We need to change our food environment
By Hayley Linehan, Safefood
When I open my socials first thing in the morning, I’m hit with ads for delivery services ready to bring me a breakfast muffin. When I get off my bus to work, I see massive posters for the newest limited addition burger on offer. When I walk into my local shop, I am faced with rows of sweets and chocolates on special offer.
Why can’t I get away from unhealthy food??
Because of my food environment. It is pushing unhealthy food on me – day in, day out.
The current food environment
Our food environment influences what food we buy. It is the food that is around us, affordable and desirable.
We don’t have less willpower, different appetites, or different biology than we did in the past, yet rates of overweight and obesity have tripled in recent decades. It is the environment around us that has radically changed.
So it’s not realistic to ask you or me to change our behaviours around food when we are living in a food environment that is working against us.
Factors outside our control
The factors outside our control that influence what we eat include where we live or work; the ads we see; the culture that surrounds us. So, when meeting friends for lunch or grabbing a coffee, the healthy food available is limited and overshadowed by fast-food outlets. These are things we can’t control.
We are encouraged to eat unhealthily at nearly every opportunity in our day – vending machines full of sweets; overload of fast-food outlets in towns; unhealthy foods constantly advertised, chocolate bars for sale in hardware shops and so on.
Marketing
The World Health Organisation says food marketing is detrimental to our health. And who is surprised?
Going to my local shop, I’m greeted with wall to celling of unhealthy foods on special offer, brightly coloured with discounted tags - they’re impossible to ignore. In fact, all the food displayed on the most visible spots in supermarkets is unhealthy.
And because healthier foods tend to cost more, living on lower incomes can make it very difficult to eat healthily. On top of that lower income areas have fewer options, for example there are 53 fast food outlets in Cherry Orchard, Dublin 8, compared to 16 Ballsbridge, Dublin 4.
Impacts on health
With these odds stacked against us, is it any wonder that food-related ill health is the biggest cause of preventable illness and death on the island of Ireland. One in 4 children in the North and one in 5 in Ireland live with overweight or obesity. That means they are more at risk of developing type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, many cancers and early death in adulthood. And there’s also the risk of poor mental health due to weight stigma.
And this is all preventable. What is needed, is a healthier food environment for everyone.
What does a healthy food environment look like?
A healthy food environment is where healthy food is the easiest and most affordable choice.
It means when we are on our feeds, we’re served-up outlets selling nutritious food; when we stop off to pick up dinner, there’re balanced meals available; and when we meet friends we can grab a cheap wholesome sandwich with our coffee wherever we are.
Change
We need to wake up to the fact that our current food environment is harming our health. We need to come together to push for change. Start by talking with friends, family and others about the food around you and what change is needed in your community.
Safefood’s new food environment campaign is about raising awareness of about our food environment and how it is very hard for us to eat healthily, and that this needs to change.
