Solution to obesity, pollution, congestion and social issues is ‘glaringly, frighteningly simple’ says Boardman

Martyn_K wrote:

It makes you wonder if the NHS is such a good thing. I wonder what peoples attitudes to healthy living would be if they HAD to pay for their own healthcare instead of having a state funded service.

The NHS should be a safety net, not something relied upon and the first port of call to resolve self inflicted problems.

If you want to know people's attitudes to healthy living would be if they HAD to pay for their own healthcare, look to the USA.

"The NHS should be a safety net, not something relied upon and the first port of call to resolve self inflicted problems"

Why? Who is going to decide what's self-inflicted? You're on a very slippery slope if you take that viewpoint. If you get your arse crushed by a truck while you're cycling, is that self-inflicted? You chose to ride, knowing that it has risks.

Phil T wrote:

Absolutely agree with the above. The high carb, low fat diet has coincided with the explosion in obesity and diabetes that we see today. It's hardly a glowing endorsement.
Also, lack of fats in the diet is being increasingly linked to Alzheimer's.
There's a lot of good information in the 'Eat right for your type books'. http://www.dadamo.com/
Explains the differences in blood types and the different foods / lifestyle they each require.

I agree that the low carb diet is the way to go for many people but I'm not so sure about linking directly to blood type. There seems to be good evidence that, as the website claims, there is a large genetic component to an individuals susceptibility to T2 diabetes but I think it's more complex than just blood type.

Regarding Alzheimer's, from what I've read, it seems to be linked to excess insulin rather than lack of fats. The buildup of amyloid plaques (which is a key indicator of Alzheimer's) is thought to be caused by excess insulin using up the enzyme which is normally used to clear the amyloid proteins and stop them forming into plaques.
Early to mid stage T2 diabetes is characterised by elevated insulin levels and some researchers are now calling Alzheimer's T3 diabetes.

Try searching google for "alzheimer's insulin resistance"...

FatFreddie wrote:

Phil T wrote:

Absolutely agree with the above. The high carb, low fat diet has coincided with the explosion in obesity and diabetes that we see today. It's hardly a glowing endorsement.
Also, lack of fats in the diet is being increasingly linked to Alzheimer's.
There's a lot of good information in the 'Eat right for your type books'. http://www.dadamo.com/
Explains the differences in blood types and the different foods / lifestyle they each require.

I agree that the low carb diet is the way to go for many people but I'm not so sure about linking directly to blood type. There seems to be good evidence that, as the website claims, there is a large genetic component to an individuals susceptibility to T2 diabetes but I think it's more complex than just blood type.

Regarding Alzheimer's, from what I've read, it seems to be linked to excess insulin rather than lack of fats. The buildup of amyloid plaques (which is a key indicator of Alzheimer's) is thought to be caused by excess insulin using up the enzyme which is normally used to clear the amyloid proteins and stop them forming into plaques.
Early to mid stage T2 diabetes is characterised by elevated insulin levels and some researchers are now calling Alzheimer's T3 diabetes.

Try searching google for "alzheimer's insulin resistance"...

The Eat Right for Your blood Type diets don't stand up to scientific scrutiny:

http://nutritionfacts.org/video/blood-type-diet-debunked/

Alzheimer's is linked to diets HIGH in animal fats ie. low carb diets that substitute healthy plant based carbs for toxic animal proteins and fats:

http://nutritionfacts.org/video/alzheimers-disease-grain-brain-or-meathead/

andybwhite wrote:

Its not meat nor fat that's the problem its carbs i.e. grains and sugar. The scandies have woken up to this but the NHS hasn't. Just go onto any Type 2 diabetes forum and you will soon see what works. T2's that give up carbs reduce their need for medication and often loose their diabetes too (along with a load of weight if they are obese).
As a (never overweight) active T2 myself I was on the road to ever more diabetes and cholesterol medication even though I had an exemplary diet according to the dieticians. I stopped eating carbs (bread, pasta, rice, potatoes, fruit, et) replaced them with fats and proteins and voila! I now have fantastic (non-diabetic) bloodsugar readings and super cholesterol figures.
Its the modern industrial diet wot is to blame!

