WHO: Governments should regulate fast food to slow obesity

Here's something the government organization I work for tried and results for those of us who participate. They have allowed us 3 hours a week for physical training for several years now during duty time. They followed participants for the first two years and found this:

# of sick days taken for self decreased (sick days for kids remained the same)
weight loss increased
cholesterol decreased
blood pressure decreased

I don't know if these are available to the public. They also offer free health and wellness classes during duty time. Once I was medically cleared for this program I began participating and with the exception of cholesterol (I only have 1 data point) my numbers have followed these results.

The conclusions are that programs like these are cheaper, increase productivity, and reduce health care costs over time. Unfortunately they cannot force people to participate but a model like this could easily be incorporated into more business models.

I take what I learn home to my family and incorporate it there. I have also started working out beyond those 3 hours a week because I have fallen in love with working out. It's a great incentive to get paid to go to the gym but you are also held accountable for being there. It's not perfect but a proactive start.

Plus I get a free bodpod test!

How do you intend to make them "feel the weight of their decisions" when it's you and me who are paying for them?

Exactly why you get government out of the picture....

Get them out
Let insurance companies evaluate the person and then set the cost of their policy accordingly.
Let their be competition.....
If the insurance company comes to said obese person and say, you know if you lose 50 lbs and keep it off, we will drop your premiums $50 a month.....
There is incentive...and the obese person can make the choice.

That is what happens with auto insurance....

Should not I pay more for auto insurance if I have had multiple accidents, multiple tickets.....
vs. you who have had no accidents or speeding tickets??

So you think that if we get government out of the insurance industry, insurance companies will start charging fat people higher premiums, and that will take care of anything?

Is that your plan? That's what you think?

I don't think a lot of people realise how many calories they're eating when they have fast food, perhaps a regulation that requires all eateries to provide calorie information clearly on their menus, so that people can make their own informed choice would help without getting too involved. As has been said before, it's over consumption that causes people to gain weight. There's a TV programme in the UK called Secret Eaters, in each episode they secretly film a person to see what they really eat (most people on the show don't understand why they keeping putting on weight) and it's usually a lot more than they even register. An episode I watched recently involved a woman who ate out in restaurants five nights and a week and washed it down with Wine who claimed that she didn't eat a lot at all and drunk alcohol once a week at most!

I know some places do display calorie intake on their menus but it would if everywhere did the same.

They did that in New York, and it largely didn't have any effect. I think a significant reason for this might be that people don't really understand what calories are or how many they burn. Providing them with data doesn't do much when the people don't have the ability to process it.

But premise has been from the start, we don't need more government.
You think we do.

Obesity rates are rising, and it costs you and me money.

You have thrown in the towel and said there's nothing we can do about it.

I reject that pathetic answer, because I know better and don't give up immediately.

What do you suggest that the government do to control what people put in their mouths. Maybe microchip everyone and when we hit our daily calorie limit, it notifies the irs. Seriously, obamacare has now taken the risk out of the health insurance market. This epidemic will only get worse.

Read Healthy People 2020 in its entirety then come back to us.

if people knew that NOT all calories are created equally we wouldnt have such an obesity epedemic.

I have no idea what this even means.

I spend a lot more on food now that I buy less processed pre-made stuff and more fresh fruit, produce and meats. I had to stop buying organic due to cost. I follow the sales. I was so excited yesterday. I got asparagus fro $1.69 a pound yesterday! (normally in the 3-5 dollar range) that's one part of 1 meal. I still have to add in meat and starch and salad. We're way over what it would cost me buy 2 burgers and a bag of fries from a fast food joint. 3 bucks on the dollar menu.


.

There you guy...
Never buy organic.

I'll go back to organic as soon as I can afford it. The asparagus price was the non-organic price, the organic price was more.

Isn't it scary to know the real market price for food that is organic and grown right has barley any profit. I raise my own chickens strictly for eggs if I was going to make any profit I'd probably have to sell them a dollar an egg.

not scary because i understand economics and scale.

I know what it costs.. I helped my parents raised chickens and pigs for dinner and we had a garden that produced enough veggies to sustain us for most of the year.. and we had cherry trees and berry bushes and a crab apple tree for the horses. I just cant' afford a farm like that for myself. I wish I could!

Sure, I pay for water, food, shavings, flock block for them and an expensive new coop for them. They are seasonal egg layers obviously and I loss out during winter months right? Sure its easier for me to go to the store and just buy a dozen eggs for $3 dollars and know a bunch of hens live in close quarters having no real life cant move while if your born a rooster your aborted as soon as you hatch. As well all the semonella crap they have. What kind of a life does a chicken have none! I prefer quality over quantity. If I wanted to sell those eggs for profit Id have to get a license right? My eggs arent cookie cutter look alikes they all vary with colors and thats apart of nature. I eat eggs everyday now and bake.
In the late summer I get PEACHes once a year from my tree.
In the summer we have basil and a bunch of peppers.. The rest of th eyear really I gotta just go to the store and make up for stuff. You really do get what you pay for.
Supply and demand are the only way for change. Not government regulations when you have regulations you will make it more expensive thus making it more of a unhealthy enviroment to sell cheap make any kind of a profit. My competition is cheap quick and easy. If you did it all organic inflation would skyrocket you get what you pay for.

Then you are very fortunate to have options.
I agree with supply and demand.
Supply and demand is one reason why you'd have to sell your eggs at a high cost per egg.
There's plenty of demand for organic eggs. That's why there are people who sell them. And they are able to do so at less than $1 an egg.
I don't understand your beef with mass egg producers (besides your ethical concerns). You have other options. You take them.

In to read later, I'm sure this is good.

How do you intend to make them "feel the weight of their decisions" when it's you and me who are paying for them?

Exactly why you get government out of the picture....

Get them out
Let insurance companies evaluate the person and then set the cost of their policy accordingly.
Let their be competition.....
If the insurance company comes to said obese person and say, you know if you lose 50 lbs and keep it off, we will drop your premiums $50 a month.....
There is incentive...and the obese person can make the choice.

That is what happens with auto insurance....

Should not I pay more for auto insurance if I have had multiple accidents, multiple tickets.....
vs. you who have had no accidents or speeding tickets??

So you think that if we get government out of the insurance industry, insurance companies will start charging fat people higher premiums, and that will take care of anything?

Is that your plan? That's what you think?

Obesity is the biggest SCAM in the USA! if people knew that NOT all calories are created equally we wouldnt have such an obesity epedemic.
There are economic issues for this for this scam, there is BIG money to make in this scam, its an illusion! It all started with NIXON when he decided to make food prices more stable and then in the 80s when he food pyramid was made scam all you need to know is the truth and lots of people dont want to hear it.

is this real?


damn it jonnythan why did you alert me to this trainwreck?

You didn't send up the jonnythan signal

damn it jonnythan why did you alert me to this trainwreck?

I am lonely and weak.

I can fix you *eyebrow wriggle*

Rriow.

Fast food doesn't hold a monopoly on high calorie, unhealthy foods anyway. Most any restaurant is going to have similar offerings in that regard, and people can and will make their own junk food.

Very true. My husband and I ate out at Cheesecake Factory a few years ago only to be completely shocked to realize that for our lunch we ate almost 3,000 calories each. Yikes! McDonald's would have been more reasonable at that point.