Linda Hall: Food warnings the way to go

Linda Hall

The government is considering setting an obesity target - and with facts such as these from the Health Ministry:

• New Zealand is the third most obese nation in the OECD and since 2006 our rate has increased from 27 per cent of the population to 31 per cent,

• One in three school children are obese or overweight and more than a third are inactive - it's not a bad idea.

But is it the Government's job to tell us what we should and shouldn't eat? I suppose everyone else does, so why not the Government?

There are always studies on this and research on that which say this is good for you, but this isn't. Oh, wait a minute, what we said was good for you last year is now proven to be bad for your kidneys, gallbladder, heart, lungs ...

It is confusing. However, anyone old enough to buy food knows what's good and what's not so good for you.

Everyone knows fruit and vegetables are good for you and food dripping in fat or full of sugar is not.

But it's the food in between this that is so confusing. Supermarkets are full of packaged food. Are we really making healthy choices for our families buying food with "less fat, less sugar, no added salt" all over them?

Perhaps this is where the Government needs to begin its campaign against obesity.

Make it law that food manufacturers must list all ingredients and instead of packets with big words saying what's not in these products how about big red letters with warnings such as ADDED SUGAR, or THIS PRODUCT CONTAINS 20 TEASPOONS OF SUGAR, or FULL OF PRESERVATIVES, or PLEASE DON'T ADD SALT TO ME BECAUSE I'M FULL OF IT ALREADY.

Then the rest of the ingredients should be listed in writing big enough to see at a glance.

Food experts tell us to read food labels. But let's be honest, who has the time or the inclination to read every label when they are shopping? Some of the ingredients' lists are so minute you need to take a magnifying glass to read them.

It shouldn't be that hard to shop for decent food.

This would make a big difference to how people shop. If they actually know what they are buying they can make healthier choices.

Of course it's not going to fix obesity but I believe it's a huge step in the right direction.

Helping people get to a healthy weight is a lot harder than encouraging people to stop smoking.

We can all go without cigarettes as they are not a necessity of life - food is.

Good food doesn't have to cost a fortune. I know supermarkets are handy and it's easy to just grab everything you need for the week while you are there. But Hawke's Bay is spoilt for choice when it comes to buying fresh fruit and vegetables and buying what's in season will help with the food bill. We also have some fantastic butchers and speciality food stores that are well worth taking the time to shop at.

When you think about it, we all take time to shop for clothes and shoes. We try them on, look in the mirror and ask others' opinions before we buy (well, I do, anyway).

Perhaps it's time we put as much thought into our food shopping.

• Linda Hall is assistant editor at Hawke's Bay Today.