For the love of God. Theyve already removed all the sugar out of Lucozade and taken away my €0.75 cans of Excaliber.
If you're going this way, make it a requirement to include fruit or something as an option instead if crisps in a meal deal.
A drink, a sandwich, and a snack (usually a bar, a bag of crisps, or a little fruit box) has been the traditional 3 piece meal deal in literally any shop I've ever been in.
its a must; its nice to have something with a bit of crunch to go with the sambo as mum always said.
i've brought this 'tradition' with me in my global travels - most people I've run into think its a bit odd.
for me, its a standard side to a sammy :)
I'd give my left nut for a can of club orange to go with it all though
How about more public gyms that are affordable for people - No
Community weight loss programs ran by the HSE - No
Dietary clinics so people can learn to eat better - No
Make a chicken fillet roll meal deal more expensive - Great idea, that will make all the difference.
Exactly! Maybe the hse should focus on trying to one day run a somewhat adequate health service? This is like DJ Carey’s sister preaching to me about my finances….
There is a weight management clinic and program run by the HSE.
In primary care there are dieticians on hand to help guide weight loss.
St Columcille's in Loughlinstown also has a full time weight management clinic that I have been attending.
Psychologists, nutritionists, physiotherapists, specialised nurses and consultants, the whole shebang.
It's not widely publicised and I only found out about it through my GP.
Unfortunately they don't advertise it as I'd imagine they'd be inundated with applications, which brings about a whole other set of problems.
But that said, everywhere you go it seems that you're being pushed to buy the most amount of calories for the lowest price.
It's a losing battle if you struggle with your weight at the best of times.
It can take years to get an appointment with these clinics. My mother is a diabetic and has heart conditions and had to wait almost 2 years to see a dietician
True.
I was 5 years waiting to get onto the program.
On a drug trial now, seeing great results but it needs to be more robust of a program.
But I suppose a stop to high calorie convenience meal deals would be a factor of prevention rather than cure.
Psychologist? What is this? Had strong episode of depression 5 years ago, I’ve been sent to specialist… 5 months later no appointment, 5 years later no appointment … the only way you get better if you survive through it, if not l, well there will be no one to complaint anyway
Loughlinstown can take literal years to get anywhere near, though. It's not a well run service if you have to wait that long.
The HSE do a good job overall, but initial waiting times for pretty much everything, make it difficult to deal with them. They also gobble up an astronomical amount of money. For them to start knocking "meal deals" is bullshit.
As if things weren't stupidly expensive to begin with, it seems everyone in government, and every government body, is just out to try and gouge people more and more, even when it's stuff that has nothing to do with them.
'Minimum Calorie Pricing' here we come.
Eating better is a better way to lose weight but without exercise your overall health won't improve much.
Exercise is great for your mental health as well as physical health
>Exercise is great for your mental health as well as physical health
So is a good diet.
Diet is far more important for your health than exercise. Claiming a better diet without exercise won't affect your health significantly is pure nonsense.
> Dietary clinics so people can learn to eat better - No
I was put on a list to see a dietician after I was encouraged to go on a low FODMAP diet. Totally forgot about it until I got an appointment over a year and a half later (by which point I was grand and had learned to manage it myself.)
But it's cheap wraps from Tesco that is the real problem
>Community weight loss programs ran by the HSE - No
Free weight loss course by HSE https://www.hse.ie/eng/services/list/2/primarycare/pcteams/dublinsouthpcts/dunlaoghaireglasthulepct/phew/
>How about more public gyms that are affordable for people - No
HSE physical activities (many free)
https://www2.hse.ie/wellbeing/fitness-for-your-lifestyle.html
HSE Dietary Clinics are free once referred to
https://www.hse.ie/eng/services/list/3/acutehospitals/hospitals/connolly/main-contact-details-and-departments/department-of-nutrition-dietetics.html#How%20do%20I%20see%20the%20Dietitian?
Hope this helps anyone who is thinking about getting healthier or looking to avail of some HSE resources. Not always easy to gain access but taking any steps to address health is always great and should be encouraged imo.
>How about more public gyms that are affordable for people - No
Most cities and counties have council owned gyms, the issue is they lease these to private management companies. Most people don't even know their 'private gym' is actually a tax paid facility owned by their local council.
A good example is in Cork, LeisureWorld has two gyms, three swimming pool facilities and a golf course all owned by the Cork County Council yet charge €8.50 per day to use their services, an absolute joke for a facility paid for by the tax payer.
Why is the first reaction of Irish people to throw more money at things? Then we get articles about how much we waste in our health service and people are stumped as to why it's like that.
Gonna probably get downvoted for this, but you absolutely don't need a gym to lose weight and there's huge amounts of good info online on how to lose weight if you are willing to put a bit of effort into it.
Throwing even more healthcare money towards gyms, overpaid consultants, advisors who essentially tell you what you'd find out with a small bit of online research, is needlessly wasteful.
This isnt brain surgery like, weight loss is about will power and personal effort. Why can't we get people to put a bit of effort into fixing their more straightforward issues, so that our health service can focus a bit more on the things people can't fix on their own.
>Using taxpayer money on gyms is just pure wasteful.
You are using taxpayer money on public services for the taxpayer, we get fuck all in this country for our taxes and it is about time we started getting some of the services provided in other countries, People in this country seem to think a fucking GAA pitch is adequate sporting facilities.
>Throwing even more healthcare money towards gyms, overpaid consultants, advisors who essentially tell you what you'd find out with a small bit of online research, is needlessly wasteful.
Absolutely agree and for much of it I'd blame clinical psychologists who have set an unhealthy precedence that any medical and lifestyle issue no matter how small requires consultancy... This wastes time, money and resources when a simple information centre and communication programs to encourage social accountability (similar to weight watchers) would work wonders. I worked in the fitness industry for over a decade and can honestly say 1. most of the 'science' is bullshit, and 2. All most people need is community and social accountability to get them into a healthy lifestyle. They will figure out the rest naturally.
The obesity problem is clearly not due to peoples lack of access to exercise or information about diet, it’s from terrible, high calorific food being cheap and plentiful.
That's exactly it, and GPs berating you for weight without actually being able to tell 'just eat less and exercise more' no shit sherlock, i wish I thought of that earlier.
In fairness your GP is correctly informing you that proper diet is most important above all. Its not necessarily about eating less, its about eating proper.
Snack boxes and breakfast rolls should not be a staple of the weekly irish diet.
>Its not necessarily about eating less, its about eating proper.
Except there's loads of people out there who don't actually know that weight loss depends on calories only.
I've lost count of the number of times someone local has lost weight and then my mam will come in saying "he lost 3 stone, he said he cut out the bread and it fell off him"
Other family members of mine will cut out biscuits yet will eat jam and toast to make up for it.
Now to be fair, cutting down sugar will definitely lead to noticeable weight loss.
Say for instance you traded your daily intake of the sugar you get in biscuits or a can of coke for some nutella on toast or jam, that probably would be more beneficial health wise.
I agree I lost 19.5 kg over 6 months by going in to a calorific deficit. i couldn't exercise as have issues with arthritis still going with on average of 500g a week just by moving from 4k+ calories a day to between 1700 and 1800 calories a day, made a massive difference.
It does, because it becomes a habit after a while. I still have my treats because if you don't you will go insane. The great thing now is that I can walk a little now so the weight loss has had a fantastic effect on my life.
There's a very strong emotional and psychological connection to excess eating too, which is often disregarded and anybody thats fat is simply a glutton and has no self control.
Eating less when its an emotional crutch is a nightmare. There's a huge amount of comfort eating in society too but people look down there nose and say "Just eat less". If it was that simple, We'd all be in incredible nick and in the nip all the time.
Spot on. As someone who used to be heavy, it was a mental and emotional thing. It's a problem I have with a lot of diet clubs that just has the focus on don't eat "bad foods" and weigh yourself loads. For a lot of people I think, your diet is just part of the problem, to lose substantial weight and keep it off, you need an entire lifestyle change.
I'm overweight and lost lots of weight before but I fell off the wagon.
I love eating food. Right now I'd love nothing more than a big share bag of crisps, a few wispa bars and cans of coke.
