Last year UK Ministers launched a drive to eliminate five billion calories a day from the nation’s diet.

Jeremy Laurance, The Health Editor for The Independent wrote,  “Andrew Lansley said cutting calories was essential to reverse Britain’s soaring obesity levels. More than 60 per cent of adults and a third of 11-year-olds are obese or overweight”.
However, Medical organisations wanted regulatory action to control the food and drink industry or measures such as a “fat tax” to reduce consumption of calorie-dense foods. Mr Lansley said the goal would be achieved through individual action, local authority interventions and voluntary initiatives by businesses to reduce calories and help consumers choose less fattening items.

Unfortunately, neither the government or the health service will come up with a solution as they don’t understand the causes of obesity.

It is very easy to tell someone to cut calories, but how easy is it for people to achieve?

The reason it is very difficult if not impossible is due to reasons they simply don’t understand.
Eating more food is a SYMPTOM of a metabolic/hormonal imbalance in the body. Firstly, if someone is eating poor quality food, i.e. processed and/or non-organic the food will be nutrient depleted and toxic. If you eat food and it is missing nutrients your body will require more food to consume adequate amounts of nutrients.

So is the government suggesting we eat organic? NO!

Eating foods that are toxic (all non-organic food and practically all sea food is toxic as are all medical drugs) which rob us of vital nutrients, which requires us to eat more so we obtain adequate nutrients.

So I repeat, is the government suggesting we eat organic???
Many foods that people eat cause a rapid release of insulin to help control blood sugar. These foods include bread, pasta, most fruits, sugary and fizzy drinks, desserts or anything with flour or sugar in it.

Insulin’s role in the body is to store sugar in the muscle and fat cells of the body and thereby reduce blood sugar levels which when too high are toxic.

When large amounts of insulin are released into the blood stream it opens the door to storing the energy in the fat cells. Without insulin, we cannot store body fat, just like you can’t open a safe without the combination.

So is the government suggesting we eat less bread, pasta, pastries, pizzas, fruit, dried fruit and sugary drinks? They actually tell us that to be healthy and lose weight we should be eating mainly grains like bread, pasta and cereals. These all greatly increase insulin levels!

Now, just imagine you’re overweight and you reduce your calories below what you need to survive so you can lose weight. After all, that is what is recommended. You take in less than you need and create an energy deficit.

All this seeks to achieve is make you lethargic as you don’t have the energy to do anything in the long term. So you do less activity and your weight continues to rise.
So how effective will the governments’ suggestions be on reducing obesity in the UK. My prediction is that obesity will continue to rise year on year for at least the next 10 years and I’m willing to put money on it. So I believe the suggestions will be totally ineffective.

If I was minister for health my suggestions would be:

  • Set goals for how you want to be and focus on what it will be like when you’ve achieve it every day
  • Take 10 minutes out of each day to spend time on your own in silence just focusing on your breathing
  • Drink at least 2 litres mineral water each day and minimize all other beverages
  • Eat as much of your food from organic or wild sources and reduce/eliminates grains, dairy, fruit, caffeine, sugars and alcohol
  • Get some movement in the body every day for at least 30 minutes. Find something you enjoy and do that. Walking or walking the dog would suffice, but more intense exercise may be needed on some days to lose weight.
  • Get to bed by 10pm each evening and get at least 8 hours sleep per night

They would be my recommendations. The amount of people who would actually follow them sadly would be the real challenge.

If you’re currently overweight, why not give my recommendations above a try for six months and see what happens? Make sure you keep a diary of what you eat, your exercise and your sleep patterns.