I read this article last week in the WSJ. For those of you who can't access it because WSJ requires a subscription, I'll give you the skinny: basically, a body of scientists who carry out studies and influence national health policy have come out and said that obesity is at an all-time high and it's high time we do something about it. That's all fine and good--I agree wholeheartedly. The article then goes on to elaborate on what the scientists say we should do in order to fight obesity: place an emphasis on daily exercise and also implement systems for counseling, preventing, and treating obesity. Again, this is all fine and good. Overall, however, the article has a tone of "Why do we have so much trouble legislating obesity out of our society?" In fact, a telling excerpt from the article states the following:
"While several cities and states have considered excise taxes on sugared drinks in recent years, for example, the beverage industry has spent millions of dollars lobbying and advertising against them. All have eventually been defeated thus far."
And this is where my problem lies. I don't know that we should rely on laws to fight obesity. There is a camp that will argue that food, like alcohol or tobacco, is an addictive substance and that an addiction to food can lead to self-destructive behavior: eating disorders, depression, isolation, deeper psychological problems, suicide; you name it, you could probably find a way to link food to it. These people will argue that if alcohol and tobacco are so heavily regulated at the federal and state levels, then why not food? And this is a sound logical argument.
Except for one crucial fact--food is a necessity for life; alcohol and tobacco are not. I think it's pretty universally accepted that being a drinker of alcohol or a user of tobacco shortens your life; it cannot be argued that being an eater of food shortens your life. Yes, being an eater of certain foods will clearly shorten your life, but being an employee of certain companies will shorten your life too--any job involving exposure to the elements, manual labor, inhalation of pollution or an undue amount of stress will take some days, if not years, off your life.
In the work world, we call this "occupational hazard" and go about our merry way, saying "well, that guy CHOSE to be a coal miner/painter/construction worker/investment banker/biohazard cleanup guy, so it's his fault." But when someone eats fried chicken, pizza and wings to his death, now we're getting up in arms about the government's responsibility to tell that guy not to eat so much pizza? Or, alternatively, we look to the government to make pizza so expensive that he no longer finds utility in eating it. In my opinion, this guy made the choice to overeat pizza and is paying the price.
Now, lest I sound insensitive, a disclaimer: those of you who know me know that I am a passionate eater. If I could, I would eat pizza, fried chicken, and tacos every day for the rest of my life. Many of you have seen me take down an entire pizza or 10+ tacos at a time, in fact. Hell, I really like the way beer tastes and I wouldn't mind having a bunch of beer every day for the rest of my life. But this is 2012--I have the internet and a wealth of other resources at my disposal. I know that eating a ton of pizza and drinking a ton of beer on a daily basis will dig me an early grave. Thus, I don't do it. I don't need a law to make pizza more expensive to keep me from eating it. I just need the information that pizza, while delicious, is not good for me and should not be eaten on a daily basis. And this is where this article fails, because it doesn't mention the most potent weapon we have in the fight against obesity: early childhood parenting.
It is no secret that childhood obesity has reached alarming levels these days, and the nation is wondering what the hell we are to do about it. But the funny thing is this: obesity is at such a high level in 2012, when we arguably have MUCH more information on healthy foods/lifestyles, much more access to healthy foods, and a wealth of options for children in terms of exercise. For instance, when I grew up in Louisiana in the '80s, I guarantee there was little information on trans fats, optimal grain/meat/dairy intake per day; there sure as hell were no healthy options at McDonald's; and finding a tennis partner in north Louisiana, well, I may as well have been looking for a cricket partner.
The key that kept me from being a gigantic fatass as a kid was simply that Mom would yell at us for watching too much TV and playing too much Nintendo or generally just sitting around too much. We had to do chores around the house--one of us loaded the dishwasher after dinner, one of us cleared the dining table, the other cleaned the countertops and stovetops. On the weekends, we were forced to help Mom and Dad in the garden planting pansies, dethatching the grass, turning over the flowerbeds--whatever needed to be done that day, basically. Each evening, we had to pick up our mess in our bedrooms and go to bed in a clean room. Even when there weren't chores to be done, Mom would give us an allotted time for TV (usually 1-2 episodes of Saved By the Bell and California Dreamin'), and then would literally turn the TV off and say "go run around outside."
Now, we weren't eating the healthiest foods on earth--after all, most of our meals were Indian food, which is really not that great for you; and the "eat out" nights were always pizza, Taco Bell, or Chinese food--but what we were doing was moving around. A lot. Was I as good at Tecmo Bowl as some of my friends? Well, no. Was I skinnier than they were? No question. And there is no doubt in my mind that those habits cultivated in me by my parents have always laid the foundation for me to live an active lifestyle. As you can tell from reading the Assault posts, I'm not eating raw veggies all day long every day. I enjoy my trips to the pizzeria, Popeye's, and my boy Chili's, but there is always an emphasis on activity. Even if it's not intense exercise at the Crossfit gym, it's cleaning out the garage, picking up in the bedroom, decluttering the kitchen and breakfast area, trying to walk a lot during the day by parking farther away from the office, grocery store, etc. These little habits, when repeated every day, make a world of difference. And in my opinion, these habits start at an early age. Sadly, not enough parents are instilling these habits in their children.
