National Obesity Week to raise awareness of health issues

Yesterday was the first day of the annual consumer initiative National Obesity Week (NOW), which this year runs from 17 January to Sunday 30 January, and aims to raise awareness of personal weight issues. It also hopes to support people who think their weight ‘is about right’, but may develop serious health problems such as diabetes or want to more enjoy the benefits of good health.
With a recent study revealing that almost half of all adults do not have an accurate idea of their own weight, NOW, organised by the National Obesity Forum (NOF), aims to encourage people to find out if they are underweight, of a healthy weight, overweight or obese, arguing that people need to be aware of their weight status before they can choose to make changes to their lifestyle .
NOW supports those who do not have a healthy weight to do something about it, and will also push pharmacies to offer the chance to weigh and measure yourself to find out your body mass index (BMI). Other parts of the NOW campaign include an attempt at the world record for the largest dance, with schools, old people’s homes, leisure centres, nurseries, colleges, universities and sports clubs around the country taking part in ‘The National School Sport Dance’.
There will also be a range of activities such as a large-scale swapathon in Great Yarmouth and Waveney, where people can swap a snack for a healthy alternative, and receive free health checks and lifestyle advice.