If I were Prime Minister?…

If I were Prime Minister is a series of celebrities/spokes people who have been asked to write a piece for The Independent, they have given their personal thoughts/views about what they would do for the country should they theoretically become Prime Minister. What they have been doing is 100 days, 100 contributors, but no politicians… interesting! What caught our eye was Jamie Oliver’s article… giving his take on what he could offer the Country!

One of Jamie Oliver’s ideas would be to remove VAT on fresh fruit & vegetables to help ensure we all have a healthier diet and we couldn’t agree more fresh fruit is such a great snack, it can be acidic depending on the fruit but it’s a far better snack for your teeth and overall health than a chocolate bar…

“Getting the nation to eat more vegetables and fruit would not only give us a radically different health prognosis but would be better for the environment, too. To help and inspire people to eat at least five a day, there would be zero VAT on all fresh vegetables and fruit. I’d give more support to organic, small, family farmers”

Jamie Oliver explains he would ban chewing gum as it makes Britain look like a bombsite, we do agree with him in that respect as no one likes to see any form of littering, but chewing gum – if sugar-free is a great way of removing plaque from your teeth between meals. Sugar-free chewing gum washes away food debris, helps to neutralise damaging plaque acids and remineralises tooth enamel by stimulating the flow of saliva which helps protect teeth throughout the day. He goes onto say…

“There would be some sort of soda tax, and that money would be ring-fenced and split between a robust board of education and health experts, passionate about prevention. My revulsion at seeing the effects of infants drinking caffeine-laden energy drinks would drive me to put health warnings and age-restrictions on the sale of all energy drinks”

We completely agree with his verdict on soda/caffeine laden fizzy drinks, the problem with these sugar induced drinks is that our teeth can only withstand a few acid/sugar attacks each day. Now we aren’t saying you have to completely eradicate them from your diet we are just explaining that if you must have a fizzy/sugar laden drink to keep it to a meal time. By keeping sugar laden drinks to a meal time and drinking water/milk/tea/coffee throughout the day it ensures the PH level in you mouth has time to return to neutral. For you sciencey types the normal PH level in our mouths is 7 and when we constantly consume sugar throughout the day the saliva in your mouth has a hard job trying to stabilise itself back to its neutral level, so this is when the PH can get dangerously low & if it drops below 5.5 it means your teeth can start to demineralize, which unfortunately may result in unwanted dental visits!

So next time your on the move and feeling dehydrated try a bottle of water or a hot drink with no sugar to help keep any unnecessary dental work at bay.

If you wanted to read the full Jamie Oliver article please click here.