I have just started my obesity management (Level 4 REPs) course with Discovery Learning and it's fascinating stuff. Here are a few snippets from the manual:
"It has been calculated that we are now up to 500-800 kcals per day less active than we were only 20 years ago (Prentice 2001). This is the equivalent, for the average person of running a marathon every week" or a 4 mile run, 7 days a week.
"Kenny, a scientist at Scripps Research's Florida campus, said that the study confirms the "addictive" properties of junk food...The scientists fed rats a diet modelled on the type that contributes to human obesity: easy-to-obtain ...foods like sausage, bacon and cheesecake. "When we removed the junk food and tried to put them on a nutritious diet - what we called the 'salad bar option' - they simply refused to eat...they basically starved themselves for two weeks after they were cut off from junk food."
It makes me aware just how much needs to be done in order to combat this huge problem - and it already makes me more aware of how little is being done politically to help. We try to protect our kids from drugs, alcohol, cigarettes, what about junk non-food?
