CALORIES ON BBC BREAKFAST 📺 (I'm on at 2:40 & 5:40!)
This morning I headed to the BBC Breakfast Sofa to talk about a new labelling system being proposed called PACE which stands for Physical Activity Calorie Expenditure i.e. putting information on food showing how long it would take to walk or run off (!!) 🤯
Although the idea of PACE sounds interesting & promising at face value, there’s a few issues with it.
🙅🏻‍♀️ Firstly, it could be extremely problematic for those with eating disorders, or disordered eating, as it portrays the idea that food needs to be earnt or burnt off, which it doesn’t because our bodies burn calories even at rest, and we all burn a different number of calories based on our age, gender, size and muscle mass. Exercise should be about HEALTH & ENJOYMENT, rather than punishment.
🤷🏻‍♀️ And secondly, it gives the message that food is simply calories and nothing more, and this is far from the truth as foods are not equal; for example 200 calories of vegetables provides much more in the way of nutrients and fibre than 100 calories of biscuits, which provides a lot of added sugar. And that’s not to say that we can’t eat biscuits, it’s just we should eat them less often than vegetables!
👉🏼 Instead of introducing PACE, which isn’t very inclusive as not everybody can walk or run, traffic light labelling, which highlights the sugar, salt, fat & saturated fat content too, should be made mandatory and used consistently, in addition to better portion labelling for both children and adults; for example on drinks such as fruit juice, which although can be consumed as a part of a healthy and balanced diet, should only be consumed in small quantities (150ml a day).
🧐 Other things to note:
🤓 The studies included in the systematic review which showed that people ate slightly fewer calories at a meal when presented with this type of labelling were all quite small, conducted over a short-term period and the majority were conducted in labs, so not in real life settings such as restaurants and supermarkets… (and another similar study published last year showed no affect of PACE on food choices).
🚬 People still smoke despite the horrific images that are now displayed on packets, which shows that people become immune to pictorial messages over time.
🍎 Which foods would it apply too? Takeaways? Healthier foods? What is the definition of healthy? Foods aimed at children? Who decides?
🍕 You DON’T have to burn off or earn a pizza, but you do need to eat it within the context of a healthy and balanced diet across the week..
😱 Remember, you CANNOT out run a bad diet… you can’t just live off chocolate and fizzy drinks as long as you run/walk enough.. that simply isn’t healthy!
🤔 What are your thoughts?
PS I was only spoke twice on TV but did quite a few radio interviews after and featured in a couple of online publications too which is exciting!
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