Britain is heading towards national obesity quicker than we think as recent research suggests that people are under-reporting their daily calorie consumption – potentially misleading policymakers attempting to curb obesity.
National spending figures also suggest we are buying more food than we report in surveys, the authors say.
The Behavioural Insights Team (BIT) research points to scientific and economic data showing people eat 3,000 calories, compared to the 2,000 cited in official surveys, the BBC reported.
It says this could explain rising obesity levels, despite decades of surveys saying people are eating less. As a result, Government statisticians say the way calorie data is collated will change.
Managing weight loss, therefore, is essential for the nation’s health and, says the National Council for Hypnotherapy (NCH), this is one of the most effective results of hypnotherapy.
“Rather than just reducing calories that you are likely to put on again in the longer term, hypnosis gets you in touch with the reasons why you unconsciously eat,” says the NCH, the largest professional clinical hypnotherapy association in the UK.
“If you are the type of person that struggles to stop after a small piece of chocolate and feels compelled to finish the packet, then a hypnotherapist can help you understand why and help you create new healthy self-management techniques.”
Several official surveys, including the National Diet and Nutrition Survey and the Living Costs and Food Survey, suggest the amount of food people eat and buy has gone down in recent decades. But obesity rates continue to rise.
But the researchers from the Behavioural Insights Team say if the calorie counts in these surveys were correct, the UK population would be losing weight overall.
The BIT study points to scientific studies including chemical analysis of how much energy people burn, that show people are eating about 1,000 more calories a day per person than surveys would suggest.
The study’s authors suggest there could be many reasons people are not accurately reporting what they eat, including snacks being difficult to track, a desire to lose weight making them less likely to be honest about their eating habits, and fewer people taking part in the surveys overall.
Researchers also looked at the theory that a drop in physical activity was the main reason for rising weight gain.
But they say if a reduction in exercise was solely responsible, every single adult nationally would need to have eliminated more than three-and-a-half hours of daily walking since the 1970s to account for the changes.
Says the NCH: “As well as stopping compulsive eating, hypnosis can increase your motivation for exercise.
“It can also help you reduce portion sizes so you lose weight healthily, steadily and for the long term. Losing weight with hypnosis is essentially about teaching you to feel good about yourself, whatever size you are. It focuses on making healthy changes to your lifestyle that will remain for the rest of your life.”
Public health expert Prof Alan Maryon-Davis described the BIT report as an ‘interesting and very soundly argued analysis’.
He added: “This will send a shudder through the junk-food industry. Up until now they’ve been able to point to what was thought to be a decline in the nation’s calorie intake and say there’s really no need for tougher measures like a sugar tax, fat tax or calorie-labelling on alcoholic drinks. But this latest analysis rather pulls the rug from under their feet.”