I've been reading everyone's replies with interest, as physical fitness and a sensible diet (I say this after having had some cake while reading this thread, but eating an apple while replying) are two fascinating topics.
Some of you on here may already be aware that cycling is one of my most enjoyable activities these days. So you'd think I'd be good at looking after the body, feeding it what it needs etc. Yeah, well, no. Sometimes, yes I do really well with that, not perfect but it's still a relatively new thing to me and I'm getting used to it. Sometimes, however, no I'm dreadful for it.
Like the other week, I rode from Bromsgrove to Worcester following Route 46 on the National Cycle Network. By the time I got to Worcester I was shattered, although it's worth pointing out by the time I reached Shrub Hill I'd done 19 miles. For a novice cyclist I'd say I did OK there. So I jumped on the train to Malvern Link, for a same platform 15 minute wait. Which was fine until I realised it was actually 40 minutes.
Perfect, time to try out the local pizza place then. It had been on my list to do for a long time, and I needed a good feed. As they were cash only under £10, and letting people in without a face covering, I settled for Dominos instead. A decent size Meateor pizza really filled me up, worth waiting 20 minutes for. Especially as it was my first Dominos since, I believe, 2018!
Obviously, I probably *should* have waited until Hereford and got something there. However, that was a long way off and my legs were screaming. Riding the bike back to Malvern Link station was challenging, I was in need of plenty of protein and a shake was no longer going to cut it. I needed a ton of carbs and something sweet too. The sweet would wait, as I had some homemade cake at home. The rest of it was needed as a matter of urgency.
This was a case of doing right for doing wrong really. Right for giving the body what it wanted, even if the bank account was unamused at spending £10. Wrong for eating such a ton of processed meat for the protein. Wrong for all the fats. However, right for the brain in terms of giving it something really enjoyable as a special treat. It's gone through a lot in the last year, and it has delivered results that I've been asking from it for a long time. So now and again, it's nice to listen to it and just indulge in something incredibly unhealthy.
Which leads me nicely onto the mental health side of things. Anyone who read my trip reports from 2019 will know I spent a LOT of time rewiring the brain. 2018 was no better, but yeah...Eventually though, some of my life's worst choices were finally fixed in September 2019, January 2020 and summer 2020. It's been a lot to deal with, but I am happy and my mental health is slowly catching up with my physical health.
I still don't eat well when I'm stressed, but who does? It's too easy to grab the chocolate etc when that happens. So I do my best to avoid such a situation. Even when I'm feeling at my peak for good eating, you still won't find me eating much of the stuff listed in this thread! I don't eat super healthily, gosh no, but I do a lot of exercise almost every single day. Today is not one of those days, but it is the first such day all month so I think that's fair. I overdid the exercise yesterday, so I'm feeling a bit sorry for myself but not so much where there's no healthy food intake. Lunch was a big plate of potatoes, carrots and petis pois for example!
Oh, and to touch on the point someone made about how not all ready meals are unhealthy, I hear you there. There's two ready meals in Asda's chilled ready meals section that come to mind. It's been a while since I last looked, so forgive me for not remembering which ones they are. The one that sounds like it should be unhealthy is actually much better for you than the one that sounds like it'll be healthy. Similar applies to the Smart Price chicken curry and rice ready meal. For the price, you'd think it would be totally unhealthy, but for what it is, the values are actually really good. I used them a fair whack in 2018 during the massive excess mass shredding mission, as I found that overall it was pretty much perfect for my needs at the time.
So, I've rambled on explaining how even someone who loves to keep fit still eats less than amazingly. I'm sure someone else out there will be of similar mindset, so they'll get it. What's my solution then?
Well my cursory stroll through the brain doesn't really reveal a solution. There is no one-size-fits-all answer to the obesity crisis. Let's say, for example, the government puts a huge tax on an unhealthy food. In this case, let's say processed meat like sausages and burgers. Going to the chippy, for example, and having a large sausage and chips could currently cost you £3.10, with the sausage priced at £1.30. Let's chuck a 25% tax onto that sausage.
That sausage would then cost £1.63. Suddenly the price of a quick and easy meal jumps up from £3.10 to £3.43. That may not sound like much, but if that stops people buying a processed meat item from their chippy (let's not go into how that isn't necessarily a bad thing) then that will have a knock-on effect in the food industry. People stop going so often, and eventually the local independant business starts losing too much money to keep the doors open.
Can you imagine the impact the same sort of thing would have on anything battered in a chippy? That would have a big effect on the UK economy for sure, and as I see today there's a recession going on that sort of thing we can't do.
So, taxes being applied to unhealthy food, that's a no-go. What else can we try? We've already tried a sugar tax and that's not made that much of a difference really. Someone suggested better education on things like saturated fats and sugars, and that I would support. I don't know a whole ton of the various bits and bobs, but I know enough to make a sensible choice. It doesn't mean I always do, but until I break the link between sugary foods and my brain, it will forever be something to deal with.
Other than that, I guess all we can do is continue to make outdoor exercising safe and easy to do. With a social media-focused society, getting some influencers on board might not be the worst idea? Get them to promote even basic exercise, like walking to the shops and back instead of driving the car. Maybe instead of streaming services advertising junk food, have them advertise exercise-related stuff. Not just gyms either, something that promotes people to get inspired. Models sweating away on gym equipment will not do that, but someone that represents the average person having fun with walking/cycling/hiking can surely only help?
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