Are you ready? with Leigh Elder

Last week's TV One ‘Sunday' programme was focused on taking a look at obesity and what we should be doing about it. And guess what, surprise, surprise, the fast food industry was the number one target again.

Well, we beg to differ and think we have a strong case. Why? Judge for yourself!

John Hudson interviewed the usual suspects, including Dr Robyn Toomath, who headed up the ‘Fight Against Obesity' campaign for 15 years before resigning, bemoaning the fact she got nowhere with solving the problem.

And 15 years later she's still trotting out the same ineffective, generic messages. 'What NZ is not doing is controlling the food industry.” And” 'We need to restrict junk food, advertising to kids and lower fat, sugar and salt levels”.

And, she does not advocate people taking personal responsibility. What we believe is the reverse – that this is actually the way to solve this whole problem. The problem is, for anyone to take personal responsibility to make the right food and drink choices, they first need to know how. We take an ‘A and E' approach and no, not the medical version, and would actually team up with the all-powerful fast-food industry to get them to help out.

Kiwis spend billions of dollars a year buying fast-food and spend increasing lengths of time hanging out in cafes and other establishments. I was having coffee recently at The Coffee Club, Downtown the Mount, while I was reading ‘The Herald'. And 18 out of the 20 other people in the cafe were on their phones or other devices. In this bourgeoning ‘connected up' trend also lies part of the solution.

Our ‘A and E' stands for awareness and education and Eat For Keeps (EFK) have helped countless people with weight, diabetes and metabolic issues by first making them aware of the health risks associated with taking the wrong nutrition options over the long-term, and educating them to help make the right choices.

This new found clarity, is a powerful tool in helping people take responsibility and ownership of their own food and drink lifestyles.

Back to phones and other devices. In the past we have delivered our messages through our website, books and face-to-face meetings. This new digital age opens up a completely new dimension where people while they are out and about can learn and practice their skills, ‘on the hoof' wherever they may be.

A quick google while, at say a McDonalds, will give a punter nutritional info on any of the food items on offer, including ingredients and even a list of allergens like nuts. So, let's turn this conversation on it's head, and instead of beating up fast-foods outlets, we actually look at some of the other benefits that they may offer.

What should we be looking for?

Dr Toomath's prescription for counting calories as the definitive answer is too simplistic and flawed, as what you see on a label is often inaccurate. Up to 25% of calories can be lost during digestion, and texture, cooking, fibre, GI, effect on hormones, which will obviously vary from person to person are also variable factors.

Instead we should quite simply look at why do we eat? Well, hopefully to provide us with enough fuel by eating a healthy, tasty, sustaining food and drink mix which will keep us full for a reasonable period of time and give us sustained energy.

Keeping it really simple, we are looking for a good balance of protein, fat and carbohydrate. Common-sense tells us that we also need to keep an eye on obviously high levels of added salt and sugar and super-sized portions. Let's take a look at a few examples from McDonalds, remember that protein is the most expensive commodity and keeps us fuller for longer, and take a benchmark of 30% for both protein and fat and 40% for carbs.

Chicken wrap with Aioli dressing – A bit over 100 g in weight, with grilled chicken and salad type ingredients. Protein 33%, fat 23% and carbs 45%. Sodium a reasonable 346 g.

Warm chicken salad – A bit over 300 g with chicken, red cabbage, tomato, lettuce and carrot. Protein 51%, fat 11%, carbs 38%, sodium 334 g.

Hamburger – Onion, pickle, ketchup, beef patty and bun. Protein – 28%, fat 19%, carbs, 53% sodium 525 g.

The Boss – This 800 calories plus, double cheese burger comes in at protein 37%, fat 37% and carbs 26%.

So, impressive levels of protein and reasonably well balanced overall. Common sense tells us that The Boss is a treat food, and this is where a lot of people come unstuck when they order The Boss, large fries and wash it all down with a sugary Krusher.

In our experience, many people are confused about what they should be eating and drinking and once they get some clarity and skills, become really good at quickly summing up what will work for them. And hey, they also have their mobile phone on hand to check things out.

On the other hand, there are also many other people who don't really give a stuff, and I know of type 2 diabetics who are happy to inject more insulin to compensate for the giant scone they have just eaten.

It all comes down to personal choice and the more we can help kiwis across the country get good skills in this area, the more chance we have of beating these epidemics.

And finally

Whilst I have great admiration for Dr Toomath's expert medical skills and passion and tenacity in her drive to help turn around these epidemics, comments like 'the dairy across the road from that school needs to go” are completely out of whack. And this continual beating up of the fast food industry, where we need an uprising of the people, more control over this industry, and should tax the daylights out of selected food and drink items will inevitably be ineffective.

Making tobacco unpopular and applying high tariffs on it was a no brainer as the link between smoking and serious health issues is totally obvious. Trying to make selected foods unpopular will not work and the fast food industry will just keep booming along.

As with the McDonalds examples, there are many really excellent food and drink options to be found in outlets like this across the country. As John Key says,”educate people to be more active and understanding what's in their food.

Nearly all businesses understand and will follow the mantra that ‘doing good is good for business' and this is certainly our experience in putting ideas to food service outlets and working with them. Their combined expertise around food and drink is significant, they collectively make squillions of dollars and could be potentially hugely influential in helping customers make the right choices and tweaking some of their own recipes to help make this happen.

There you have it – if you can't beat them, join them!

Footnote : I'm keen to get a conversation going around all this, so make a comment.

Whilst I will still continue to write about nutrition and health issues, I'm also keen to write about many other topics. I've always been a bit of a stirrer and enjoy a bit of black humour, so keep an eye out for my new blog.

Contact : leigh@eatforkeeps.com