The danger in Ed’s dad bod
BEING ‘buff’ – a word my teenage daughter might use – isn’t most men’s aspiration. And if the whole ‘dad bod’ trend is anything to go by, many women seem to quite like men who sport more of a keg than a six-pack. The increasingly portly film star and serial model-dater Leonardo DiCaprio is a poster boy for the figure while, this side of the Atlantic, former MP Ed Balls, left, seems to be the unlikely heart-throb in Strictly this year. I see the appeal. Ed (who actually seems to have slimmed a bit) and Leo are having fun and letting it all hang out. As a father myself, I’d like to fly the flag for not bursting my top trouser button after a big meal. But then, it’s my job to be fit, you probably think. However recent research shows that being even two stone overweight doubles the risk of cancer in men. Don’t worry about gaining a little as you age – most people do that. But recognise the changes and act sensibly on them before you go into the danger zone. n The chair of the College of GPs, helen Stokes, has said that the goal of ‘five a day’ of fresh fruit or veg is unachievable due to convenience and cost. This is just not true. Buying vegetables is actually incredibly inexpensive, much cheaper than pretty much all junk food. It’s completely defeatist to say it can’t be done; it simply allows excuses to be made. Supermarkets have done a great job in making these things cheap, so don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. n IT HAS been established that the average teenager consumes a bathtub’s worth of fizzy drinks per year – a whopping 234 cans. When you break it down, less than one can per day may sound all right, but that belittles the negative effects that these drinks have on young bodies. Consuming high amounts of sugar has been linked to diabetes, obesity and rotting teeth. The answers are simple. Tax sugary drinks. Water down the sugar content allowed in fizzy drinks. Remove vending machines selling these in schools. And keep reinforcing the message wherever possible, because some parents clearly still aren’t getting this.