Rage against the Directorate of Health’s “Easter candy tip”

“Everybody’s going to enjoy a treat this Easter, right? here are 5 great tips for creative snop-eating”.

The tips:

Eat the candy with a knife and fork, cut it up into small pieces, strip your fingers to make it harder to eat, wrap the candy in clumsy packaging and brush it with vinegar.

… Or maybe you could try limiting the number of days of candy?, as they suggest towards the end of the video.

Several are directing strong criticism at the Directorate of Health, after they shared these tips on Wednesday on the Instagram profile, “Helsa di”, with over 60,000 followers.

– I can understand the thinking behind the new dietary advice, and it is probably intended to be humorous, but this is a complete no-brainer, says Carina Carlsen, senior adviser at the Equality Center and active social debater, to Dagbladet.

She is one of several who have shared their displeasure in the comments section, and have reported the post, as she believes it could be harmful.

– These are tips you can expect to get on pro-ana sites, websites that promote anorexia and give tips on how to take care of it and so on. But here it is the Directorate of Health, which is concerned with health, which promotes eating disorders.

– Expect an explanation

On Thursday afternoon, the post received a number of comments, most of them critical of the content.

“Maybe this is well-intentioned, but reminds me more of pro-ana than public health. Maybe worth reconsidering?”, writes journalist Ingeborg Senneset.

“I will neither share nor implement this @helsa.di. Greetings to the Helsesista who enjoys Easter sweets and eats with both hands,” writes Tale Marie krohn Engvik, better known as the Helsesista.

Carlsen says that she herself has had an eating disorder for many years, and that it can be triggering to see posts like this.

– It reminds of what you have done. These tips here are among what I have been doing. It is very unfortunate that young people come across this.

She points out that more and more young people are struggling with eating disorders, such as anorexia.

– I am very disappointed with the Directorate of Health. They should promote health, not eating disorders, says Carlsen.

She believes the post may simply have been a failed attempt at humour, and believes that the directorate has to take action.

– I both expect and demand that they come out with a public explanation for this. What was the idea behind it, why did they do it and can they admit it was a disc bomb? They could probably use a bit of skills development as well.

This is answered by the Directorate of Health

Dagbladet has submitted Carina Carlsen’s criticism to the Directorate of Health.

Division director for public health in the Directorate of Health, Linda Granlund, says that the video was made as a humorous feature in 2019, and that it has been published several times since.

– This is the first time we have received such feedback. If the video is perceived by someone to promote eating disorders, that is reason enough for us to take down the post since this was obviously not the intention, says Granlund to Dagbladet.

She says that most Norwegians take in too much sugar, and that the idea of ​​the video was to say in a humorous way that it is not good to eat too much candy.

– The Norwegian Directorate of Health gives advice on a healthy everyday diet, but it is also good to indulge a little extra every now and then, such as at Easter.

– Are you going to remove the post and post new, healthy Easter advice?

– The post must be removed, and we are not planning any more posts. We have recently sent the proposals for new dietary advice out for consultation, and we encourage anyone who wants to read what the Norwegian Directorate of Health believes is a healthy diet to read the consultation proposal, says Granlund.

– We welcome input on how the advice is formulated, from both individuals and organisations.