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Leo Varadkar really loves chicken wings

Speaking ahead of a food addiction conference earlier, The Health Minister confessed he’s not always as healthy as he’d like to be.

THE MINISTER FOR Health has confessed to a weakness for chicken wings, as an open meeting on food addiction took place in Dublin today.

Speaking to reporters before he opened the conference this morning, Varadkar said his busy lifestyle as a minister often means he is forced to make some less than healthy food choices.

“I try to avoid it, but I do from time to time, of course,” he said. “Like everyone else, I suppose, work is busy and I don’t always have time to cook or whatever but I certainly wouldn’t be of the view that fast food should be outlawed or anything like that.

It’s just that maybe all of us eat it too often or too frequently and we need to be particularly careful around children as well.”

He told us he’s partial to a good chicken wing when he does decide to pig out on something less healthy.

Take responsibility

Varadkar said he believes that it should be primarily people, rather than companies producing food, who take responsibility for what they put in their mouths. However he also said government needs to put policies in place, particularly to protect children and give information to people about the food they buy and eat.

There’s a couple of basic messages around health – just don’t smoke at all, don’t drink too much, eat well and get lots of physical activity – and I think if we all followed that basic advice, not only would we be better off as individuals, it would save our health services a lot of money now and into the future.

Studies have shown that two out of three Irish adults and one in four primary school children are overweight or obese. The problem becomes worse with age too, with only 13% of Irish men over 50 are a healthy weight.

Food addiction

Today’s meeting, organised by the Food Safety Authority of Ireland, also heard from a number of health specialist who discussed the concept of food and eating addictions.

Chief Specialist at the FSAI, Dr Mary Flynn, told delegates that people might things they are addiction when they find it impossible to avoid treat foods. However, high-fat, high-sugar, high-salt foods are actually designed by highly advances scientific intelligence to appeal to our human sense in a way that completely surpasses the appeal of the less processed food that we actually need to nourishment.

“As well as being far more tempting, these foods are cheaper, more convenient and promoted much more aggressively than the foods we actually need for health,” she said. “It’s an uneven competition and we are only human.”

The idea of a person having a ‘food addiction’ is still a controversial question, according to Dr John Menzies, of the Centre for Integrative Physiology at the University of Edinburgh.

“Appetite is mainly controlled by well-characterised unconscious brain systems that ensure we seek out and consume enough energy and nutrients for survival. However, it’s clear that many of us are eating much more than we need to survive.

While there is strong evidence that sweet and fatty foods activate the reward pathway in our brains, it has yet to be firmly established whether this can be termed an addiction.

Read: Calorie labelling on alcohol could soon be mandatory>

Read: Comfort food does not actually comfort you>

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24 Comments
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    Mute Mrs Shalakalananaka
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    Nov 5th 2014, 6:04 PM

    Same, they’re fecking gorgeous.

    149
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    Mute thetruth
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    Nov 5th 2014, 6:40 PM

    I experienced some with chimi churri…dear lord they were unreal

    26
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    Mute Gavin Scott
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    Nov 5th 2014, 6:04 PM

    That’s sold it for me then. I think he needs to lead his own political party. 69% landslide victory. No doubt. He has my vote.

    105
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    Mute Coco McDee
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    Nov 5th 2014, 6:14 PM

    Varadker gives me the distinct impression he is trying really really hard to keep it t9gether. There wheeling him out to talk about the water crisis because he’s the only one they’ve got. He’s doing his best to talk with gently modulated calm tones so we will all be clear that everything is hunky dory. Don’t wiry citizens it’s just a slight communications problem don’t you know. It’ll all work out wonderfully once you get your pps no to IW. Sure don’t you get asked for your pps n0. everytime you go to the spar lol.

    46
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    Mute Karl Waters
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    Nov 5th 2014, 6:22 PM

    Second light-hearted post about your beloved Leo in as many days. I suggest you take your tongue out of Fine Gael’s a**ses. This isn’t RTE.

    58
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    Mute Willie Murphy
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    Nov 5th 2014, 7:02 PM

    I was listening to George Hook on newstalk this evening talking to Vincent Browne, Vincent pretty much destroyed hook but it is worrying that despite this Hook persisted in pushing the FG agenda, it might as well have been a FG TD presenting that part of the show with comments from Hook like “Kenny said this….and he was right” and “arent the rest of the world paying for water so why shouldnt we”…..this is what we are up against….those with an interest in owning our water own our media and our government…lets hope at least the likes of the journal can provide a platform where the views of the people are discussed fairly and openly instead of telling us what our point of view should be….fair play to Vincent Browne though you rattled Hook only he is not smart enough to realise it….

