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hello everyone it's great to be here so
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I became I became interested in foods
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not through my academic research but
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through my travel and through
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experiencing many different food
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cultures around the world and among my
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favorite places other Pacific Islands
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countries like Fiji and some more and
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there are over many trips I came to
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notice that traditional healthy foods
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various types of seafood fresh
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vegetables and fruits were being
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displaced by imported processed foods
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and this was having a profound impacts
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on human health later I came to learn
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that this is what was called a nutrition
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transition that as countries grow richer
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as more people begin to live in cities
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as they become more globalized and
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westernized what people's diets begin to
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change and Australia has had its own
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nutrition transition and it shows in our
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changing waist lines in 1980 10% of us
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here in Australia we're obese today that
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figure is 28 percent among the highest
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in the developed world similar thing has
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happened in countries like the United
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Kingdom like the United States but also
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more recently in countries like Brazil
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like Mexico and South Africa and
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although the number of undernourished
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people in the world today is declining
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there are still 800 million of us who go
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to bed hungry every night and they live
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alongside the two billion of us that are
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now overweight and obese as Raj Patel
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puts it's our planet is both stuffed and
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stuffed now I've dedicated myself to
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researching these topics over the last
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eight years and today I would like to
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just touch on two pretty important
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questions number one why have we as a
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society become fat and number two what
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can we do about it
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so let's start with this first question
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now one argument we hear very often
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comes from the food industry and they
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would have us believe that obesity comes
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down to a reduced responsibility for how
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much we move and what we eat but if we
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followed this logic we might then expect
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to find evidence that we are becoming
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less responsible that obesity has
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emerged because of a D responsible is a
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ssin of our society but statistics
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simply do not support this claim illegal
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drug use has declined and steadied off
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drunk driving rates have dropped
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considerably and smoking rates have
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absolutely plummeted in the 1950s here
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in Australia half of us smoked and today
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that figure is just 12% so we have
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become fat as a society when we have
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never been more responsible in all of
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these other areas of social activity and
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so I'm afraid to say that this
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responsibility arguments that we hear
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time and time again just doesn't cut it
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because it's an arguments that
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completely ignores our biology but as
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once not so long ago food was scarce
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famine has been very much a part of our
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human history those that survived over
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consumed food when it was abundant and
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stored it as fat for when it was not and
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this has been hardwired into our DNA we
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have evolved metabolically efficient
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bodies that are now poorly adapted to
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our modern food environments so we have
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to acknowledge that in our
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hunter-gatherer past consuming as much
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food as possible was personally
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responsible today cheap energy dense
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foods are all around us and in this
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light obesity is just a normal
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superficial human response to an
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increasingly
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industrialized food system to what is
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called and increasingly obesogenic food
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environments one that has been
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engineered by the food industry with one
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goal in mind to make us consume more
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food because eating more and not eating
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less underpins the entire business model
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of the industry so might not come as any
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surprise to you that we here in
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Australia and this is data from the most
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recent Australian Health Survey consume
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no less than 35% of our daily calories
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from so-called discretionary foods
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otherwise known as junk foods and for
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Australian teenagers that figure is 41%
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so let's start with food production
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today our food is produced by peoples
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and places from which we are far removed
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with globalization we can source raw
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ingredients that are used in
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manufacturing or we can source final
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products from wherever in the world
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production costs are cheapest or heavily
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subsidised
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and so we get sugar from the United
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States we get soy beans from Brazil we
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get palm oil from Indonesia and Malaysia
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and we get cheap labor from countries
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like India and China and we might see
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happy looking farmers on some of our
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food products sometimes but it is
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industrial agriculture that produces the
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vast bulk of our food today and it does
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so at very little cost in Soto calorie
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our food has never been cheaper what
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about the food products themselves food
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science has been harnessed to engineer
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highly durable foods rich in sugar salt
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and fat the very nutrients that we are
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programmed to crave many of these
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products can be considered addictive
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they stimulate the parts of our brains
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associated with pleasure and reward
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overriding our conscious control over
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appetite portion sizes have changed
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considerably
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soft drinks fries hamburgers an hour two
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to five times larger than what they were
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in the 1950s and we perceive this
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psychologically as value for money and
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it might be good for our wallets but
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it's probably not so good for our
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waistline and today we live busier lives
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the food industry has responded with
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ready-to-eat meals ready-to-eat snack
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foods and fast food restaurants selling
