New chapter in the Childhood Obesity Plan

[Diabetes UK]

Just in case you missed it – a few weeks ago the government announced a new chapter in the Childhood Obesity Plan. Diabetes UK has welcomed the plan, whilst saying it must only be the ‘start of a new chapter’ in our efforts to reduce obesity, which as we know is one of the major risk factors associated with Type 2 diabetes.

The announcement was especially welcome as it included one of the main calls in our Food Upfront campaign.

Government agreed with the almost 7000 people who signed the petition that mandatory calorie labelling in cafes, restaurants and takeaways could help make the healthy choice the easy choice. They’ll now be consulting on the best way to do this, and we’ll be making sure the voice of people living with diabetes is heard during that consultation.

The Food Upfront campaign will be continuing too, as we fight for clear traffic light labelling on packaged food and clear and consistent carb content labelling both in supermarkets and in restaurants.

If you’d like to hear more about the next steps in the campaign, you can join the Food Upfront campaign here in just a few seconds. (http://bit.ly/2NmttSP)


- BBC - Child obesity plan targets sweets at checkouts

- DUK - Childhood plan chapter 2 - We welcome 'new' ambitious commitments from the government

 

[mikeyB]

McDonalds puts the calorie content on all its products and packaging. That hasn’t, so far, made any change to folks eating habits that I can see. Not that it’s a go to place for folk with diabetes, even if it’s a go to place to get diabetes.

I think it’s going to take a societal change, like smoking. Inducing a general feeling in our society that obesity in children is unacceptable. Widespread food labelling might help, but not of the traffic light system. “Eating this will make you fat” is direct and undersandable, even for kids.

 

[HOBIE]

Never in my life have I had anything to do with calories. CARBS yes.

 

[mikeyB]

Sorry Hobie, a mistype. They do put the carb content on their food packs.

 

[Sally71]

Actually these days they have fallen for all the hype and only put Sugars on the packaging (probably along with calories and fat) which is obviously useless to us, they do put the full nutritional breakdown on the tray liners though, so you can find your total carbs on there should you need to.

Not that I am recommending McD's, but they do at least make an effort to provide all the nutritional information, which is a lot better than some places!

 

[trophywench]

Well I've had an email 'flyer' from Diabetes UK with a photo of what looks like a one portion Summer Pudding with what looks like a dollop of cream sliding attractively down it - with the caption that it's a delicious low fat dessert.

Well yeah indeedy - low fat does make it more attractive for some people but not everyone especially if they happen to be diabetic.

It seems that particular message about the carbohydrates being the main thing we all need to look for, before we look to see whether we're even interested, has not conveyed itself to Diabetes UK !

 

[mikeyB]

I made a Summer Pudding the other day, and ate some with a big dollop of cream. Got the insulin bolus right, too. Wouldn’t recommend it to T2s, mind.

 

[silentsquirrel]

42.8g carbs!!!