Should the Government Control Our Diets?

Should the Government Control sOur Diet’s

If health is wealth, America is going bankrupt. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than one-third of adults and one sixth of children in America are obese. In the past twenty years, obesity rates doubled for adults and tripled for children. If these trends continue, by the time today’s children reach adulthood, obesity will be the norm and healthy weight the exception.  That is why I^[a] believe the government should have a say in our diets to help promote better eating and better health for Americans overs.  It should better educate the people about healthy eating, tax the junk food and the manufactures that make it, and make organic fruits and vegetables more affordable.^[b]

        The problem is that Americans are not educated and are falling into routines that are extremely unhealthy.  This lack of knowledge usually causes the overweight or obese parents to pass the routines of unhealthy eating on to their children, so each generation of people overweight or obese continues to multiply.  Nutrition labels have been placed on packages, but people do not understand how to read them efficiently. The government is educating nutrition to children by serving healthy meals to the students at school, but that is not enough.  When the children are at home they are influenced by the unhealthy eating habits displayed by the parents.  The government needs to offer education to the parents, not just the children themselves.  While the schools do have some influence on the students, the parents are the ones that really make the most impact in the child’s life.  So teaching the parents about healthier habits like eating fresh fruits and vegetables, and educating them better about the nutrition labels would help lower the obesity rate in the future.

        Another way the government can help against obesity is to put a tax on all junk foods.  This will hold the people accountable for the decisions that they make.  Putting a tax and requiring that a small portion of the packaging include a warning has been successful in attacking the problem of tobacco use.  Why wouldn’t it work towards making people more aware of the importance of eating healthier^[c]?  The government will not be taxing people, it will just make it more expensive to make poor decisions. Taxes on pizza and soda have actually been a success, researchers have found a 10 percent increase in price of soda was associated with a 7.12 percent decrease in calories consumed from it.  A $1.00 increase in soda prices, for example, was tied to an average of 124 fewer total daily calorie intake, which amounted to an average weight loss of 2.34 pounds.  Taxing junk food should not just stop there.  We should tax the manufactures producing the junk food.  They play a massive role in the increase of obesity by putting chemicals and additives in their products that want to make people consume more.  These food companies should not be allowed to put chemicals in their food that make you crave them so much, especially companies that make food geared towards children.   If they continue to use the chemicals and additives they should be made to pay a fine.  It might help the cause if we make selling junk food less profitable.  

        If America wants their population to be healthier and less obese, they need to make the price of healthy food choices more affordable than junk food. To prevent or reverse obesity, we are told to eat healthy, organic, and unprocessed foods. Yet, those who attempt a healthy lifestyle are forced to pay very high prices for these types of foods while fast food and other processed and unhealthy foods remain cheap and easily accessible.  As long as a person can walk into a fast food place and only pay $5 for junk food, and the healthier alternative like a fresh salad at a restraunt is $6.50, the choice to eat healthier will not be of consideration.  The overweight and obese are encouraged to eat healthier, but the high cost of healthy and organic foods prevent the willingness to purchase them.  As long as healthy, organic, and unprocessed foods remain higher in cost and less accessible than unhealthy options, obesity rates will continue to multiply in this country.  The government needs to work on supporting our local organic farmers, making healthy options more affordable and more accessible than fast food and processed foods.   The government needs to not subsidize and give tax breaks to the farmers that grow corn, because it usually is turned into high fructose syrup which is the main ingredients in soft drinks and the junk food.  Instead they need to subsidize and give tax breaks to farmers that grow organic fruits and vegetables like tomatoes, lettuce, strawberries, and apples.