Quite stunning to believe that chiefs at Manchester Metropolitan University tried to ban a fruit stall from operating outside their premises, saying it was an eyesore. In a city which has an obesity record to rival that of the United States, the suggestion that the stall was an "eyesore" is beyond belief.
There are lots of words to describe fruit stalls in the UK: unusual, done-away-with, no longer-welcome-on-our-streets, priced-out-of-town, to name but a few. But an eyesore? What could be more inviting than a barrow load of fresh fruit, waiting to be eaten.
Given the alternatives in that part of Manchester, which mainly consist of kebabs, pizzas, fish & chips, chips, chips and more chips, I would have thought the University would have been proud to encourage healthy choices for its undergraduates.
The stall holder should be encouraged to open more outlets across the city not hounded out of town. "Going Bananas" as the stall is called, won a stay of execution after Manchester Metropolitan University backed down after a Facebook campaign to keep the stall.
Quite why the University higher ups were going bananas over this fruit barrow isn't really clear but after slipping on this particular banana skin, they have shown themselves to be a right bunch of lemons
Friday, 22 April 2011
Wednesday, 8 December 2010
The Only Way is Up
It's quite rare to see England topping any charts these days. Eurovision Song Contest, World Cup, Hosting the World Cup, are all passing by. Even the economy continues to spiral downwards.
There is one chart however, which England looks close to topping and where the trends are ever-upwards: the obesity charts. Data from the OECD shows that in the obesity stakes, England is a European Champion.
And if we go on expanding at this rate-around 1 per cent a year - we'll maybe be able to beat the US at their own game!
Strange that no-one has thought to link the downward spiral in England's sporting performance with the upward spiral in obesity rates.
I hope they are installing some wides seats in the London 2012 Olympic Stadium
There is one chart however, which England looks close to topping and where the trends are ever-upwards: the obesity charts. Data from the OECD shows that in the obesity stakes, England is a European Champion.
And if we go on expanding at this rate-around 1 per cent a year - we'll maybe be able to beat the US at their own game!
Strange that no-one has thought to link the downward spiral in England's sporting performance with the upward spiral in obesity rates.
I hope they are installing some wides seats in the London 2012 Olympic Stadium
Wednesday, 3 March 2010
Who Made You Fat?
If your bathroom scales accelerate faster than your car, you will enjoy a BBC Three programme in the "Mischief" series called: "Who Made Me Fat"?
It's made by the same team who which delved into food contents, and heart attack fats and is fronted by Becca Wilcox.
Becca should be up there with all those diet goddesses and fitness divas because she said the most sensible thing about weight for a long time.
IT MIGHT NOT BE YOUR FAULT YOU'RE FAT.
Far from blaming people for shovelling down Big Macs, Pizzas & Whoppers, she uncovered how for most people, most of the time, unhealthy food is shoved in our faces and virtually down our throats.
What she is saying is that every way you turn, there is unhealthy food tempting you to eat it.
While healthy eating is about making choices and getting a balance right, how can you do that when the only choices around are between burgers, kebabs, fish and chips or pizza?
Becca is saying what experts have been banging on about for ages, but I hope her message will get through and make people think before they step on the scales and sigh with despair.
It's made by the same team who which delved into food contents, and heart attack fats and is fronted by Becca Wilcox.
Becca should be up there with all those diet goddesses and fitness divas because she said the most sensible thing about weight for a long time.
IT MIGHT NOT BE YOUR FAULT YOU'RE FAT.
Far from blaming people for shovelling down Big Macs, Pizzas & Whoppers, she uncovered how for most people, most of the time, unhealthy food is shoved in our faces and virtually down our throats.
What she is saying is that every way you turn, there is unhealthy food tempting you to eat it.
While healthy eating is about making choices and getting a balance right, how can you do that when the only choices around are between burgers, kebabs, fish and chips or pizza?
Becca is saying what experts have been banging on about for ages, but I hope her message will get through and make people think before they step on the scales and sigh with despair.
