So what's this all about? Surely there can't be a conspiracy to make us all fat? Why? Who'd do such a thing? What do they stand to stand to gain from it?
The answer for the most part is... MONEY.
There are many private sectors who stand to gain from the growing tide of obesity, many reasons the governments of the world pay lip service to health issues yet, behind closed doors, are prepared to allow themselves to benefit from the 'fat trade'.
So let's start with my declaration of having vested interests. Anyone who knows me will tell you that I am fat, technically obese. Not 'a little overweight', 'rotund', 'of a cheerful disposition' or any of the other euphemisms that political correctness seeks to use to nullify the true meaning of being overweight. These are all part of the complicity of the state (I'll explain later).
So why am I fat? Let's start with the obvious answer, "I eat too much." Err... NO! I eat 3 meals per day, have 1 healthy snack mid morning and consume no more than 3 units of alcohol per day and NEVER eat fast food. So what next? "It's genetic..." Possibly, there is certainly evidence for a genetic predisposition to carrying excess weight and having an inability to effectively metabolise fat. Ultimately though, this is trumped by the third explanation which is so blindingly obvious that when I say ot you will probably go "well, duh!"... The third explanation is "I eat the wrong things..." YES! So, I consume less than 2500 calories per day, get my 5-a-day portions, keep within my recommended alcohol guide lines yet still I am overweight. How does that work?
The answer is this. To much of my calorie intake comes from FAT. It's not something that the government will put on any widely available public health information, it's not even something that the supermarkets will tell you on the packet, but any good nutritionist will tell you that the percentage of calories that you derive from fatty sources is VITAL to maintaining or reaching a healthy weight. So when I add up my calories in a day, I'm fine... add up the fat content in those calories and I'm way over my RDA.
Everyday bought foods contain HUGE amounts of fat and the retailers try to hide it in many cases. Worse still, in other cases, they promote fatty foods or actively price them more keenly than their healthier alternatives. I'm not talking about 'junk' foods either. I'm talking about prepared meals, basic ingredients and items that we eat every day.
So how does it work? How do they get away with this? The answer is WE DONT NOTICE, or if we do, we don't comprehend what we are looking at. I will now give some examples of what I mean. I'm not naming brands or retailers - I don't plan on getting sued by anyone anytime soon, All I'll say is look for yourself next time you're shopping.
1) Scam one, declaring fat per portion on an unfeasible small portion size.
Example; A UK supermarket is selling a 250g pot of pasta salad in it's sandwich bay as a lunch time item, clearly marketed with the intention of you buying and eating the whole thing in one go. The pot is not resealable and it is even sold with a spork to eat it with.
On the label it states; fat content 30g per 1/2 pot. Hang on, PER HALF POT, the lettering is so small that you could easily miss that part. Yet I'm about to eat the WHOLE pot for lunch. What I though was 30g (1/3 RDA) is actually 60g (2/3 RDA)!
2) Scam two, higher fat = lower price
Example 1; Supermarket standard mince, £2 per pack and 18% fat (not overly healthy), Value mince £1 per pack for the same weight but now 28% fat (OUCH!) and it's not like you're going to grill it and get the fat out, that fat is coming right out into your saucepan!
Example 2; Supermarket own brand garlic bread, regularly on promotion at £1 per pack or similar promotions. By comparison, healthy garlic bread (50% lower fat content) not promoted once in the last 6 months, priced at £1.49.
So poorer people are automatically penalised and those with money often choose to buy cheaper to save money.
There are many other ways to get us to by fatty foods but these are the main ones to look out for and steer clear of.
So why do they do it? Easy, MONEY. Fat is cheaper to buy than it's alternatives. Fat has a longer storage life than than it's alternatives. The human body has the potential to be addicted to fat. Supermarkets can play on this. you buy fatty foods because they are cheap or because you don't realise you are doing so. you get addicted and then you buy some more.
The government get more money from taxing the profits of the manufacturers and retailers involved in the fat trade than they have to put into the NHS to deal with the problems of obesity. So everyone makes money out of the growing obesity problem ate every level, so there is nobody capable of challenging the system en-masse. Challenges can be made though, choosing a diet regime that counts points based on fat content and calories combined can have proven results, using your own eyes and intelligence to steer clear of the traps placed in front of you can also work. But these require will power. That little thing where you say "I will not..." but you are trying to fight with you will is an addiction. Try getting a heroin addict to go 'cold turkey' on will power alone, or an alcoholic to dry out on pure will power. IT DOES NOT WORK! (ok, there are a few exceptions to this I'm sure but as a rule of thumb...)
There have long been drugs on file that can prevent fat from being absorbed into the body, can promote fat burning to assist weight loss or help in other ways. Look at the patent books for patents from the worlds major drug companies and they are littered with drugs that are patented for these purposes. Next, check a little further and you will see that more than enough of these are licensed and approved for medical use for the purposes of weight control. But they are not available, you cannot get them on prescription, you cannot buy them if you want to go private. In fact, the miracle that is modern medicine, would rather cut people open to fit gastric bands or just cut the lumps of fat off!
I'm not seeking to provide answers here - you can provide your own. If you've got as far as reading all of this, you probably have your own thoughts on the subject. If you don't agree with what I'm saying - that's cool. All I ask is that you just LOOK when you go round the supermarket. Those foods on the isle ends, on promotion. Are they healthy foods? How much fat is in them. Judge for yourself. Read the nutrition information on what you're eating. And check the portion size that they're calculating it on. I guarantee that a 'portion' as they see it, will be far less than you were about to consume!
If you DO see what I'm saying. The answer is not easy, we all need to eat, we all need to shop at supermarkets. We can avoid the scams far as we can see them but the real change has to come in society.
Being fat is not healthy, it is not desirable, very few of us would actively choose to be overweight, yet we are deceived into eating more fat than we need to, bribed into buying unhealthy foods and the state stands back, complicit in the drive to make more and more money from what we eat, at the expense of all our health.
