Not my last bacon buttie
Posted in General, Mel Varley, Latest reporters' blogs November 1st, 2007 by Melinda Varley
Today’s ‘revelations’ that bacon can cause cancer sent shock waves through Britain and had every news paper, radio station and news channel in over drive – why?
It has come as no surprise to me, nor anyone else in my office, that bacon is bad for you and could cause heart disease. It’s clearly fattening - high in fat and salt and has been linked to causes of cancer…along with the deodorant we use, our mobile phones and our washing detergent.
Processed meats such as sausages, ham and salami have also been deemed as ‘bad cancer causing’ foods. Although. anyone who ever thought processed ham, which often reads on the back of the pack ‘contains 2 per cent meat’, was good for you was not just naïve but perhaps a little stupid.
The food debate is huge in Britain and kicked off when the Food Standards Authority first said it was to introduce food labelling regulations across all food in the UK. Then, a couple of months down the track, Ofcom introduced television advertising regulations that prevented advertising of foods that are high in fat, salt and sugar to under 16-year olds.
All of a sudden we were told organic is better and we should eat five pieces of fruit of vegetables a-day. Food producers starting cutting out preservatives and blue Smarties were banned because of their additives.
All these regulations and revelations were supposed to make Britain sit-up and really think about the foods they were consuming. Obviously it didn’t work and we’ve now got to the point where we have to say CANCER in order for people to listen.
However, with today’s new warnings, will consumers stop going to their greasy spoon on a Sunday morning for their hangover fry-up?
Will food producers stop making processed meats because they care about what the public eat? They’ve certainly not cared before and why should they do so now. We, as people, have the power to make informed decisions about everything we do - from how much exercise we do to what we eat and drink and how much.
If we make the wrong choices about our diet and lifestyle isn’t it our own fault, not the food producers who are making the food?
To read the news story related to this blog go to mad.co.uk
(4)
(0)
Tags 
(4)
namrita’s comment is....
I think that this is a classic case of it doesn’t matter how many messages you ‘reveal’ to people, you can’t MAKE people do things. The truth is, most people know what’s good for them and what’s not, but with that knowledge, they continue to eat bad food. Food is just one aspect of the problem…it’s also lifestyle that plays an important part….we lead a sedentary life and you have to make a real effort nowadays to be active, which most people don’t do….
Posted November 1st, 2007 at 1:50 pm
Melinda Varley’s comment is....
People lack the time and patience to lead healthy lifestyles. Or perhaps its something to do with the one hour commuute (average of Londoners) and the reluctance of companies to subsidise a gym membership. We have all the facts and education, we’re just lazy and need a huge wake-up call and a mighty push.
Posted November 1st, 2007 at 3:48 pm
namrita’s comment is....
The one hour commute is just an excuse….it’s not that difficult to get healthy snacks to eat during the day and it’s definitely not difficult to wake up a little earlier to eat breakfast. I would sympathise a lot more with people who have children and are working full time because I can imagine that it is difficult to find time to exercise etc but, single people with no responsibilities who work have no excuses (apart from genes and health problems). I also think our work lifestyle plays a part…the number one work activity is ‘lets go for drinks’….that’s where I think some american companies are so much better, they actually have activities e.g. sports, away days etc and as you say Mel - subsidized gym membership.
Posted November 2nd, 2007 at 9:45 am
Melinda Varley’s comment is....
The issue still remains that we need to not just change our eating habits but our lifestyles and because nothing is working so far, we need to turn to the places that influence us the most - the office.
Posted November 2nd, 2007 at 10:17 am
Your comment is....
You must be logged in to post a comment.
madcomments encourages comments to be short and to the point. Comments should show a courteous regard for the presence of other voices in the discussion. We reserve the right to edit or delete comments that do not adhere to this standard.
- Advertising (212)
- Arif Durrani (51)
- Branwell Johnson (127)
- Creative (58)
- Design (13)
- Digital (100)
- Direct Marketing (15)
- General (137)
- Jim Prior (2)
- Latest reporters’ blogs (391)
- Lucy Tesseras (15)
- Marketing (225)
- Media (230)
- Mel Varley (108)
- Nikki Preston (47)
- Oliver Milman (43)
- Russell Parsons (32)
- Stuart Aitken (1)
