Portion police

March 1st,  2010

The Scottish Government this week unveiled their latest strategy to combat the country’s collective battle with the bulge.

The portion police are coming to a restaurant near you.

In theory, it could change the whole experience of eating out, presumably banning the popular buffet lunch.

It could even force some of us into getting a fish supper on the way to the restaurant just to appease our aching bellies.

Despite being completely unpractical and unenforceable, the plan to cut portion sizes to me seems to have the issue of obesity the wrong way round.

As well as considering how much we eat, this is about how we eat and what we do to burn it off.

We all tend to look back on our childhoods with nostalgia and I am no different.

But I am convinced that child obesity wasn’t a problem all those years ago because we were active from first thing in the morning to late at night, playing football, climbing trees and, dread the thought, walking to school.

The challenge now is to get today’s children off their Playstations, out of the house and taking part in more physical activities in a safe environment.

And the free swimming available here in Inverclyde is a good start.

Of course, as we get into adulthood it becomes our own personal responsibility to look after our health.

It is important that we empower people to make the right choices, not restrict their options.

That is where the government do have a part to play, making sure there are facilities to allow people to keep fit and help them work it round their busy lives.

Providing those facilities needs money though while it cost nothing to ban things and the Scottish Government looks to be going for the easy option.

As we all know, there is no such thing as a free lunch.