Who is responsible for what we choose to eat?

Simone_King

I beleive parents should teact their children the right way to eat..School isn't going to.

Yes, but there's the problem. Imagine there is a child who, through no fault of their own, is raised on bad junk food. They grow up eating it because they have no proper knowledge of nutrition. There is no educational facility in place to educate that person who is now an adult, so they just continue to eat the same. Then they have kids, and raise them with what they know - junk bad food. And so the cycle continues. Yes, most of us have educated ourselves to know that if we eat junk we are knowingly putting it into our bodies and know how to balance that in our diets. But some people don't, and never will, because nobody will educate them. Is it fair to say, 'oh well let them just die of heart disease, it's their own fault'. No, what you should say is 'wow, why isn't there something in place to educate these people to help them live better lives?' Aren't these 'uneducated' 'lazy' 'gullible' people entitled to that?

Look at it from a different perspective. Education in general, is down to schools and the government and the educational system. You wouldn't say 'oh well that child is an idiot because they don't know maths and it's all their parents fault for not teaching them and it's not up to schools to teach them'. You get an education to live a better more productive life. You eat healthily to live a better more productive life. So why the hell isn't nutrition being taught to people at a basic level? Of all the stupid pointless stuff that I learnt at school that I will never use in my day-to-day life, and my health and nutrition isn't one of them? Yea, there is a problem there.

I have no love for public schools. No love. Sorry, just the way I feel. Regardless if the child was taught only to eat junk food, then yes I blame the parents, but you know there comes a point in a person's life...

When they get out of the stage of denial...

Again, I can't give more then that. I don't have a child. So...

tsh0ck

I sub in a small, public school. their lunches are high cal -- usually, when I eat there, around 1,000ish -- but those kids are pretty active during the day and they are mostly from-scratch meals, made there in that kitchen that morning. lots of wheat, whole grain, etc., in pasta, bread and the like. the nutrition is very good. and there is always a fresh salad bar with lots of veggies and fruit. so I wouldn't generalize and blame all schools.

(this school also uses PE classes to teach little kids about fruits and veggies. every week they have one class where the teacher brings in something for them to try. opens them to new things, they learn about the foods, etc.)

Silverkittycat

Yes, but there's the problem. Imagine there is a child who, through no fault of their own, is raised on bad junk food. They grow up eating it because they have no proper knowledge of nutrition. There is no educational facility in place to educate that person who is now an adult, so they just continue to eat the same. Then they have kids, and raise them with what they know - junk bad food. And so the cycle continues. Yes, most of us have educated ourselves to know that if we eat junk we are knowingly putting it into our bodies and know how to balance that in our diets. But some people don't, and never will, because nobody will educate them. Is it fair to say, 'oh well let them just die of heart disease, it's their own fault'. No, what you should say is 'wow, why isn't there something in place to educate these people to help them live better lives?' Aren't these 'uneducated' 'lazy' 'gullible' people entitled to that?

Look at it from a different perspective. Education in general, is down to schools and the government and the educational system. You wouldn't say 'oh well that child is an idiot because they don't know maths and it's all their parents fault for not teaching them and it's not up to schools to teach them'. You get an education to live a better more productive life. You eat healthily to live a better more productive life. So why the hell isn't nutrition being taught to people at a basic level? Of all the stupid pointless stuff that I learnt at school that I will never use in my day-to-day life, and my health and nutrition isn't one of them? Yea, there is a problem there.

Entitled?

Your argument is assuming that these people don't know right from wrong, who is responsible for that?

mmmyotwnz

It is our responsibility to become educated on what is out there. Making excuses for our weight and what we eat is deflecting blame.

I for example(used to) looooove Mimi's restaurant, after looking up the nutritional guidelines, I cannot go there any longer. While I am loosing, it is not the safest for me. Does that mean the chain 'owes' me something? No.

I feel like having someone telling us what we can and cannot eat is counter productive. If someone really wants to get the 72 ounce soda or slushy, he/she is going to get the sugar one way or the other.
Having the option of disclosure of the foods is for our best interest. It is up to us what we do or do not do with the info.

You will either make healthy ones or unhealthy ones, it has to be up to. There are so many ways to become educated about good eating habits in this and day. If someone says "no you cannot have that" by a law or mandate, it may make you want it even more

Most of us weren't not watching for one reason or another and that is why we are all here. Hopefully we will take what we learn from here and teach others.

Silverkittycat

It is our responsibility to become educated on what is out there. Making excuses for our weight and what we eat is deflecting blame.

