Our healthy eating guidelines are simple in theory – sticking to them is a different story
THE healthy eating guidelines for children aged one to four that were released last week are very wise and perfectly straightforward – in theory. Advice published by the Department of Health told parents to avoid giving their kids treats that are high in fat, sugar or salt as a reward because such items can be linked to childhood obesity.
When the theory comes to practice, it’s a different story. At one stage during lockdown, I started to cajole my four-year-old to sit in the supermarket trolley with the promise of a lollipop. Now it’s the norm. Reading these guidelines reminds me that this is not ideal.
A Safefood survey in August showed nearly half of children going to bed later with more screen time, junk food and less physical activity. I certainly relate to those findings and wonder if other households are struggling to get back to previous routines.
This is not a problem that has sprung up during the pandemic, but the threat of Covid has put a renewed focus on our obesity problem.
Evidence from the US and UK shows that if you have the virus, your number-one risk factor for becoming very ill is age; the second is a body mass index (BMI) of over 30. That is the case for 23pc of our adult population.
The HSE is gathering more data on the link between moderate obesity and Covid patients admitted to intensive care. A University College Dublin study found those who were extremely obese were 3.5 times more likely to require hospitalisation.
Boris Johnson’s recent brush with death from coronavirus led the British prime minister to admit: “I was too fat”, and this realisation has galvanised a massive anti-obesity public health campaign in the UK.
That country’s obesity rate – 28pc of adults – has been linked to its high Covid19 death rate. Ours isn’t far behind.
Johnson has led by example. He weighed 17st 6lb when admitted to hospital and has managed to whittle himself down to 15st 8lb.
He says he did lots of exercise and did not eat so much, which sounds straightforward – and it might well be if you have your own cook and personal trainer.
But as any health professional will tell you, it’s complicated. You do not wake up with a lot of excess weight; it takes years and is the result of thousands of daily decisions.
Dr Emmett Byrne, a GP in Bray and a former professional rugby player, says behavioural changes required for weight loss are not easy.
“It’s easy to become frustrated because, while there are immediate health benefits, the visible effects take longer,” he says.
Eating habits and associations are formed at a young age, he adds, and the body uses a range of hormones to indicate whether it is hungry or full. Sugar hijacks these energy pathways.
Dr Aseem Malhotra, a British cardiologist, has said that the processed food industry has contributed more to bad health than smoking and alcohol, because for many years they have been compensating for lowering saturated fat levels with highly addictive sugar.
Part of the problem is the healthiest food isn’t always the cheapest or the fastest to prepare. When it comes to children, advice to parents is one thing, but my 11-year-old always manages to scrounge together the 34 cent for toxic-looking jellies in the supermarket on the way home from school.
If I had my way, I’d make sweets more expensive. If they cost €4, those ‘strawberry shoestrings’ would become only an occasional indulgence.
The ban on supermarket two-for-one deals that was recently floated by the Department of the Environment could also help. The intention was to reduce waste, but how often have you seen such offers applied to fruit and veg rather than biscuits and sugary drinks?
There should be no shame in being overweight; over the age of 25, there are more adults overweight than not. A recent virtual HSE meeting on how to talk about weight was attended by 1,000 health professionals. Let’s hope that what they learned will help reduce the stigma associated with obesity.
At the back of this week’s debate over the latest National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet) recommendations is concern over our health system. Every effort is being made to reduce the strain on it. Tackling obesity would make an enormous difference.
The coronavirus has turned the spotlight on this fully preventable condition and hopefully will spark an honest conversation. All efforts at obesity prevention should be welcome – even if they do make us feel guilty.
Part of the problem is the healthiest food isn’t always the cheapest or the fastest to prepare