SCOTS will be urged to cut unhealthy snacks from their diet on at least one day each week in the latest campaign against obesity by the country's food watchdog.
Food Standards Scotland is calling on people to shun calorie-laden treats such as chocolate, sweets, cakes, crisps, biscuits and sugary drinks every Tuesday as part of its 'Treat-Free Tuesday' drive.
It comes days after an FSS report recommended curbing portion sizes and adding calorie information to menus to encourage people to eat more healthily when they are dining out.
The watchdog said the average consumer could eliminate up to 16,000 calories a year from their diet by giving up two chocolate biscuits and a can of sugary drink one day per week.
Dr Gillian Purdon, FSS Senior Dietary Advisor said: “Too many people treat themselves with unhealthy snacks they just don’t need. The fact is, all those little extras can add up to health problems for ourselves and our children in the longer term.
"Around one-third of children and around two-thirds of adults in Scotland are currently overweight or obese. It’s forecast that, unless things change, 40 per cent of adults in Scotland could be obese by 2030.
“A treat should be just that – something we enjoy which we have occasionally - but as a nation we have got into the habit of frequently having unhealthy snacks. Making changes to your diet might be easier than you think, so we’re calling on people in Scotland to commit to dropping unhealthy snacks and treats every Tuesday as a simple, achievable way to start cutting out unnecessary snacking.”
FSS’s healthy eating marketing campaign ‘Change our Future’ will run from today on television, online and on social media, promoted through the hashtag "treatfreetuesday", designed to encourage people to make changes to their diet.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here