The Fat Tax and what I think of it...

A good couple of weeks since we were on Panorama, I thought it was about time I posted how I felt about the whole thing. It's still a 'live' issue - yesterday the Independent led on the news that the UK government are veering away from taxes and price controls on cigarettes, alcohol and fatty foods. Nudges rather than pushes.

I did think it was a bit wierd Panorama devoting a whole programme to something that the Health Secretary had already said would not happen, but there you go, they asked for my opinion and I gave it. And here it is: I'm agin it.

I believe a Fat Tax would disadvantage people on low incomes, who spend proportionately more of their income on food. This year, we're all feeling the pinch. Many people with jobs are finding that their salaries are frozen, people on benefits are facing cuts and unemployment is rising. VAT is going up in January to 20%, and you'd be surprised how many high fat and high sugar food items are subject to VAT. Since the costs of these foods are already going up, why increase them even more, and cause even more hardship?

As for John, well he agrees with a fat tax. He feels that anything that can reduce the amount of crap people eat is going to be a help. He does agree with me that there need to be more healthy options in the shops though. In our local shops in our town, it's very hard to buy fruit and veg. They do have little 'Scottish Government' sponsored stands but often they're empty. I remember one occasion John was in hospital on fluid restrictions. He was not allowed drinks but was allowed fruit. Could I buy any in our town? I'd have had to go to the out of town supermarkets. So I had to go into Glasgow to buy him satsumas, strawberries, grapes and all the juicy fresh fruit he was badly craving. I could have bought any amount of chocolate, bisuits, sweets, salty snacks and crisps. But not anything healthy. I don't think he really wanted a solitary brown banana or some potatoes, which is all the shops seemed to have.

So if they are going to increase the cost of fatty foods there should be a subsidy on healthy foods, and they should make sure that healthy foods are always available in shops. Large areas of cities and towns have no ready access to a supermarket, and many people (like me) don't drive so can't easily get to a supermarket.

I am not even convinced that increasing the price of fatty foods is going to help someone like me buy less of them. When I have a craving for chocolate, I have a craving, and very little is going to get between me and that bar of chocolate.

In fact, I found out during the filming just how much extra I'd be willing to pay, when reporter Shelley Jofri held up a packet of Maltesers and said 'Just how much would these have to cost before you would think twice about buying them? Shamefully, I realised they'd have to cost up to £4 before I'd even think of not buying them. No wonder I'm fourteen stone!

But the filming tought me that my willpower these days is a different beast than it used to be. The Panorama team put us in front of a table covered with food - it was like that bit where Gillian McKeith puts her victims in front of a table groaning with lard and takeaways. There was Burger King (greasy and cold), pizzas, ready meals, crisps, chocolate, and my nemesis - a tub of Ben & Jerry's. It all came flooding back. I held this stupid tub of ice-cream in my hand and found myself describing it as my 'gateway' and telling the nation how I used to tramp for miles to every corner shop within two miles of my house to get my supply. I'd have had to have walked a lot further than that to burn off the calories in a tub of that stuff - no wonder I ended up putting on three stone in a year! Thank god they didn't put that bit in.

It did feel a little bit ridiculous looking at food and talking about being addicted to it. I have the most respect for the struggles people have with drugs, alcohol and cigarettes. Food's an odd one because you have to continue having a relationhip with it. You can't give it up altogether. While some people decide that there are some foods they just can't ever have again, others go for the 'harm minimisation' and try and eat in moderation. I'm in that camp myself. Last time I had a tub of Ben & Jerry's in the house, I ate it in 250cal portions, not all at once, and it stayed in the freezer for weeks. That's a fairly good sign of 'recovery'. My daily food is a budget, and I don't want to spend that much of it on ice cream when I could eat something that would leave me feeling more full afterwards.

So I still eat my Ben & Jerry's, I'm just not stupid about it any more.