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Moving away from the healthy eating debate for a moment...
In a way, I actually thought the advert was quite good (not voucher fishing! Probably not eligible)- shocking enough to hopefully cut through some of the complacency- but at the same time I'm a bit concerned at the whole contagion idea.
I understand that if you're often around overweight people, you're far, far more likely to be overweight yourself but the ad implies causation (i.e. having fat friends will make you fat) and I'm not sure the evidence is there to show that it's anything more than correlation (except within a family, where eating the same food would be the clear causal link
)
E.g. Not a single person I work with appears to be overweight. This is not because healthy habits have rubbed off on each other, but because I'm in an industry dominated by a demographic group that's exceptionally health-conscious. So, if I upped my cake and biccies intake, would everyone else start putting on weight? Doubt it. It seems more likely that overweight people know other overweight people because generally we mainly know people with similar circumstances to ourselves - live in same area, similar education... all indicators of obesity levels.
If the evidence is there, then fair enough and I'd be very interested in having a look at it. I've seen some interesting (but iffy) data that suggests quitting smoking is actually highly contagious, so I could believe that learning to make healthy choices could potentially be the same and could potentially have been a much more positive campaign. But getting fat when you make fat friends? Not sure.0 -
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metamorphosis wrote: »Iv highlighted the above as id agree.
1. No campaign will be perfect. Some people will always disagree with something so lets move on.
2. And not to go off topic - ED's are hugely complex by nature, mental disorders often manifested (not always) physically. To simplify it so much by saying a campaign will cause a generation of EDs is very naive. IMHO its going from A-Z and leaving out everything in-between.
3.Eat like a pyramid, look like a bloody pyramid! it has been long picked apart. If you are an endurance athlete, then, ok, eat like a pyramid. Auto immune diseases, CHD, CV disease are all on the rise and somehow people don't seem to be making the connection that what we eat is fundamental for years, decades to come regards our bodies. Is it because it's easier to ignore the cause and just put a band aid over a bullet wound?
The campaign has its flaws without a shadow of a doubt but dermot and safefood can only work with so much really, they're hands are tied. If it wakes some people up, then it's done some good.
The campaign, though well intentioned is totally flawed IMO.
1. One size fits all measurements, be they "perfect weight" for age/sex/height, BMI or now waist size are bad ideas IMO.
2. I know young girls around 10-12 years of age who have body image issues and hang ups about their weight, some of which would have 30/31 inch waists. No doubt that they are heavy for their age and height. But I don't think it is a big stretch to think that some of these could be put on the path of disordered eating through this type of campaign.
3. Eat like a pyramid look like a pyramid I totally agree with and that is why I believe that this campaign is flawed.
I read somewhere the the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different outcome each time.
The food pyramid as it is today has been shown to be pretty much wrong for that vast majority of folks. The USA promote the food pyramid and a large % of the population are over weight/obese. The UK promote the food pyramid and again a large % of the population are over weight/obese. Ireland promote the food pyramid.... Does anyone see a pattern forming here? Yet here we have Safe Food, telling folks that they might be over weight if their waist measures over a certain number of inches, yet if you go to their site looking for advice as to how you might help yourself, what do you get? The food pyramid and PHd qualified nutritionists espousing the same tired old, though disproven mantra that saturated fats are the enemy.
This is the same crap that has helped get folks to the point they are at now if waist measurements are not within the WHO guidelines.
It was from the 70's onwards that our food chain became a casualty to profit. Out of favor went lard, dripping, butter, fat on meats etc and in came all manner of man made unstable oils and fats. Out went natural sweeteners and in came all manner of man made artificial sweeteners. All this rubbish replaced natural ingredients to make processed foods cheaper to manufacture. Granted the consumer gained a little in their pockets, but the real benefactors were the food producers. And in my opinion this has just gotten worse and worse as time has gone by.
Add to that the lifestyle of today. When I was growing up my mum was at home all the time. meals were cooked from scratch and when we were all old enough we helped prepare the meals. This was how I learned to cook. My mum passed away when I was 14 and there were 3 younger than me, but I could cook, so at least we didn't starve and we still ate healthy foods.
Today usually both parents have to work to afford the mortgage and possibly have long commutes to boot. They have been brainwashed into thinking that it takes ages to cook healthy foods. So they come home and order take out. This will be delivered ready to eat to their door in 30-40 minutes. I can easily prepare/cook a healthy well balanced meal inside 30 minutes consisting of protein, helathy fats and some complex (though not derived from starch) carbs.
I was shopping earlier and I was in a Tesco and A Dunnes supermarket. Both of these places are huge big stores. 1000's of square feet, and I would imagine that around 15% of the stores if even are given to real foods, leaving 85% of the stores stocked with processed rubbish.
I regularly see promotions/tastings in store for burgers, pizzas, sweets etc. I have NEVER seen an in store promotion for anything I would consider to be healthy real foods. And I always find it funny they way the people giving out the samples look at you when you decline their offering and say you don't eat that
So if any group wants to get the message about weight management out to the masses, then IMO an arbitrary waist measurement, promotion of the flawed food pyramid and the Sat Fats are evil mantra is not the way to do it and is a total waste of money and resources that IMO could be put to better use.0 -
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@ Metamorphsis
Apologies if my post came across as an attack on you or as if I was trying to put words in your mouth, as that was not my intention. I did not mean to insinuate that you thought that a one size fits all with regards to health was a good thing. I am fully aware that you know what is what in the fitness world and that unlike myself, you have qualifications related to the health and fitness industry.
It's just that your post touched on a number of topics I wanted to make a point on and so I quoted your post rather than going back through the thread and multi quoting
My main point though is that I don't think that this is just a campaign that is not without its flaws. I think that it is disingenuous to the population of this country to float a campaign telling them that they are/might be over weight and then provide the same tired old disproven advice which has seen an explosion in weight issues in numerous countries who promote this same outdated information. This is not helping people, and is therefore to my mind a waste of time.
What is needed is organisations that will work to promote the latest thinking with regards to what is healthy nutrition. Hands are only tied if they are allowed to be tied.
We need to force the governments and health/food authorities to grow a pair and admit that their beloved food pyramid is a croc. Otherwise this type of campaign, although well intentioned is just paying lip service and is a waste of money and resources.
If you are not willing to be part of the solution, then at least try not to be part of the problem.
Imagine being told, your hand is burned because you put it in the fire, but when you ask what you should do to make it better, you are told to put it back in the fire.0 -
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This discussion has been closed.
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