Saudi Press

Saudi Arabia and the world
Thursday, Oct 02, 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

Saudi Press
0:00
0:00
Close
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
Nvidia and Abu Dhabi’s TII Launch First AI-&-Robotics Lab in the Middle East
UK, Canada, and Australia Officially Recognise Palestine in Historic Shift
New Eye Drops Show Promise in Replacing Reading Glasses for Presbyopia
Dubai Property Boom Shows Strain as Flippers Get Buyer’s Remorse
Top AI Researchers Are Heading Back to China as U.S. Struggles to Keep Pace
JWST Data Brings TRAPPIST-1e Closer to Earth-Like Habitability
UAE-US Stargate Project Poised to Make Abu Dhabi a Global AI Powerhouse
Trump and Starmer Clash Over UK Recognition of Palestinian State Amid State Visit
Saudi Arabia cracks down on music ‘lounges’ after conservative backlash
Saudi Arabia Signs ‘Strategic Mutual Defence’ Pact with Pakistan, Marking First Arab State to Gain Indirect Access to Nuclear Strike Capabilities in the Region
Sam Altman sells the 'Wedding Estate' in Hawaii for 49 million dollars
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
World’s Longest Direct Flight China Eastern to Launch 29-Hour Shanghai–Buenos Aires Direct Flight via Auckland in December
New OpenAI Study Finds Majority of ChatGPT Use Is Personal, Not Professional
Kuwait opens bidding for construction of three cities to ease housing crunch.
This Week in AI: Meta’s Superintelligence Push, xAI’s Ten Billion-Dollar Raise, Genesis AI’s Robotics Ambitions, Microsoft Restructuring, Amazon’s Million-Robot Milestone, and Google’s AlphaGenome Update
Indian Student Engineers Propose “Project REBIRTH” to Protect Aircraft from Crashes Using AI, Airbags and Smart Materials
Could AI Nursing Robots Help Healthcare Staffing Shortages?
Turkish authorities seize leading broadcaster amid fraud and tax investigation
Qatari prime minister says Netanyahu ‘killed any hope’ for Israeli hostages
Apple Introduces Ultra-Thin iPhone Air, Enhanced 17 Series and New Health-Focused Wearables
Big Oil Slashes Jobs and Investments Amid Prolonged Low Crude Prices
Social Media Access Curtailed in Turkey After CHP Calls for Rallies Following Police Blockade of Istanbul Headquarters
Did the Houthis disrupt the internet in the Middle East? Submarine cables cut in the Red Sea
Gold Could Reach Nearly $5,000 if Fed Independence Is Undermined, Goldman Sachs Warns
Uruguay, Colombia and Paraguay Secure Places at 2026 World Cup
Trump Administration Advances Plans to Rebrand Pentagon as Department of War Instead of the Fake Term Department of Defense
Tether Expands into Gold Sector with Profit-Driven Diversification
Trump’s New War – and the ‘Drug Tyrant’ Fearing Invasion: ‘1,200 Missiles Aimed at Us’
At the Parade in China: Laser Weapons, 'Eagle Strike,' and a Missile Capable of 'Striking Anywhere in the World'
Information Warfare in the Age of AI: How Language Models Become Targets and Tools
Israeli Airstrike in Yemen Kills Houthi Prime Minister
After the Shock of Defeat, Iranians Yearn for Change
YouTube Altered Content by Artificial Intelligence – Without Permission
Iran Faces Escalating Water Crisis as Protests Spread
More Than Half a Million Evacuated as Typhoon Kajiki Heads for Vietnam
HSBC Switzerland Ends Relationships with Over 1,000 Clients from Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Qatar, and Egypt
Sharia Law Made Legally Binding in Austria Despite Warnings Over 'Incompatible' Values
Dogfights in the Skies: Airbus on Track to Overtake Boeing and Claim Aviation Supremacy
Tim Cook Promises an AI Revolution at Apple: "One of the Most Significant Technologies of Our Generation"
Are AI Data Centres the Infrastructure of the Future or the Next Crisis?
Miles Worth Billions: How Airlines Generate Huge Profits
Zelenskyy Returns to White House Flanked by European Allies as Trump Pressures Land-Swap Deal with Putin
Beijing is moving into gold and other assets, diversifying away from the dollar
Cristiano Ronaldo Makes Surprise Stop at New Hong Kong Museum
Zelenskyy to Visit Washington after Trump–Putin Summit Yields No Agreement
×