As it is National Diabetes Awareness month I am writing more on this subject. This time it is relating to the scary fact that so many children are now at risk of childhood diabetes from being overweight and eating all the foods that fuel this epidemic! The problem doesn’t just lie with the excessive promotion of these junk foods on TV, (worryingly when children’s programmes are on, or when programmes watched by millions including children are on), which people like Jamie Oliver are trying to tackle. Yes junk food is partly at fault here, but the problem also lies with the chronic lack of knowledge and misinformation on what foods are actually really healthy too. Many of the so called adverts that promise you that their breakfast is a “great start to the day” or “low in fat” or “low in sugar” (but packed full of sweeteners!) and so on,is even feeding you (no pun intended) information that is inaccurate and actually a whole lot more sinister when it comes to health promotion! I am sure we all know that refined sugar is bad or refined salt, or trans fats maybe too, but not knowing that low fat foods, or sugar free foods are just as bad, if not worse is a major issue! These foods are just as, if not more likely to make you gain weight and develop diabetes than the obvious junk foods. All of this issue also lies with the government who facilitate this to happen, the schools who do not want to change, the lack of education around this topic, the supermarkets that agree to sell these foods… I could go on but my main message here other than junk foods are obviously not healthy, is that some foods promoted as healthier for you, for weight loss, for diabetes and so on are in fact a sheep in wolves clothing! Please always question advertising, even if it appears to be healthy, as 9 times out of 10 it’s actually not! Do you see excessive amounts of big budget advertising for fruits and vegetables, or nuts & seeds, fresh salmon and tuna? Hmmmmm I think not… I rest my case. To find out more facts about some of the topics mentioned in my blog follow me on twitter through the link on my website.
Diabetes (childhood) and junk food.
