Recent
research published in The Lancet medical journal has once again shown that British
girls are the most overweight in Europe. Once again the media have jumped all
over it just like they did in 2011 when the same publication published the same
results from their on-going research.
The Full research can be found here:
The
recent statistics show not just that British women are the most overweight in
Europe but whatever measures have been put in place over the last three years
have not worked at all. If anything the situation is getting worse. More than a third of all women are now
overweight or obese. It’s not much better for men either with more than a
quarter being overweight or obese.
At
Nourish we’re not really ones for sugar coating (we won’t even stevia coat)
issues, mainly because we’re passionate about making a difference. Therefore we
say it as it is and it’s bleak, very bleak. As a nation we are rapidly
approaching breaking point in terms of lifestyle choice illnesses. Our NHS is
crippled financially, a great institution buckling under budget cuts and overly
abused. Individuals need to take accountability for their own health; the
desire to change needs to be stronger than the desire to remain the same.
The
real problem is now twofold; firstly we’ve lost sight of what’s really
important. That’s not the number on the scales or what size dress you can fit
in, it’s not even whether you can complete an obstacle based fun run in
whatever time. It’s simply health; health is no longer seen as being important
enough.
Secondly
we as individuals have lost the ability to say ‘No’. The days of rations were only
three generations ago, but rations of food could not be further from where we
are right now when it comes to attitudes towards food. We think nothing of
going large, having king size portions and snacking between meals on foods with
enough calories to be classed in their own right as a meal. We’re a society
that no longer has to go without when it comes to food and it’s evident to see in
people of all ages from new born children with an average weight now higher
than ever, through to the elderly now showing what the future holds: increased
death from lifestyle choices.
It’s
not just the individual though; it’s unfair to put all of the responsibility on
the individual and leave them to it. The majority of us live in a very
unhealthy environment these days. Our media is unhealthy because of its
irresponsible approach to public health with the peddling of unhealthy foods
and lifestyles. The places we shop for food are unhealthy because supermarkets
make more profit on the foods in the middle aisles not the outer ones and the
offers on foods which provide real value are never on fresh foods. Our commute
to work is unhealthy due to pollution, overcrowded public transport and
over-reliability on the car. Our workplace is often full of unhealthy people in
an unhealthy environment (how many canteens serve healthy foods or have vending
machines stocked with fruit and smoothies?). Sometimes even the gym we attend
is unhealthy because they sign you up and leave you to just get on with it until
you lose interest through not knowing what to do or - even worse - injure
yourself. Even our homes can be incredibly unhealthy places because we stock up
on easy convenience foods which allow us to spend more time in front of the TV
each evening. Either that or we have a dedicated drawer for takeaway menus….
These
are all consumer environments and as a nation we are one big consumer. Socially
we’ve been conditioned to want, need and detach ourselves from self-denial in
an environment built on consumerism, rather than deny ourselves.We prefer to excuse
ourselves, telling our conscience “it’s only a….”. When this kind of environment
is flooded with high calorie yet nutritionally poor foods which set our taste
buds on fire, saying no doesn’t just get harder, it becomes almost impossible.
We
at Nourish don’t believe the young women of Britain want to be overweight,
obese or even unhealthy, especially when so many want to talk to us about it
and ask for our advice. Sadly they are burdened with the bikini body ideal which
is constantly rammed down their throats by an insensitive media. Oddly as a
demographic group they are actually getting further away from that unrealistic
ideal each year according to the research. It’s like a carrot on a stick
situation with the string getting longer, with only the media benefitting as
they grow richer from it each year. The health industry is still growing and is
now valued at over £2bn in the UK alone so it is no laughing matter that such
an industry is predominantly built on quick fixes and convenience. If we keep
selling the ideal that you can look how you want without putting the effort in to
make the necessary key lifestyle changes then we are just selling lie and we
may as well go back to saying smoking cigarettes is cool and makes you live
longer (they don’t by the way).Living a healthy life is not found in a pill, a shake
or even a ‘diet’; it’s a mindset and a lifelong commitment where quick fixes don’t
exist.