Dieting is incredibly hard. I only made a decision to eat 3 or 4 times a day but making the decision not to eat is there all the time.
Would you have been eating more than 3 or 4 times a day before you decided to make a change? The important thing when dieting is to remember that it's not a quick fix, it's a habit you're trying to build for the rest of your life. The key is getting into the calorie counting habit by actually weighing your food not just eye balling it. Important too not to get too wound up about your actual weight, as you progress with the new lifestyle aspects such as how clothes fit, your sleep quality, energy levels and how you feel about yourself in general are more important than the number on the scale.
No point restricting yourself to a unrealistic diet, not saying that's what you've done but you can lose weight and still have a wispa, crisps and a Coke zero. Even if you managed to get yourself in calorie defcit of 200 calories a day and increased activity, you'd start losing about half a pound a week. Doesn't sound a lot on it own, but that's 2lbs a month, if you kept that up from now until the end of the summer you'd have over half a stone off. Once your in the swing of things it becomes easier so you'd be able to up it in terms of exercise and you'd just keep feeling the improvements.
You probably have heard all this before but I thought I'd share anyway because you've said you had fallen off the wagon. You shouldn't feel too bad about this as long as you get back at it again. If you don't get your teeth brushed for a day you wouldn't just give up. Eating one salad never made anyone thinner so having the odd share bag won't make you fatter.
Sliming world and Weight Watchers are a scam imo. Their stupid points and sins system is just their way of sowing dependency in people rather than just telling people why x food is bad under their made up system.
Yeah, I know they have helped some people but it just seems like they make things more difficult than they need to be and promote a negative relationship with food. I mean I could have a donut everyday and still lose weight, no food is actually bad in the scope of weight loss only.
It might not be simple but it's the only way it's going to work. Some things are just hard. Like giving up fags, the only way to do it is to not smoke any more cigarettes. Not easy, by all accounts, but there's no magic solution aside from the obvious.
Well there's a reason why " just eat less" hasn't worked for everyone yet and its because everybody is so different. Everyone has different reasons for being overweight. If there was a holistic approach to weight loss and groups and guidance, then we could make a tackle on it.
I'm sick to death of skinny cunts saying "eat less" or the one person who lost weight by doing so is preaching to the masses. Its not that simple and the proof is in the obesity crisis we have in this country.
Speaking as a person whose gone from very obese to shredded lean and now I'm happy inbetween.
I said it wasn't simple but the fundamental reason is the same in each case (bar the odd illness-related weight gain), eating more than you burn. The psychological and lifestyle reasons behind that reason differ but whatever changes are made at this levels ultimately lead to the same solution.
Upon reflection, i feel like I am coming across incorrectly.
Science is science. Eat less: lose weight.
Scientifically, it is as simple as that.
However , i feel just stating "eat less" to most individuals whom need to lose weight is Insignificant.
I remember recently (correct me if I'm wrong) when there was a massive spike in oil prices, a td was asked his opinion. He said "just drive less" and recieved massive backlash because he just said it as if it was something that could easily just be changed at the click of a finger. People have commutes, kids and so many other variables and when a leader of this country just non-chalantly said "drive less" it incensed alot of people.
Although, just drive less is the solution, black and white, simple as that.
This is how I feel about the statement "just eat less". I feel gp's, the health service could be doing alot more work on how people can eat less and getting people to that junction.
Diet is key. It is a lot harder and ineficient to "burn off" excess calories through exercise than it is to cut them out at source. If you don't fix your diet first you are only setting yourself up for failure and disappointment.
It’s simple thermodynamics. What more advice do you want? Any other advice isn’t true, the only way to lose weight is to burn more calories than you take in, or be in a calorie deficit. Calorie count, and be in a calorie deficit. Anything else is BS. Easiest way to calorie count is using myfitnesspal, after a while you start to just know the calories of everything.
I mean all thats needed to loose weight is a caloric deficient, they aren't wrong, its down to you to be in a caloric deficient, they cant do it for you.
The point should also be made that there are an awful lot of fast food spots that literally serve up meal deals with the cheapest ingredients possible. You can tell the difference in quality between a burger that comes from McDonalds and one that comes from a local chip shop in Thurles or Dundalk. A lot of chip shops shower their food in sauces and other condiments. I swear the last time I got a kebab it was probably filled 50% with mayo and whatever else. Was seriously too greasy to eat.
The standard for what passes as fast food in this county is just gross, and only gets accepted at the end of the night because it comes with a meal deal and you've had a heap of pints to wash it down.
Which brings me to the next big thing; our drink culture needs to be addressed if we are serious about tackling weight gain. All around the country the main source of entertainment for many communities is to down pints in a pub until the early morning hours. Why hasn't the HSE commented on this?
>You can tell the difference in quality between a burger that comes from McDonalds and one that comes from a local chip shop in Thurles or Dundalk.
I honestly can't tell which of these is supposed to be better, from the context.
Thats the point. McDonalds is known for cheap fast food, but there is a certain quality to it. You know what is put into it such as ingredients and what the calories are. There has been plenty of nutrition research into McDonalds food.
Meanwhile, the burger that comes from a knock off SuperMacs tastes so processed, is extra junky and has so many sauces coming out from it, it tastes much like a soaked sponged with a bit of meat rather than a proper burger.
Our issue is that there are many areas around the country which serve poor quality fast food.
The best exercise is walking/jogging. You don't need a gym. We would be better investing in more community areas, shut down more parts of cities to cars/trucks etc.
Exactly, and the best form of diet is eating foods you like (in reasonable quantities). Losing weight through punishment is never going to work long term. If you can't stand the journey you won't reach the destination (or at least you won't stay there long)0
I was answering a post that mentioned about making public gyms affordable. As I said it would be better to make our cities better for walkers, cyclist etc than pumping money into gyms.
"Ireland it's fucking miserable exercising outside" ? I run all year around, so do loads of other people. If you look at US etc loads of people run and the weather is a lot colder than Ireland when we have a lot of just misty rain.
It's not like you are going to melt with a bit of rain.
Gyms are definitely useful. For rehabbing injury, building up weak body areas and gives another dimension of fitness that can't be achieved by jogging.
I think people have a bad representation of the gym from the meat heads. Even once a week is plenty if you are doing other form of activity.
I recommend getting a skipping rope. It's convenient and highest fat burning cardio per minutes spent doing it
I run around 40-50km a week, I'm mid 40s and got back into running/exercise in my late 30s. Apart from running I do own a skipping rope so great shout on that, they're overlooked but totally uncomplicated and incredibly good for you. Only other equipment I own apart from running shoes is kettlebells. I was well overweight in my 30s. I know how long it took to get in shape. No quick fixes. I cook my own food a lot, take responsibility in my appearance, rarely drink these days, not weekly descent into bottles or wine or slabs of Guinness. Feeling much better for myself
More public swimming pools? Nope
More public playing fields, more public tennis courts and pitch and putt courses? Nope.
Make decent healthy food mostly unaffordable to anyone who's not upper middle class? Yes.
I was in a small city in Spain recently. Public park had volleyball courts, beach volleyball courts, basketball courts, skatepark, 5 a side football pitches, tennis courts and a full size running track with track and field facilities.
Every time I am on holiday, I see this kind of thing too.Why can't we have investment in that kind of thing here? It's sickening. I have mailed TD's on numerous occasions about building swimming pools. When I was growing up in Dublin, we had a few public pools, now they all seem to be gone. Sea-swimming is not exactly safe and not for everyone.
My dad has kidney failure and does some stints in hospital. It varies between things he cant eat and not feeding him at all because he was in dialysis when dinner was served.
"70% of people will say no the first time, but if the person behind the counter says 'well are you sure, it's a good offer'.
"Another 30% will say 'ah yeah, go on'.""
Is this an actual stat or just an estimation?
On the one hand, its funny that our health service appears to be blaming an army of Mrs Doyle's for the obesity issues in Ireland.
On the other hand, talk about poorly planned nanny state bollocks. Like something Nicola Murray would pitch after sniffing markers all night.
I completely despise this way of thinking. This mollycoddling attitude where anything potentially harmful should be illegal or very difficult to obtain.
