Sugar tax and Banning fast food adverts on public transport across London

The Mayor of London Sadiq Khan says he wants to tackle ‘The ticking time bomb of child obesity in the capital’ he wants to remove all advertising of fast food and sugary drinks from the London transport system. He feels that there is a lot of pressure on parents to offer unhealthy choices to children.

This has been announced after the sugar tax campaign which has been running since 2016, there will be an 8p increase on a standard can of cola. There has also been talk to add sugar tax to chocolates and sweets in the future. This links well into Primary schools as all the money that is raised will be given to primary school to fund their sports.

The one thing that concerns me with adding more tax to sugary foods, why is there no decrease in price for healthy foods? As a healthy eater myself I find that buying fresh fruit and veg for my meals come at a cost, I feel that reducing the cost of the heathier foods families will be able to afford to home cook with health benefits.

When entering the topic of childhood obesity, within schools it is always hard as you are not their parents and you do not wish to offend the parents but there are plenty of different sessions you can do, within your Physical education time to help the children make the right choices. Here are a few ideas –

  • Right Foods – Bring together a selection of healthy snack for the children to try like apples, bananas, Hummus with pittas and allow the children to taste them. Create a small quiz with unhealthy and healthy snack pictures and allow the children to guess whether they think it is healthy for them.
  • Move it – Get the children to sit down on the floor for 10 minutes then get them standing, jumping, running, hopping, skipping and ask the children what they feel made them feel better
  • Cookery – For older children bring some fresh ingredients in and allow the children to make a health meal.
  • Menu’s – Give the children a selection of menus to look at for example a KFC, MacDonald’s, Zizzi’s, Wagamama’s and Nando’s, allow the children to write down what they feel is unhealthy and healthy, on some menu’s there will be both so get the children to highlight what would be the best choice.

There are many ways for the children learn about healthier lifestyle choice’s in a way that will not offend them and their parents. If the children do not get educated on what is healthy and unhealthy how will they ever now.

….there is more to discover at the Progressive Sports Knowledge Centre here