Tracey Hague20th Aug 2010:
Croydon Greens call for ‘Meat Free Mondays’ following diabetes documentary.
Following a shocking Channel 4 documentary on the diabetes Clinic at Mayday hospital (1), the Croydon Green Party is encouraging local schools to adopt ‘Meat Free Mondays’ to help slow down the spike in the number of cases of type 2 diabetes in young people.
The TV programme, shown on Monday 16th August, revealed that one in five patients being treated at the hospital has diabetes.
Meat products and dairy foods make up the greatest percentage of saturated fat in our diet, contributing significantly to the huge increases in obesity and adult onset diabetes, as well as heart disease and certain cancers.
A meat-centred diet contributes to deforestation, pollution, climate change, starvation and animal cruelty.
Tracey Hague (2), spokesperson for the Croydon Green Party, said:
“The NHS spends £1million every hour treating diabetes, using 10% of its annual budget. A new diabetic is being diagnosed every three minutes in the UK. These are startling statistics.
Tracey, who is The Vegan Society’s Croydon contact (3), went on to say:
“Most people do not eat enough fruit and veg. I support training courses on how to eat healthily for local children, aged three and upwards.
“Meat consumption is clearly too high, and children need to be introduced to meat free diets.
‘Meat Free Mondays’ is an initiative that the council should be promoting as part of healthy school meals programme.
“It appears that Croydon is on the verge of a diabetes epidemic. Instead of spending millions on drugs and other treatments, we should encourage everyone to eat a plant based diet. Prevention is always better than cure, healthwise, financially and for the sake of the planet’s precious resources.”
Ends
Notes
(1) http://www.channel4.com/programmes/the-hospital/episode-guide/series-2/episode-4
(2) Tracey Hague stood as a Green Party candidate in Addsicombe ward in the 2010 local elections.
(3)http://www.vegansociety.com
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Tags croydon, greenparty
1 comment:
It's absolutely right that many vegetable foods take time to digest and reduce sugar peaks a great deal.Its also true that meat carries the greatest fat calory intake(whether obvious or hidden) and thus contributes to obesity,and thus to diabetes.It is very important to realise though that sugar rushes are the most destructive issue here,from whatever source.Coca Cola and Pespi are very powerful companies, and the US produces great surpluses of corn (sugar)syrup that needs disposal.Recent research showed that teenage girls who drank sweet soft drinks had disproprtionate levls of obesity and diabetes.....vege good....fizzes bad !
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