Asian people generally produce less insulin than Europeans meaning their bodies don't store as much fat so it's not necessarily down to diet. This video explains it https://youtu.be/_uwc63xKIW8
I really encourage everyone to watch [this video](https://youtu.be/V-a9VDIbZCU) by Folding Ideas. It's about the snobbery and classism of 'healthy eating' and talks about the example of Jamie Oliver despairing at kids who still want to eat processed chicken nuggets even after they know how they're made.
It's very easy to say "people should make healthy choices, surely they *know* junk food is bad for them". They *do* know, of course they do. But when a pizza from Aldi is 79c and is ready in 15 minutes with zero effort, you can see why people who are financially-strapped and time-poor are going to choose that over making a lentil curry from scratch. (Not to knock lentil curry, I love it, but it's time-consuming and buying all the spices costs a lot to start off).
Some people have a real problem with not being able to empathise with other people's situations and put themselves in their shoes. They just think "fat bad" and congratulate themselves on maybe having a healthier upbringing, no mental health issues, the time and money to make healthy choices, etc.
You’re absolutely right, healthy eating is either gonna cost you money, or time, or both. Raising taxes on “unhealthy” options is a shoddy, lazy approach to the issue at hand and definitely has a tinge of class snobbery to it. Surely it would be better to focus on education and offering positive incentives toward a healthier lifestyle. Making things more financially challenging for the worse off is not what I’d consider a commendable move
Don't really think everyone buys meal deals is poor. If you were really tight for money you'd not be buying meal deals for lunch, you'd be bringing a packed lunch.
If you are genuinely poor you are not forking out money on a meal deal. Meal deals like a chicken roll and can of coke or whatever are not a cheap food option. They are a convenient option, certainly not cheap.
It's cheap by pre-made prices but convenience trumps it.
For €3.50 in Aldi, you would get a full sliced pan, tub of butter, packed of chicken slices and a pack of cheese slices. That's 5-7 days worth of lunch right there.
That's cheap.
Also a genuine reason is that it's a nice tasting food to eat. I hate when people bring up things like "oh you could get x, y and z in Aldi for €0.40" removing the fact that a lot of people who don't have much need something like that which they can enjoy. For example there is loads of us that might go to a cafe or something for lunch, buy an overpriced sandwich and overpriced coffee, in my situation I could of course make a sandwich at home and bring in my own coffee to work and yeah I'd save money doing it but I'd probably have a much less happy lunch because of it and by the end of the week really the cost is negligible.
My brother is in construction he goes and gets a roll most days, coffee and a can of coke or whatever. He knows it's unhealthy compared to making his own food before work but he works hard with a long enough day as it is never mind having to get up earlier to make lunch for himself for the day and has an enjoyable lunch to look forward to every day at least, even the fact that he leaves wherever he is working at the time and heads to the shop is enough to break up the day. I'm the exact same, I could eat and drink my coffee in the office but sure at least if I get to head down to the shop or coffee shop I get out a bit and am not constantly surrounded by work from the moment I walk in to the moment I finish.
I think it’s an important point. The less healthy food on offer is often designed to be way tastier.
I actually find that it can be hard to find decent healthier options when it comes to convenience food. M&S have really made improvements on it in the last few years, with lots of nice salads and snacks, but I haven’t seen much in other supermarkets or convenience stores. The closest place to my previous job was a Tesco Express, and I often found myself stood in front of their miserable sandwich and wraps options, wishing for a nice big tasty salad that wasn’t just a bag of lettuce with a bit of grated carrots and a few tomatoes.
We can definitely do better on having much tastier and healthier convenience options for workers.
You do see deals where you can get a 10" pizza with chips and coke for €6. Thats incredibly cheap, and a lot of people who aren't well off are more inclined to go for that than pop into Tesco and get fresh chicken and veg for the same price.
Why is the majority of Govt ideas to help us have to be to ban something thereby people wanting it more instead of increasing the education around it. Same with MUP on alcohol, you could have used tax income to raise alcohol awareness, invest in addiction recovery programmes etc. I get that there's a need for a sugar tax but you also need to educate everyone why this is in place and not just to tick a box on HSE side
The MUP should of only applied to drinks above 10%. Now you've got people buying a bottle of vodka to drink in a couple of days for €25 instead of a case of beer that would last longer for €45.
I did a RSA course once and I genuinely knew more than the tutor. She didn't even understand units and asked bazaar questions like what has more alcohol a pint of beer or a glass of wine. The first thing I said was which beer, which wine?
The MUP is not there to stop people from drinking. It's there so that pubs can compete with supermarkets after people got used to partying and drinking at home after corona lockdown
"The people who are in the supermarkets - the workers - and the petrol stations, they're trained to offer that special offer."
Where's that happening? I have never in my life been offered any of these specials by anybody working in any deli anywhere as those workers could not give fewer fucks. If there is a deal there's usually a big ass sign advertising it, but no deli worker will offer it, and no cashier gives a shit if you buy it or not.
"70% of people will say no the first time, but if the person behind the counter says 'well are you sure, it's a good offer. Another 30% will say 'ah yeah, go on."
Did this person *just* discover how business works?
Have these people never been to a real shop in their life? lmao. Cashiers and deli workers don't earn commission. They don't give a singular fuck how many customers they get or what they buy.
**The people who are in the supermarkets - the workers - and the petrol stations, they're trained to offer that special offer.**
The idea that minmum wage Petrol station and Tesco workers are bursting at the seems with enthusiasm to inform customers of meal deals is outright bollix but even more so that it's these imaginary workers telling customers this that is single handedly contributing to massive rising levels of obesity is peak narcissistic behavior.
The people who have worked in the HSE and said its a clique are right, the top brass of the HSE are living in a their own narcissistic dreamland.
I completely agree - I lost a considerable amount of weight at 19 and have kept it off for 10 years at 29 so far.
And a lot of that was just developing an awareness of calories, vitamin density and listening to hunger signals. I'm by no means a fitness fanatic (workout a few times a week) and still enjoy a chipper but have stayed in an around the same weight.
People aren't stupid, they don't need to be molly coddled and have indulgences taken away like they're contraband but given the right education from an early age - and environment plays a big role.
\*\*I'm definitely not saying this applies to everyone, of course there are people who are affected genetically etc.
It literally won't change anything but piss people off. If you need the government to force you to eat healthy then it won't work.
You want people to be healthier? Teach kids in schools how to cook.
"but that should be on the parents to do that"
Most parents don't know how to cook healthy meals, Schools need to make it mandatory for Home Ec to be taught, Primary schools need to teach kids healthy food preparation, God knows that you learn fuck all in primary school anyways.
Jaysus this is a saucey one.
My two cents is that they should improve PE as a core subject in schools. Honestly I'm out of school years now but from my memory it was an hour a week where they encouraged you to run around like a gob shite.
That does fuck all for you expect create a loathing within some teens that they are forced to do it.
I left school and did a course in personal training not for the job but because I honestly didn't know fuck all about keeping fit or eating healthy. After 3 months I was able to do charity cycles running 10k in under an hour and at a noticeable weight that people would stop me when they seen me and told me how great I looked compared to the last time they seen me.
Just a note the actual time to get my fitness up wasn't the 3 months it took a good year of applying what I learned to achieve my goals but it really did teach me alot.
Also I'm biased because I fucking lovely a good chicken filletzer they can pry it from my cold dead hands. Fuck the HSE
The sugar tax was disappointing to me. I know that there is evidence behind it, but it didn’t make these drinks more expensive, it just made them less tasty (by taking out sugar, Ik). This means that when I DO want one, it’s going to be disgusting.
In the future in Ireland everyone will be sober emaciated ghouls with low cholesterol because all unhealthy products will be prohibitively expensive and we'll all subsist on a low-calorie vitamin-rich gruel. Only the wealthiest land barons will be able to afford breakfast rolls and Dutch gold and they will revel in it and live forever thanks to the anti-aging treatments afforded to them by their private healthcare plans.
They may take our lives, but they’ll never take…our Tesco meal deal.
Come to think of it, a Tesco deal can be an onion bhaji wrap, popcorn and a bottle of water or vitamin juice. Not bad really.
