Hiya Guys!
I’ve just watched ‘Jamie Oliver’s Sugar Rush’, and I’m horrified at what I’ve seen in the last 60 minutes. I have signed the petition set up by Jamie to introduce a tax of 7p on drinks with added sugar. Introducing this tax will enable the government to raise £1bn to put back into educating primary school children the importance of a healthy diet, and giving them the stepping stones to go on to leading a healthier life, and not being another statistic… PLEASE SIGN!
Within the first 5 minutes, Jamie was in an operating theatre at St George’s Hospital in London, watching a 6 year old boy be put to sleep; a ventilator breathing for him, to have 6 teeth yanked out of his head because of the amount of sugar he consumes.
After the procedure, the Head of Dentistry and Orthodontics enlightened Jamie on the cold hard facts. He explained that every day, more and more children under the age of 10 are having multiple teeth removed because of their sugar consumption. He further explained that it isn’t rare for a child to come in and have all 20 teeth (the amount a young child has) removed because of the amount of decay.
From that point on, the child has to have dentures. What’s worse, is this totally preventable procedure is costing the NHS £30m a year!!! Heartbreaking! “It doesn’t matter how many times a day you brush your teeth, if you’re drinking and consuming more than the daily guideline amount of sugar, nothing is going to help.” – Head of Dentistry and Orthodontics @ St George’s London.
After this, he met up with a dietician and she asked Jamie to prepare a ‘typical’ healthy breakfast, lunch, snack and dinner that he’d have in a day. He made bran flakes with yogurt, berries and a glass of OJ for brekkie, tinned tomato soup and some bread for lunch, lemon and lime volvic & a Special K bar for his snack, and a prawn and veg stir fry for dinner. She then told him that the new daily sugar guidelines per person is 7 teaspoons.
After seeing what Jamie had made, she enlightened him on how much sugar was actually in his meals. In his breakfast alone was 14 teaspoons of sugar – already double the recommended daily amount. In total, his 3 meals and snack totted up to almost 40 teaspoons of sugar. I was so shocked to see that even with making healthier choices, you can still be consuming almost 6 times what you should be! Imagine how much you consume when you don’t make healthier food and drink choices…
Later in the show, Jamie visited a couple of small towns in Mexico as they too are in a crisis. There were mothers breastfeeding their babies and toddlers, sipping away on a bottle of coke and once the baby had had enough boob, they’d let them drink Coca Cola from the bottle too. #MORTIFIED!!!
All I’m saying is, if children as young as 3 are being classed as overweight or obese and with type 2 diabetes (a lifelong disease) what hope is there for their children as well as the foreseeable future?!
Sugar is everywhere so of course it’s hard to dodge it – coupled with billions of pounds spent on marketing of these foods and drinks but at least this is a start.
I personally feel like I make healthier choices most of the time, but after watching this i’ll definitely be keeping a closer eye on what Jax and I eat. I don’t let him eat chocolate, crips or junk food and he only drinks water but I know there are still ways in which I can make healthier meals and snacks. After all, I brought him into the world to nurture him the best I can and I wouldn’t be doing my job as a mama if I didn’t care about what he eats or drinks.
I have also been critised in the past for ‘not letting him eat what he wants’, or ‘being too strict’ – and at first I was quite shocked and a bit upset but in my opinion, he loves his water just fine – he doesn’t need squash to ‘make him drink’. He doesn’t need biscuits and chocolate as a snack because he loves his fruit, raisins and rice cakes! I know I’m going to have a healthier, happier Jax because of it!
The main point to realise is that all of this can be avoided!!!
HERE IS THE LINK :)
Please sign!! Love, J xxxxxxx
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