Well I’d have to give myself an ‘F’ for parenting this week. Just after giving you “thou shall not eat anything blue” as a nutritional commandment, Chloe talked me into blue cotton candy at the Family Festival of Sail. I tried asking for it without colouring, but that’s apparently not possible. It also earned me a look of disgust from the girl behind the stall. Poor Chloe, it seems, has a mummy that is No Fun whatsoever. Of course, despite trying to persuade her to hide behind a bush while she ate it, I had no such luck. Off she ran, showing off her large blue prize to everyone we knew. Oh dear.The same afternoon, on the way to a kids’ birthday party, I made a deal with Chloe to choose just one sweet thing. I dropped her off in the safe custody of the lovely husband while I ran some errands with little Belle. That night, as Chloe sleepily whispered her secrets at bedtime, it turned out that the “one sugary thing” had turned into a snow cone, two pieces of birthday cake and a lollipop. The LH looked a little sheepish when I brought this up, but I had to wonder, would I have done a better job?The problem is, when every other child at a party is eating all the sugary stuff, it’s very hard to be the bad guy and say no. Parties are for treats and kids are very conscious of joining in with their peers. I know a few mums of allergic kids, who have to say no all the time. But kids tend to understand the immediate cause and effect of anaphylactic allergy. They don’t so much understand the cumulative impact of bad food on their health. And neither do adults.It’s interesting for example that the results from Bermuda’s 2011 Health Survey show that 85 percent of our adults rate their health as either excellent, very good or good. As 47 percent of Bermudians die a heart-related and largely premature death, there seems to be a bit of a disconnect. The fact of the matter is that people view themselves as healthy until something goes drastically wrong. So, a person who doesn’t exercise and eats fried food sees themselves as healthy until the day they arrive in KEMH under cardiac arrest. In reality, that person was unhealthy a long time ago. When it comes to health, many of us fail to understand that we are a work in progress. We have to change our behaviours now if we want to avoid the economical, uncomfortable and often fatal implications of living an unhealthy life.But how do we do that? How do we make our desire to reach our long-term goals influence on our daily choices? Sure we all want to live a long, healthy and active life, but when it comes to having a burger for lunch, it’s all too easy to say “I’ll be better tomorrow”. For many people wanting to diet, tomorrow never comes.If we are to move towards being a more healthy population and avoid the economic catastrophe of unprecedented poor health, we all have to make better decisions every day. More than that, we need a supportive environment in which to function. It’s all very well telling people to eat better and exercise more, but if they are surrounded by candy at the checkouts and given huge portions in restaurants, we’re not exactly encouraging anyone are we?So here’s my contribution to a healthy wish list for Bermuda. You might not like some of it, but we’ve got to the stage where we need measures that will work, and work quickly. With our already enormous healthcare spend set to double by 2020, we need change and we need it soon. But what’s on your wish list? What would help YOU make healthy choices more consistently? E-mail me your ideas or post a comment on the website.l Ban candy from the checkoutsMany of us do well until we’re queuing at the checkout. So do our kids. And then we have to wait in line right next to the Snickers and the Dairy Milk. That’s not fair. They are of course there precisely because the stores know we will weaken and buy them. But that sort of tactic should be banned.l Tax junk, subsidise healthy foodWhen sodas, candy and chips are directly linked to obesity, heart disease and diabetes, can anyone tell me why it would be wrong to make them as expensive as cigarettes and alcohol? Conceptually it’s an administrative nightmare, as opinion on where the line falls with junk would be so varied. But just because it would be difficult, doesn’t mean we shouldn’t do it. Wouldn’t it be great if we could use the tax from junk food to subsidise fruit, vegetables, wholegrains and healthy, quality proteins? Also as you can argue that fruit is cheap anyway (an apple is cheaper than a Snickers for example), we should at least tax the junk to help offset the cost of healthcare.l Campaign restaurants to serve smaller portionsObviously we will never stop anyone from ordering more, or super-sizing. But wouldn’t it be great if pizzas, pasta dishes, cakes or ice cream were served in the right portion sizes as standard?There’s a restaurant in the UK that cuts out the middle of its pizzas and fills the hole with salad, in response to consumers wanting the best of both worlds (a bit of the bad stuff, a bit of the good stuff). What a great idea.l Ban kids birthday partiesOK, I am kidding. But could we at least ban the food colouring?The advice given in this article is not intended to replace medical advice, but to complement it. Always consult your GP if you have any health concerns. Catherine Burns BA Hons, Dip ION is a fully qualified nutritional therapist trained by the Institute for Optimum Nutrition in the UK. Please note that she is not a registered dietitian. She can be contacted at nourishbda[AT]gmail.com