He viewed the problems of fast food causing obesity as being more toward person responsibility. As he sees it, people are now bringing “government between you and your waistline.” This is backed up by politicians across the chart. George Bush marked “$200 million in his budget for anti-obesity measures.” With the government as talking about creating a fat-tax on foods with high calories. He believes that this is not the way to go. His thoughts lean toward having the government more involved with creating a sense of personal responsibility of our own health and the way we eat.
The finding was that on average energy dense food cost $1.76 per 1000 calories, while low energy nutritious food cost $18.16 per 1,000 calories. (“Dope, A High Price for Healthy Food”) This basically shows that unhealthy food are a better bargain for people who are tight on money. The bad thing about it is that the prices for healthy food are continuing to rise while “junk food” is relatively the same or a tad bit lower. America's low income families are therefore In a cycle where since they can't afford healthy food they eat bad, which in turns leads to bad health which leads then leads to high insurance and medical bills which ultimately causes them to get poorer or remain at the bottom of the pyramid. Why is healthy food so much more expensive than regular food?
With the recent increase of overweight and obese Americans, a debate has surfaced over whether the government should tax sugary drinks. Taxing sugary drinks is the right step because it could change people’s choices behavior, it reduces the number of people who purchase these drinks, it could pay for health education and medical expenses, and it helps prevent obesity. Taxing sugary drinks could change people’s choices behavior. People need to change their life style and learn to live more healthily. Healthy choices are always more expensive than bad choices.
The government cant be the only ones willing to take a stand and try to fix the problem. We as consumers need to figure out a way to make better choices in what we eat and drink. We have taxes for alcohol and tobacco, which are clearly bad for us. Why not have taxes for foods and drinks that are clearly bad for us. Consumers need to be aware of all the sweet 2 drinks we take in, and realize that we take a lot more in then what we think.
Should the Government Regulate What We Eat? Government regulations are not perfect and may have its ups and downs but should we allow them control what we eat? Some feel that this type of authority is a necessary evil, intrusive and there are a few that feel we need even more regulation. One of our forefathers, Thomas Paine said it best, “Government at its best is a necessary evil, and at its worst, an intolerant one.” This statement holds true to this day and age. Considering the rise in heart related diseases, diabetes and a whole slew of other illnesses in younger people which by the way is increasing the cost of healthcare, I can see where the government would consider trying to control a person’s right in order to promote a healthier nation.
I completely agree with Weintraub and believe that they should take more responsibility. I’ll admit that fast food advertisements play a big role in child obesity. But not big enough to overpower the kids’ parents; at least, it shouldn’t. According to David Barboza’s “If you Pitch it, They will Eat”, “most big food companies, despite some promises to offer healthier foods and in some cases to limit marketing in schools, deny that they are to blame for the
Since insurance companies are not supposed to make an obese persons insurance premium higher than a healthy individual, then that obese person’s heart attack drives up the insurance premium of the healthy person. The obese are making it everyone’s problem by not putting down that cheeseburger because they know that the government is paying for their anti-cholesterol medicine. Balko claims that the government is getting “between you and your waistline” meaning that the government is interfering by telling Americans what we can and cannot do with our health. Congress is now considering menu-labeling which means that restaurants would have to send every menu item to the laboratory for nutritional testing. Meaning that the restaurants would not have the freedom to put whatever they want on the menu.
He believes that because his BMI categorizes himself as being fat and unhealthy when in reality he is a very healthy person than the BMI is completely useless. I don’t believe this is true because his situation is not the standard situation. I disagree when Paul Campos says that nutritious information passed around by the diet industries are all lies, because in recent research people are getting larger year after year and the average BMI has risen with it. As asserted by David Zinzenko in his article “Don’t Blame the Eater” type 2 diabetes, the kind which is caused by obesity has gone up 25 percent since 1994, while the money spent to treat diabetes has gone up as well since 1969 (pg
Obesity is a matter to take in consideration at the very top level, as many people, young and adults are being affected by it. Whether there is a tax on sodas or not, many official experts in the public health field seem to agree that in fact obesity should be impeded and that should be the prior aim for everyone else (Huget). Both sides on the issue of soda taxing agree that obesity is an issue to handle with great deal of cautiousness, so that people can be less overweight and obese. According to a research, that represented and informed the nation that the treatments to treat obesity in the United States are in fact, $147 billion and hence, it has become an issue nation wide (Huget). While the supporters and the opposition agree on the matter of obesity and that it is a rather a universal problem, they also agree on the fact that financially the government is unstable.
America is surely on the track to become the fattest country of the world. The connection between obesity and financial situations and larger portion sizes is that most Americans with a low income have a higher rate of being overweight or obese. The reason behind this is because families with lower income, will more likely to buy and eat junk food than healthy because junk food is cheaper. Junk food may seem like it