Stealth tax alert.

[unsure]

ive just skimmed through this so forgive me if i missed some thing .

its all well and good cutting down on the amount of sugar in most things and adding a new tax , but what happens to the people who have to keep their blood sugar up .
i have to keep mine around 9 mml , thats day in day out .its been as low as 3 before know and i new about it . well the first thing i new about it was when i woke up .

as for people being over weight , i can`t see how any one ,other than the person can stop that happening .short of starving them that is

[matthopkins]

So what is so wrong with Government taking action (for once) to kick food producers up the arse with a view to making them cut out some of the unnecessary crap that they are adding to our foods????

Why the big thing about sugar being bad for us?
Perhaps I should give the government a pat on the back for worrying about whats in my food? My arse!

What about all the other s*** thats in all our food, are they going to get the food companies to clean up their act and take it upon themselves to look after mine and your health regarding all the other ingredients?


Its my opinion they have chosen a tax on sugar as its in everything, a great way of raising taxes in the quick/short term. Lets face it, if they wanted to help the population of the UK with their health they would ban tobacco products today. Of course they wont do that as it raises too much money in taxes.
Why not ban booze, more people end up in A&E after a drink than eating a sugar filled loaf.

I feel this kind of false "caring attitude" is nothing more than that, false. They dont care if the population eats itself to death as long as we pay our dues whilst doing it. If I have got it wrong and a caring attitude is really at the front of this move, and the government does care about your health; why are so many people who are suffering from mental illness not getting the care they need?
Why?
You cant tax mental illness

[grenfell]

I've often thought that if a government were actually really serious about improving the health of the nation then bringing in some form of rationing would be a much better tool than taxation. It would be quite easy to implement too , everyone could have an "account" credited with a certain amount of sugar , fat , or even alcohol and accessed with chip and pin. Saves those who show restraint being hammered for the excesses of others .Ok so there would be problems but just raising tax causes problems of its own . We may find people smuggling choccy bars alongside cigarettes. 'Course companies selling stuff wouldn't be too happy about consumption , and therefore their profits, dropping or being held static.
Manufactures should be held more accountable too . I posted a link on the food security thread about a 2880 calorie pizza introduced by Pizza Hut and it's that sort of thing that borders on irresponsible given that so many people don't seem to have any self constraint when it comes to food ( and booze too for that matter) .

[Devonian]

OH does the bread making. He's pretty good at it too.

We both work full time. In fact, through the tourist season, so six months, I work 16 - 18 hours a day, 7 days a week. OH works from home, and is often up into the wee sma's on skype to the states.

Anyone can grow at least some of their own veg. Anyone can learn how to cook cheaply, from scratch with fresh ingredients. It's entirely possible, and if you're not working, then you can turn that time into something useful, like food that isn't laden with crap.

We're a family of six. Our weekly food bill is between £100 - £140. Taking the higher end, that's just over £23 per person, per week for good, fresh food cooked from scratch. Or just over £1 per head, per meal. We eat home made risotto, thai chicken, fry up once a week, a proper one, and all sorts of other good stuff. It CAN be done.

To turn the question around, why shouldn't folks take responsibility for themselves? Why shouldn't they shoulder that, learn what's good and what's not, get up off their backsides and do things properly? Why on earth should we end up with blanket legislation that once more treats us like kids, incapable of making choices for ourselves? Not only that, but look how wrong the government sanctioned NHS is on its dietary advice. Frankly, I'd rather take my chances; I wouldn't trust them to organise mass inebriation in a fermentation facility. I certainly don't trust them to tell me what's healthy and what's not - for a start, if you listen to them tell you everything that's not healthy, you'll never eat or drink again, never mind breathe!

We need balanced diets, a little bit of everything, and everything in moderation. As my Granny would say, ''a little of what you fancy does you good.''

The biggest problem is NOT a lack of legislation. It's a lack of will power on the part of the folks that buy this stuff. You can bulk buy, cook off and freeze a weeks meals in a few hours. You can use a crock pot to cook your food while you're out through the day - hell, you can even make bread in a crock pot! You can also buy things like tomato seeds very cheaply from companies like Real Seeds - and you can save those seeds. You can *always* grow something. There's also quite a lot of veg that can be grown from what you'd usually throw away. You can even root a pineapple top - and yes, they will grow here, the Victorians grew them, outside of glasshouses.

Let people be responsible for themselves, because it's the only way to learn. Legislation is not required. People taking responsibility for themselves, their choices and their actions is. This is on a par with ''we need safety legislation for hair straighteners because toddlers are being burned'' - and each child was burned because an idiot parent left a hot device where the child could get to it!