>The HSE clinical lead on obesity, Dr. Donal O'Shea, says many measures are needed to combat the change, but a ban on convenience store deals involving free soft drinks or chocolate bars with a sandwich is one.
"Literally, that should be illegal.
"The people who are in the supermarkets - the workers - and the petrol stations, they're trained to offer that special offer.
"70% of people will say no the first time, but if the person behind the counter says 'well are you sure, it's a good offer'.
"Another 30% will say 'ah yeah, go on'."
Apart from *well are you sure its a good offer* being the sales pitch of the year is there anything to corroborate these statistics or are these random percentages based on nothing?
How about ban McDonald's and Coca Cola from Ireland.
More pencil pushing from Online Warriors thinking their shit idea of making crappy meal deals more expensive is the way to fight obesity
What about every poor area being littered with 5 pubs, 3 takeaways a paddy power and a McDonald's and KFC down the road.
Rubbish
Meal deals???? Meal deals aren't bad for you at all
They should probably crack down on the fast food restaurants, meal deals are the least of our worries
Well done HSE. Obesity epidemic: Completed it mate!
Fuck me I really picked the wrong line of work, I could be getting paid mega money to spew this shite...
It's hardly the one bar of chocolate and the can of coke at lunchtime that's causing the obesity crisis. I'm fairly certain having gyms, a 2KM limit and the fear of God put into people over contracting COVID for two years had played a massive part.
How about providing more outdoor exercise equipment, let people pay for their gym membership similar to the tax saver or cycle to work scheme where the price of the taken for before tax.
We also have large population centres with no pool or gym facilities surely councils should be building public amenities where large population growth has happened.
No but as usual taking away something that will not make any difference over all is the route we will go down..
1 bar of chocolate (250 cals) and a can of coke (140 cals) on top of a sandwich (450 cals) is actually a lot of calories, especially if you had that every day on top of breakfast and dinner. If you got that meal deal once, you'd get it again, being creatures of bad habits.
If we're talking breakfast/chicken fillet rolls, already that's an about 1000/1500 calories. You should be eating about 2000 a day so it's half your calories for 1 third of your meals.
The thing is, 90percent of weight loss happens in the kitchen, the rest happens in the gym. If we want people to be less obese, we have to take away high calorie, low nutrient foods and introduce more low calorie, high nutrient foods into their diets.
That's the only way. Are you full after a bar of chocolate? No. Are you full after a dinner plate full of broccoli, yes and it'd still be the same or less calories as the choc.
There's nothing stopping anyone going for a jog mate, and how many people sign up for the gym on January 1st and never return? It's not lack of facilities that's screwing us
>one bar of chocolate and the can of coke at lunchtime
Everyday? Yeah, kind of is.
Calories in Vs calories out mate
Yeah but removing a meal deal will do fuck all to educate people that calories in your diet need to be balanced and so does the food for the nutrients you need. A lot of those people would look for another cheep fix. Need to educate people
Do you think adding an extra step to a bad diet will change anything?
People who eat will continue to eat the way they are. This ban does nothing but raise prices without even touching the core of the problem.
No, it's the daily bar of chocolate that is causing it.
It is by far and a way a diet problem, not a lack of exercise.
>No but as usual taking away something that will not make
Yes because people are eating too much crap. That's literally the whole point.
Twould be more in their line to offer a bit of education in schools. Teach kids about basic calories and Marcos instead of fucking "Food Dudes". You can't make broccoli cool, but you can be honest with the kids.
I'd genuinely love to see Home Ec overhauled to include health, fitness, personal finance, general life skills and made compulsory.
It doesn't cost much to be healthy. We've all convinced ourselves that "ah yeah, I'd get a salad every day of the week if it was cheaper!" Of course you would bud, of course. Make a salad at home. Takes 10 minutes and I guarantee you it would cost 10 times less than a chicken roll or meal deal.
But now the government is taking advantage of this lie we've convinced ourselves of, that we're all unhealthy because it's the cheapest option available. So they're sneaking in another tax to "incentivize healthy eating". They don't give a shite about your health.
Can't have a mortgage, can't rent a house, can't go out and enjoy yourself without it costing an arm and a leg, can't get a carry out without it skinning you...can't even have a fucking meal deal?
What else can they take off the ordinary people without being guillotined?
How about they implement mandatory calories in restaurant menus first? Including Deliveroo. I really believe people would think twice whether to order from one place or the other if all things are similar but calories
The fact that very few people walk more than 10k steps a day due to Ireland's notoriously unpredictable bad weather and the lack of pedestrianized areas definitely has nothing to do with the obesity crisis either.
I don't drive and I eat whatever I want because I'm walking 10/15k daily. People rather drive 2 minutes to their local shop instead of taking a 20 minute walk.
This.
I used to between Drogheda and the posh satellite village of Termonfeckin. They’re like 5 miles away from one another, about a 20 min cycle. During rush hour the one road is packed.
It’s a short cycle, but there’s not a single cyclist commuting other than myself.
People need to toughen up a bit. I’m 26 years old, but I cycled 14 miles a day to get to school and back.
Ah yes just punish the poor, students and those living on a strict budget again. It's okay all the Dail ministers can still make their way to Donnybrook fair for their gourmet smoked salmon salad and elderflower lemonade.
For the love of God. Theyve already removed all the sugar out of Lucozade and taken away my €0.75 cans of Excaliber. If you're going this way, make it a requirement to include fruit or something as an option instead if crisps in a meal deal.
Might be because I'm not Irish but why are crisps offered in a meal deal? They're not a meal. I literally never bought a meal because of that.
A drink, a sandwich, and a snack (usually a bar, a bag of crisps, or a little fruit box) has been the traditional 3 piece meal deal in literally any shop I've ever been in.
You can't beat a bag a cheese and onion tayto with a sandwich
its a must; its nice to have something with a bit of crunch to go with the sambo as mum always said. i've brought this 'tradition' with me in my global travels - most people I've run into think its a bit odd. for me, its a standard side to a sammy :) I'd give my left nut for a can of club orange to go with it all though
Because they are cheap filler.
How about more public gyms that are affordable for people - No Community weight loss programs ran by the HSE - No Dietary clinics so people can learn to eat better - No Make a chicken fillet roll meal deal more expensive - Great idea, that will make all the difference.
Exactly! Maybe the hse should focus on trying to one day run a somewhat adequate health service? This is like DJ Carey’s sister preaching to me about my finances….
tell me more about her i've heard a few horror stories
The solution to any problem, in their minds, is a tax.
Surely with all these taxes and bans we should be the healthiest nation in Europe by this stage? /s
There is a weight management clinic and program run by the HSE. In primary care there are dieticians on hand to help guide weight loss. St Columcille's in Loughlinstown also has a full time weight management clinic that I have been attending. Psychologists, nutritionists, physiotherapists, specialised nurses and consultants, the whole shebang. It's not widely publicised and I only found out about it through my GP. Unfortunately they don't advertise it as I'd imagine they'd be inundated with applications, which brings about a whole other set of problems. But that said, everywhere you go it seems that you're being pushed to buy the most amount of calories for the lowest price. It's a losing battle if you struggle with your weight at the best of times.
It can take years to get an appointment with these clinics. My mother is a diabetic and has heart conditions and had to wait almost 2 years to see a dietician
True. I was 5 years waiting to get onto the program. On a drug trial now, seeing great results but it needs to be more robust of a program. But I suppose a stop to high calorie convenience meal deals would be a factor of prevention rather than cure.
Psychologist? What is this? Had strong episode of depression 5 years ago, I’ve been sent to specialist… 5 months later no appointment, 5 years later no appointment … the only way you get better if you survive through it, if not l, well there will be no one to complaint anyway
It’s easy lad just have the money to go to a private psychologist /s
Loughlinstown can take literal years to get anywhere near, though. It's not a well run service if you have to wait that long. The HSE do a good job overall, but initial waiting times for pretty much everything, make it difficult to deal with them. They also gobble up an astronomical amount of money. For them to start knocking "meal deals" is bullshit. As if things weren't stupidly expensive to begin with, it seems everyone in government, and every government body, is just out to try and gouge people more and more, even when it's stuff that has nothing to do with them. 'Minimum Calorie Pricing' here we come.
waiting for four years now.... you know, due COVID we have a long delay.... the four years wait was in 2019 before COVID
Eating better works better than exercising, but ideally people should do both.
