We Understand, but Fail to Comply

The health Nazis have woken up to a simple truth.

Many people understand advice on healthy lifestyle but fail to act on it, according to a report from NHS Health Scotland.

A majority described their alcohol consumption in moderate terms despite drinking over recommended limits.

Nearly nine out of 10 adults knew they should eat five portions of fruit and vegetables daily, but less than a quarter did so.

Researchers concluded that offering advice alone was unlikely to work.

Yup, we understand their advice and exhortations perfectly well. We also realise, however, that the science they use is pure unadulterated junk. Recommended alcohol limits were plucked out of the air with no basis in science whatsoever. Likewise the five-a-day codswallop. We realise this. We understand it perfectly. We are capable of making up our own minds about what is in our best interests.

I have no great problem with educational campaigns to help people understand risks and aid them in making rational choices. This is surely a good thing. At least, it would be if the bastards didn’t lie through their teeth.

Some of the key findings mentioned in this piece of BBC propaganda:

Key findings were:

• A majority of adults drank more than recommended alcohol limits, yet 41% described themselves as a “very light or occasional drinker”.
• 87% were aware of advice to eat five portions of fruit or vegetables a day, but only 22% did so.
• 52% of adults felt were they physically active enough to stay healthy, but only 39% met the current recommendations of 30 minutes moderate activity on most days of the week.
• 83% of parents thought their children’s weight was “about right”, yet 33% of children had an unhealthy weight and 14% were obese.

Oh, my… It is entirely possible to be a moderate drinker and yet be over the government’s absurd (made up, fabricated, fictional) recommended limits. There is no reason why we should eat five portions of fruit and vegetables per day. This has no basis in science and was, again, fabricated. As for exercise, well, that all depends, doesn’t it? I don’t do any exercise as such at the moment, yet my work is fairly physical. And for the last bullet point –  what’s the betting they are using BMI? If they are, then I believe the parents rather than the organs of the state who use a discredited and unreliable measure of obesity.

Public health information manager Louise Flanagan said: “These findings show that simply knowing how we should behave is unlikely to be enough to prompt most of us to make healthier choices.”

Because, you see, those naughty Scottish people just don’t listen to their betters and do as they are told. Now Mummy is going to have to do something about it.