How could anyone make a Nando’s unenjoyable? Well, they could put tomato sauce on it for a start. But for those of us who aren’t uncultured swines, the prospect of some Portuguese poultry remains one of mouth-watering delight.
In just a short amount of time, people may feel a sense of dread. Some might even have to give up the love affair with their peri-peri passion.
Scotland is currently in the process of considering whether it will emulate England in requiring restaurant chains employing more than 250 people to provide the calorie content of every dish on the menu.
It’s an issue of great division. Hoped to be an answer to Scotland’s worrying record on physical health, more needs to be done to consider the ramifications on our mental health.
If it’s not too self-indulgent, let me use myself as an example. For most of my teenage life, I ate however I pleased and exercised pretty infrequently, leading to me emerging from the first lockdown unhappily overweight.
Unhappily, not because I should have felt unhappy. I just did. Perception is personal. There’s no right or wrong way to feel when it comes to your own self-image.
I decided to get fit, and a great deal of that was down to enhancing my knowledge of calorie intake and expenditure. Burn more than you put in and you’ll see the differences. A simple formula that produced complicated results.
Although I began to feel more confident in how I looked, my obsession with calorie counting weighed far heavier than I ever did. The opening of the gyms provided a fresh start. Eating more and lifting weights gave me solace. The relationship I had with food started to mend.
Despite having suffered a shoulder injury that’s curtailed my journey to becoming Midlothian’s answer to The Rock, I no longer feel I'm stuck between him and a hard place when it comes to calorie consumption.
But even now, even in a position of good health, I’d spend half an hour pouring over every last crumb on a menu. Part of me would say “fuck it”, you’re out for a meal to enjoy yourself, only to be slowly eaten away at by the memories of feeling unfulfilled.
For many people who have struggled with eating in their past, and even in their present, the odd occasion they pop out to one of these chains is a rare opportunity to let go. To revel in the food, the company, the atmosphere around them. To enjoy.
A 2021 Scottish Government Study found that in the five years between 2013 and 2018, there was a 28% increase in the number of patients admitted to hospital with eating disorders.
The same Scottish Government is now debating whether to throw calories straight into our faces at the country’s most popular restaurants.
Obesity is an issue to be tackled with vigour and intent, but also with empathy and understanding. In trying to solve one problem, exasperating another will lead to more unhappiness and ill health.
If we’re to make Scotland a happier, healthier country, tipping the scales in one direction isn’t the answer. Protect our country’s wellbeing, protect our mental health, and most importantly, protect my double chicken wrap.
There’s beauty in balance. Let us find it.
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