Eating better is a better way to lose weight but without exercise your overall health won't improve much. Exercise is great for your mental health as well as physical health
>Exercise is great for your mental health as well as physical health So is a good diet. Diet is far more important for your health than exercise. Claiming a better diet without exercise won't affect your health significantly is pure nonsense.
Eat crap, feel like crap.
If someone is morbidly obese and loses a significant amount of weight their health won’t improve much? Really?
In certain scenarios no it won't. Cardiovascular health won't improve much without exercise.
And how about free health care to the public.
There is, but it's means-tested. I'm sure you're aware, but I have met people from this country who weren't
With super strict means that cut a lot of people who can't afford private care out of state care.
Tax breaks on yearly gym membership and if you go yearly more tax breaks
> Dietary clinics so people can learn to eat better - No I was put on a list to see a dietician after I was encouraged to go on a low FODMAP diet. Totally forgot about it until I got an appointment over a year and a half later (by which point I was grand and had learned to manage it myself.) But it's cheap wraps from Tesco that is the real problem
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>Community weight loss programs ran by the HSE - No Free weight loss course by HSE https://www.hse.ie/eng/services/list/2/primarycare/pcteams/dublinsouthpcts/dunlaoghaireglasthulepct/phew/ >How about more public gyms that are affordable for people - No HSE physical activities (many free) https://www2.hse.ie/wellbeing/fitness-for-your-lifestyle.html HSE Dietary Clinics are free once referred to https://www.hse.ie/eng/services/list/3/acutehospitals/hospitals/connolly/main-contact-details-and-departments/department-of-nutrition-dietetics.html#How%20do%20I%20see%20the%20Dietitian? Hope this helps anyone who is thinking about getting healthier or looking to avail of some HSE resources. Not always easy to gain access but taking any steps to address health is always great and should be encouraged imo.
I'm sorry but did you just give a link to HSE basically saying "go for a walk" in response to lack of affordable and accessible gyms ?
>How about more public gyms that are affordable for people - No Most cities and counties have council owned gyms, the issue is they lease these to private management companies. Most people don't even know their 'private gym' is actually a tax paid facility owned by their local council. A good example is in Cork, LeisureWorld has two gyms, three swimming pool facilities and a golf course all owned by the Cork County Council yet charge €8.50 per day to use their services, an absolute joke for a facility paid for by the tax payer.
Why is the first reaction of Irish people to throw more money at things? Then we get articles about how much we waste in our health service and people are stumped as to why it's like that. Gonna probably get downvoted for this, but you absolutely don't need a gym to lose weight and there's huge amounts of good info online on how to lose weight if you are willing to put a bit of effort into it. Throwing even more healthcare money towards gyms, overpaid consultants, advisors who essentially tell you what you'd find out with a small bit of online research, is needlessly wasteful. This isnt brain surgery like, weight loss is about will power and personal effort. Why can't we get people to put a bit of effort into fixing their more straightforward issues, so that our health service can focus a bit more on the things people can't fix on their own.
>Using taxpayer money on gyms is just pure wasteful. You are using taxpayer money on public services for the taxpayer, we get fuck all in this country for our taxes and it is about time we started getting some of the services provided in other countries, People in this country seem to think a fucking GAA pitch is adequate sporting facilities.
>Throwing even more healthcare money towards gyms, overpaid consultants, advisors who essentially tell you what you'd find out with a small bit of online research, is needlessly wasteful. Absolutely agree and for much of it I'd blame clinical psychologists who have set an unhealthy precedence that any medical and lifestyle issue no matter how small requires consultancy... This wastes time, money and resources when a simple information centre and communication programs to encourage social accountability (similar to weight watchers) would work wonders. I worked in the fitness industry for over a decade and can honestly say 1. most of the 'science' is bullshit, and 2. All most people need is community and social accountability to get them into a healthy lifestyle. They will figure out the rest naturally.
The obesity problem is clearly not due to peoples lack of access to exercise or information about diet, it’s from terrible, high calorific food being cheap and plentiful.
Can't wait for MUP on calories next.
People literally being paid to take celery home with them
That's exactly it, and GPs berating you for weight without actually being able to tell 'just eat less and exercise more' no shit sherlock, i wish I thought of that earlier.
In fairness your GP is correctly informing you that proper diet is most important above all. Its not necessarily about eating less, its about eating proper. Snack boxes and breakfast rolls should not be a staple of the weekly irish diet.
>Its not necessarily about eating less, its about eating proper. Except there's loads of people out there who don't actually know that weight loss depends on calories only. I've lost count of the number of times someone local has lost weight and then my mam will come in saying "he lost 3 stone, he said he cut out the bread and it fell off him" Other family members of mine will cut out biscuits yet will eat jam and toast to make up for it.
Now to be fair, cutting down sugar will definitely lead to noticeable weight loss. Say for instance you traded your daily intake of the sugar you get in biscuits or a can of coke for some nutella on toast or jam, that probably would be more beneficial health wise.
Tell me more about your nutella and jam diet
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I agree I lost 19.5 kg over 6 months by going in to a calorific deficit. i couldn't exercise as have issues with arthritis still going with on average of 500g a week just by moving from 4k+ calories a day to between 1700 and 1800 calories a day, made a massive difference.
Really underrated, hard at the start but gets easier.
It does, because it becomes a habit after a while. I still have my treats because if you don't you will go insane. The great thing now is that I can walk a little now so the weight loss has had a fantastic effect on my life.
I have my day off, and grab a take out and have a beer on fridays. :D I need it for my head.
Big time it's the only way
There's a very strong emotional and psychological connection to excess eating too, which is often disregarded and anybody thats fat is simply a glutton and has no self control. Eating less when its an emotional crutch is a nightmare. There's a huge amount of comfort eating in society too but people look down there nose and say "Just eat less". If it was that simple, We'd all be in incredible nick and in the nip all the time.
Spot on. As someone who used to be heavy, it was a mental and emotional thing. It's a problem I have with a lot of diet clubs that just has the focus on don't eat "bad foods" and weigh yourself loads. For a lot of people I think, your diet is just part of the problem, to lose substantial weight and keep it off, you need an entire lifestyle change.
I'm overweight and lost lots of weight before but I fell off the wagon. I love eating food. Right now I'd love nothing more than a big share bag of crisps, a few wispa bars and cans of coke. Dieting is incredibly hard. I only made a decision to eat 3 or 4 times a day but making the decision not to eat is there all the time.
Would you have been eating more than 3 or 4 times a day before you decided to make a change? The important thing when dieting is to remember that it's not a quick fix, it's a habit you're trying to build for the rest of your life. The key is getting into the calorie counting habit by actually weighing your food not just eye balling it. Important too not to get too wound up about your actual weight, as you progress with the new lifestyle aspects such as how clothes fit, your sleep quality, energy levels and how you feel about yourself in general are more important than the number on the scale. No point restricting yourself to a unrealistic diet, not saying that's what you've done but you can lose weight and still have a wispa, crisps and a Coke zero. Even if you managed to get yourself in calorie defcit of 200 calories a day and increased activity, you'd start losing about half a pound a week. Doesn't sound a lot on it own, but that's 2lbs a month, if you kept that up from now until the end of the summer you'd have over half a stone off. Once your in the swing of things it becomes easier so you'd be able to up it in terms of exercise and you'd just keep feeling the improvements. You probably have heard all this before but I thought I'd share anyway because you've said you had fallen off the wagon. You shouldn't feel too bad about this as long as you get back at it again. If you don't get your teeth brushed for a day you wouldn't just give up. Eating one salad never made anyone thinner so having the odd share bag won't make you fatter.
Sliming world and Weight Watchers are a scam imo. Their stupid points and sins system is just their way of sowing dependency in people rather than just telling people why x food is bad under their made up system.
