Some time ago I was having dinner with my ex boyfriend’s family and his friends. But by the end of the meal, all I could taste was my own embarrassment.
Opposite me, a member of the group, who was on medication for type 2 diabetes, was eager to gobble up the last piece of cake.
This person had made himself sick with a disease brought on by his own gluttony – and yet he plowed on.
As he lifted the cake to enjoy another bite, our eyes locked for a moment – and I think in that look we both knew his determination was no stiffer than the sponge between his fingers.
This week, Henry Dimbleby – the former No10 food czar – highlighted a striking solution to Britain’s ever-expanding waistlines.
GB News presenter Nana Akua (pictured) says the UK’s solution to ‘ever-growing waistlines’ should be to accept it’s ‘our fault’ if we get fat
Look at Japan, he said. There, robust labor laws allow companies to wrap a tape measure around the bellies of their chubbiest employees and send the fattest to weight management classes.
Do you think I’m kidding? No, this is a serious problem. Diabetes affects four million Britons and costs the NHS a full 10 per cent of its budget, thanks to horrific complications from heart attacks to strokes.
Hardly anyone is fat in Japan. Yet our streets are full of overweight people.
So, what are we doing here?
Well, this week the NHS announced the results of a groundbreaking study – which showed that following a radical three-monthly ‘soup and shake’ meal plan can permanently reverse type 2 diabetes. Patients who ate only 800 calories for three months, then maintained their weight, were symptom-free five years later and no longer needed medication.
Who would have thought that eating less is good for you?
Both the Japanese and NHS approaches point to a simple truth. It’s your own fault if you get fat – and within your power to do something about it.
This is hardly a revelation and it is unbelievable that some people need to be told this.
The columnists say the UK too often takes a ‘victimization’ and ‘buck-passing’ approach to obesity. Stock image used
But in recent years, we have constantly heard that it is somehow other people’s fault when someone indulges in obesity and diabetes.
We live in a culture where victimization is mixed with money laundering, where adults are all too often allowed to avoid the consequences of their own actions or face the need to change – even when the harm they are doing to themselves is obvious.
Some try to justify their intake of sugary, fatty junk by claiming that “healthy” foods are overpriced, which is nonsense. A nutritious home-cooked meal is much cheaper than a high-calorie takeaway.
Others insist they are victims of medical conditions—that they suffer from an addiction beyond their control. The other classic card to get out of jail for free is one’s genes – blame the family!
In my line of work, running my own business as a fitness trainer and wellness coach for over a decade, I’ve heard every excuse go. A penny to them and I’d get Gary Lineker’s allowance.
Nana says celebrities like Lizzo, photographed last year, promoting ‘fat acceptance’ have been misled
Here’s a simple fact: diets require willpower – and too many people aren’t willing to put in the effort.
That’s the crux of the problem. While our society may enjoy a limitless supply of calories – Dimbleby called us a nation of “sausage-roll-eating fats” – there is a chronic lack of self-control.
Still, the nonsense is being encouraged by weight-loss bloggers like Asher Larmie, otherwise known as “The Fat Doctor.” They are a tall person – but implies that many fat people are in that condition thanks to genetics and social inequality.
Nick Ferrari from LBC radio laughed as hard as I did when he heard this pseudo-scientific nonsense when he had Larmie on his show last week.
“You’re not fat because of what you eat and how much you exercise,” claimed this alleged medical professional. “That’s the line everyone has to believe.”
Just as out of place is the obese pop star Lizzo who promotes what some call “fat acceptance” under the guise of body positivity.
She’s wrong. Fat isn’t “fantastic” – it’s a health threat.
Covid showed us this: After the elderly, obesity was one of the biggest risk factors for dying from the disease. Being massively overweight also puts you at a hugely disproportionate risk of developing a variety of health problems, from cancer to dementia.
The pandemic should have led more people to take back their personal responsibility. Even with just small changes in our lives, great results can be achieved and even type 2 diabetes can even be reversed. And if we’re not up to the task, don’t be surprised if one day your boss approaches you with a tape measure.