Friday, 29 May 2015

Jamie Oliver on Obesity and Food TEDtalk


Well here is a familiar face doing a TEDtalk...... it's none other than Jamie Oliver!  In this TEDtalk Jamie discusses the current and future obsesity epidemic!  Some of his facts and figures are truly terrifying.  Public health records indicate we in the western world are getting fatter and more unhealthy than ever, due to an increase in the amount of processed, high fat, convenience food we are eating.  These patterns are set to continue. 

Obesity is a strong risk factor for many chronic and serious health conditions such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease, particular cancers and strokes.  It is seriously bad for your health....... sometimes we think weight is all about appearance..... but clearly not!  More information about the health implications of obesity can be found on NHS Choices website.

As Jamie highlights there are becoming generational patterns around food, meals and cooking and this is shaping peoples relationship with food from such a young age.

Watching this is hard hitting and it certainly makes me sit up and listen!  The 5 years of sugar from milk bit in particular - WOW!

How can I stop this happening to me?  How can I also stop it happening to others, my friends my family?

Could a flexitarian lifestyle help?  Well perhaps..... yes!  You could live a flexitarian lifestyle and only each processed high fat vegetarian food, but this is unlikely.  Living a flexitarian lifestyle you are far more likely to be eating more vegetable, more fruit..... a more plant based diet in general. You will be having less red meat which we have discussed in the "How much is too much" blog is also linked to many health conditions.  The recipes we post here at the Flexitarian are hopefully going to encourage others to get in the kitchen and to cook fresh.  The recipes we use here are nearly all clean eating, they use fresh, healthy, yummy ingredients.  Could our meat free days become our healthy good for us days? Could the flexitarian lifestyle encourage us to cook more from scratch...... to reduce our processed food intake..... to change this generational pattern of children not learning to cook?  Can we use the flexitarian lifestyle to set an example that is for our benefits and others?

......... I hope so






http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/obesity/Pages/Introduction.aspx

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