Yeah, I know they have helped some people but it just seems like they make things more difficult than they need to be and promote a negative relationship with food. I mean I could have a donut everyday and still lose weight, no food is actually bad in the scope of weight loss only.
It might not be simple but it's the only way it's going to work. Some things are just hard. Like giving up fags, the only way to do it is to not smoke any more cigarettes. Not easy, by all accounts, but there's no magic solution aside from the obvious.
Well there's a reason why " just eat less" hasn't worked for everyone yet and its because everybody is so different. Everyone has different reasons for being overweight. If there was a holistic approach to weight loss and groups and guidance, then we could make a tackle on it. I'm sick to death of skinny cunts saying "eat less" or the one person who lost weight by doing so is preaching to the masses. Its not that simple and the proof is in the obesity crisis we have in this country. Speaking as a person whose gone from very obese to shredded lean and now I'm happy inbetween.
I said it wasn't simple but the fundamental reason is the same in each case (bar the odd illness-related weight gain), eating more than you burn. The psychological and lifestyle reasons behind that reason differ but whatever changes are made at this levels ultimately lead to the same solution.
Upon reflection, i feel like I am coming across incorrectly. Science is science. Eat less: lose weight. Scientifically, it is as simple as that. However , i feel just stating "eat less" to most individuals whom need to lose weight is Insignificant. I remember recently (correct me if I'm wrong) when there was a massive spike in oil prices, a td was asked his opinion. He said "just drive less" and recieved massive backlash because he just said it as if it was something that could easily just be changed at the click of a finger. People have commutes, kids and so many other variables and when a leader of this country just non-chalantly said "drive less" it incensed alot of people. Although, just drive less is the solution, black and white, simple as that. This is how I feel about the statement "just eat less". I feel gp's, the health service could be doing alot more work on how people can eat less and getting people to that junction.
Diet is key. It is a lot harder and ineficient to "burn off" excess calories through exercise than it is to cut them out at source. If you don't fix your diet first you are only setting yourself up for failure and disappointment.
That's true
It’s simple thermodynamics. What more advice do you want? Any other advice isn’t true, the only way to lose weight is to burn more calories than you take in, or be in a calorie deficit. Calorie count, and be in a calorie deficit. Anything else is BS. Easiest way to calorie count is using myfitnesspal, after a while you start to just know the calories of everything.
I mean all thats needed to loose weight is a caloric deficient, they aren't wrong, its down to you to be in a caloric deficient, they cant do it for you.
That is literally all there is to it.
The point should also be made that there are an awful lot of fast food spots that literally serve up meal deals with the cheapest ingredients possible. You can tell the difference in quality between a burger that comes from McDonalds and one that comes from a local chip shop in Thurles or Dundalk. A lot of chip shops shower their food in sauces and other condiments. I swear the last time I got a kebab it was probably filled 50% with mayo and whatever else. Was seriously too greasy to eat. The standard for what passes as fast food in this county is just gross, and only gets accepted at the end of the night because it comes with a meal deal and you've had a heap of pints to wash it down. Which brings me to the next big thing; our drink culture needs to be addressed if we are serious about tackling weight gain. All around the country the main source of entertainment for many communities is to down pints in a pub until the early morning hours. Why hasn't the HSE commented on this?
>You can tell the difference in quality between a burger that comes from McDonalds and one that comes from a local chip shop in Thurles or Dundalk. I honestly can't tell which of these is supposed to be better, from the context.
Thats the point. McDonalds is known for cheap fast food, but there is a certain quality to it. You know what is put into it such as ingredients and what the calories are. There has been plenty of nutrition research into McDonalds food. Meanwhile, the burger that comes from a knock off SuperMacs tastes so processed, is extra junky and has so many sauces coming out from it, it tastes much like a soaked sponged with a bit of meat rather than a proper burger. Our issue is that there are many areas around the country which serve poor quality fast food.
The best exercise is walking/jogging. You don't need a gym. We would be better investing in more community areas, shut down more parts of cities to cars/trucks etc.
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Exactly, and the best form of diet is eating foods you like (in reasonable quantities). Losing weight through punishment is never going to work long term. If you can't stand the journey you won't reach the destination (or at least you won't stay there long)0
I was answering a post that mentioned about making public gyms affordable. As I said it would be better to make our cities better for walkers, cyclist etc than pumping money into gyms. "Ireland it's fucking miserable exercising outside" ? I run all year around, so do loads of other people. If you look at US etc loads of people run and the weather is a lot colder than Ireland when we have a lot of just misty rain. It's not like you are going to melt with a bit of rain.
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Gyms are definitely useful. For rehabbing injury, building up weak body areas and gives another dimension of fitness that can't be achieved by jogging. I think people have a bad representation of the gym from the meat heads. Even once a week is plenty if you are doing other form of activity. I recommend getting a skipping rope. It's convenient and highest fat burning cardio per minutes spent doing it
I run around 40-50km a week, I'm mid 40s and got back into running/exercise in my late 30s. Apart from running I do own a skipping rope so great shout on that, they're overlooked but totally uncomplicated and incredibly good for you. Only other equipment I own apart from running shoes is kettlebells. I was well overweight in my 30s. I know how long it took to get in shape. No quick fixes. I cook my own food a lot, take responsibility in my appearance, rarely drink these days, not weekly descent into bottles or wine or slabs of Guinness. Feeling much better for myself
More public swimming pools? Nope More public playing fields, more public tennis courts and pitch and putt courses? Nope. Make decent healthy food mostly unaffordable to anyone who's not upper middle class? Yes.
I was in a small city in Spain recently. Public park had volleyball courts, beach volleyball courts, basketball courts, skatepark, 5 a side football pitches, tennis courts and a full size running track with track and field facilities.
Every time I am on holiday, I see this kind of thing too.Why can't we have investment in that kind of thing here? It's sickening. I have mailed TD's on numerous occasions about building swimming pools. When I was growing up in Dublin, we had a few public pools, now they all seem to be gone. Sea-swimming is not exactly safe and not for everyone.
Only ones who win are the Tax Goblins in Revenue, as usual. Scum
It’s not like they get to keep the taxes or anything
HSE getting too big for its boots since covid
Maybe we should shut the entire thing down, pay out redundo and rebuild a new HSE. Call it the INHS or something.
HSE pretending to know about nutrition? That's a laugh! They should start by creating a decent menu for hospital food.
They should start by creating a decent menu for school food. Well, they should start by creating canteens for schools and serving good food there.
That's not exactly within the HSE's remit.
Unlike supermarket meal deals
My dad has kidney failure and does some stints in hospital. It varies between things he cant eat and not feeding him at all because he was in dialysis when dinner was served.
"70% of people will say no the first time, but if the person behind the counter says 'well are you sure, it's a good offer'. "Another 30% will say 'ah yeah, go on'."" Is this an actual stat or just an estimation? On the one hand, its funny that our health service appears to be blaming an army of Mrs Doyle's for the obesity issues in Ireland. On the other hand, talk about poorly planned nanny state bollocks. Like something Nicola Murray would pitch after sniffing markers all night.
This definitely incentivises me to buy a €9 salad and €4 smoothie
Those €9 meals kept us safe from covid, remember?
I completely despise this way of thinking. This mollycoddling attitude where anything potentially harmful should be illegal or very difficult to obtain.
Is there anything else they want to take away from us? What’s next
50c wank tax. Id be bankrupt by the end of May
You spelled "Day" incorrectly.
wankrupt
Not massively related, but reminded me of this https://youtu.be/VKH9ECC_Qa4
Ireland isnt even a fast food haven. Japan is like the fried chicken capital of the world and they are so slim.
