New Zealands largest and most successful weight-loss organisation is planning a major assault on the nations obesity epidemic. Weight Watchers Plate of our Nation is an ambitious and far-reaching movement which puts our attitudes to food and activity under the microscope in a bid to offer real solutions to get our nation healthy again.
With 64.8 percent of Kiwis now overweight or obese1, New Zealand ranks as one of the fattest countries in the developed world. Weight Watchers is investing its 50 years of experience and scientific research to be the first commercial weight-loss organisation to take action and affect real change on our countrys collective waistlines.
Weight Watchers Plate of our Nation kicked-off in earnest with a unique, multi-layered study to investigate the root causes of the deepening obesity crisis. The report covers all areas from lifestyle, exercise, body image, health and wellbeing, finding significant disparities between generations attitudes towards activity levels, food consumption, cooking skills and weight. It reveals how gradual changes in the way we eat, move and live our lives, have crept up on us over time, and points to a grim picture for New Zealands future, with food knowledge rapidly diminishing.
Plate of our Nation key findings:
- 53% of young adults consider heating chicken nuggets to be cooking
- Nearly 4 out of 10 (39%) Generation Z respondents are unable to correctly identify staple veggies such as leek or zucchini
- 82% of Generation Z respondents dont use any fresh ingredients in their daily evening meals
- New Zealanders rarely eat as a sole activity; 81% of us are consuming meals while doing other things, from reading, texting to working, which has been shown to lead to over-eating
- 42% of New Zealanders continue eating until overfull
- On an average day, 42% of New Zealanders exercise, compared to 87% that watch TV
Read more:
Weight Watchers 'wages war on NZ's obesity epidemic'
