Monthly allowance for healthy food suggested to help tackle type 2 diabetes rates

[DCUK NewsBot]

People in the UK should be given a monthly allowance to spend on fresh, healthy and locally sourced food in a bid to tackle obesity and support the farming industry, it has been suggested. The 'Our Future in the Land'report, published by the Royal Society of Arts (RSA) and drafted by the Food, Farming and Countryside Commission, also suggests that people should become "shareholders" in their local food system. The report has been issued in part to address rising rates of type 2 diabetes in the UK, which is associated with obesity, as well as to tackle climate change. A spokesperson for the organisation said: "The actions we take in the next ten years, to stop ecosystems collapse, to recover and regenerate nature and to restore people’s health and wellbeing are now critical. "In this final report, the Food, Farming and Countryside Commission sets out radical and practical ways for policymakers, business and communities to respond to the challenges." In the document, the authors refer to how type 2 diabetes is costing the NHS nearly £27 billion a year, and highlight how more focus needs to be on encouraging people to eat better and support local farmers and their produce. The research was gathered using information from farmers, supermarkets, health and environmental groups and rural residents. The authors pointed out that over the last 70 years, much emphasis has been on producing food as cheaply as possible, but they have used this report to state that this approach needs to change. They wrote: "More intensive farming practices are not necessarily more productive or more profitable. Time is now running out. The actions that we take in the next 10 years are critical: to recover and regenerate nature and to restore health and wellbeing to both people and planet." Other ideas suggested in the report included "reconnecting people and nature to boost health and wellbeing [...] designing a ten-year transition plan for sustainable, agroecological farming by 2030" and "implementing world-leading public procurement".

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[Deleted member 308541]

People in the UK should be given a monthly allowance to spend on fresh, healthy and locally sourced food in a bid to tackle obesity and support the farming industry, it has been suggested.

the authors refer to how type 2 diabetes is costing the NHS nearly £27 billion a year,

So how will this reduce the NHS bill if the recipents spend it on garbage food...

 

[Hotpepper20000]

So how will this reduce the NHS bill if the recipents spend it on garbage food...

And “healthy” is up for debate. For me a nice juicy steak is healthy and whole grains is poison.

 

[Deleted member 308541]

And “healthy” is up for debate. For me a nice juicy steak is healthy and whole grains is poison.

Well that saves you money by not eating nut cutlets.

 

[Mr_Pot]

I source all my food locally from Sainsbury's.

 

[Deleted member 308541]

The UK government will most probably something like this we have here a "Cashless Debit Card" lined up, so you can only buy from certain stores that support the card.

No pigging out at Maccas or any other greasy spoon on unsuitable food.

https://www.dss.gov.au/families-and...e-conditionality/cashless-debit-card-overview

 

[Mr_Pot]

The UK government will most probably something like this we have here a "Cashless Debit Card" lined up, so you can only buy from certain stores that support the card.

No pigging out at Maccas or any other greasy spoon on unsuitable food.

https://www.dss.gov.au/families-and...e-conditionality/cashless-debit-card-overview

No problem, buy your box of healthy veg or whatever with your allowance and then sell it.

 

[ickihun]

It's a start. To modify later, if need be.

 

[ickihun]

Have you seen this @lucylocket61?

 

[Caeseji]

Problem is with this that if people are given too much freedom they fall prey to the industry manipulation against real food but at the same time I fret about the control that government may have over my choices as they are in turn manipulated. @ickihun is right though, this is a good start and with education and practice it could turn things around for a lot of people.

I'm going to just live on dust from now on

 

[Mr_Pot]

Let's not get carried away here and start planning to spend the money yet. This is just a suggestion in a report. Farmers have come up with a plan for the government to create a benefit to be spent with farmers. I can't see that some extra "healthy" food once a month is going to help diabetics especially if the food is starchy vegetables, brown rice, wholemeal bread etc.

 

[lucylocket61]

Locally sourced????? when most people live in cities and have no garden big enough to crop? more greenwash and blaming the consumer instead of supermarkets who closed down small shops within easy reach, and are buying up farms at an alarming rate. Not to mention how many housing estates, of all types, who have no shop or allotments.

 

[Oldvatr]

Let's not get carried away here and start planning to spend the money yet. This is just a suggestion in a report. Farmers have come up with a plan for the government to create a benefit to be spent with farmers. I can't see that some extra "healthy" food once a month is going to help diabetics especially if the food is starchy vegetables, brown rice, wholemeal bread etc.

I think you may find that farmers have virtually no say in what our diet will be in 10 years time. The Comittee for Climate Change which has responsibility for introducing the new Eco Diet in the UK has just published a report that will be discussed in Parliament later this year. It recommends a 90% reduction in beef and a 63% reduction in lamb and a 50% reduction in dairy consumption by 2030, with the land currently used for those sources turned over to growing biomass and plant based crops. The original scientific study that is supporting this was funded by the likes of Kellogs, Nestle, Cargill, Wellcome Trust to name a few of the more than 40 big food companies that they have listed proudly in their manifesto. These are the people that will benefit from the food subsidies.

PS the CCC are also tasked by this government to advise on a diet for removing obesity and chronic illness, and they have retained the same commercial company to act as advisors, so it is the same diet going to be coming out next year, with the same scientists involved in both tasks.

 

[Energize]

Handing out money to buy 'healthy' food will just mean more 'beer' to many and they will argue it's 'healthy' as made from fresh crops, full of vitamins etc!!!

Can't see NHS having the funds, nor can I see this being viable in any shape or form. As indicated above, also open to misuse/abuse of benefits

Sorry

 

[Oldvatr]

Or use a coupon system like it was in the War. Meat rationing, sugar rationing, butter rationing, clothing etc. Didnt stop the black market though so yes, it can be abused. An alternative is to introduce an anti VAT system where identified goods attract a tax rebate when sold, and handled like a sales tax in reverse. Could HMRC afford it either?

 

[Resurgam]

As many supermarkets offer identity cards they might use those to single out suitable people and manipulate their final bills if the shopping matches the guidelines for 'healthy'.

 

[ickihun]

Let's not get carried away here and start planning to spend the money yet. This is just a suggestion in a report. Farmers have come up with a plan for the government to create a benefit to be spent with farmers. I can't see that some extra "healthy" food once a month is going to help diabetics especially if the food is starchy vegetables, brown rice, wholemeal bread etc.

It won't be cash it will be 'healthy choice' food vouchers which toddlers already can get in some circumstances, now.

 

[ickihun]

We could do with a farm to feed my brood. Men who love their meat rather than veg though.
Our BBQ salad mostly went to waste. Fresh meat didn't though.
However we don't BBQ much; not even once a month.
Disguising veg has become an art.

 

[Cartha]

People in the UK should be given a monthly allowance to spend on fresh, healthy and locally sourced food in a bid to tackle obesity and support the farming industry, it has been suggested.

It sounds like a good idea for people struggling with the expensive diabetic diet on a low income or unemployed but how would abuse be prevented? If it's cash given then people can spend it on anything, and vouchers get sold on (like the Healthy Start vouchers) when people run out of cigarettes/alcohol/drugs.

 

[NicoleC1971]

It is at least a tacit aknowledgement that our cheap food is actually really expensive in the long run but there's got to be a less clunky way to deliver incentives to eat better e.g. taxation, identification of those with 'carb intolerance i.e those who fatten easily when their genes are triggered by the excess of cheap carbohydrates but whhilst we are stuck on Cico aka All Calories Are Equal (but some Calories are More Equal than Others).