Everyday we are bombarded with hundreds of adverts for different foods, even more so in the US. There are adverts on the television every 5 minutes, not to mention the amount in the magazines. Don’t get me wrong I am all for advertising as a means of generating business however don’t believe everything you hear or see.
How many times have you been lured into buying a product because of the advertising behind it. That big, juicy, delicious, sexy looking burger that screams out your name turns out to be nothing like what you saw on the advert. I am sure we all remember the advert that made us believe that in order to work, rest and play we should be eating a chocolate bar every day, or ‘Hungry? Why wait?’ implying that why bother taking the time to cook your meal just grab a chocolate bar instead! It is very clever what the advertisers are doing but is it morally right? I refer back to my article last month on obesity and the ever increasing rise across the world. What worries me the most is the children and how different it is now to when I was a child. There is an average of 200 junk food ads in 4 hours of children’s TV during Saturday morning cartoons. The average child watches 20,000, 30-second TV commercials in 1 year! Unfortunately these adverts work and the supply and demand for junk food in our supermarkets is on the increase. We need to demand that the food we buy contains nutritious, wholesome foods.
One of the cereals I saw advertised for children was called ‘Fruity Pebbles’, there are 43g of sugar in 100g of this cereal. This is the equivalent of just over 10 teaspoons of sugar. In comparison, 100g of peanut M&M’s contains 52g of sugar.
When buying products from the supermarket try and be aware of what you are buying by reading the labels. Avoid foods that are high in Saturated Fats and Sugars and fill your baskets with fresh, wholesome foods. Don’t be frightened to ask questions in supermarkets or restaurants. Did you know a certain fast food chain actually puts sugar in their French fries to make you crave them even more!! Be aware!
NB: There are 4g of sugar in every teaspoon
