Britain is rapidly becoming the Obesity Epicentre of western Europe. Our national dress is in danger of becoming the Elasticated Trouser.
There is a clear correlation between the huge amount of shelf space devoted to alcohol in our supermarkets and the Fat tsunami, as alcohol is high in calories. Before long our supermarket aisles will need widening. This has already happened to cars. By 2084 we will need fatter roads.
Huge amounts of alcohol are consumed in the home. If the village pub is empty on a Monday night, chances are the locals will be knocking back drinks from Tesco in front of the tele. Why then do successive governments target pubs instead of supermarkets when they try to tackle alcohol abuse? Supermarkets are the Land of the Loss Leader. The sheer volumes that they shift makes them, not pubs, the primary traffickers of excess alcohol.
It has become the trendy norm for many of us to quaff supermarket wine with our meals, but a bottle of wine contains 500 calories and to shed just a pound of fat in a week a Homo sapien must somehow ‘lose’ 500 calories a day.
Alcopops, a comparatively recent arrival on the drinking scene, are especially fattening, a typical bottle contains 200 calories, so it’s hardly surprising that we seldom see a Size 6 in our trendy bars! Many of the newer drinks have far higher levels of alcohol than a traditional pint of real ale. The Svelte figures in their ads should be more like Sven. Kids are not permitted to purchase sugary alcopops, but can sweet-talk their parents into filling the supermarket trolley with ‘illegals’.
A typical pint of real ale contains about 180 calories.
It contains only natural ingredients.
Unlike wine it does not damage the Balance of Payments.
And it is completely safe to drink a gallon and a quarter a week (male) or 7 pints (female), if not ‘binged’.
Social drinking in a pub can be good for your interactive mental health. Staring at a television screen with can in hand uses the brain less than when asleep. Far better to walk briskly towards your local boozer. Give supermarket drinks the thumbs-down. These monoliths have closed countless small shops, filling stations and pharmacies. Their next target could well be the public house.
Drinking ale in moderation in a well-run pub makes sense.
Hugh Price
Tynemouth Lodge Hotel