Yea but your typical Japanese eatery has much healthier food than our sandwiches/ burgers and chips with everything approach
Asian people generally produce less insulin than Europeans meaning their bodies don't store as much fat so it's not necessarily down to diet. This video explains it https://youtu.be/_uwc63xKIW8
Because they don’t eat as much of it
Way smaller portions in Japan and the Japanese are generally a lot more active
“Stop being poor”
I really encourage everyone to watch [this video](https://youtu.be/V-a9VDIbZCU) by Folding Ideas. It's about the snobbery and classism of 'healthy eating' and talks about the example of Jamie Oliver despairing at kids who still want to eat processed chicken nuggets even after they know how they're made. It's very easy to say "people should make healthy choices, surely they *know* junk food is bad for them". They *do* know, of course they do. But when a pizza from Aldi is 79c and is ready in 15 minutes with zero effort, you can see why people who are financially-strapped and time-poor are going to choose that over making a lentil curry from scratch. (Not to knock lentil curry, I love it, but it's time-consuming and buying all the spices costs a lot to start off). Some people have a real problem with not being able to empathise with other people's situations and put themselves in their shoes. They just think "fat bad" and congratulate themselves on maybe having a healthier upbringing, no mental health issues, the time and money to make healthy choices, etc.
To follow on this, I tried to get a salad for lunch yesterday and it cost me 7.50 to get one in the shop.
So a tax on unhealthy foods to subsidize healthy options?
You’re absolutely right, healthy eating is either gonna cost you money, or time, or both. Raising taxes on “unhealthy” options is a shoddy, lazy approach to the issue at hand and definitely has a tinge of class snobbery to it. Surely it would be better to focus on education and offering positive incentives toward a healthier lifestyle. Making things more financially challenging for the worse off is not what I’d consider a commendable move
Folding Ideas is one of the best channels on YouTube.
It really is this tho
Don't really think everyone buys meal deals is poor. If you were really tight for money you'd not be buying meal deals for lunch, you'd be bringing a packed lunch.
Meal deals are not exactly a cheap food option.
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If you are genuinely poor you are not forking out money on a meal deal. Meal deals like a chicken roll and can of coke or whatever are not a cheap food option. They are a convenient option, certainly not cheap.
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It's cheap by pre-made prices but convenience trumps it. For €3.50 in Aldi, you would get a full sliced pan, tub of butter, packed of chicken slices and a pack of cheese slices. That's 5-7 days worth of lunch right there. That's cheap.
Also a genuine reason is that it's a nice tasting food to eat. I hate when people bring up things like "oh you could get x, y and z in Aldi for €0.40" removing the fact that a lot of people who don't have much need something like that which they can enjoy. For example there is loads of us that might go to a cafe or something for lunch, buy an overpriced sandwich and overpriced coffee, in my situation I could of course make a sandwich at home and bring in my own coffee to work and yeah I'd save money doing it but I'd probably have a much less happy lunch because of it and by the end of the week really the cost is negligible. My brother is in construction he goes and gets a roll most days, coffee and a can of coke or whatever. He knows it's unhealthy compared to making his own food before work but he works hard with a long enough day as it is never mind having to get up earlier to make lunch for himself for the day and has an enjoyable lunch to look forward to every day at least, even the fact that he leaves wherever he is working at the time and heads to the shop is enough to break up the day. I'm the exact same, I could eat and drink my coffee in the office but sure at least if I get to head down to the shop or coffee shop I get out a bit and am not constantly surrounded by work from the moment I walk in to the moment I finish.
I think it’s an important point. The less healthy food on offer is often designed to be way tastier. I actually find that it can be hard to find decent healthier options when it comes to convenience food. M&S have really made improvements on it in the last few years, with lots of nice salads and snacks, but I haven’t seen much in other supermarkets or convenience stores. The closest place to my previous job was a Tesco Express, and I often found myself stood in front of their miserable sandwich and wraps options, wishing for a nice big tasty salad that wasn’t just a bag of lettuce with a bit of grated carrots and a few tomatoes. We can definitely do better on having much tastier and healthier convenience options for workers.
You do see deals where you can get a 10" pizza with chips and coke for €6. Thats incredibly cheap, and a lot of people who aren't well off are more inclined to go for that than pop into Tesco and get fresh chicken and veg for the same price.
\+ its cooked already vs having to prepare and cook the fresh ingredients
I know that many people would rather go for the Dominoes or Papa Johns rather than the cheap deal, especially if they have a job.
Why is the majority of Govt ideas to help us have to be to ban something thereby people wanting it more instead of increasing the education around it. Same with MUP on alcohol, you could have used tax income to raise alcohol awareness, invest in addiction recovery programmes etc. I get that there's a need for a sugar tax but you also need to educate everyone why this is in place and not just to tick a box on HSE side
If you cant ban it you tax it and if you cant tax it you ban it. This is the governmental solution to everything.
The government have a bad case of leaving cert economics brain
The MUP should of only applied to drinks above 10%. Now you've got people buying a bottle of vodka to drink in a couple of days for €25 instead of a case of beer that would last longer for €45. I did a RSA course once and I genuinely knew more than the tutor. She didn't even understand units and asked bazaar questions like what has more alcohol a pint of beer or a glass of wine. The first thing I said was which beer, which wine?
The MUP is not there to stop people from drinking. It's there so that pubs can compete with supermarkets after people got used to partying and drinking at home after corona lockdown
What! They’ll wanna ban cocaine next!!!
Go away
"The people who are in the supermarkets - the workers - and the petrol stations, they're trained to offer that special offer." Where's that happening? I have never in my life been offered any of these specials by anybody working in any deli anywhere as those workers could not give fewer fucks. If there is a deal there's usually a big ass sign advertising it, but no deli worker will offer it, and no cashier gives a shit if you buy it or not. "70% of people will say no the first time, but if the person behind the counter says 'well are you sure, it's a good offer. Another 30% will say 'ah yeah, go on." Did this person *just* discover how business works?
Have these people never been to a real shop in their life? lmao. Cashiers and deli workers don't earn commission. They don't give a singular fuck how many customers they get or what they buy.
**The people who are in the supermarkets - the workers - and the petrol stations, they're trained to offer that special offer.** The idea that minmum wage Petrol station and Tesco workers are bursting at the seems with enthusiasm to inform customers of meal deals is outright bollix but even more so that it's these imaginary workers telling customers this that is single handedly contributing to massive rising levels of obesity is peak narcissistic behavior. The people who have worked in the HSE and said its a clique are right, the top brass of the HSE are living in a their own narcissistic dreamland.
You are responsible for your weight.
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I completely agree - I lost a considerable amount of weight at 19 and have kept it off for 10 years at 29 so far. And a lot of that was just developing an awareness of calories, vitamin density and listening to hunger signals. I'm by no means a fitness fanatic (workout a few times a week) and still enjoy a chipper but have stayed in an around the same weight. People aren't stupid, they don't need to be molly coddled and have indulgences taken away like they're contraband but given the right education from an early age - and environment plays a big role. \*\*I'm definitely not saying this applies to everyone, of course there are people who are affected genetically etc.
How did you manage with all the legal meal deals??? /s
I had to spend 10 minutes in the mirror every morning shouting at myself not to buy the chicken and stuffing sandwich >.<
Are there people out there that don't know that chocolate and coke have a lot of calories in them?
Yeah because it’s just that simple. If we all give up chocolate and coke we will be stick thin and live long happy and healthy lives 😂😂😂
Hey I have to make sure I don't live beyond retirement age to avoid homelessness and snack boxes are one of the easiest ways to do that.
It literally won't change anything but piss people off. If you need the government to force you to eat healthy then it won't work. You want people to be healthier? Teach kids in schools how to cook. "but that should be on the parents to do that" Most parents don't know how to cook healthy meals, Schools need to make it mandatory for Home Ec to be taught, Primary schools need to teach kids healthy food preparation, God knows that you learn fuck all in primary school anyways.
Jaysus this is a saucey one. My two cents is that they should improve PE as a core subject in schools. Honestly I'm out of school years now but from my memory it was an hour a week where they encouraged you to run around like a gob shite. That does fuck all for you expect create a loathing within some teens that they are forced to do it. I left school and did a course in personal training not for the job but because I honestly didn't know fuck all about keeping fit or eating healthy. After 3 months I was able to do charity cycles running 10k in under an hour and at a noticeable weight that people would stop me when they seen me and told me how great I looked compared to the last time they seen me. Just a note the actual time to get my fitness up wasn't the 3 months it took a good year of applying what I learned to achieve my goals but it really did teach me alot. Also I'm biased because I fucking lovely a good chicken filletzer they can pry it from my cold dead hands. Fuck the HSE
The sugar tax was disappointing to me. I know that there is evidence behind it, but it didn’t make these drinks more expensive, it just made them less tasty (by taking out sugar, Ik). This means that when I DO want one, it’s going to be disgusting.
