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What new or revised public policy/law would make it easier for people to maintain a healthy weight?

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Replies

  • Theoldguy1
    Theoldguy1 Posts: 2,493 Member
    edited May 2019
    Carlos_421 wrote: »
    Theoldguy1 wrote: »
    Too many loopholes around limiting size. If you want to discourage consumption, just tax it like alcohol.
    This is true. Most developed countries have implemented a sugary drink tax, but in conjunction some have also required the amount of sugar in those products to be reduced by a certain percentage. France also implemented a law that refills on sugary drinks are no longer allowed.

    I hope that the US would eventually follow the example.

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    Laws regulating how much of an ingredient can be used in food/beverages?
    Hard pass.
    What I eat and what I drink is none of the government's business.

    Unless the government starts paying more and more of the nation's healthcare cost and it can be reasonably determined that some items of food and drink are disproportionately contributing to health problems. In that case what you eat/drink does become the government's business. IMO, most likely in the form of taxes on high calorie, low nutrient foods and drinks.
  • dogWalkerTX
    dogWalkerTX Posts: 49 Member
    I think we have enough laws already.

    People just need to take some personal responsibility. Anyone who's made it past fourth grade should be able to figure this out.

    Eat less. Take a walk. Ta Da.

    Too many laws actually.
  • Copper_Boom
    Copper_Boom Posts: 85 Member
    As kind of a corollary to this topic, how do people feel about farm subsidies and the Farm Bill in the US? What would change if these did not exist?
  • Theoldguy1
    Theoldguy1 Posts: 2,493 Member
    kimemeki wrote: »
    I would say adding a health coach to each doctors office and covering health coaching with insurance so people can have the accountability, support and information they need to complete all of the suggestions they are given.

    People will just ignore the advice as they do that of the doctor, just adding another layer of cost.

    How many people get the advice to eat less and move from the doctor and don't do it?
  • qpmomma1
    qpmomma1 Posts: 220 Member
    I don't think we necessarily need more laws. I do love the calorie disclosure though. I just think society as a whole needs to adopt a better attitude regarding health and food. If you look at other countries with a lower obesity rate their portions are smaller and people bike and walk more as opposed to driving,
  • ogtmama
    ogtmama Posts: 1,403 Member
    edited May 2019
    Stop subsidizing the sugar, corn and wheat industries. Let food cost what it actually cost so that a salad doesn't cost 10X as much as wonder bread. If isn't real and it forces people to make unnatural decisions
  • ogtmama
    ogtmama Posts: 1,403 Member
    Regulate the labels of alcohol bottles to Express the health effects like they do with cigarettes and calories at fast food places.
  • magnusthenerd
    magnusthenerd Posts: 1,207 Member
    ogtmama wrote: »
    Stop subsidizing the sugar, corn and wheat industries. Let food cost what it actually cost so that a salad doesn't cost 10X as much as wonder bread. If isn't real and it forces people to make unnatural decisions

    The subsidies aren't anywhere near that level of out of alignment that I've ever seen. Grains are easy to grow even without subsidies.
  • Theoldguy1
    Theoldguy1 Posts: 2,493 Member
    edited May 2019
    ogtmama wrote: »
    Regulate the labels of alcohol bottles to Express the health effects like they do with cigarettes and calories at fast food places.

    It's been there since late 1980's: https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/27/215
  • ogtmama
    ogtmama Posts: 1,403 Member
    edited May 2019
    I tried to post a picture of canadian cigarette packages for reference but I don't seem to be able to.

    To be clear I think ALL the health problems with direct links should be included and that advertising, in giving packaging, and enticing children should be actively banned.

  • dra760
    dra760 Posts: 55 Member
    To clarify>>>I believe maintaining healthy weight starts with how we learn to eat as children. Hence my focus on children.
  • ceiswyn
    ceiswyn Posts: 2,256 Member
    I find it interesting the number of times in this thread people have expressed an interest that more place be required to label calories and that calorie accuracy should be higher. I think it is easy to see how it would help someone using MFP or any other calorie tracker, but I think it overestimates how much anyone makes calorie based food decisions.

