But let’s not hurry too much. There is the last of the Christmas chocolates to get through, leftover chips and dips, and that extra pavlova bought to celebrate the New Year to finish off.
It is easier than ever to procrastinate about moving towards a healthier lifestyle if you have ready access to food that’s high in calories but low in nutrients. We might be able to recognise that in the confines of the festive season, but it is something politicians are loath to grasp in a wider context. They do not want to face up to the fact obesity is now the country’s leading risk factor for death and disability, ahead of smoking.
More than a third of New Zealand adults are living with obesity, the third-highest rate in the OECD, while one in eight children are affected. These rates are significantly worse for Māori and Pasifika.
These stark statistics, outlined in the Helen Clark Foundation’s recent report "Junk Food and Poor Policy? How Weak Rules Undermine Health and Economic Growth in New Zealand and How to Fix It", show that whatever we think we might be doing to combat obesity, it is not working. It is estimated obesity -related illnesses cost the health system $2 billion a year and the economy an estimated $9b in lost productivity.
That did not work to reduce smoking, and it will not work in combating obesity either. As the report reminds us, in 2008 when the then Labour-led government moved to require only healthy options in school canteens, there were cries of nanny state.
When National took over, it changed the approach, only requiring schools to promote healthy food and nutrition.
Schools have discretion on how they do this which seems to have meant some do not do very much.
Recent Massey University research, looking at canteens in 60 intermediate and secondary schools, found only 3.3% of them met the goal of having 75% "green" foods such as fruit, vegetables and foods lower in sugar and unhealthy fats.
Under the nutrition guidelines, "red" foods - including chocolates, lollies, sugary drinks, sausage rolls and deep-fried foods - should be excluded.
Researchers found most canteens offered a concerning amount of the unhealthy items.
What is needed, the foundation report argues, is a shift in the emphasis on individual responsibility to the wider food environment. We know we are overexposed to cheap, convenient, unhealthy food, promoted by sophisticated marketing, and much of this is targeted at children. The report’s co-author, Adam Bradshaw says a majority of New Zealanders support tougher rules on unhealthy food, and an overwhelming majority are in favour of restrictions to prevent children being exposed to television advertisements for unhealthy food.
Among the report’s recommendations are levies to incentivise a reduction in sugar and salt in food, requiring healthier food in hospitals, schools and other public entities, stricter rules on advertising junk food, giving councils power to limit the spread of unhealthy food outlets, and actively adopting new technologies and treatments to improve the prevention and treatment of obesity. New Zealand is one of the few developed countries without a national obesity strategy.
What we also do not have is anything resembling cross-party support on such a big and burgeoning issue.
The report points out that regardless of ideology, all of our politicians should be concerned with making it easier for New Zealanders to be healthy.
"This objective should rise above political differences and form the basis of a cross-party consensus that can survive any change of government."
But in the current political climate the chance of that being achieved is on a par with the likelihood most of us will stick to our New Year’s resolutions for healthy eating and more exercise.
