By the middle of this century 9 out of 10 British adults and two thirds of children will be overweight or obese, according to the Health Secretary, Alan Johnson, this will have a serious effect on the health of the nation and it will put a huge burden on the Health Service.

Change4Life

The Government is planning various measures to try and head off this obesity epidemic that could cost the country £50 billion by 2050. One public health campaign, Change4Life, which is to be launched next week, is going to try and encourage people to eat better, eat less and exercise more.

Healthy Towns

There is also the Healthy Towns programme which is launching schemes in nine towns that includes allowing individuals to earn points by buying healthy food and taking part in exercise, which can be exchanged for free sportswear or games equipment. It also plans to encourage cycling and to make parks where people can exercise in more attractive surroundings and safely.

But what has caused obesity?

These plans are important and should help encourage people to live healthier lives, but here at Beebleblog.com we thought it important to think about the causes of obesity. Why do people eat and drink too much and why are they so unfit? Look back twenty, and thirty years or more, what has changed in society? Here are a few of our thoughts:

•    Twenty or thirty years ago and more people had less money to spend on food and alcohol, in recent years people have increasing amounts of money to spend on food and drink both of which have become cheaper in proportion to people’s incomes.
•    The British Government has not encouraged people to save – the economy in recent years has been based on spending and of course on credit. The Credit Crunch should at least make everyone more careful in their spending.
•    Sometimes having plenty of money to spend can create a lack of purpose. People eat and drink for pleasure – done in excess it suggests there is something missing in their lives. People who are depressed can turn to drink and food for comfort but still become more unhappy and dissatisfied with their lives.
•    More people own cars so they get lazy and walk less.
•    More creature comforts from the remote control to home delivered grocery shopping mean we have to do less than we did in the past.
•    The growth of Take-Aways and ready meals has meant a drop in healthy home-cooking. The fact that many parents both work now has meant these have become increasingly popular and over a couple of decades or more children have not learnt to cook.
•    Discipline: we are all too ready to find excuses for our unhealthy lifestyle and are not prepared to accept that we are responsible for our own health and fitness.

Here at Beebleblog and at Beeblefitness we try to encourage everyone to be more healthy – yes, that means you! We have a vast range of topics and exercises that will help beat obesity. There’s no excuse to be overweight so start your new fitness programme today.

Further information and reading:

Work out your inner self

Improve your relationship with food

Government reveals shocking obesity stats

Health initiatives target obesity

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This entry was Posted on Tuesday, November 11th, 2008 at 6:58 pm and is filed under Diet, Health. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.