Fast Food..A National Obession that we cannot afford it?

Posted on January 3, 2010. Filed under: Education, Health & Children, Social Policy, Sport | Tags: , , , , , , , |

Walk around any town in Ireland and you will notice a number of things. One; we have a serious amount of churches. Two; we have a serious amount of public houses. Three; we have a serious amount of Fast Food Take Aways. In my own town of Kells, we have 2 Traditional Take Aways, 2 Chinese Take Aways, 2 Indians and 1 Kebab Shop.  Now, I have deliberately excluded the myriad of restaurants, pubs and hotels that also sell fast food  for simplicity. Don’t get me wrong, I love my Cod Portion, Chips and Sweet Chilli Sauce from Forte’s as much as any one.They are so good that a Fianna Fáil councillor has been known to drive 30km and cross a county boundary just to get some.

The Irish Fast Food Industry is worth in the region €840 million per year. I’m basing this figure on an article from the Sunday Business Post in 2006 which had a figure of “more than €750 million” and then increasing in by 10%. This is a phenomenal amount of money to be spending on food which in the cold light of day is bad for our health. With a population in the Republic just slightly over 4 million; this makes us one of the largest consumers of fast food in Europe.

It’s been shown that eating excessive amounts of fast food can lead to excessive weight gain (obesity). Everyone has noticed the large number of kids walking around with a few too many spare tyres. The 2008 National Survey of Lifestyle, Attitudes and Nutrition reported that 38% of the population are overweight and 23% obese. Take Away food is full of high density energy. Our bodies aren’t able to cope with the amount of calories and fat we are consuming. Add to this the development of a sedentary lifestyle where Physical Activity is not the norm, we have a major problem on our hands.

As a result of increasing obesity and reduced physical activity, our health services are going to be swamped by generations of citizens with coronary heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, and diabetes. Even more worryingly is the link between obesity and some forms of cancer. The US National Institute of Health has found causal links between obesity and Breast, Colon, Kidney and  Oesophageal cancer. This is scary stuff.

As a society, we have an obligation to protect the well-being of our citizens and as a political party / government, we also have an obligation to use our limited resources in the best way possible. Spending billions of euro each year fighting diseases that are caused by our stupidity and inaction is an unmitigated waste.

What can we do

The simple answer is eat less Take Aways and do more exercise. As with everything in life, there are things that can be done to make the choice to eat less take aways and do more exercise. Here is my tuppence worth:

  • 50 cent surcharge on all take away orders or,
  • 1% surcharge on all take away orders (to stop people doubling up their orders to avoid the surcharge)

A 1% surcharge could bring in over €8 million per year, perhaps even more. Now what could we do with this additional money?

  • Provide tax Relief on Gym Membership
  • Build new state funded gyms
  • Increase funding for local clubs and sporting organisations

There is also a great need to strengthen the teaching of Physical Education in our schools. For those who aren’t in the know; Physical Education isn’t simply giving a group of kids a ball and letting them play soccer. This method is flawed as: nothing in being learned, disenfranchises kids who don’t like soccer or who don’t like team games.

Over recent years, we have seen dramatic developments in the area of Physical Education i.e. new Junior Certificate Syllabus and increased funding. We now need to go further to develop a positive out look of physical activity and healthy living in future generations of Irish people. Here’s what we need to do:

  • Introduce the new Leaving Certificate Physical Education Syllabus immediately
  • Develop a new subject to be taken at Leaving Certificate which encompasses Phys Ed, Healthy Living, Biology etc with Leaving Certificate points on offer.
  • Allow those who opt not to pursue this subject to still take part in regular Physical Education at school
  • Prohibit the teaching of Physical Education by non qualified Physical Educationalists. Would you be happy having a biology teacher teaching french? I think not! So why allow this to happen to Physical Education

All of the above, both short-term and long-term, can lead to a healthier Irish population. It can lead to a reduction in our Health Bill and using this money to fund other services in Health. Physical Activity can and will reduce the levels of Mental Health issues in society.

Now some will accuse me of trying to engineer Irish society and that we should allow people to make their own mistakes. Perhaps they could be right if those people were paying for all their medical bills. Once the Irish Tax Payer has to foot the bill, then it is beholden on society to interfere and try to make things better.

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