What Can The Government Do To combat The Obesity Epidemic

Nick Mitchell, Founder and CEO at Ultimate Performance, a world-renowned fitness expert, shares his views on childhood obesity…

” I don’t like big government.

I dislike government overreach. I don’t like the government getting involved in my personal life. I want to be responsible for my own life.

If you take a look at the issue from the perspective of public health, then something needs to be changed.

I think that if someone identifies a child as overweight, they should stick their nose into it.

I’m sure people would not like it. It will never happen.

There are societies that don’t have obese people. You must ask yourself, “Why?”

Just returned from a trip to Singapore. There is not the same amount of obesity in Singapore as there is in the UK and US.

What’s the Difference? It’s about a culture that doesn’t overeat.

All boys must do two years national service at the age of 18.

I believe that they must do 2 weeks of National Service up to 40 years old. By the way, this is wrong.

They take more pride in their physicality. They need to be physically fit if they are going on national service because they will be doing manoeuvres.

They dig holes, carry sandbags, and do all sorts of other stuff. Obesity is going to be a disaster if you’re a construction worker.

What is the effect of that? If you’re 18 and overweight, or even a bit unhealthy, you will have to go through a two-year period of discipline. I imagine that this is what gets you in shape.

I’m assuming that a large part of your diet is controlled. This is a society that is very rigid and controlled.

I don’t say that this is a model or a paradigm that we should adopt. You can examine these societies who don’t face this problem and ask yourself why we don’t.

Are they really so smart? Are they really so clever? No! They are rigid. It is a paternalistic society and culture. This is a society where authority is respected more.

Also, they’re not afraid to say things which might trigger others.

We can’t discuss obesity because it is ‘triggering.’

It speaks again of the larger movement. You have this thing in the UK, ‘healthy for every size’. If you are morbidly overweight, you can’t be healthy at any size.

I am certain that the UK government acknowledges a problem. They may not know how to fix it, but they do acknowledge that the problem exists.

How would you handle children?

The only way to get there is through the schools.

Is physical education and PE still relevant?

No. No. This is a one size fits all approach. It’s all about resources and money.

Nick trains his son, aged 13.

Do I believe that we should invest more money in education, including physical education, on a macro-level in the UK? Yes.

I would revamp the physical education system. I would make people aware of what it means to be active. You’d want to show children how much fun it is to move their bodies.

We are aware. We love exercise and are in the fitness industry.

Exercise gives us an endorphin rush, and this boost is powerful in every aspect of our lives.

This is what we need to teach our children.

It does not really matter. It could be Pilates. It could be yoga. You could run a marathon or go to the gym and kill yourself.

Then there are the children who play sport.

All children should do sport or some other activity that is competitive. This is not even about physical exercise.

You should do something competitive.

It could be a spelling contest or a mathematics competition. You don’t need to say, “I am going to run” or “I am going to play Rugby”.

There should be some kind of competition. Children should be taught to lose. Losing is something that everyone should be taught.

“If you’re 18, 21, 25, or older, and haven’t been taught how to lose in the classroom, you will be screwed once you hit the real world.”

Ultimate Performance is the perfect place to start if you’re looking for a way to improve your health and wellbeing.