London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Saturday, Oct 04, 2025

Food is not meant to be served with a side of guilt and shame

Food is not meant to be served with a side of guilt and shame

In among all the political furore, you may have missed the headlines calling for the amount of exercise required to ‘burn off’ a particular food to be brandished across the front of its packaging.
Physical Activity Calorie Equivalent (PACE) labels state how many minutes or hours you’d have to work out in order to work off the energy contained in that food. In other words X minutes walking or Y minutes running to negate the impact of the food you ate.

This type of packaging propagates the overly simplistic narrative that calories in equals calories out, and that weight is simply a matter of personal responsibility.

It belies the more than 100 complex genetic, environmental, biological and psychological determinants of body weight, most of which are beyond willpower. Yet the weight loss doctrine remains.

Side note: PACE labelling is endorsed by the Royal Society of Public Health, and Slimming World happen to have been one of their partners.

It seems too that researchers advocating PACE labels have conveniently forgotten about the six per cent (just under 4million) of the UK population who display signs of an eating disorder – roughly the same number of people who have type 2 diabetes.

Eating disorder experts, as well as those with active eating disorders, warn how these types of labels are extremely triggering, exacerbating symptoms across all eating disorder diagnoses.

In fact, research has also indicated that even among dieters and ‘restrained eaters’, calorie counts on menus can trigger emotional eating and loss of control around food.

We also cannot expect people to ‘make the right choice’, when our choices are so heavily constrained by our circumstances that we effectively have no choice.

By placing the onus on the individual to move more and eat less, we’re side stepping real socioeconomic and structural issues that prevent people from accessing exercise, nutritious food and other metrics of a higher quality of life.

No amount of food shaming from public health authorities addresses structural poverty. No amount of nutrition education on the health effects of sugary drinks negates the fact that in 2018-19, 1.6million emergency food packages were distributed via The Trussell Trust.

The Broken Plate report states that ‘the poorest 10 per cent of UK households would need to spend 74 per cent of their disposable income on food’ to meet the NHS’ Eatwell Guide costs. PACE labelling is effectively a band-aid for a gaping, bloody wound.

It’s clear, too, that the researchers have paid no regard whatsoever to the collateral damage caused by their ‘war on obesity’, having a single-minded focus on shrinking people’s bodies at all costs.

PACE labelling is not a new idea but it’s hit headlines because of a study from Loughborough University – which is actually a combination of 15 smaller studies – that showed that on average, PACE labelling could reduce calorie consumption by a total of 200kcal a day – the equivalent of about two tablespoons of peanut butter. This, they claim, will help people lose weight and reverse ‘obesity’.

But this is not actually what the study measured. The majority of the studies within the study were experimental: they were taking place in unrealistic settings, like laboratories, where external factors like cost, convenience, access and more could not be accounted for.

It also means that they can’t tell what happened to people’s weight in the long term. To be clear, the claims that PACE labelling can reduce ‘obesity’ rates are entirely hypothetical.

Yet by framing this as a ‘solution’ to higher weight bodies, we are contributing to a culture of fat shaming that we know increases the risk of physical and mental ill-health.

Contrary to popular belief, calories are not dangerous demons that hide inside your food – they are non-negotiable essentials for almost every function in our bodies. They’re not optional. We need energy to live, even if the only kind of marathon we participate is a movie marathon over Christmas.

Calorie counting is appealing because of its apparent simplicity, but it moves us away from the messages our own bodies are sending for hunger, fullness, satisfaction and what makes us feel well.

Reducing food down to calories and exercise equivalents not only tells us zero about the nutritional quality of a food, it misses the point that food doesn’t just nourish us physically.

Food is connection, celebration, tradition, comfort, and culture. It’s meant to be enjoyed without a side serving of shame, guilt and judgement.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
FBI Removes Agents Who Kneeled at 2020 Protest, Citing Breach of Professional Conduct
Trump Alleges ‘Triple Sabotage’ at United Nations After Escalator and Teleprompter Failures
Shock in France: 5 Years in Prison for Former President Nicolas Sarkozy
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
BNP Paribas Abandons Ban on 'Controversial Weapons' Financing Amid Europe’s Defence Push
Typhoon Ragasa Leaves Trail of Destruction Across East Asia Before Making Landfall in China
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Big Banks Rebuild in Hong Kong as Deal Volume Surges
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Arnault Denounces Proposed Wealth Tax as Threat to French Economy
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Denmark Investigates Drone Incursion, Does Not Rule Out Russian Involvement
Lilly CEO Warns UK Is ‘Worst Country in Europe’ for Drug Prices, Pulls Back Investment
Nigel Farage Emerges as Central Force in British Politics with Reform UK Surge
Disney Reinstates ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ after Six-Day Suspension over Charlie Kirk Comments
U.S. Prosecutors Move to Break Up Google’s Advertising Monopoly
Nvidia Pledges Up to $100 Billion Investment in OpenAI to Power Massive AI Data Center Build-Out
U.S. Signals ‘Large and Forceful’ Support for Argentina Amid Market Turmoil
Nvidia and Abu Dhabi’s TII Launch First AI-&-Robotics Lab in the Middle East
Vietnam Faces Up to $25 Billion Export Loss as U.S. Tariffs Bite
Europe Signals Stronger Support for Taiwan at Major Taipei Defence Show
×