Just seen the Daily Express head line....

[DavidGrahamJones]

What...no kebab shop???

That's just over a mile away in the next village. Their parade of shops is small in comparison, 6 shops of which 2 are takeaways (including kebab) and a further 8 shops, one of which is a cafe. Holmer Green as it's known is a much more elderly population.

It's probably just me because having to watch what I eat fairly carefully, take aways, cafes and restaurants are not something I visit too often. When the planning permission for the new fish and chip chop was discussed on the Hazlemere FB page, I was surprised at the number of people who said we could do with a decent chippy. How many do they want? We could do with a decent fresh fruit and veg shop, but the ast one could make enough money for the rents being paid.

 

[amgrundy]

Hi Donnadoobie I have just read the link of the article you posted above. I found this very interesting and very informative. So our LCHF we believe in on this website from what they say is the best diet. Not sure what others think yet probably will back it up too. Know what I will keep on doing for the rest of my life. Thank you for the article, so so glad I read it.

 

[junemc153]

Weightwatchers have recently changed their eating plan. The new plan is focused on sugar as being the biggest problem for health and foods are now higher in points for sugary foods to combat diseases such as diabetes. I challenged this and said that carbs were just as bad if not worse, but it was water off a duck's back. The emphasis on just sugar isn't helping preventing diabetes and I can't ever see people calling for a "carb tax" to help prevent diabetes as that would just be too difficult for people to comprehend and it doesn't fit in with the NHS diet guidance for people with diabetes!!!

 

[Oldvatr]

Hi Donnadoobie I have just read the link of the article you posted above. I found this very interesting and very informative. So our LCHF we believe in on this website from what they say is the best diet. Not sure what others think yet probably will back it up too. Know what I will keep on doing for the rest of my life. Thank you for the article, so so glad I read it.

The Daily Wail article being talked about here is very well written. It has its own subthread in the Forum, so can we try to not go 'off piste' here, and leave this thread for the Express article described in the OP. Thank you..

 

[Oldvatr]

Weightwatchers have recently changed their eating plan. The new plan is focused on sugar as being the biggest problem for health and foods are now higher in points for sugary foods to combat diseases such as diabetes. I challenged this and said that carbs were just as bad if not worse, but it was water off a duck's back. The emphasis on just sugar isn't helping preventing diabetes and I can't ever see people calling for a "carb tax" to help prevent diabetes as that would just be too difficult for people to comprehend and it doesn't fit in with the NHS diet guidance for people with diabetes!!!

Does any one remember Nouveau Cuisine where restaurants charged more and more for less and less? Seemed like a no brainer marketing strategy, but it worked. People queued up to buy it !!!!! Maybe this is how we could reduce the carb intake? Just make it trendy again.

 

[Pipp]

Does any one remember Nouveau Cuisine where restaurants charged more and more for less and less? Seemed like a no brainer marketing strategy, but it worked. People queued up to buy it !!!!! Maybe this is how we could reduce the carb intake? Just make it trendy again.

Missed that in the Daily Express article.
Will go back and have another read.

 

[Oldvatr]

Missed that in the Daily Express article.
Will go back and have another read.

Sorry Pipp. I digressed with this posting. it was not covered by the Daily Express article, but it is sort of related to what the article was covering, i.e. ways of reducing sugar levels in diet. It is not really helpful since I seem to remember the chefs used to add a load of syrup to make that 'special' taste. I can remember Jamie Oliver being taken to task for this.

 

[Oldvatr]

Been there, ticked the box, hoping for the tshirt now!

Returning to the free booklet being offered by Diabetes.org, that was mentioned in this thread,

OK It arrived this morning. On a first reading, it is not advocating the 'established views' as many here were expecting. Although it does not champion any particular diet, it does generally support the idea that carbs are what matter, and that carb reduction assists bg control. Apart from one tip that recommends dried apricots, I saw nothing that went against my current thinking, and overall it is a useful booklet. I recommend it.

 

[zand]

OK It arrived this morning. On a first reading, it is not advocating the 'established views' as many here were expecting. Although it does not champion any particular diet, it does generally support the idea that carbs are what matter, and that carb reduction assists bg control. Apart from one tip that recommends dried apricots, I saw nothing that went against my current thinking, and overall it is a useful booklet. I recommend it.

Yes, it's got tips from real diabetics! They are simply that, quick tips, so they don't really address diet at all, so at least they aren't pushing the wrong one.

 

[Oldvatr]

Yes, it's got tips from real diabetics! They are simply that, quick tips, so they don't really address diet at all, so at least they aren't pushing the wrong one.

Apart from a 'Spondored by TESCO ' statement on the back page, i saw no evidence of bias, and the sponsorship seems genuine.

