Learn English While Discussing the UK Food Advertising Ban Ep 788
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Hi there and welcome to this podcast from Adept English. Do you like to eat junk food? That's J-U-N-K. And do you worry about whether you eat too much junk food? And what is junk food anyway? Well, this week, the UK government issued a list of foods which will be banned from TV advertising after 9 p.m.

from October next year. That's 2025. This is an attempt by the UK government to solve the childhood obesity problem. That's O-B-E-S-I-T-Y. And obesity, that means someone is overweight.

So we're talking here about the problem of children who are overweight or obese. And it's really interesting to see what's on this government list of junk food. There are some very standard foods on there, things that we would consider typical British dishes. So attitudes to food are changing. And I think this is a good direction.

But let's have a look today at what foods are going to be banned from TV advertising before 9pm. What's considered junk food, in other words. And some of it's quite surprising. This podcast will be opportunity for you to learn and revise your English vocabulary on food.

And much of what I'm going to talk about is just the sort of food that you might want to try if you come to the UK. Our national dishes, in other words. Hello, I'm Hilary and you're listening to Adept English. We will help you to speak English fluently. All you have to do is listen. So start listening now and find out how it works.

And that's a great opportunity to remind you of our course one, Activate Your Listening, which includes five hours of listen and learn material. It's like the podcasts, but more in depth. And one of the topics I cover in that course is food. So parts of that course are rather like podcasts.

But I also do tutorials, vocabulary explanations, and much of the course is in the form of conversations between two people. You also get opportunity to practice speaking as well. So if you want to take your English conversation forward, then Course 1, Activate Your Listening, is a brilliant course. And it will take you even further than today's podcast in your understanding of

food in English. So some definitions, first of all, junk, J-U-N-K. It means things that are of little value and often things you end up with, but which you don't want. So we talk about junk mail that might come through our letterbox at home, or it might be junk email. You probably have a folder in your email app called junk mails.

This is where all those rubbish emails that no one wants to read, that's where they all go. And in our homes, we may have junk. We may have items cluttering up our rooms, which once had value, once were useful, but not anymore. And we really ought to get rid of them. That's junk. And when it comes to junk food, generally we mean food that

might be enjoyable to eat, but it has very little nutritional value. It's not doing good to our bodies. I tend to think of places like McDonald's and Burger King. That's classically what we think of as junk food. It's food I don't particularly like either, but I know lots of people do. So what's

counted as junk food is definitely changing. On the government's list of junk foods, which must not be advertised before 9pm, are all kinds of foods which you would be unlikely to eat when you go out or have as takeaway. They're foods that we eat at home in the UK.

For example, roast potatoes must no longer be advertised before 9pm. If you're familiar with the idea of the British roast dinner, that's R-O-A-S-T, you may know it as roast beef and Yorkshire pudding, or it could be a chicken roast dinner.

Well, part of this meal will be roast potatoes. And if you roast something, it's a verb to roast, you put it in the oven and you cover it with oil and you cook it that way. It's a bit of a sad day when the roast potato is considered junk food.

food because it also forms part of our traditional Christmas dinner as well. But nutritionally, it is correct. Roast potatoes are not that good for you and should be kept to a minimum. And guess what? The same goes for that British staple, the Yorkshire pudding, now counted as junk food too. Oh dear.

Again, in terms of what we now understand about nutrition, that's N-U-T-R-I-T-I-O-N, we see that refined carbohydrates are the real problem in our diet. That's correct. But what a shame. Carbohydrate, C-A-R-B-O-H-Y-D-R-A-T-E, that's things like bread,

rice, pasta, potatoes and anything with white flour. When it comes to breakfast,

What's considered junk food, what's considered quite correctly now to be unhealthy, includes many traditional breakfast items. For example, the government advertising ban includes pretty much all breakfast cereals, that's C-E-R-E-A-L. That includes things like muesli, cornflakes,

pancakes frosties shreddies it may be shocking but it's absolutely right to ban advertising of these foods and even good old porridge p-o-r-r-i-d-g-e that's on the banned list too made from oats that's what lots of people eat for breakfast but now porridge is a junk food so what should you eat for breakfast

Well, for many people, an egg on toast or avocado on toast or mushrooms on toast, that's a much better choice that doesn't send your blood sugar sky high for the rest of the day. And I guess fairly predictably on this list of banned foods that mustn't be advertised to children, ice cream is

sweets and chocolate. But the list also includes crisps and snacks, cakes and donuts. That's D-O-U-G-H-N-U-T-S. And biscuits and even protein bars, which are advertised as healthy. But of course, they're not really. So the advertising ban is correct. Also on the list of junk foods, I'm afraid,

The French croissant and the pain au chocolat. I'm sorry about that. But these are now on the list, not what our children should be eating. If it makes it any easier, there are foods which we're very attached to in the UK. There are traditional foods which are also on the list. Things like crumpets, sandwiches.

C-R-U-M-P-E-T. If you've ever had hot buttered crumpets, they're delicious, but they're on the list alongside custard, Danish pastries and hot cross buns. What will we do at Easter? And surprising to some people, not only are sugary drinks on the list,

but actual fruit juice too. When I was growing up and my children were growing up, it was considered healthy to drink orange juice or apple juice in the morning as part of your breakfast. Not anymore. There's too much sugar and not enough fibre in those drinks. Much better to have a cup of coffee, it seems. And it's the same with yoghurt, Y-O-G-H-U-R-T. If it's got sugar in it, it's considered junk food.

only unsweetened yogurt is okay. In many ways, I'm glad about this. I look at this list of foods which must not be advertised before 9pm and I'm pleased because I can see that more recent science, more recent knowledge about what's healthy and what's unhealthy, it's been factored in. It's been taken on board. I don't know if you've ever listened to my podcast 605,

From January 2023. In it, I talk about having a cholesterol test.

C-H-O-L-E-S-T-E-R-O-L. And I talked about getting very frustrated with the very questionable advice given to me by an NHS nurse who told me to eat a low fat diet to keep my cholesterol down. She also said I must only follow advice from the NHS website, not look at any other websites, which I thought was a bit patronising.

Well, at least the UK government seems to have caught up with the latest knowledge, the latest food

food science and the idea that many of our long-term health problems and obesity problems are to do with too much carbohydrate in our diet, not too much fat. And I do agree with the idea put forward by the new health secretary, Wes Streeting, who said the advertising ban will deliver a major change in the focus of healthcare for

from sickness to prevention. And it's certainly true. Prevention is better than cure. The word prevention, P-R-E-V-E-N-T-I-O-N. It means stopping something happening. That's prevention. And we say prevention is better than cure. It's better not to get the illness or the condition in the first place than it is

to cure it. Cure, C-U-R-E, means making illness better. So I do agree, we need to eat differently and prevention is better than cure. But I am a bit sad.

about roast potatoes, crumpets and Yorkshire pudding being considered junk food? Is a similar thing happening in your country perhaps? Are some of the traditional dishes in your country now being considered junk food? I'd be really fascinated to hear. In the meantime, if you would like to help Adept English grow,

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