So maybe we should just decriminalise drugs and let people make their own decisions; and get rid of the NHS and let people take responsibility for their own health care; do away with speed limits and let people drive at whatever speeds they want.

As for growing veg do you realise how many people in this country live in flats and apartments and have no gardens at all? And no a window box really doesn't cut it.

Also you need to realise that these sorts of measures are not going to be aimed at the sort of people who frequent these forums, its the majority of the population who really have no idea or care, BUT unless something is done about it you can guarantee that 'REAL TAXES' will have to increase even more for all of us to help fund the NHS and care services because of all these fat B@~$*d's and their ill health.

So yes bring on the nanny state to try and prevent that from happening.

[Lee Bradbury]

The people who mostly eat unhealthily are normally those at the lower end of the pay scale and/or social standing.
If you have limited funds and go shopping you're looking for the cheapest food, especially if you have a large family.
Are you going to buy the Benecol Light 500g spread at £3.65 or the 'I Can't Believe it's not Butter?' 1Kg at £2.00?
When a 1.81Kg bag of Oven Chips cost you £2 and 10 Fish Fingers cost 65p then those who are not well off will go for them; it's a case of quantity over quality.
Sure we can all say that people should shop smarter and be healthier but how about the Government, instead of raising taxes on sugary foods, try to lower prices on the healthy options whilst getting those who make and supply the fatty/sugary foods and drinks to lower the calories etc in their products?

[matthopkins]

BUT unless something is done about it you can guarantee that 'REAL TAXES' will have to increase even more for all of us to help fund the NHS and care services because of all these fat B@~$*d's and their ill health.

So yes bring on the nanny state to try and prevent that from happening.

Of course the NHS has to be funded, after all isnt that why the likes of you and I pay our NI contributions?
With that said why dont they charge those who are overweight a nominal fee for their treatment if its due to nothing more than over eating, much like the fee im charged for any prescreption?

Another way of helping the NHS would be to make any visitor to the UK pay for their treatment, this may stop many coming over here for the free ride. But that as they say is a different subject and could take a whole forum in itself to debate.

[lonewolf]

and its about time all these teenage drunks at the weekends blocking up A&E were charged for their treatment too.

[preppingsu]

An interesting discussion.

About 2 months ago we came across a book written in the '70's about the addiction of sugar. The scientist predicted illnesses, obesity etc. However, the 'sugar barons ' spent money and time debunking his theorises and as a scientist he was totally destroyed. Why? Because sugar addiction makes money.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Pure-White-And- ... JVE7CPTYVG

He talks a lot about refined sugar (white granulated) and says it would be better to have sugar that hasn't been refined quite so much. He also warns about looking for the natural, golden sugar as many of it has been caramel coated!

Anyway, forward 30/40 years and what he predicted is happening now. The book has been followed up by another scientist with research etc.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/000751414X

I have been looking at what I buy and how much sugar goes into it. Crisps for example, often have 2g of sugar per packet. That's like going to the sugar bowl and eating a tablespoon!
I have found crisps that have under 1g of sugar.

Well for those who work full time, its not so easy is it as its just not practical to prepare meals everyday from scratch using raw ingredients (which is the only way to avoid it) - do you knead and raise your own dough, before baking your own bread 3 times a week??

I work full time, make my own bread and rolls for a family of 4. Bread is done in the bread maker, with sugar omitted. I make 48 bread rolls on a Saturday or Sunday and freeze them.
I often make meals from scratch and freeze so it is easy to take a meal out of the freezer in the morning and have something good to eat in the evening. It's not easy but its the choice we have made.

its all well and good cutting down on the amount of sugar in most things and adding a new tax , but what happens to the people who have to keep their blood sugar up .
i have to keep mine around 9 mml , thats day in day out .its been as low as 3 before know and i new about it . well the first thing i new about it was when i woke up .

Surely natural sugars (fructose) found in fruit would be better that the sugar found in cereal bars, etc. With having to monitor your health in that way surely you want to be putting the best you can into your body?

[lonewolf]

its a bit like the thing about Folic Acid, they were going to put it in the bread(I think) so that everybody got it instead of the few who actually needed to take it...I don't know if this ever happened, we make our own bread.

[unsure]

An interesting discussion.

its all well and good cutting down on the amount of sugar in most things and adding a new tax , but what happens to the people who have to keep their blood sugar up .
i have to keep mine around 9 mml , thats day in day out .its been as low as 3 before know and i new about it . well the first thing i new about it was when i woke up .
[/quote
Surely natural sugars (fructose) found in fruit would be better that the sugar found in cereal bars, etc. With having to monitor your health in that way surely you want to be putting the best you can into your body?

there are times when every one needs extra sugar , a good healthy diet is what i aim for and i am having .
but its not easy keeping your glucose levels up on just fruit .