The PHE (public health of England) is researching into unhealthy foods such as takeaways, processed meals and other bad foods causing major issues for everyone. Although the government has created a few plans such as Change4life to try and make people realise how bad some foods are it isn't enough to actually stop people.
PHE want to cut the average calorie consumption by 20% to try and help obese people. Whilst this will help calories doesn't play the biggest part in being overweight/ obese it's whats inside the food such as saturated fats, sugars and salts which is the worst bit. I say this because in the fitness industry some major bodybuilders will eat minimum 4 times a day up to 10 - 12 meals a day but they aren't obese because they are eating the correct foods and living a healthy lifestyle.
My next point is exercise plays a huge part in losing weight but for some people they won't exercise due to how much effort it is. A good example for motivation is an app called Sweatcoin which counts how many steps you've done and will turn those steps into a digital currency which you can spend after earning a certain amount of Sweatcoin.
PHE also want to reduce the amount of fizzy drinks we consume due to the amount of sugar which is inside them. PHE chief executive Duncan Selbie said "Britain needs to go on a diet. Children and adults routinely eat too many calories, and it's why so many are overweight or obese."
Although like I mentioned earlier it isn't to much calories that causes obesity it is more the sugars, saturated fats and salts. In the fitness industry you eat more calories to "bulk" up. You eat less to "cut" down and to maintain you eat around 2500 calories. Also people need to not worry about calories first and clean up what they are eating and try include foods such as chicken, fish, rice, any vegetables, oats/ porridge, eggs etc. Even foods with high fats can be good for you. Normal fats in food are better than the saturated fat you'll find in food because saturates will cause you to put on more fat and can increase health problems and can even increase the chances of having a heart attack whereas normal fats are good as they contribute to muscle growth and energy for the body however you do have to keep an eye on it because to much normal fats will then lead to more weight being put on.
This graph here is a bit of a shock to see that there is a lot of overweight children however until the age of around 13+ you eat what your parents give you and it is their fault if they give you bad food consistently. From 13+ you can then start to choose your own foods which you like and start having that independence to say that you want to eat healthy rather than unhealthily.
The next bit is copied to show what foods are being targeted to reduce the calories in:
- savoury biscuits and crackers
- speciality breads, such as ciabatta with olives
- cooking sauces and dressings
- crisps and savoury snacks
- egg products
- potato products
- meat products, such as pies, pastries, sausages and burgers
- pasta, rice and noodles
- ready meals and takeaways
- dips
- pizza
- food-to-go, such as sandwiches
- soups
The foods I've put in green are foods i agree that they are bad for you if eaten to much however the ones in red I think are fine because eggs are high in protein, however the only bad bit about eggs is the yolk which contains the most fat but it isn't that much. Next is potatoes, now potato products can be bad such as chips or crisps however baked potato or sweet potato are a food which is highly recommend in the fitness industry to have with meat and veg as it contains a lot of natural carbs which aren't bad for you. Again pasta, rice and noddles aren't bad if you don't put sauces on them they are the alternative carbohydrate source if you don't have potatoes. The only time things like potatoes and rice/pasta would be bad for you is if you have diabetes because it turns into glucose which turns into sugar which is an issue for diabetics as the body won't produce insulin to break it down so they practically have "shards" of sugar going through their blood. Ready to go sandwiches can be either good or bad for you depending on what sandwich you pick up. Example if you have a chicken and avocado then you have a sandwich with high protein and good fats from the avocado. But if you went for something like sausage and bacon sandwich although it will taste great you have a sandwich with high saturated fats and salt. Finally soups can be amazing for you if they are homemade or even some can soups are completely fine however some can contain high sugar levels which is why I think they put that in their. The rest in green I do agree with because they'll be bad for you one way or another.
The agency is trying to suggest 400 calories for breakfast and 600 for lunch and dinner. This equals 1600 calories which would be good for losing weight but if you decide to do exercise then this can be bad for you in a way. Instead of trying to eat lower calories and then do exercise to burn more calories. Try eating around 2000 or 2500 calories but whilst doing exercise do some calorie burning exercises so for example you burn 500 calories that leaves you with 1500 or 2000 calories left instead of 1100 calories. This is important because if you want your muscles to grow (which is easier to do if you are overweight that it is to do underweight) this means your muscles can consume those calories which then means they can grow.
This video here explains it quite well.
Overall, I do agree that some people do need to start watching what they're eating however reducing calories isn't the answer the bottom line and everyone knows it is eating the correct foods and not drinking all these bad drinks and to start exercising and after a week or two of doing so it isn't as hard to keep up because it is what you are used to. I do also think people are allowed to have what they want such as take outs but they should have one every other week or something like that because once every now and then isn't that bad for you.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-43201586
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