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With two thirds of the Australian population overweight or obese, there really needs to be some regulations regarding food packaging and advertising. KFC latest product, the Double Down Burger users the Man time copy line, with a massive 1939 kJ.

While a person’s daily energy intake will vary depending on your age, sex, body size and the level of activity that you engage in, a 31-year-old to 50-year-old male weighing 71 kg requires 8300kj per day based on no physical activities, just to sustain life.

So in just one sitting without the added chips or soft drink nearly a quarter of the days energy requirements are up represented by this fat laden burger (22.3gms).

This advertisement appeared on Facebook under a clients profile who is in their mid-20s. This type of advertising is extremely clever as it targets teenage boys who see the high levels of fat as a gastronomic challenge while men may find this targeting their masculinity.

This is a classic case where food labeling is required that identifies this as a high health risk product given the high percentage of energy and fat.

A tax on energy dense foods would make such products extremely expensive and would remove their attractiveness as a product to be consumed on a regular basis.

This is a classic example where one would need to really evaluate KFC’s motivation in bringing out such a highly energy dense product when they’re recommending that the clients climb the stairs to burn 930 kJ which is just under half the energy contained with this one burger.

Without singling out KFC, the other fast food companies are hardly squeaky clean with hungry Jack’s ultimate double whopper burger packing our humongous 5085 kJ and McDonald’s the Mac having 2060 kJ. I guess the most disturbing thing about the KFC double down burger is the fact that there is no bread and vegetables whatsoever, just meat or rather processed meat and preservatives.

Hopefully this product stimulates a lot of debate about advertising standards, food packaging and perhaps even a energy tax.

Finally there is an acknowledgment of the dangers of secondhand smoke by the City Of Melbourne and Frankston councils.

Melbourne City Council will roll out there zero tolerance crackdown on smokers dropping their butts on the footpath with a $234 on the spot fine for discarding a lite cigarette or $117 fine if it’s extinguished.

Frankston City Council are taking a tougher stance with a proposed exclusion zone for smoking which is still to go before council for approval. If common sense prevails, the new trial will commence in September and end on the first of March 2011. This will ban smoking on 3 major streets including opposite the railway station.

With all the documented studies of the dangers of second hand smoke, I find it strange why smoking is still allowed where members of the public are exposed to this carcinogenic toxic gas.

Making changes, whether to your eating habits or changing smoking behavior is usually slow, too many immediate changes leads to people reverting back to their old habits within a short period of time or resisting the change all together.

The major breakthrough was the ban of smoking in pubs , cafes and restaurants, followed by the ban of smoking in outdoor areas, within 5 meters of children’s playgrounds and then in cars with children.
Of course there was the fear mongering saying that patronage would be effected which is wasn’t so of course fear will be more fear mongering campaigns, especially when the big tobacco companies are the big losers.

106% increase in Australian takeaway food sales from August 1999 to 2009, will the Preventative Health Task Force have any effect?

With the Preventative Health Task Force making recommendations about the banning of junk food advertising during children’s television viewing times, is more needed to change the growth in the consumption of takeaway food?
More so the levels of fat, sugar and salt needs to be addressed in takeaway food guidelines as adding these ingredients is the cheaper option when compared to fresh healthy ingredients.

The latest ABS figures for July show a disturbing trend that takeaway food sales have increased by 105% in 10 years which is interesting given that we have just experienced the GFC.

So will the government initiatives and recommendations at the very least slow done this rate of growth for takeaway food sales in Australia.

Magda Szubanski attacks cyclists on beach Road for being on the road, wearing lycra to cafe’s and suggests to open car doors in front of cyclists, ignorance only fuels anger towards cyclists.

What a shame that a person of such high media prominance goes off about cyclists getting off Beach Road when we should be encouraging people to cycle to stay fit and healthy. With our radio shock jocks spreading anti bike sediment, providing additional material for the public to consume against cyclists goes against the work from Bicycle Victoria and The Amy Gillett Foundation to promote bicycle awareness and safety.

This is very surprising behavior from Magda given she was on the receiving end of inappropriate comments about comparing her ability to lose weight to a concentration camp from a Melbourne Radio announcer called Kyle Sandilands.

I good friend of mine was intentionally run over by a motorist and barely escaped death with rehabilitation to walk again taking more than 4 months. With Melboune’s traffic congestion reaching an all time high, people should be encouraged to use the bike whether for recreational or transportation purposes.

When need to look at cities like Amsterdam and Copenhagen that have fantastic bicycle infrastructure and road user awareness that respects cyclists.

Fortunately Magda Szubanski has apologised for her attacks on cyclists using beach Road.

A leaked document purports that beverage companies are using scare tactics to reduce the consumption of tap water and increase the sales of bottled water.

Apparently some people from a PR company working with the Natural Hydration Council contacted a Scottish newspaper with information E Coli contamination in the water supply.
The Natural Hydration Council (NHC) whose founding members are , yes you guess it companies who would benefit from increased bottled water consumption, Danone Waters (UK & Ireland) Ltd, Nestlé Waters UK Ltd and Highland Spring Ltd.
They also have a sister website about You ought to drink more water, well that’s great but what is the home page cover shot promoting, general water consumption?

There premise is to effectively finds ways to help promote the consumption of bottled water siting environmental, health and other sustainable benefits so consumers can make informed decisions.
It would be intersting to see how extensive and objective there research is regarding the benefits of drinking tap.

I find this very strange stating an environmental benefit when the oil consumption for producing bottled water (excluding the transportation) is 17 million barrels or 3.5 days of the US’s daily oil consumption (4,950 ,000 barrels/day)

Selling bottled water is one the 20th centuries great strokes of marketing genuis, apart from created a multi billion dollar market that was non existent 25 years ago, we are encouraged to drink water constantly like we are walking in the Sahara desert without shade. “Quick Bob, don’t forget to take some water with you if you’re walking around for 30 minutes, you may get dehydrated” Although this sounds silly drinking water on the go is thoroughly encouraged.

Check out a great slide presentation of Why we shouldn’t drink bottled water.

So next time you reach for the wallet, have a think about what these beverage companies are doing to reduce the consumption of tap water.