    I recall (and I should probably look up) a study that showed calorie counts don't seem to impact food decisions at restaurants. The suggestion was that the numbers are just to abstract. Instead, they found there was a difference in behavior when menus were required to color code foods - low calories had green for go, while high calorie options were in red, and in between had yellow - there was a much greater change in food behaviors. I wonder how much it would work in the long run, or if it people would slowly build up blinders.

    I strongly suspect that most people don't know how many calories is a reasonable amount for a meal. They may know the general guidance of '2000 for women, 2500 for men' (which I think is too high, but that's another subject), but they've certainly never thought about how that would actually divide up into meals, snacks and drinks.

    It probably doesn't help that restaurants seem to think that 'low calorie options' mean anything below 500/600 kcal. Whereas for most people, that's not low, that's about right...
  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,885 Member
    Great, now I have that Naughty by Nature song running through my head. (Pretty sure it meant something different that could definitely not be written on MFP, however.)

    Not really seeing why having calorie counts in chains is supposed to be hard to accomplish. Most chains around here already have calories available and it's great.
  • kimny72
    kimny72 Posts: 16,011 Member
    edited June 2019
    lemurcat2 wrote: »
    Great, now I have that Naughty by Nature song running through my head. (Pretty sure it meant something different that could definitely not be written on MFP, however.)

    Not really seeing why having calorie counts in chains is supposed to be hard to accomplish. Most chains around here already have calories available and it's great.

    So you're not down with OPP then? :lol:

    Yeah, chain restaurants have been required to post calories in NY for a number of years now, and I've never heard of any struggling to do it.

    It is problematic for a lot of smaller businesses, which is why they are always (to my knowledge) excluded by theses laws.

    I mean, I don't really think the calorie counts on menus are really helping fight the obesity epidemic, as either the numbers are meaningless to most folks I know or they are being willfully ignorant anyway and ignore them. They're great for those of us keeping track though <shrug>.
  • mmapags
    mmapags Posts: 8,934 Member
    lemurcat2 wrote: »
    Great, now I have that Naughty by Nature song running through my head. (Pretty sure it meant something different that could definitely not be written on MFP, however.)

    Not really seeing why having calorie counts in chains is supposed to be hard to accomplish. Most chains around here already have calories available and it's great.

    It isn't hard to accomplish at all. There are software programs that make it fairly simple. Cheftec for example, the one I worked with in the past when I managed a the flagship location of a small chain of restaurants. It's simple, you plug in the ingredients and amounts and is spits out the nutritionals. For chains that have a mostly stable menu with seasonal items and a few coming off and on the menu based on sales, it's pretty easy.

    The thing is, as kimny pointed out, it hasn't really changed consumer behavior. The Cheesecake Factory has published their nutritionals for years. Their "Wellness Salad is" 840 calories. Their "Mushroom Burger is 1400 calories. Their "Pasta Napolitana" is 2470 calories. Their sales remain high and growing slightly (To be expected that the growth has slowed. They are a mature chain at this point) not dropping.

    Plain fact is people don't really care. It proves the point that you can't legislate morality or personal judgement.

  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,885 Member
    edited June 2019
    mmapags wrote: »
    lemurcat2 wrote: »
    Great, now I have that Naughty by Nature song running through my head. (Pretty sure it meant something different that could definitely not be written on MFP, however.)

    Not really seeing why having calorie counts in chains is supposed to be hard to accomplish. Most chains around here already have calories available and it's great.

    It isn't hard to accomplish at all. There are software programs that make it fairly simple. Cheftec for example, the one I worked with in the past when I managed a the flagship location of a small chain of restaurants. It's simple, you plug in the ingredients and amounts and is spits out the nutritionals. For chains that have a mostly stable menu with seasonal items and a few coming off and on the menu based on sales, it's pretty easy.

    The thing is, as kimny pointed out, it hasn't really changed consumer behavior. The Cheesecake Factory has published their nutritionals for years. Their "Wellness Salad is" 840 calories. Their "Mushroom Burger is 1400 calories. Their "Pasta Napolitana" is 2470 calories. Their sales remain high and growing slightly (To be expected that the growth has slowed. They are a mature chain at this point) not dropping.

    Plain fact is people don't really care. It proves the point that you can't legislate morality or personal judgement.