I for example(used to) looooove Mimi's restaurant, after looking up the nutritional guidelines, I cannot go there any longer. While I am loosing, it is not the safest for me. Does that mean the chain 'owes' me something? No.

I feel like having someone telling us what we can and cannot eat is counter productive. If someone really wants to get the 72 ounce soda or slushy, he/she is going to get the sugar one way or the other.
Having the option of disclosure of the foods is for our best interest. It is up to us what we do or do not do with the info.

You will either make healthy ones or unhealthy ones, it has to be up to. There are so many ways to become educated about good eating habits in this and day. If someone says "no you cannot have that" by a law or mandate, it may make you want it even more

Most of us weren't not watching for one reason or another and that is why we are all here. Hopefully we will take what we learn from here and teach others.

Nice post.

kodakdigitalcamera

Ultimately we are but companies have now made food readily available and taste amazing so we have gotten fat. If food was natural we would likely be thin because everything wasnt processed to taste so good to us and to consume so easily.

Shannota

I sub in a small, public school. their lunches are high cal -- usually, when I eat there, around 1,000ish -- but those kids are pretty active during the day and they are mostly from-scratch meals, made there in that kitchen that morning. lots of wheat, whole grain, etc., in pasta, bread and the like. the nutrition is very good. and there is always a fresh salad bar with lots of veggies and fruit. so I wouldn't generalize and blame all schools.

(this school also uses PE classes to teach little kids about fruits and veggies. every week they have one class where the teacher brings in something for them to try. opens them to new things, they learn about the foods, etc.)

Wow! Wish ours had done that. I didn't know you could cook broccoli until I went to college.

Silverkittycat

Ultimately we are but companies have now made food readily available and taste amazing so we have gotten fat. If food was natural we would likely be thin because everything wasnt processed to taste so good to us and to consume so easily.

soooo...you're blaming the companies? for food that tastes good? You have no choice in it?
Quit playing the victim and make your own choices.

feellikerain

You can eat fast food all day every day and not gain weight as long as you do it sensibly.

It ain't optimal but it can be done.

Check out the movie Fat Head, it debunks Super Size Me nicely.

LOVED Fat Head! It had so many great points.

Acg67

You can eat fast food all day every day and not gain weight as long as you do it sensibly.

It ain't optimal but it can be done.

Check out the movie Fat Head, it debunks Super Size Me nicely.

LOVED Fat Head! It had so many great points.

Lol

twinmom1993

I AM RESPONSIBLE... EVERY MORSEL I ALLOW TO PASS MY LIPS IS A CONSCIOUS DECISION. I WILL NEVER BLAME ANOTHER FOR THE CHOICES I MAKE....

fishbarn

each of us

JennieAL

It's one of those things where... you can't separate the two in order to determine. And there's not a pure answer here because of that. The two are inextricably linked, and necessarily so. Animals in the wild... eat in the wild until they get their paws on McDonald's french fries. Humans... raised in the wild would do the same. We are social animals. We are going to be influenced by the industry, and it's designed to influence us greatly.

Now... who is ultimately responsible for what I put in my mouth... assuming I have perfect autonomy and means necessary to provide for myself that food? I am, of course.

And my means of providing said food, that will also come into play. McDonalds may be more accessible to lower income families, etc. Doesn't mean I can't work around that. Also, education (formal & self education) is my responsibility for myself as well. People who care what they put in their mouths... well, I don't think the gov or industry will have the ultimate say.

We are ultimately responsible. Not an industry or a gov. People create government. Not the other way around.

JennieAL

You can eat fast food all day every day and not gain weight as long as you do it sensibly.

It ain't optimal but it can be done.

Check out the movie Fat Head, it debunks Super Size Me nicely.

Fat Head = eat in a deficit, lose weight

Supersize Me = eat in a surplus gain weight

hardly rocket science

:flowerforyou:

to_the_surface

I feel that mostly, the goverment should stay out of peoples lives when it regards what they eat. (That's just me.) If a person wants to be unhealthy, then so be it.

Wish it would be that simple. Problem is the way the system works the individual choices affect others, so the argument "if they want to do it, let them" has consequences in your life and mine.

Example: Health insurance costs. Individual x decides to be unhealthy and goes down the Mclifestyle. By age 25 he's on high blood pressure medication and by 35 he's high risk, maybe already a stroke, and has to visit the doctor/hospital twice a month.
Health insurance companies would rack up individual x premiums but that cost increase would not be enough to cover the costs associated to individual X treatment. So they jack up everyone else's premiums as well because they need to make enough money to cover costs and generate a profit.
Add to that people who can't afford insurance but still use hospitals, ERs, etc. Basically health insurance companies have to increase premiums to collect the same amount of money from less people (insured), which makes it unaffordable for more people. Viscious circle.