Me too... switched to a low-carb high-fat diet and the excess weight fell off, 5 stone in six months along with 8 inches off my waist... and my HbA1C figures are now in the normal range and my fasting blood glucose is back in the pre-diabetic range...

racyrich wrote:

The trouble is whenever a government department proposes something and backs it up with expected returns on investment figures (5 to 1), it then goes to the Treasury who calculate the revenue extraction its implementation will result in.
So all those 3 mile urban drives at 25mpg means missing alot of fuel tax revenue. Then they turn round and tell the DoT where to put their cycling scheme.

Actually too much meat is a bad thing but, agreed. Again though, lack of exercise is the biggest problem. If there was only an easy activity that the general populus could take part in????

Surely there must be something? Oh hang on a minute...... Nah, cant think of anything

pmr wrote:

People are lazy, fat, and ignorant- and that's become socially acceptable - that's the problem.'

Couldn't have put it better myself. Physical fitness and prowess are no longer things that are openly (or perhaps even secretly) aspired to by most people. As somebody who makes a lot of effort to watch what I eat and keep myself fit, I'm much more likely to receive light mocking for being out in the rain than encouragement for my efforts. It's "cool" to be lazy nowadays, simply because the majority of people can't be arsed to get out there, but still want to self identify positively.

pmr wrote:

People are lazy, fat, and ignorant- and that's become socially acceptable - that's the problem.
The solutions to all the problems on the whole planet can be solved if we just went vegan and rode our bikes more.

Its an all too inconvenient a truth for most to swallow. But it IS the truth.

" The momentum for not only cycling but veganism and vegetarianism is building, and we need to seize it and push for change. The synergy between the two is there: they offer two unique solutions to big problems across the planet.'

Two things:

Firstly not just cycling but walking. Yes, people are lazy espcially with the winter weather but councils dont help either. Poorly maintained roads/pathways mixed with the new fad of inadequate lighting. In my area, some roads are no longer lit, others seem to be on sensor that only switch on when you are directly underneath it and the rest have the new LED light that provide insufficent lighting anyway.

Secondly, i dont think we need to switch to veganism or vegetarianism but what do we need to do is stop seeing meat as the primary part of our food. In short, more veg, pulses, grain and much, much less meat and fish.

Of course, neither both need a massive seed change!

pmr wrote:

People are lazy, fat, and ignorant- and that's become socially acceptable - that's the problem.

Actually I think that's not actually the problem because all the evidence shows that fat people are seen as being socially acceptable. The problem is that people are now very guarded bout what they say. There is a culture about which has been growing noticeably in the last 15 years that you mustn't judge people and if you do you mustn't say so.

No longer are most fat people fat because they are lazy or greedy an woe betide you if you say that they are. This is the real problem.

People really do underestimate the powerful motivating effect of shame (or rather the avoidance thereof) in getting people to take make the right choices.

pmr wrote:

" The momentum for not only cycling but veganism and vegetarianism is building, and we need to seize it and push for change. The synergy between the two is there: they offer two unique solutions to big problems across the planet.'

Very true. But, it's possible to be a fat vegan - a junk food vegan. A plant powered lifestyle is what we really need to strive towards. For anybody out there who doubts this or has been programmed by the protein from meat dogma, please spend 10 minutes Googling Rich Roll to see what is possible on a plant-based lifestyle (5 Ironman triathlons on 5 consecutive days or an Ultraman - a DOUBLE Iron distance triathlon) or Janette and Alan Murry who, despite being in their 60's, ran 366 consecutive marathons - one every day during 2013 powered exclusively by raw plants. These two examples alone will blow your mind and there are so many more examples.