Seminar aims to make healthy food the norm

Sun, 06 Dec 2009 5:06p.m.

By Charlotte Tonkin

A quarter of all New Zealand lives are at risk, mostly because of what they eat.

After smoking, diet is the leading preventable cause of cancer, and with one in four New Zealanders obese and one in three overweight, the Cancer Society says our culture of super-sizing is killing us.

“We’ve got used to having mega muffins,” says Jan Pearson of the Cancer Society. “It seems good value, so you tend toe at the larger portion.”

A seminar called 'Fat and Fags' will get underway in Wellington tomorrow, its aim is to use tactics which have been successful in reducing smoking and tobacco use, to help fight the fat and make healthy food the norm.

“It is almost too late for the majority of the population who are overweight or obese,” says Jane Martin who has worked in public health advocacy for 23 years.

“We really particularly need to focus on protecting children from incentives to eat unhealthy foot in particular, and the Government is there to protect the population.”

Ms Martin is calling for a ban on advertising of unhealthy food aimed at children, which she says is rampant.

“That’s why we see the cartoon characters and toys in high sugar cereals, children’s programmes full of marketing. That really has to stop,” she says.

The former tobacco control advocate was shocked to hear Health Minister Tony Ryall had scrapped the Healthy Food In Schools programme.

Nutrition experts are asking the Government to step in as it did with tobacco advertising and pricing to prevent obesity and the myriad of health conditions that come with it.

The Government invests more than $70 million a year into nutrition and physical activity programmes, but research now shows 30 minutes of exercise is not enough to combat the amount of calories we consume.

The average hamburger takes two and a half hours of exercise to burn off.

The Cancer Society says these are statistics people need to be aware of.

Mr Ryall was unavailable for an interview, but in a statement said the Government is supportive of all initiatives to reduce or prevent unhealthy weight.

But the health advocates speaking tomorrow say heavily promoting healthy food in schools is integral to the fight against obesity.

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