Tuesday, 10 November 2009
Food for Thought or the Stuff of Nightmares?
Doing for Lidl what Morgan Spurlock did for McDonalds is BBC Three's Alex Riley. The seemingly unassuming Riley fronts a not-for-the-faint-hearted programme titled: "Britain's Most Disgusting Foods".
If by chance you are able to watch these programmes - and the meat and fish episodes are particularly testing - you may be forgiven for thinking they are all a bit of a laugh.
The graphics, the pace and the mock sardonic style of the presenter all combine to create a bit of a larky feel to the programme. But Riley is a man on a mission and behind the jokes and the stomach-churning scenes of food processing, is some fairly solid science.
He takes Lidl to task for it's use of 'heart attack fat" in its pies and cakes-,speaks to a cardiologist about the harmful effects of what are known as 'trans fats'. He graphically illustrates the whole thing by taking a bath in the stuff outside Lidl HQ, while collecting money to pay for cardiac nurses to patrol outside Lidl stores.
The upshot is that Lidl is now apparently planning to ban the 'heart attack fat' from all its products.
Funny thing is: the government in the UK, has known about his for years and done nothing apart from a bit of gentle prodding of the food industry, but it only takes one man in a bath of fat to get the stuff banned from its last outpost.
While Alex Riley is perhaps not your classic health campaigner, he would appear to be one of the more effective ones.
If by chance you are able to watch these programmes - and the meat and fish episodes are particularly testing - you may be forgiven for thinking they are all a bit of a laugh.
The graphics, the pace and the mock sardonic style of the presenter all combine to create a bit of a larky feel to the programme. But Riley is a man on a mission and behind the jokes and the stomach-churning scenes of food processing, is some fairly solid science.
He takes Lidl to task for it's use of 'heart attack fat" in its pies and cakes-,speaks to a cardiologist about the harmful effects of what are known as 'trans fats'. He graphically illustrates the whole thing by taking a bath in the stuff outside Lidl HQ, while collecting money to pay for cardiac nurses to patrol outside Lidl stores.
The upshot is that Lidl is now apparently planning to ban the 'heart attack fat' from all its products.
Funny thing is: the government in the UK, has known about his for years and done nothing apart from a bit of gentle prodding of the food industry, but it only takes one man in a bath of fat to get the stuff banned from its last outpost.
While Alex Riley is perhaps not your classic health campaigner, he would appear to be one of the more effective ones.
Wednesday, 4 November 2009
New Obesity Stats-Trick or Treat?
After the recent Hallowe'en sugarfest comes a new report that revises recent trends on child obesity.
It now seems that things aren't going to be quite a big in the future as they were supposed to be.
The statistics were almost too horrendous to contemplate as they stood, with over half the nation's children predicted to be overweight in less than a decade.
The future was looking fat, very fat, with hefty children outliving their parents and special, reinforced operating tables needed to accomodate bulky patients.
All the experts have been a bit sniffy about the revised stats, suggesting it could be a blip and the best thing would be to "wait and see".
The obvious problem with all of this, is that people will adopt a 'thank god it's not as bad as they said', approach and just head back to their calorific bad habits.
The real focus should be on getting the current 25 per cent of children who are now estimated to be obese back to a healthy, balanced, weight.
It now seems that things aren't going to be quite a big in the future as they were supposed to be.
The statistics were almost too horrendous to contemplate as they stood, with over half the nation's children predicted to be overweight in less than a decade.
The future was looking fat, very fat, with hefty children outliving their parents and special, reinforced operating tables needed to accomodate bulky patients.
All the experts have been a bit sniffy about the revised stats, suggesting it could be a blip and the best thing would be to "wait and see".
The obvious problem with all of this, is that people will adopt a 'thank god it's not as bad as they said', approach and just head back to their calorific bad habits.
The real focus should be on getting the current 25 per cent of children who are now estimated to be obese back to a healthy, balanced, weight.