Since everyone can understand a simple explanation as how the system works i think it is somewhat irresponsible from a person to use the "free choice" argument to make poor choices knowingly that everyone is getting screwed. It is a form of entitlement >> I am entitled to healthcare even when i knowingly decide to eat myself to illness.
Very little done in education/prevention. Food corporations do not have an incentive to educate people in choices that would likely decrease their revenue. Health corporations do not have an incentive of making people healthier (prevention), their revenue come from treating people already sick.

A tax on food products that are known and linked to certain diseases could actually work. Such tax would amortize the costs/treatments/premiums associated to such diseases. Something like a french fries tax that goes to amortize premiums of health insurance policies so at least when individual X makes his "free choice" and goes for his 3rd Mcmeal of the day he's paying a little extra that covers in part the extra costs consequence of his "free choice".

Healthy people do not get screwed with higher costs associated with supporting someone else's poor choices; unhealthy people are still happy because they have their poor choice available. Corporations are still in business (food corps still selling crap food, and health insurance corps still making a profit without being forced to increase premiums, or at least at a much slower pace), and government is out or everyone's lives. Sounds like a win win for everyone involved.

CynthiasChoice

It's the consumer 100% of time. YES the govt. should make it easier by lowering the costs of say organic foods, BUT It's cheaper to take out the healthy ingredients in foods than to leave them as they are. Isn't that crazy? It is actually cheaper to make white bread than to let it be as natural and as healthy as it comes. We have to remember we are never going to be a perfect world though. They do suck for making a cheeseburger which btw doesn't even contain REAL ingredients cheaper than a bag of apples at a grocery store.

Umm...does the government have the ability to lower the cost of organic foods? Could someone enlighten me on this?

Taxpayers are forced to pay for corn subsidies, which make processed foods and corn fed beef "cheaper" than real foods, and naturally raised beef. Because the government (taxpayers) shells out millions to corn growers, we get our "value meals" which, by the way, are chemically designed to be addictive.

But in the long run, processed foods and corn fed beef aren't really cheap. While we pay little for it at the burger joint, we pay more in taxes and for health care for those who over eat it. Not to mention all the resulting environmental toxins from industrial farming and feed lots, and the depletion of our water table due to our over-consumption of beef.

After all is said and done, processed foods and corn fed beef are costing us a ton.

Is obesity the government's fault? No, it's the individual's fault. But one could say that the government's policies are creating a food culture that promotes obesity.

JennieAL

Is obesity the government's fault? No, it's the individual's fault. But one could say that the government's policies are creating a food culture that promotes obesity.

I'll go along with that.

amy1612

I choose what I eat and I choose to educate myself about food: whats in it, and what I want in relattion to that fact. A lot of people may be ignorant to what is in foods, or the calorie count, etc, but thats their perogative, the information is out there for people if they want it.

I was raised in the UK by my single parent mother in what would be defined as 'poverty'. We NEVER had food like turkey dinosaurs or frozen meals. My mum made everything from scratch, and would get a vegetable box every week. We ate a lot of vegetables and lentils, and there were never biscuits in our house. Therefore for me, being poor is no excuse for eating crappy food.

Sassia

The problem with posting that here, is we are all educated and aware of how to eat healthily. Whilst everyone is responsible for how we choose to eat, a lack of education about making good choices; manufacturers manipulating supermarkets and supermarkets manipulating us makes it extremely difficult for consumers.

BeckyRayJohnson

After watching BBC 2 the men who made us fat I was interested to find out who you feel should take responsibility for obesity. Is it us the consumer, food industry for selling unhealthy food or the government for not bringing in tougher regulations on the food industry?

Ultimately we're all responsible for our own choices. I, like many people, know that eating fast foods are not good for me, just like smoking or doing drugs.

That being said, there is still a level of blame to be held by people that mis-educate others which will inevitably lead them to a poor choice. I.e. if you know nothing about cars and I give you a bunch of kooky information that causes you to do damage to your car through a series of choices whose responsible?

I say that to say this....

Besides the obvious people that literally stuff themselves on bad foods, there are a lot of obese and sick people that have heard their entire adult life to eat things that are "light", "lite", "low cal", "fat free", and other labels that didn't realize how those foods were also unhealthy for them. They were actually making "educated" choices.