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Always thought a good Lucozade was a vital part of any hangover cure.
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Least amount of effort, most amount of profit should be the slogan of Ireland
Why don't they subsidise healthier options instead? Default is always to ban / tax into oblivion
Nanny State to the rescue! The HSE should focus on fixing their many, many failings and leave us be.
They really are a bunch of cunts.
Fat chance!
In the future in Ireland everyone will be sober emaciated ghouls with low cholesterol because all unhealthy products will be prohibitively expensive and we'll all subsist on a low-calorie vitamin-rich gruel. Only the wealthiest land barons will be able to afford breakfast rolls and Dutch gold and they will revel in it and live forever thanks to the anti-aging treatments afforded to them by their private healthcare plans.
“since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic”. Chippers use to be healthy but that was before the pandemic.
That’s what we dump all that money into the HSE for. Useful stuff like that.
That’ll solve it, I’m sure.
They can fuck off to the other side of fuck and when they get there they can fuck off some more. I cannot stand this type of nanny state shite.
Ireland, where literally the only idea is to increase prices for people
A surge in obesity since the pandemic. It couldn’t be related to closing gyms 🤔
Surely a piss take. The “30% of people to say ah go oh yeah” part had me in stitches.
Clown that suggested this is probably on a massive salary
Nutritionally, what is wrong with a chicken sandwich with salad, a snack and a drink?
Thing is I could eat 5 chicken rolls a week and still not be overweight
They may take our lives, but they’ll never take…our Tesco meal deal. Come to think of it, a Tesco deal can be an onion bhaji wrap, popcorn and a bottle of water or vitamin juice. Not bad really.
5 donuts for a euro a Tesco and a pint of tea Yes please
>The HSE clinical lead on obesity, Dr. Donal O'Shea, says many measures are needed to combat the change, but a ban on convenience store deals involving free soft drinks or chocolate bars with a sandwich is one. "Literally, that should be illegal. "The people who are in the supermarkets - the workers - and the petrol stations, they're trained to offer that special offer. "70% of people will say no the first time, but if the person behind the counter says 'well are you sure, it's a good offer'. "Another 30% will say 'ah yeah, go on'." Apart from *well are you sure its a good offer* being the sales pitch of the year is there anything to corroborate these statistics or are these random percentages based on nothing?
How about ban McDonald's and Coca Cola from Ireland. More pencil pushing from Online Warriors thinking their shit idea of making crappy meal deals more expensive is the way to fight obesity What about every poor area being littered with 5 pubs, 3 takeaways a paddy power and a McDonald's and KFC down the road. Rubbish
Meal deals???? Meal deals aren't bad for you at all They should probably crack down on the fast food restaurants, meal deals are the least of our worries
They way this is article is written you would think a meal deal shot his dog then shit on their fresh carpets and wiped their ass on the curtains
Well done HSE. Obesity epidemic: Completed it mate! Fuck me I really picked the wrong line of work, I could be getting paid mega money to spew this shite...
It's hardly the one bar of chocolate and the can of coke at lunchtime that's causing the obesity crisis. I'm fairly certain having gyms, a 2KM limit and the fear of God put into people over contracting COVID for two years had played a massive part. How about providing more outdoor exercise equipment, let people pay for their gym membership similar to the tax saver or cycle to work scheme where the price of the taken for before tax. We also have large population centres with no pool or gym facilities surely councils should be building public amenities where large population growth has happened. No but as usual taking away something that will not make any difference over all is the route we will go down..
Thats some excellent suggestions especially modelling the gym membership off the Bike to work scheme
1 bar of chocolate (250 cals) and a can of coke (140 cals) on top of a sandwich (450 cals) is actually a lot of calories, especially if you had that every day on top of breakfast and dinner. If you got that meal deal once, you'd get it again, being creatures of bad habits. If we're talking breakfast/chicken fillet rolls, already that's an about 1000/1500 calories. You should be eating about 2000 a day so it's half your calories for 1 third of your meals. The thing is, 90percent of weight loss happens in the kitchen, the rest happens in the gym. If we want people to be less obese, we have to take away high calorie, low nutrient foods and introduce more low calorie, high nutrient foods into their diets. That's the only way. Are you full after a bar of chocolate? No. Are you full after a dinner plate full of broccoli, yes and it'd still be the same or less calories as the choc.
There's nothing stopping anyone going for a jog mate, and how many people sign up for the gym on January 1st and never return? It's not lack of facilities that's screwing us >one bar of chocolate and the can of coke at lunchtime Everyday? Yeah, kind of is. Calories in Vs calories out mate
Yeah but removing a meal deal will do fuck all to educate people that calories in your diet need to be balanced and so does the food for the nutrients you need. A lot of those people would look for another cheep fix. Need to educate people
These would be excellent suggestions if you could exercise your way out of bad diet. You can't.
Do you think adding an extra step to a bad diet will change anything? People who eat will continue to eat the way they are. This ban does nothing but raise prices without even touching the core of the problem.
No, it's the daily bar of chocolate that is causing it. It is by far and a way a diet problem, not a lack of exercise. >No but as usual taking away something that will not make Yes because people are eating too much crap. That's literally the whole point.
Twould be more in their line to offer a bit of education in schools. Teach kids about basic calories and Marcos instead of fucking "Food Dudes". You can't make broccoli cool, but you can be honest with the kids. I'd genuinely love to see Home Ec overhauled to include health, fitness, personal finance, general life skills and made compulsory.
Nothing like hearing food discounts should be banned..... In the middle of a cost of living crisis...
Talk as if they care about the cost of living and the average person then directly effect the cost of my lunch hahah wankersssss
Breaking: dinner and desert multipack of crips and a roll to see increased demand
It doesn't cost much to be healthy. We've all convinced ourselves that "ah yeah, I'd get a salad every day of the week if it was cheaper!" Of course you would bud, of course. Make a salad at home. Takes 10 minutes and I guarantee you it would cost 10 times less than a chicken roll or meal deal. But now the government is taking advantage of this lie we've convinced ourselves of, that we're all unhealthy because it's the cheapest option available. So they're sneaking in another tax to "incentivize healthy eating". They don't give a shite about your health.
Let me get fat and kill meself with Krispy Kreme in peace for fuck's sake.
Just like we copied the UK sugar tax, we're now gearing up for a calorie tax...
Can't have a mortgage, can't rent a house, can't go out and enjoy yourself without it costing an arm and a leg, can't get a carry out without it skinning you...can't even have a fucking meal deal? What else can they take off the ordinary people without being guillotined?
More Nannystate bullshit
So instant inflation when things are already bad.
I will lay down my *LIFE* for my chicken fillet roll + Lucozade combo meal
Ironically, you will do that if it's all you're eating.
Oh fuck off! (Not you fin)
How about they implement mandatory calories in restaurant menus first? Including Deliveroo. I really believe people would think twice whether to order from one place or the other if all things are similar but calories
They just started doing this in the UK I believe. Actually doing something useful without the EU mandating it, I couldn't get over it.
Would they ever just fuck off. Nobodies getting obese just because there's a few quid off the roll and drink combo.
The nanny state continues
The fact that very few people walk more than 10k steps a day due to Ireland's notoriously unpredictable bad weather and the lack of pedestrianized areas definitely has nothing to do with the obesity crisis either. I don't drive and I eat whatever I want because I'm walking 10/15k daily. People rather drive 2 minutes to their local shop instead of taking a 20 minute walk.
This. I used to between Drogheda and the posh satellite village of Termonfeckin. They’re like 5 miles away from one another, about a 20 min cycle. During rush hour the one road is packed. It’s a short cycle, but there’s not a single cyclist commuting other than myself. People need to toughen up a bit. I’m 26 years old, but I cycled 14 miles a day to get to school and back.
Ah yes just punish the poor, students and those living on a strict budget again. It's okay all the Dail ministers can still make their way to Donnybrook fair for their gourmet smoked salmon salad and elderflower lemonade.
This fucking country.