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us convenience and so obesity stems not
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only from our biological drive to crave
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energy dense foods but also from our
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need to compress the time in which we
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source and consume it now if more
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packaged food has also come our syrup
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with more processed food has come more
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food packaging and packaging is a
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marketing opportunity you might have
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noticed the labeling trickery on many
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products labeled fat-free reduce fat
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lights natural made with real fruit
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often under the guise of being healthy
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but very often far from soya take
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nutrigain for example one of the most
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popular breakfast cereals cereals here
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it's promoted as a source of protein and
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fiber as an Iron Man food for and I
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quote fueling young Aussies to live
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unstoppable lives but the product is 27%
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sugar it's not something I would
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recommend for Iron Men it's not
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something I would recommend for anyone
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especially for young Australians the
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only thing unstoppable about this
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product is the surge and blood sugar and
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insulin that children will get from
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consuming it and our food culture has
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also changed considerably power 50
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billion dollars is spent every single
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year marketing and promoting unhealthy
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food products shaping our beliefs about
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what foods we consider to be normal and
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socially desirable just two companies
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Coke and Pepsi spend six and a half
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billion dollars every year that's a
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figure that exceeds the entire annual
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budget of the World Health Organization
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it's a figure that completely swamps
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that drowns out any spending on a
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healthy food promotion by governments
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around the world and so junk food
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advertisements are all around us we see
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them on billboards on TV at our sports
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games we see them in social media on
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Facebook you might have seen the popular
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children's characters and toys that are
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used to woo kids in McDonald's not only
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serves more children food every day than
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any other organization in our country
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through its Happy Meals it is also the
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largest toy distributor and so why do
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companies why would they spend so much
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money on advertising because it drives
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consumer behavior in powerful ways and
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especially when it comes to the pester
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power that children exert over their
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parents purchasing decisions and tell me
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those of you with young children in the
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audience that pester power is not an
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issue and advertising is less about
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communicating information as it is about
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conveying symbolic and social meaning so
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products come to be associated with fun
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happiness sex appeal prestige rather
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than their underlying costs and benefits
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in terms of health and so those
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advertisements we see of young slim sexy
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people drinking Coca Cola is far from an
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accurate representation of those who
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consume the most junk food in our
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country today which is the Australian
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teenage male who consumes no less than
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how much would he guess no less than 19
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teaspoons of sugar every single day most
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of it from processed foods for the top
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10 percent of those teens that figure is
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38 teaspoons
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and let me ask you this is it okay that
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McDonald's and Coca Cola are the
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official restaurant and beverage of the
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Olympic Games that KFC and Milo are of
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Australian cricket isn't it time we
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reconsidered the role junk food
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companies play and sponsoring our sports
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men and women the very role models our
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children aspire to be but perhaps the
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most potent way in which the food
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industry undermines sorry the food
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environment undermines responsibility is
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when the food industry lobbies against
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the policies that would enable it in the
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first place
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in the United States in just the last
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six years 100 million dollars was spent
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by soft drink companies lobbying
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politicians against regulations
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across the Atlantic in Europe a
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staggering 1 billion euros was spent
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lobbying the European Parliament to
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oppose a traffic light labeling scheme
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and so you see this issue is very much
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also a political one so in summary we
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are being asked to exercise our
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responsibility in a food environment
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that is engineered to undermine its food
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is available everywhere at any time it
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is full of sugar salt and fat per
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calorie it has never been cheaper the
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information we have to consumer to
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inform our choices is heavily skewed by
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advertising and confusing labels
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government has done little about it and
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we as a society of fat so the question
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we must ask is this what can we do about
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it
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now I'm not saying there is no role for
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respond personal responsibility I'm not
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advocating that I do not wish to take
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away the agency that we have as
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individuals to make changes in our lives
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but if we simply go out there and try
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and convince individuals to change their
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lifestyles we are likely to fail and you
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might have seen TV shows like The
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Biggest Loser and these types of shows a
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typical of this approach the obese
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masses are saved from their overall
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deficit and moral responsibility by
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their lean buff morally superior
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saviours clad in active wear it is an
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approach that downloads responsibility
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onto individuals rather than onto
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governments and powerful industries it
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is also an approach that individualized
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approach that can be highly
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commercialized and so we end up with
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obesity drugs bariatric surgery better
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for you and low calorie food products
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and finally weight loss programs that
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for 80% of people simply do not work in
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the long term so you see we have a food
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industry that promotes obesity and a
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medical dieting and fitness fitness
