Low-carb diets support thread

Edwardia

If processed food and sodas gets taxed I'm all for it, but I'd be worried if the govt was aiming to tax higher fat yogurt, butter, lard etc.

I think the Govt should subsidise small farmers and encourage organic rather than give big farmers EU subsidies for set aside ie not growing anything.

I watched it on iPlayer and put it on my blog. Having gone to school in Canada I'm not at all surprised that supermarkets BOGOF snack foods and confectionery. It does seem to me that fresh food makes up only a small percentage of the offers from any supermarket but Tesco seems by far the worst.

In my local Tesco Express, fresh food gets one aisle, the rest of the store is snack food and confectionery. If you think about it though, that's not so different from any supermarket, there are aisles of biscuits, cereals, crisps etc.

SHEILA54

The guy interviewed from the supermarket said that they don't discount meat, poultry in the same way as it would not encourage people to buy more and that is the aim of the exercise

Edwardia - I would be all for reductions in organic food by way of subsidies but can't see it happening. Seems that most people just look for what is cheap & convenient no matter what it is, and we are in the minority. Just go to Iceland one Friday and see the trollies stacked with ready meals, crisps, soda, cakes for the next week. I just wish that more people, especially those with children, would realise that the food that we eat affects our health, mood and size.

murphydog999

They all know very well what they are doing, they just haven't got a conscience. There isn't the big profit in fresh produce, but like the over-riding message from last nights programme - it came up time after time - processed stuff is cheap, so by discounting already heavily marked-up goods, people think it's a bargain.

The changes came about, as the reporter said more than once, from the shareholders who wanted even more profits. Disgusting.

Talking about disgusting, did you see the bright pink burgers before they were put on the grill!!!:eek:

Minihauk

Edwardia,
Would you be kind enough to send me a link for your blog please?

Nothing much to report. Still lcarbing are really enjoying it. No carb flu and day 6 today, so I am pleased. Just had some flax, peanut butter and cream for breakfast, yummy.

murphydog999

Edwardia wrote: »

If processed food and sodas gets taxed I'm all for it, but I'd be worried if the govt was aiming to tax higher fat yogurt, butter, lard etc.

If the effects of obesity are costing the USA 150 billion (not sure if that's £ or $) the food giants are obviously sooooo powerful - TOO powerful - to be able to keep getting away with it.

He did say that soda sales were dropping, but also said cup sizes were still getting bigger.....

I think it's Norway that has bought in a fat tax, not a sugar tax, I also think this would be a really bad move, and will make matters a whole lot worse.

I think I'll find the health ministers email and start a 'open your eyes and be brave enough to change things' lobby, anyone care to join me?

murphydog999

Well the health minister is Andrew Lansley, but the dept of health is so big that everything is dealt with by civil servants. It just so happens that my local MP is his personal private secretary (and has a medical background) so he's the person to contact.

andrew.murrison.mp@parliament.uk is the contact email. I'll be writing a letter under my 'open your eyes....' title, if you feel strongly enough about this subject, then the more voices the better.

Edwardia

murph I emailed my MP about GM fed animals not being labelled in supermarkets and asked him to forward it to Jim Paice MP, Minister of State for Agriculture and Food at DEFRA - heard zilch so far. Thanks for reminding me, just chased him up on voicemail..:D Just seen that email address I think parliament.uk emails are just for constitutents and we'd have to use DoH one.

Norway is doing a fat tax but 25% of Swedish population has cut down on carbs and the diametrically opposed attitudes is as much due to Scandinavian politics than health concerns.

Minihauk will PM you the URL - am still catching up after Internet probs but caught up on current news I think plus Co-op and Lidl offers and starting on Tesco.

Sheila54 - Iceland told me they did trial organic frozen food but it didn't sell.

Processed corn and soya products are even cheaper in US than here because heavily subsidised.

EDITED TO ADD

Just called DoH and they said the best way to get a ministerial response is to email your MP asking him/her for a response from Anne Milton, Minister for Public Health.

I would suggest that if you want to advocate low carb as an alternative to low fat, that along with your own personal story you attach a list of proper medical studies. You'll find references in Dr John Briffa's Waist Disposal and Gary Taubes' books as well as throughout this thread and there are some on my blog plus there's always Google etc. I would strongly advise sticking to proper medical doctors, hospitals, universities and other governments' stats and research rather than anything from fitness or diet sites because those jus aren't academic to be taken seriously by a govt dept.

At the moment I'm working on the GM feed in food not being labelled issue but I'll get round to this myself too but please do email your MP

murphydog999

Edwardia wrote: »

murph I emailed my MP about GM fed animals not being labelled in supermarkets and asked him to forward it to Jim Paice MP, Minister of State for Agriculture and Food at DEFRA - heard zilch so far. Thanks for reminding me, just chased him up on voicemail..:D Just seen that email address I think parliament.uk emails are just for constitutents and we'd have to use DoH one.

Not necessarily, I emailed Grant Shapps the housing minister about a levy on self-building, and got through 2x no problem (in fact he's reversed his decision now :T)

Edwardia

Well you're lucky then The murph charm

Just signed up to The Soil Association which promotes organic food - membership starts at 2.50 https://www.soilassociation.org

margaretclare

Padstow wrote: »

Lifting weights would be even more beneficial, seated if need be, as well as the aerobic and very important social aspects of going to the pool.
The older we are, the less muscle we have. I use a seated weight device which is brilliant and helps keep my joints supple. Without muscle we will keep getting fatter as muscle burns fat.

Social aspects - well, some of the women who go appear to go only for the social aspect i.e. to gossip, and exercise is of secondary importance. How some of them can gossip while the trainer is shouting and loud disco music going on is beyond me. However, I don't get involved.

Yes, I do seated weights as well, at home.

DH and I watched the second episode of 'The Men who made us Fat' last evening. We have lived through the time when all these changes were taking place, having been children/teenagers when rationing was still going on.

Having changed to using butter and olive oil for cooking rather than rapeseed oil, we wouldn't want a fat tax. It's processed food, fatty sugary or fatty salty items which are the baddies.

Today we had scrambled eggs with chopped chives, and mushrooms. I didn't eat any bread today at all so far. Just going to make a nice mixed salad for lunch, maybe with an avocado if the avocado isn't too hard, followed by an orange. Tomorrow we're driving up to Kettering for a barbecue. Not sure what that will involve, but I find that with experience and determination I can say 'yes' to what I want and 'no' to what I don't!

Tuesday evening at church, they are trying a new thing called 'cafe church'. Not a formal service, everyone sitting around in small groups being very informal and with tea, coffee or herbal drinks, and plates of 'tea'-type food items on the table. The only thing that really tempts me are home-baked cheese slices. I sat there looking at buttered sultana scones and iced cakes for an hour and I wasn't even tempted by them.