THEY say 'you are what you eat' - and for a growing number of people that means unhealthy junk food.

Combine poor diet with lack of exercise and you have a population with real problems of obesity and ill health.

Sadly, as with too many other statistics linked to deprivation, East Lancashire scores quite highly when it comes to bad diet and associated ill health.

The constructive method of tackling such problems surely isn't the American way.

There, dozens of ridiculous multi-million-dollar law suits have been lodged against fast food firms by people who want damages because they allege big-name beefburgers, chicken products and even doughnuts have made them obese and sick.

The only winners from that route are the lawyers whose fat fees mean they can afford the finest food money can buy.

The common sense answer is to eat what nature intended - plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables. And they taste even better if we grow them ourselves.

That means winning hearts and minds over by promoting the message that such food contains vitamin C to fight off colds and flu and lessens the risk of cancer and coronary heart disease.

The woman championing the cause in East Lancashire gained her experience working as a nutritionist in Third World countries. In our sophisticated world, problem solving doesn't have to be tremendously complex.