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industries that help us address it and
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what you might call a perfect storm of
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consumption but this is not a problem
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that we can consume ourselves out of we
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need to think outside of the box we need
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to tackle this problem at its roots
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through addressing the causes of the
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causes of poor nutrition and that means
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making changes throughout our food
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system now to do this we need to rethink
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the role of governments and we often
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hear this nanny state arguments that
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there is no role for government
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intervention that restricts our freedoms
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as consumers but our search arguments
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really about regulating us as
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individuals or are they more about
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opposing food industry regulation the
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true role of government is not to
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restrict our freedoms as citizens and
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to enable them by creating an
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environment through policy through
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legislation in which we are truly free
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to exercise our responsibility because
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if governments don't regulate the food
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industry then the food industry will
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regulate us so what can government's do
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to redesign the choice architecture of
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our food environments well first up we
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need to change the economics of our food
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supply and we could start with attacks
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on sugary drinks simple to implement
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effective and we can invest the money
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that is generated into public health
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programs Mexico just adopted such
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attacks and as it has reduced
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consumption of sugary drinks
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considerably especially among the most
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disadvantaged groups in that society and
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it has generated 1 billion dollars of
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revenue and revenue in just one year
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think about what we could do with that
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sort of money here in Australia
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critically we need to ditch junk food
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advertising especially to children we
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know from our experiences with tobacco
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that this will be an absolutely critical
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step in many countries already have
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restrictions in place in the United
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Kingdom those restrictions have reduced
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the number of junk food advertisements
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that children see considerably
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we need labeling on food packaging that
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enables personal responsibility ones
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that all consumers can quickly and
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easily understand and we need to do away
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with misleading claims on our food
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packaging we can get junk foods out of
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our schools out of our learning
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environments that's a no-brainer and we
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can use urban planning legislation to
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restrict the density of fast food
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outlets and promote access to fresh
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healthy foods especially in our most
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disadvantaged communities these are just
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some of the many interventions that
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governments have available to them that
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are based on evidence that can work
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synergistically to promote healthy food
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choices
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what can we do as citizens collectively
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and as individuals now I will
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acknowledge that not all of us will want
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to change our diets not all of us many
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of us might be happy eating what we eat
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now and I acknowledge that not all of us
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have the time and money to go and shop
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at a farmers market but if there is one
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message that I would like you to take
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away from this talk today it's this I
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challenge you to think about eating as a
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political act because when you buy food
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when you eat it it sends a message back
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up the food chain about the type of food
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system we want as marion Nestle puts it
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we are essentially voting with our fork
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three times a day and our food system
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can change and it can change for the
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better and even the smallest changes if
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they are made by all of us can start to
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have a huge impact and we are starting
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to see that collective change the
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emergence of an alternative an
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alternative food system the number of
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farmers markets here in Australia has
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more than doubled in the last decade the
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fastest growing sector of our food
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retail system connecting us to the
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people who grow our foods community
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gardens and cooking classes are popping
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up everywhere including in our schools
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parents are getting together and
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mobilizing against junk food advertising
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youth coalition's and student groups
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getting together and mobilizing around
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food issues on campuses we have a
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fantastic food cooperative at the
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Australian National University where I
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work and we have a food sovereignty
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movement here in Australia that puts
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human and ecological welfare at the
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center of our food system now these are
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all movements that we can be a part of
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if we so wish and finally some practical
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advice from me as a nutritionist is this
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as much as you possibly can remove
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highly processed and packaged foods from
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your diet and swap them out for whole
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unprocessed
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real foods not food like substances as
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Michael Pollan puts it eat food not too
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much mostly plants if a product claims
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to be healthy it probably isn't think
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slow food not fast food take the time to
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enjoy cooking to enjoy sharing your food
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with family and friends use food as a
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medium through which to connect with
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others in your community by local /
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global because when you do you're not
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only support people in your local
00:20:03
community but you also create an
00:20:06
appreciation for our local seasonal
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foods and growers and an appreciation
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for a culinary food culture like the one
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we've always had before the food
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industry co-opted it ultimately it's up
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to all of us governments communities us
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as individuals to create the food system
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we want so are we all in for a food
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system that nourishes us rather than
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makes us sick one in which all of us
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from the farmers who grow our food to us
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who consume it can thrive
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you