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    Mute Paddy Hannigan
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    Nov 5th 2014, 9:03 PM

    Hook proudly describes himself as a ‘Blue Shirt’ despite no one else in the party really using it given its negitive connotations.Hook is an idiot and really only worth listening to for comedy value.Look at him as a kinda over extended parody.

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    Mute Derek Dunne
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    Nov 5th 2014, 9:35 PM

    The most annoying things about George Hook? His constant references to World War II (about which he hasn’t a clue), American Presidents and politics (about which he hasn’t a clue, and his right wing bias is infuriating), his blatant, uncritical peddling of the FG viewpoint and his Dunphyesque approach to rugby (again, clueless). I’m sure there’s more.

    11
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    Mute Mrs Shalakalananaka
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    Nov 5th 2014, 9:56 PM

    Karl, in all fairness, if Leo Varadkar’s arse tasted like chicken wings my tongue’d be up there too.

    8
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    Mute Duncan Paul
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    Nov 5th 2014, 7:14 PM

    Leo such a regular down to earth guy. man of the people.
    I smell a heave coming.

    40
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    Mute Paddy Hannigan
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    Nov 5th 2014, 9:06 PM

    Certainly makes me want to heave every time the smug little git appears.

    17
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    Mute leinsterlion6
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    Nov 5th 2014, 6:09 PM

    These clowns have a great life swanning around on a daily basis achieving nothing with all expenses paid,so tired of these parasites

    35
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    Mute Drew
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    Nov 5th 2014, 6:23 PM

    Food addiction… Laughable concept really, it’s insulting to the human race to imply that we haven’t evolved to the point where we can choose to put a fork down and stop eating. We’re not brainless face stuffing animals programmed to eat everything we find. You’re fat and lazy because you don’t care enough not to be simple as.

    33
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    Mute doc samoflange
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    Nov 5th 2014, 7:13 PM

    red thumbed by some serious fat f**ks

    11
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    Mute Teresa Kelly
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    Nov 5th 2014, 10:49 PM

    By that logic have we not evolved enough to put down a drink? Have we not evolved enough to stop betting on the next horse? There’s evidence of shopping addictions, have we not evolved enough to cut up a credit card? There may not be physiological addictions but there could and probably is psychological ones. Maybe your not getting red thumbed by “fat f###s” but people with a basic grasp of psychology

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    Mute Inntalitarian
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    Nov 5th 2014, 6:09 PM

    Moronic stuff

    32
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    Mute Leo Latorre
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    Nov 5th 2014, 6:14 PM

    Boneless Chicken Wings at TGIs #A-MA-ZING

    25
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    Mute Bryan Mills
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    Nov 5th 2014, 6:58 PM

    Chicken wings.. Mmmm… The most sensible thing to come out of Leo Loud Mouths gob in a very long time!!

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    Mute Robyn Morton
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    Nov 5th 2014, 9:21 PM

    But surely they go into his gob?

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    Mute Paul Roche
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    Nov 5th 2014, 6:12 PM

    It would seem that Labour and YFG are the chicken wings.

    17
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    Mute Coco McDee
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    Nov 5th 2014, 7:42 PM

    The Journal definitely leaning in favour of Fine Gael, pushing the SF murderers murderers agenda and all gooey eyed over Leo. Is there really anywhere for people to get real news and air their opinions ?

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    Mute Stephen Duffy
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    Nov 5th 2014, 9:23 PM

    Why is Journal.ie not allowing comments on SF and the abuse allegations? Seems strange and would it be the same if it was any other party?

    7
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    Mute Zozzy Zozimus
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    Nov 5th 2014, 11:12 PM

    “Chief Specialist at the FSAI, Dr Mary Flynn, told delegates that people might things they are addiction when they find it impossible to avoid treat foods. However, high-fat, high-sugar, high-salt foods are actually designed by highly advances scientific intelligence to appeal to our human sense in a way that completely surpasses the appeal of the less processed food that we actually need to nourishment.”

    Experts at the National Linguistics Institute have begun parsing this sentence and are expected to report their findings some time in mid-2015.

    5
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    Mute Goldberg
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    Nov 5th 2014, 7:02 PM

    He feels like chicken tonight

    5
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