So here it is, the long awaited, much delayed Childhood Obesity Strategy:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/546588/Childhood_obesity_2016__2__acc.pdf

I don’t know whether to laugh or cry. The most risible section of this sorry excuse for a policy – it isn’t actually policy at all, and for reasons that aren’t appropriate for this blog, I know what a government policy looks like – is the section headed “Harnessing the best new technology” which says:

Public Health England will hold an annual digital technology ‘hackathon’, bringing together leading developers and programmers to produce innovative solutions to address childhood obesity.

What??? We are going to resolve a “public health emergency” (not my words – the Government’s) with a smart phone app? Well fuck me backwards!! If only we had thought of that five years ago we wouldn’t be in this sorry mess!!

If you really want to understand what’s behind this document, this sentence tells you all you need to know:

We are confident that our approach will reduce childhood obesity while respecting consumer choice, economic realities and, ultimately, our need to eat.

In other words, there’s nothing the government can do, it’s all your fault because you have no money (not our fault), you make bad choices (not our fault by the way) and you eat food (definitely Not Our Fault).

The Diabetes Times is covering the story in a measured way, but even so, you can’t escape that this 10 page (yes it is only ten pages long) document is a national embarrassment:

http://diabetestimes.co.uk/childhood-obesity-strategy-slammed-by-campaigners/

In a less measured response, poor old Jamie Oliver is in shock:

http://www.itv.com/news/2016-08-18/jamie-oliver-brands-governments-childhood-obesity-strategy-disappointing-and-underwhelming/

The Times seems to know exactly who to blame:

I seem to remember Jamie saying that, if the strategy didn’t deliver, he was going to get “a bit ninja”  UK Secretary for Health Declares Childhood Obesity a “national emergency” as Jamie Oliver Prepares to be “really upset”. 

Over to you Jamie…

So the end of another Whole10.  Melissa Hartwig will tell you it isn’t a weight loss programme and I have some sympathy for her view. However, it is. Here is my data from my 10 day Whole10 and the data is so clear. Anyway… 

Here are my results. The upper graph is my weight – pink line actual and white line trend. The 10 days started on 31 July and finished on 10 August. Total loss 3.8kg in 10 days. The bottom graph is my body fat %age measured twice a day. Top readings are morning bottom readings are evening before dinner. It’s the evening readings that are more accurate.

So what kind of food can you eat to achieve nearly 4kg fat (fat not weight) loss in 10 days? Here are a couple of typical dinners….

Turmeric roasted chicken, roast squash and salad with an oil and vinegar dressing. Below with the left over chicken I made a chicken, bacon and avocado salad with coleslaw with a tahini dressing. Delicious food. Natural, wholesome and filling.

Who needs diets? 

I am 3 days in to another Whole10 (that’s a 1/3rd of a Whole30). If you don’t know what a Whole30 is check out Dallas and Melissa Hartwig’s website. I am combining it with a bit of intermittent fasting i.e. skipping breakfast, but still working out at lunchtime before I eat. The objective is just to reset things and take off a few pounds of fat over 10 days. My body fat percentage was 8.3% this morning which was a bit of a surprise on the low side but let’s see where it goes from here.

Anyway the net effect of a skipping breakfast, a fasted workout and as basically as carb free a diet as you can get, is that I get home from the office at 18:30 really quite hungry. In fact very hungry!! Unable to reach for a glass of wine to provide some relief I have had to find some food, but the fridge is pretty bare given that I go into a Whole10/30 with as little as possible around in the way of food that is non-compliant. This is what I managed to find today…

Parma ham (ingredients pork, salt), coconut oil (ingredients coconut oil) and pumpkin seed butter (ingredients… You get the idea). 

I have tried eating pumpkin seed butter on its own before and found it “challenging” – it stuck my mouth shut. So I thought what if I eat it with coconut oil wrapped up in Parma ham? This was less about considering the flavours and more about considering whether the coconut oilwould provide enough lubrication to enable me to swallow the pumpkin seed butter. However the result was surprisingly good! I spread a rounded desert spoon of coconut oil on one end of a slice of the ham and then the same amount of pumpkin seed butter on top of it. I rolled the slice of ham (down its length) around the oil and butter to make a filled sausage shape and then sliced it into rounds (I got 3 rounds per sausage).

Enjoy your Parma ham, coconut and pumpkin seed snacks with a glass of water with lemon juice and be grateful there are only 7 days to go!