surgeon to do brain surgery. I would expect them to refer out to a specialist if during an orthopedic exam there appeared to be brain/nervous system issues present.
And IMO, despite what some people will say, the 2 weeks of nutrition training that in included in general med school studies is 2 weeks more than the vast majority of the population has
The real problem is how much doctors are willing to believe their own authority and discernment versus the general populous. A general population person will try low carb, lose some water weight and say low carb worked for them. A doctor can try low carb, lose some water weight, and insist it works from some deep physiology they're ad hoc deluding themselves with.0 -
Seems to me that having national health insurance and an obesity epidemic is a recipe for disaster. I don't think trying to gently educate people about diet and exercise is the answer. The best option is probably to just put massive anti tobacco style sin taxes on calory dense food and sugary drinks. That way the people that will be causing the strain on the healthcare system will at least contribute more fairly to paying for it.3
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stevehenderson776 wrote: »Seems to me that having national health insurance and an obesity epidemic is a recipe for disaster. I don't think trying to gently educate people about diet and exercise is the answer. The best option is probably to just put massive anti tobacco style sin taxes on calory dense food and sugary drinks. That way the people that will be causing the strain on the healthcare system will at least contribute more fairly to paying for it.
That is a difficult game to play because first as you are assuming that fat people are fat because they eat lots of donuts and pizza, and second you are not equally applying this punishment to people who for example participate in extreme sports.
You are also of course assuming that fat people do not already pay their fair share of taxes through employment etc.
So for me, personally, I would rather see people helped towards a better quality of life than punished for not having one already.10
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