Diet plans going up in smoke

Shocking: Report indicates we’re bidding farewell to healthy habits and embracing our bad old ones

I'VE just lit my fifth cigarette of the morning, stuck some sausages and rashers in the frying pan and am lying on the sofa with the remote. The hangover from last night has kicked in, but it's nothing that the fry up won't cure. Oh, and three sugars in my tea.
Sound familiar? Well it's not actually how I start my morning (most of the time anyway), but according to a five year study carried out by the Department of Health, it's how many of us do.

Judging from the results of the Slan report, we're fat, unhealthy slobs and what's more, many of us freely admit it.

Yet, despite smoking and eating fatty foods being on the increase, and exercise levels falling, 58pc of us still rate the state of our health as ‘excellent' or ‘very good'. The Slan survey is carried out every five years and it shows we've become even more optimistic in that time despite the appalling figures.

The biggest skeleton in the cupboard is smoking. Twenty nine per cent of us are now smokers – up from 27pc in 2002 and most alarmingly, the biggest increase is in the 18-19 age group, where 35pc admit to being smokers.

Was it a case of out of sight, out of mind? When smoking stopped being a regular accompaniment to our food and drink in pubs, and we no longer had to wade through plumes of smoke in the office, did we think it had gone away? Despite all the campaigns, the tax increases and the state of the health service, smoking is still as popular a hobby as ever.

Foodies are just as bad. More gourmands than gourmets, it must be said, 36pc of people now consider themselves overweight, but in fact the figures say that 39pc of us are, with 25pc clinically obese.

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This figure is up considerably too from previous studies and shows no signs of abating, despite extensive health advertising campaigns being run in schools and hospitals. Our penchant for cream buns, the full Irish and chocolate desserts is showing. And what's more, too many of us add salt liberally to our food at the table without even tasting it first to see if it's needed.

In fact, the survey showed a whopping 86pc of us regularly have more than the three small portions of bad foods we should, every day. They're the ones at the top of the food pyramid which make us salivate.

Not enough of us are paying attention to the old cardiologist's diet: if it tastes good, spit it out.

Fewer of us are getting enough exercise either. Citing ‘no time' as the number one excuse, one in five people don't exercise at all. Not even a walk around the block, or getting off the bus a stop early. A further 24pc admit to ‘some' exercise, but not enough. It wasn't all bad news though.

Many of us have got the message about eating fresh fruit and veg. Up to 77 pc of us do so every day, compared to 68pc five years ago. More new mums have taken breast-feeding on board too, with 42pc giving their baby the best start-up from 23pc in the last survey five years ago.

But if we're deluding ourselves at all, it's the old demon drink where it's most obvious.

Slan says that 28pc of us claim to regularly drink six or more units of alcohol a week which is the only figure to show a marked decrease from 2002.

RISKY

Back then, almost half (45pc) said they commonly drank this much. And when it comes to risky drinking – over the recommended limits, just 8pc say they indulge more than they should.

Now, this sounds like great news altogether, given the ravages of drink on families and society.

But the drinks industry just last week posted an increase of 2.3pc in sales, so is it a case of telling people what they want to hear?

Our health as a nation is not good. Our health service is not good. And yet, we seem determined to place ourselves sooner rather than later in the hands of the hospital system.

Oh, and is it just me or did anyone else notice that slan means goodbye?