The people
who want to change, and importantly the people who need to change have to be accountable
and realistic. Ignoring the media portrayal of ‘healthy’ is the first step and
resetting what’s important is also of key importance. Not only the numbers on
the scales but the quality of life which includes knowing what you need to do
and having the capability to do it. Being healthy is an individual thing where
for some a size 6 is healthy, while for others size 16 will be healthy. Finding
out what’s healthy for the individual is down to the individual, that’s
something that needs to be respected by the media. Why can’t they headline
magazines with ‘[insert celeb name] went through hell to get back to a size 6,
but here’s how she did it’ rather than simplifying or - even worse - glorifying
unrealistic and unhealthy achievements? The individual needs to identify their
problems, we often hear ‘my problem is [insert excuse]’ so we believe people
know they overeat, don’t eat enough fruit or vegetables, don’t take time to
cook their own meals, don’t plan ahead, miss the gym too much or miss out exercise
altogether, prioritise everything else over health, etc. The list goes on but
trust us we’ve heard every reason and excuse in the book as to why people have
yet to make the changes they themselves have identified as being key to
reaching their own set goals.
All
of these excuses are why we opened Nourish. You don’t know what foods to eat?
We do and we sell plenty of them. You don’t like healthy food? Try ours, if you
don’t like anything on the menu we’ll close down and leave Sheffield the following
day. You don’t have time to make your food for the day? At Nourish your food
will be ready in less than 2 minutes. You don’t have time to cook in the
evening? Pick up a Nourish meal on your way home. You don’t drink enough water?
Pay an extra £1 for a Nourish meal deal which includes a bottle of water and
piece of fruit. You don’t have time to pick something healthy up? Call us at
Nourish, and we will deliver. You don’t know what to do at the gym? Ask us,
we’ll write you a programme for FREE.
We
opened Nourish for the masses, because we feel passionately that these are the
people who need us the most. We never opened to make money, our primary aim is
to make a difference and slowly but surely we think we’re achieving that. However,
our first goal is to persuade the customer to choose us over the many unhealthy
options out there. We know is a tough ask, but we’re not going to give up!
We
at Nourish don’t have all of the answers to solve these problems but we do want
to be part of the solution because we’re passionate about change, education and
listening to what our customers really want. Our view is that there needs to be
a critical analysis of public health projects which have come and gone leaving
minimal results. This data needs to be made public so we can all pull together
as one to make a difference. Examples which immediately spring to mind include Change4life
which never took off and it’s questionable as to whether it ever really made a
difference. The Five-a-day campaign also struggled and the recommendations now
seem outdated. Many more smaller campaigns have come and gone leaving behind a
nation getting bigger with millions spent and little to show for it. It’s not
hard to see why some people just cannot get behind new schemes. We need an
accountable, driven and realistic public health board which has the power to
stop underhand marketing to kids and one which can educate at all levels. Most
importantly we need to encourage those who care to come together and become a major
force for real change. We need to channel this power towards making a stand against
those who are constantly lobbying and chasing for our hard earned cash with blatant
disregard for the health of our nation.
Health
needs to be cool and fashionable again and that means moving away from
celebrities sporting six packs and undernourished bikini bodies. This means
investing heavily in something that won’t initially produce financial profit
and that may cause an outcry among the ill health peddling multinationals, but
in years to come we’ll reap the rewards with an NHS not overly burdened by
lifestyle diseases. Most importantly it will lead to a healthier nation being able
to do more and do it better!
We
need to educate everyone on nutrition and health, regardless of age or
demographics. Everyone has a right to lead a healthy lifestyle and everyone has
a right to know what that means for them.
As
well as all of this the overall responsibility is still with the individual; do
you choose health or do you choose to suffer in years to come?….
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