January Detox Could Be About To Last All Year Under New Public Health Regulations

Are you sick of Dry January yet? Did you spend all of last Saturday night balling up your socks, and ironing and arranging your shirts for the coming work week?

Well, keep going - it's good for you. You are saving money, losing weight, and apparently it is a good thing to occasionally exercise your 'restraint' and 'will power' - whatever those two things are.

Whilst there is also a pretty good case as well for not taking up the challenge of a whole month off the booze, going easy on the old liver is something that it will definitely thank you for down the line.

Now, get ready for the bad news.

New government guidelines that look set to take hold in March this year could see the post-December detox become an all year round drag.

PA

You've done two weeks. Think about that. Two weeks in and I bet you could go for a nice cold one right now.

But Public Health England are reacting to calls for them to tighten up what they see as 'lax' alcohol laws.

This is all for your own good, naturally. It has been shown that having more than two units of alcohol a day can poison your brain affecting its performance, as well as increase the likelihood of dementia.

Research from Oxford University, published in the Journal of Good Health says: "UK guidelines are that drinkers should not consume more than 16g of alcohol a day... Our findings suggest that to preserve cognitive performance, 10g per day is a more appropriate upper limit.

"This would translate into not more than one UK standard unit of alcohol each day."

Oh, and it doesn't stop there. They're coming for your takeaways too. Supermarket ready meals and fast food restaurants might be about to be hit with a 'calorie cap' according to reports in The Sunday Times.

Lunch and dinner will have to be no more than 600 calories and you'll be allowed 400 calories at breakfast time.

Pixabay

This is because, basically, 27% of people in the UK are obese. A further 36% are considered overweight. This problem is made worse by the meals that people eat away from their house (including - but not limited to - the kebab house on your road that stays open until 4am).

Nutritionist from Public Health England, Alison Tedstone said: "People eat 200-300 calories too many a day.

"We will work with the industry to reduce the calories in everyday food."

There you go folks. First they came for our Irn-Bru, now they're coming for our lager and kebabs.

Rise up, people.

Topics: Food, UK News, Alcohol, Diet

Tom Wood

Tom Wood is a freelance journalist and LADbible contributor. He graduated from University of London with a BA in Philosophy before studying for a Masters in Journalism at the University of Salford. He has previously written for the M.E.N Group as well as working for several top professional sports clubs. Contact him on [email protected]

@TPWagwim