You may have seen in the news that in a bid to protect the NHS and beat COVID-19, the government has announced stricter regulations on ‘unhealthy’ foods in their new obesity strategy with Public Health England – named ‘Better Health’.

The new regulations due to come into force immediately include banning television advertising for foods high in fat, sugar and salt before 9pm, when children will be less likely to see them.

They will also end deals such as ‘buy one get one free’ on unhealthy foods in shops and to help people who are eating out, restaurants will be encouraged to list calories on each menu item.

As well as this, alcoholic drinks could soon list their ‘hidden calories’ so people can understand the true volume of calories they are consuming through liquids.

Why is the government introducing this strategy?

The need to bring in this initiative has been fast-tracked by the government due to the substantial evidential links between obesity and the increased risk from COVID-19.

In July 2020, Public Health England released their study into the links between obesity, being overweight and COVID-19.

The study reports that

“…living with excess weight is being consistently reported to be associated with an increased COVID-19 risk: testing positive, hospitalisation, advanced levels of treatment (including mechanical ventilation or admission to intensive or critical care) and death. The risks seem to increase progressively with increasing BMI above the healthy weight range.”

Alongside the report, Dr Alison Tedstone, Chief Nutritionist at Public Health England, explained:

“The current evidence is clear that being overweight or obese puts you at greater risk of serious illness or death from COVID-19, as well as from many other life-threatening diseases. The case for action on obesity has never been stronger.”

With obesity-related illnesses costing the NHS £6 billion a year, by reducing our cases of obesity, we will help ease the strain on our health service as well as reduce the risk of COVID-19 and other life-threatening ailments such as cancer, heart disease and type 2 diabetes.

How can you help?

With 67% of adult men and 60% of adult women in the UK being classed as overweight, obese or morbidly obese, what can we do to ensure we are looking after our health, weight and the NHS?

Simply put, we can lose weight and prioritise our health. But as Dr Tedstone explains,

“It can be hard to lose weight and even harder to sustain it, which is why people cannot easily do it on their own.”

One of the best ways we can begin to tackle obesity is to get educated about the foods we consume and how to lead a healthier lifestyle on an individual support basis to help us on a weight loss journey.

A significant reason we gain weight is over-eating. Many adults are regularly, if not constantly, consuming up to 300 extra calories a day above their 2000 or 2500 calorie limit.

By reducing our calorie consumption and sticking within the NHS recommended guidelines, we can start to ensure that we aren’t allowing our weight to increase to dangerous levels for our health.

Where do you begin?

It can be hard to think of beginning a weight loss journey and losing weight is not easy do alone, and we understand that all these statistics and facts can seem scary to those looking to start improving their health, but don’t know where to begin.

If we don’t know what we should be consuming and when, and don’t feel empowered to make the healthiest choices, it can be difficult to know what is best for us when starting a weight loss diet.

This is where The Slimming Clinic want to help support the fight against obesity and help keep things really simple for our patients.

The Slimming Clinic work with patients to start a healthy lifestyle by giving you the tools to feel confident enough to make better food and lifestyle choices. This is done with regular remote appointments with our GMC-registered doctors, Mindset Coaches, Movement Coaches and Dietitians, who work together to provide advice and support on our weight loss programmes.

Our weight loss experts work with you on an individual basis to show you the small, simple changes you can adopt, that will help you to lose weight and decrease your risks of obesity-related illnesses.

In over 30 years, we have helped thousands of patients lose weight and improve their health significantly with our tailored weight loss programmes. Our aim is to ensure every patient who joins one of our weight loss programmes is given the best chance to improve their health and reduce their weight in a sustainable manner.

Then, when a patient has reached their weight loss goals with us, they will have been equipped with the tools and knowledge to continue to remain within the healthy BMI range for them.

How can you get support from The Slimming Clinic?

If you are brand new to The Slimming Clinic, or you’ve not had an appointment with us in over 12 months, your weight loss journey starts with an online Initial Video Consultation with a GMC-registered weight loss doctor.

Our Initial Video Consultations are the most convenient and comprehensive way to start an online weight loss programme you can find.

We know that getting to a location to start your weight loss can be time-consuming and inconvenient and we wanted to make it as easy as possible for you to lose weight.

If you want to start your weight loss programme as soon as you are ready, you can, with our online Initial Video Consultations with our weight loss doctors!