Encouraging Healthy Living
Surveys conducted by Nice (National Institute for health and Clinical Excellence) revealed that bad eating habits have lead to about 40000 deaths and this has contributed to putting the economy in considerable stress. To combat this situation, the Institute has prepared a set of guidelines. It stresses that the intake of salt and saturated fats must be reduced to encourage general weight loss. It also suggests that people should be educated that eating artificial food and fats can cause serious health issues such as heart problems.
Low fat food and healthy food items must be made available to the general public at an affordable price to prevent them from resorting to unhealthy and saturated foods. Advertisements luring customers into buying unhealthy food must be aired only after 9 pm.
Another important measure the government must take is to reduce the number of fast food outlets. The common man must be encouraged to exercise regularly and take only those foods that are rich in vitamins, and other necessary nutrients.
Research also reveals that people hardly notice if the salt level is 5-10% in the food stuffs they purchase. Many people can’t be bothered to watching the nutrient value of what they eat and this way of thinking has to be changed.
While Nice has endeavoured to make people aware of their unhealthy choices, The Food and Drink Federation have charged them with being unrealistic. They argued that the food world is always engaged in making food and drinks that do not harm the consumers’ health. They believe that the report is unfairly targeting one aspect of the fast food industry and that people do have the right not to eat those foods.
It is important to remember that fast foods are not by themselves totally responsible for the health problems people suffer from consuming too much. It is mainly up to the individual to make better decisions. No amount of restrictions on fast foods will change the behaviour of people.
In any case, what is important is, both the NICE and the government through the NHS are primarily engaged in protecting the consumer by offering important information on the impact of consuming too much fast foods on health. It is important that they continue to find other ways to spread the word.