 

[AloeSvea]

Weightwatchers have recently changed their eating plan. The new plan is focused on sugar as being the biggest problem for health and foods are now higher in points for sugary foods to combat diseases such as diabetes. I challenged this and said that carbs were just as bad if not worse, but it was water off a duck's back. The emphasis on just sugar isn't helping preventing diabetes and I can't ever see people calling for a "carb tax" to help prevent diabetes as that would just be too difficult for people to comprehend and it doesn't fit in with the NHS diet guidance for people with diabetes!!!

A carb tax! What a wonderful idea! I wish I had known about carbs.... before I got the T2D indeed! So for me the carb tax would have had to come in in the mid 1980s, when I first showed signs of insulin resistance, but had no idea what that was until I was diagnosed with the full McCoy. Sigh. Increasing knowledge and change on excessive carb food environments - I hope we get to see it in our lifetimes - and may our lifetimes be long and healthy ones!

 

[Oldvatr]

A carb tax! What a wonderful idea! I wish I had known about carbs.... before I got the T2D indeed! So for me the carb tax would have had to come in in the mid 1980s, when I first showed signs of insulin resistance, but had no idea what that was until I was diagnosed with the full McCoy. Sigh. Increasing knowledge and change on excessive carb food environments - I hope we get to see it in our lifetimes - and may our lifetimes be long and healthy ones!

Petrol is a hydrocarbon, and the gov taxes it. It levies a Fuel Duty Escalator on top to persuade us to use less,
Maybe what we need is a Food Duty De-escalator?

 

[AloeSvea]

@Oldvatr - are you really asking me to google 'Duty Escalator UK' - so I know what it is? lol. You're a hard taskmaster. OK OK - I'll do it.... (The 'food duty' part I understood sounded good though! .)

 

[AloeSvea]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuel_Price_Escalator

OK. Well, if it caused the same kind of high prices that the fuel duty does/did, everyone would really get to understand what a carb was! That could be good!

But high food prices - too many people will suffer - not good indeed. We live in interesting times when it comes to food, for sure. We diabetics just know about it more than other folk - but it's "interesting times" for everyone in our food environment.

 

[Oldvatr]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuel_Price_Escalator

OK. Well, if it caused the same kind of high prices that the fuel duty does/did, everyone would really get to understand what a carb was! That could be good!

See, you learnt something, Well done. Fuel Duty Escalator was abolished recently so is now a 'did' as you rightly point out. I learnt too that i seem to have pupils at all points of the compass. I must not be so parochial in future.

 

[ickihun]

What we need is a robin hood style food tax.
High tax for carbs and subsidised veg and protein. Protein should be free for the elderly. To help protect their muscles. Veg free for vunerable in society.
Long term prisoners should veg pick to help farmers. Only people who should be paid less then living wage.

 

[NoCrbs4Me]

What we need is a robin hood style food tax.
High tax for carbs and subsidised veg and protein. Protein should be free for the elderly. To help protect their muscles. Veg free for vunerable in society.
Long term prisoners should veg pick to help farmers. Only people who should be paid less then living wage.

How about a tax on all factory processed food and subsidised fresh meat and veg?

 

[dbr10]

A carb tax! What a wonderful idea! I wish I had known about carbs.... before I got the T2D indeed! So for me the carb tax would have had to come in in the mid 1980s, when I first showed signs of insulin resistance, but had no idea what that was until I was diagnosed with the full McCoy. Sigh. Increasing knowledge and change on excessive carb food environments - I hope we get to see it in our lifetimes - and may our lifetimes be long and healthy ones!

Yes. Brilliant idea. Of course, you can't really interfere with the proper operation of the free market. Like you couldn't for Energy; but, magically, you could for Housing. Strange that. Food companies would defeat it. Lobbying beats voting every time.

 

[Catlady19]

Trouble is, if you are going to tax carbs, you are potentially going to cause a lot of poor families even more hardship. Pasta, potatoes and bread are cheap and make up a big part of the diet for families on low income - fruit, veg and other healthy foods are not cheap (especially when not in season, ie. berries). At least a sugar tax would help a little, especially if it was given to the NHS to help pay for us budget consuming diabetics!!

 

[Oldvatr]

Trouble is, if you are going to tax carbs, you are potentially going to cause a lot of poor families even more hardship. Pasta, potatoes and bread are cheap and make up a big part of the diet for families on low income - fruit, veg and other healthy foods are not cheap (especially when not in season, ie. berries). At least a sugar tax would help a little, especially if it was given to the NHS to help pay for us budget consuming diabetics!!

I am against a carb tax, since it would be too intrusive, too difficult to track and expensive to collect. Definitely Nanny State.

I believe that if you eat-in for a meal (in the UK that is) then you pay VAT, but not if it is a takeaway. So one option could be to levy VAT on takeaways. But we would need to leave the EU to do that since the EU controls what we can charge VAT on. That my friends, is a different kettle of fish (and chips) that needs its own subthread.