Hi, everyone and welcome back to Happy Hour, 歡迎回來酒館.

Hi, 安瀾.

Hi Lulu, hi, everyone.

安瀾you know that the big news in China right now like in Beijing, the National People's Congress, two sessions are being held. 兩會正在開. They were talking about a lot of issues, a lot of topics that having to do with everyday life, with people's livelihood, people's general well-being.

Yeah. I've been looking at the news about it. And I've noticed that one of the big issues that everyone's talking about is obesity.

Oh yeah. It's the專家叫你去減肥. The medical experts who are the representatives at the People's Congress was saying because we have been talking about this healthy China initiative for some time, and now it's like we're really going to promote health awareness and in the next 3 years everyone should lose weight.

Okay.

I mean this sounds a little bit like joke saying that experts is telling you to lose weight, but obesity is a huge problem and I know for a fact that UK or generally Europe has been dealing with this as well.

It's an epidemic. So obesity in many many many countries has been on the rise and this causes lots of health risks. So diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, joint problems.

Obviously when you're a very heavy set, your joints won't be able to handle your weight. 就是關節的問題, 還有剛才安瀾說的 diabetes糖尿病, heart disease, and lots of other issues. But it can also obviously affect mental health.

Oh yeah. If somebody is overweight, if someone is obese, they can lead to mental health issues like depression or just low self-esteem.

But the reason why the government or different governments all pay close attention to obesity is not just because it's a health risk, it is also close linked to social and economic costs.

Yeah. Public health is very, very expensive. So there are higher medical costs for treating obesity related illnesses. And when people are ill that leads to reduce productivity at work, and there is an impact on public health services. So for diseases and illnesses that are essentially caused by people's habits is taking time, resources and money away from other illnesses, other diseases.

What you're trying to say is the obesity epidemic, to a large extent, can be avoided.

Oh, It can be.

Compared with other, for example, things like perhaps other more serious illnesses which are harder to avoid. So how to allocate medical resources that is the potentially... that is the social issue.

Yeah, but I want to make it clear that when we're talking about obesity that is not the same as being overweight, for example.

Exactly. So let's put the definition. It's like we're writing an essay, we need to put the definitions down.Yes. 我們首先要下定義obesity直譯為肥胖, but it's not really like, you know many people nowadays and I'm so fat, but then you look at them, you're not fat.

Obesity is to be overweight to the point that affects your health.

And there are specific numbers for it.

Well yeah. This is called the BMI, Body Mass Index.

I think most people who know even just a little bit about health, they know BMI. so how to calculate it, you can check it online. It's very easy to calculate, but then after your calculation you have a number. I know, for a fact in China, I think between 18.5 and like 24 or 23.8 or 23.9 something like that is the healthy weight.YES. Below that you are underweight就體重過輕. And over that you are overweight.

Yes. And then when you go from overweight, you move to obese.

I think in China over 27 point something or over 28 then you go into obesity.

Yeah .

And obviously there are several level obesity.

Exactly. So I think it's important to make that a very clear definition because obesity is to be overweight to the point that it affects your health. Everyone may be kind of gains a few kg after Chinese New Year or kind of after a month or two and then they lose their weight. So this is not the same as to be, for example, morbidly obese.

Yeah. This obesity is not like how you look. Really it's not like if you can get into your favor clothes, it is a number it is related to health.

Yes. So sometimes it is possible to look skinny to look thin but actually be technically overweight .

Oh that depends on how old you are. I guess I'm not sure there's the idea of... I think 安瀾 you're talking about may be visceral fat. I don't know how you can look skinny but be overweight. I think It is quite difficult .

It is quite difficult but it is possible because the BMI is about the effect it has on your health.

BMI is just height and weight ratio, basically it is about over a certain limits, then doctors would think that it will cause health issues.

BMI=體重（公斤）/身高（米）?

Okay, so I don't really know much about BMI then I think I sort of misunderstood.

安瀾 so you don't know your BMI.

I remember I did look on a chart that I'm normal weight but sometimes I can go underweight.

Show off. You lost a bunch of weight, so now you're probably approaching the lower end of healthy weight. So for those of you who are interested in your BMI, you can check it out online. There are lots of platforms that can help you calculate it. Yes.

But coming back to obesity being an epidemic, being a social issue, something that governments need to step up, to solve or deal with, how can government actually help? I mean laws and policies, right?

Oh yeah. Laws and policies to encourage healthy eating and exercise, educating people about the risks of obesity.

But to be honest, I personally think that these type of approaches they are almost like what we would call “The Nanny State”. So people don't really react very well to the government saying okay you need to lose weight. This is bad.

Exactly. It's like food as my last resort. It was like most people will not respond very well to the government telling them what to eat. So the government, in any government, could only suggest, but there are many ways to push you into that direction.

Well I think the most important way is to create environments where it's easier to be healthy.

Yeah, to be honest, one thing I've noticed in the past couple of years, you guys had a new policy of labeling everything with a calorie count, that is creating an environment that is so hostile to foodie like me.

Well even if you go into a restaurant, you can now see how many calories there are in the restaurant, exactly, in every single one of the dishes.

I think you only started, the UK only started to put in that policy in 2022 or 2023.

Yeah, it's a very recent policy. And this actually really does help because you look at the food, you look at the dishes and you know how many calories there are in each of the dishes and it's very easy just to kind of ignore or feel oh okay yes it's healthy, but in reality it’s not.

It really isn't. For example, they would even label the sauce.

So imagine now going to any restaurant, big or small, you look at the menu and every dish that you want to order, there is the information about how many calories are in that particular dish. So now you can't just order saying I love this, I love that, because you're looking at 1,000 calories. What? are you kidding me?

Exactly. That's part of it. But also controlling unhealthy food sales or sugar taxes .

Oh yeah ,sugar taxes like sugary drinks, a coke sprites these kind of things they'll have to face higher taxes so they will become more expensive. Yes. Thus putting people off.

Exactly. Another way is healthy school meals. So starting very early, getting children used to eating balanced diets.

I don't really know much about school meals. I would assume nowadays in China the school meals are already relatively healthy. I know it's definitely healthier than some of the things probably in British or American schools.

Well, in British schools there is a massive massive drive to provide healthy school meals, so including fresh fruit, fresh vegetables as well.

But I think what's stopping that it's not really the concept. It's more the cost, exactly because having healthy vegetables and fruits everyday, healthy meal cooked in a way that meets all the health requirement that is money, oh yeah, that is much more expensive than just heat up frozen things.

Well, that's one of the main concerns is that unhealthy food generally is cheaper than healthy food.

So we talked about labeling, we talked about healthy school meals, we talked about regulations and sugar taxes.

And I assume it's not just about eating, it's also about exercising, just build more activity parks so on.

Oh yeah. That's one thing that I love about where I live in Beijing is that there was so many parks, I would say still needs a little bit work with like bike lanes and kind of making it a good environment for people to cycle and to walk on the streets.

But one of the great things I love about where I live in Beijing is there so many parks.

I have seen more and more of those in recent years. I think that's definitely another policy. So we talked about the general situations.