From crispy pancakes to orange Club biscuits, I’ve always comforted myself with junk food. Our emotional relationship with what we eat is complicated
Another day, another row about obesity, its causes, and what might be done to stop people from getting any fatter. The medical profession and various crusading types, Jamie Oliver among them, insist that the government must take urgent action to reduce childhood obesity: there are now 12.3 million people at risk of type 2 diabetes; the most deprived five-year-olds are more than twice as likely to be obese than their better-off counterparts. Meanwhile, the libertarian right enjoys another attack of ersatz solidarity with the working classes. No! it cries with one (fairly posh) voice. This crusade is just patronising middle-class nonsense. How disgusting, to claim that people on low incomes have no willpower.
As in so many arguments, I somehow manage to hold both positions at once: even as I grasp that the situation is parlous – you only need eyes in your head to see this – I will always despise the notion of making giant assumptions about whole groups of people. And besides, these things aren’t so straightforward.
We’d like to hear how you are trying to limit the amount of snacks and sugary foods your children eat.
Related: Jamie Oliver is right, for poor people putting food on the table trumps diet | Kathleen Kerridge
Continue reading...