Thursday, 15 October 2009
Cheesed off about pizzas
I suppose on the surface, a frozen, plastic-wrapped pizza shouldn't be at all healthy. Too much sugar in the tomatoes, too much salt & fast in the dough and probably too much cheese.
It's nice to convince yourself; even if it's just for the sake of convenience, that it's not that bad. Now I know differently. A programme on TV last week which maddeningly escapes me, showed the whle sorry saga.
What passes for mozzarella on a pizza, is anything but real cheese: it's most times a glutinous mix of boiled up, mashed up fat with god knows what in it. That's why it melts so quickly and appealingly in the oven and it often cooks much faster than the actual pizza base.
I often make my own pizza, buying the alleged mozzarella from the supermarket and convincing myself that I'm preparing a healthy option, but the stuff they sell in those plastic bags is just the same stuff.
Might as well eat the bag that the cheese comes in and the polystyrene base and cling film on the pizza for all the nutritional value that's in it.
It's nice to convince yourself; even if it's just for the sake of convenience, that it's not that bad. Now I know differently. A programme on TV last week which maddeningly escapes me, showed the whle sorry saga.
What passes for mozzarella on a pizza, is anything but real cheese: it's most times a glutinous mix of boiled up, mashed up fat with god knows what in it. That's why it melts so quickly and appealingly in the oven and it often cooks much faster than the actual pizza base.
I often make my own pizza, buying the alleged mozzarella from the supermarket and convincing myself that I'm preparing a healthy option, but the stuff they sell in those plastic bags is just the same stuff.
Might as well eat the bag that the cheese comes in and the polystyrene base and cling film on the pizza for all the nutritional value that's in it.
Monday, 27 July 2009
A Coffee and 500 Calories to Go
A staggering item for the silly season about coffee. Next time you grab a quick one on your way to work and think about treating yourself with something slightly more "indulgent" than the skinny latte think hard.
The World Cancer Research Fund has warned that some brands of iced coffee have more calories than an average evening meal.The list in full looks something like this:
Starbucks
Venti dark berry mocha with whipped cream 561
Venti dark berry mocha without whipped cream 457
Tall dark berry mocha with without whipped cream 288
Caffe Nero
Double chocolate frappe 483
Mocha frappe latte 483
Mocha frappe latte with skimmed milk 452
Framme latte with skimmed milk 277
Iced latte 117
Costa Coffee
Massimo iced mocha 361
Massimo coffee frescato 332
Primo coffee frescato 199
Primo iced mint latte 167
Primo iced mocha 152
And its enough to make you choke on your coffee. The fact that a simple drink like a cup of coffee can contain more calories than a Big Mac is scary but it's a symptom of the times and I'm sure there will be many people who hardly register that drinking this sort of stuff on a regular basis is a recipe for obesity.
It's also scary to think that if you have this with one of the iced buns or other "indulgent snacks" they have on hand, the average woman will have used up half of her calorific guideline allowance at breakfast time.
Make mine a skinny water.
The World Cancer Research Fund has warned that some brands of iced coffee have more calories than an average evening meal.The list in full looks something like this:
Starbucks
Venti dark berry mocha with whipped cream 561
Venti dark berry mocha without whipped cream 457
Tall dark berry mocha with without whipped cream 288
Caffe Nero
Double chocolate frappe 483
Mocha frappe latte 483
Mocha frappe latte with skimmed milk 452
Framme latte with skimmed milk 277
Iced latte 117
Costa Coffee
Massimo iced mocha 361
Massimo coffee frescato 332
Primo coffee frescato 199
Primo iced mint latte 167
Primo iced mocha 152
And its enough to make you choke on your coffee. The fact that a simple drink like a cup of coffee can contain more calories than a Big Mac is scary but it's a symptom of the times and I'm sure there will be many people who hardly register that drinking this sort of stuff on a regular basis is a recipe for obesity.
It's also scary to think that if you have this with one of the iced buns or other "indulgent snacks" they have on hand, the average woman will have used up half of her calorific guideline allowance at breakfast time.
Make mine a skinny water.
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