The £100 million drop for fat bastards
Obesity is a major health issue the U.K. government has decided no longer matters post COVID
The BBC recently reported that the U.K. government has cut funding to local government for the support of programmes designed to combat obesity. The rationale is about recouping COVID costs. Let’s think about this for a moment.
When I returned to the U.K. I was called for a routine health check. I knew I was massively overweight but assumed it was genetic as all my male family members were fat.
At the time, I’d returned from the US at a period that included a punishing 55 internal flights and many events.
Event food is awful. It’s carb heavy at best and goodness knows what crap goes into the stuff they serve. Regardless, I’d piled on the pounds but laughed it off as a familial issue.
Imagine my shock when my medical team told me I was a nano second from serious heart problems and borderline Type 2 diabetic.
They suggested a programme that required me to attend group events at which they proposed what they called the Mediterranean diet. I went for four sessions that included weigh ins and food discussions. For me it was bullshit. I lived in the Med and why at was proposed was unpalatable.
A Mediterranean diet without pasta, rice or potatoes was a joke. I didn’t run the whole course but it got me to me to do one thing - it got me on a search for a diet that works.
I checked out TomKerridge’s book on the topic. It didn’t help so much and I ended up using the keto diet. I used the keto approach for two years and dropped close to 26kg. For the first time in many years I got into pants that would grace any healthy 60 something. I felt way better and all my vitals returned to normal for my age.
Today, I’m maybe 7-10lb over an ideal weight. I use keto in between intermittent fasting. The most important thing is that I try to eat the best and healthiest food I can afford.
But here’s the point. I would never have started that journey without the call to my medical practitioner or the service on offer. And who funded that? Taxpayers.
So tell me this. I know obesity kills. So how is it that the U.K. government thinks it’s OK to nuke that expenditure?