    I agree with this. What it does it make it easier for those of us who do care, and removes an excuse. (I do think it also sometimes leads to restaurants adding some lower cal options. I've seen that with some places, and it also helps you figure out whether a quick serve place like Pret a Manger or Potbelly's or whatever will have workable options. Both do, IMO.)

    My argument (such as it is, I'm not really arguing) is NOT that it's some miraculous public policy that will solve the obesity crisis (like I said, calorie counts have been common around here for some time and people don't seem to have gotten thinner), but that it's not some hugely awful and burdensome thing.

    I also would never suggest that the requirement should extend to all restaurants, and most of the restaurants I personally go to don't have them.
  • mmapags
    mmapags Posts: 8,934 Member
    lemurcat2 wrote: »
    mmapags wrote: »
    lemurcat2 wrote: »
    Great, now I have that Naughty by Nature song running through my head. (Pretty sure it meant something different that could definitely not be written on MFP, however.)

    Not really seeing why having calorie counts in chains is supposed to be hard to accomplish. Most chains around here already have calories available and it's great.

    It isn't hard to accomplish at all. There are software programs that make it fairly simple. Cheftec for example, the one I worked with in the past when I managed a the flagship location of a small chain of restaurants. It's simple, you plug in the ingredients and amounts and is spits out the nutritionals. For chains that have a mostly stable menu with seasonal items and a few coming off and on the menu based on sales, it's pretty easy.

    The thing is, as kimny pointed out, it hasn't really changed consumer behavior. The Cheesecake Factory has published their nutritionals for years. Their "Wellness Salad is" 840 calories. Their "Mushroom Burger is 1400 calories. Their "Pasta Napolitana" is 2470 calories. Their sales remain high and growing slightly (To be expected that the growth has slowed. They are a mature chain at this point) not dropping.

    Plain fact is people don't really care. It proves the point that you can't legislate morality or personal judgement.

    I agree with this. What it does it make it easier for those of us who do care, and removes an excuse. (I do think it also sometimes leads to restaurants adding some lower cal options. I've seen that with some places, and it also helps you figure out whether a quick serve place like Pret a Manger or Potbelly's or whatever will have workable options. Both do, IMO.)

    My argument (such as it is, I'm not really arguing) is NOT that it's some miraculous public policy that will solve the obesity crisis (like I said, calorie counts have been common around here for some time and people don't seem to have gotten thinner), but that it's not some hugely awful and burdensome thing.

    I also would never suggest that the requirement should extend to all restaurants, and most of the restaurants I personally go to don't have them.

    Yes, we are in total agreement. Interestingly, down here in Oaxaca there are very few chain restaurants. so you just need to exercise your best judgement and make good choices. One thing that does stand out though is that the trend of huge portions is not a thing here as it really has become at many chains in the U.S. Some of those The Cheesecake Factory meals are enough for 2 or more people. I went to a BBQ place here yesterday afternoon and got beef ribs. 4 good size ribs with a side salad. It was a lot by Oaxaca standard but less that I would see in a typical U.S. BBQ place.
  • tbright1965
    tbright1965 Posts: 852 Member
    As kind of a corollary to this topic, how do people feel about farm subsidies and the Farm Bill in the US? What would change if these did not exist?

    Not a fan of farm subsidies either. However, I think the food stamp program is attached, so good luck getting rid of such subsidies.
  • LyndaBSS
    LyndaBSS Posts: 6,964 Member
    To the OP question, laws only work if people obey them. People can't follow simple traffic laws, don't know how any food consumption law would work. :/
  • paranormalkitty
    paranormalkitty Posts: 4 Member
    As kind of a corollary to this topic, how do people feel about farm subsidies and the Farm Bill in the US? What would change if these did not exist?

    Not a fan of farm subsidies either. However, I think the food stamp program is attached, so good luck getting rid of such subsidies.

    The school lunch program is also tied to it.
  • Theoldguy1
    Theoldguy1 Posts: 2,493 Member
    As kind of a corollary to this topic, how do people feel about farm subsidies and the Farm Bill in the US? What would change if these did not exist?

    Not a fan of farm subsidies either. However, I think the food stamp program is attached, so good luck getting rid of such subsidies.

    Farm subsidies are about $20B a year, around $60 a person. When you think about it, not bad insurance to make sure the US has all the food it needs and we're paying far less as a percent of our income for food than anywhere else in the world.