So while the WSJ can point to the lack of codified nutrition legislation and Coca-Cola's lobbying budget as prime culprits in the fattening of America, I'm looking at the irresponsible parents who, when faced with the decision of what to feed their kids for dinner, stuff them with Coke and pizza and then let them sit and watch TV and play Xbox all night. Write an article on what we're going to do about that, WSJ, and I'll pay more attention. Hopefully then, we can start pushing these bars lower:
"While several cities and states have considered excise taxes on sugared drinks in recent years, for example, the beverage industry has spent millions of dollars lobbying and advertising against them. All have eventually been defeated thus far."
And this is where my problem lies. I don't know that we should rely on laws to fight obesity. There is a camp that will argue that food, like alcohol or tobacco, is an addictive substance and that an addiction to food can lead to self-destructive behavior: eating disorders, depression, isolation, deeper psychological problems, suicide; you name it, you could probably find a way to link food to it. These people will argue that if alcohol and tobacco are so heavily regulated at the federal and state levels, then why not food? And this is a sound logical argument.
Except for one crucial fact--food is a necessity for life; alcohol and tobacco are not. I think it's pretty universally accepted that being a drinker of alcohol or a user of tobacco shortens your life; it cannot be argued that being an eater of food shortens your life. Yes, being an eater of certain foods will clearly shorten your life, but being an employee of certain companies will shorten your life too--any job involving exposure to the elements, manual labor, inhalation of pollution or an undue amount of stress will take some days, if not years, off your life.
In the work world, we call this "occupational hazard" and go about our merry way, saying "well, that guy CHOSE to be a coal miner/painter/construction worker/investment banker/biohazard cleanup guy, so it's his fault." But when someone eats fried chicken, pizza and wings to his death, now we're getting up in arms about the government's responsibility to tell that guy not to eat so much pizza? Or, alternatively, we look to the government to make pizza so expensive that he no longer finds utility in eating it. In my opinion, this guy made the choice to overeat pizza and is paying the price.
Now, lest I sound insensitive, a disclaimer: those of you who know me know that I am a passionate eater. If I could, I would eat pizza, fried chicken, and tacos every day for the rest of my life. Many of you have seen me take down an entire pizza or 10+ tacos at a time, in fact. Hell, I really like the way beer tastes and I wouldn't mind having a bunch of beer every day for the rest of my life. But this is 2012--I have the internet and a wealth of other resources at my disposal. I know that eating a ton of pizza and drinking a ton of beer on a daily basis will dig me an early grave. Thus, I don't do it. I don't need a law to make pizza more expensive to keep me from eating it. I just need the information that pizza, while delicious, is not good for me and should not be eaten on a daily basis. And this is where this article fails, because it doesn't mention the most potent weapon we have in the fight against obesity: early childhood parenting.
It is no secret that childhood obesity has reached alarming levels these days, and the nation is wondering what the hell we are to do about it. But the funny thing is this: obesity is at such a high level in 2012, when we arguably have MUCH more information on healthy foods/lifestyles, much more access to healthy foods, and a wealth of options for children in terms of exercise. For instance, when I grew up in Louisiana in the '80s, I guarantee there was little information on trans fats, optimal grain/meat/dairy intake per day; there sure as hell were no healthy options at McDonald's; and finding a tennis partner in north Louisiana, well, I may as well have been looking for a cricket partner.
The key that kept me from being a gigantic fatass as a kid was simply that Mom would yell at us for watching too much TV and playing too much Nintendo or generally just sitting around too much. We had to do chores around the house--one of us loaded the dishwasher after dinner, one of us cleared the dining table, the other cleaned the countertops and stovetops. On the weekends, we were forced to help Mom and Dad in the garden planting pansies, dethatching the grass, turning over the flowerbeds--whatever needed to be done that day, basically. Each evening, we had to pick up our mess in our bedrooms and go to bed in a clean room. Even when there weren't chores to be done, Mom would give us an allotted time for TV (usually 1-2 episodes of Saved By the Bell and California Dreamin'), and then would literally turn the TV off and say "go run around outside."
Now, we weren't eating the healthiest foods on earth--after all, most of our meals were Indian food, which is really not that great for you; and the "eat out" nights were always pizza, Taco Bell, or Chinese food--but what we were doing was moving around. A lot. Was I as good at Tecmo Bowl as some of my friends? Well, no. Was I skinnier than they were? No question. And there is no doubt in my mind that those habits cultivated in me by my parents have always laid the foundation for me to live an active lifestyle. As you can tell from reading the Assault posts, I'm not eating raw veggies all day long every day. I enjoy my trips to the pizzeria, Popeye's, and my boy Chili's, but there is always an emphasis on activity. Even if it's not intense exercise at the Crossfit gym, it's cleaning out the garage, picking up in the bedroom, decluttering the kitchen and breakfast area, trying to walk a lot during the day by parking farther away from the office, grocery store, etc. These little habits, when repeated every day, make a world of difference. And in my opinion, these habits start at an early age. Sadly, not enough parents are instilling these habits in their children.
So while the WSJ can point to the lack of codified nutrition legislation and Coca-Cola's lobbying budget as prime culprits in the fattening of America, I'm looking at the irresponsible parents who, when faced with the decision of what to feed their kids for dinner, stuff them with Coke and pizza and then let them sit and watch TV and play Xbox all night. Write an article on what we're going to do about that, WSJ, and I'll pay more attention. Hopefully then, we can start pushing these bars lower:
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