Is Fat In Your Food Different From Lead In Your Toys?

Filed Under Editorial, Healthy Habits, Nutrition, Weight Loss

I’m usually a big supporter of personal responsibility. I believe that we are responsible for ourselves and our decisions. That means I have no one to blame for who I am and where I am in my life. I got here through my own decisions. I hold to that standard when it comes to physical fitness and health. I gained weight through my own bad choices and I lost it through my own good choices. This is why I take issue with people who say “it’s not my fault I’m out of shape and overweight.” With the very rare exception of those with genuine medical conditions, it is in fact your fault that you’re overweight and out of shape.

I’m also a firm believer in less government regulation. I don’t like all this talk of an obesity epidemic and what the government should do about it. I think the government should stay out of peoples’ lives and let them make their own decisions. Again, people should be responsible for themselves and not ask the government to be responsible for them. However, I have to admit that I’ve been questioning both of these views over the past few weeks, due to a number of news and blog articles I’ve read.

Here’s an example from Chew On That. It’s an article that discusses fast food restaurants and their variety of bad food. Here’s another one from Mark’s Daily Apple that discusses the maker of fried foods. Note the comments on this one. Here’s an older article from the Diet Blog which discusses the lawsuit versus a fast food place restaurant by a patron who claimed they made her fat. There have also been recent news paper stories about laws in New York that would force restaurants to post calorie numbers on their menus and how the restaurants are fighting these laws.

It seems like a lot of people are looking for others to blame. We want to hold the fried food maker responsible for coming up with worse and worse foods. We want to hold the fast food place responsible for selling crappy burgers. We even want to hold restaurants responsible for not telling us the calorie count in their foods. Shouldn’t we hold ourselves responsible for all this? No one forced us to eat the burger, no one forced us to eat the deep fried latte and no one held our hands and pushed us into those restaurants that don’t offer nutritional information. We chose to do all this, even though we knew we had other, healthier choices.

Or did we?

Here’s the problem. We, and I mostly mean the US although this is applicable in many other countries, aren’t educated about nutrition. We grow up eating junk. Our parents give us peanut butter and jelly sandwiches when we’re little. Our grandparents spoil us with chocolate and candy. Our schools serve pizza and burritos for lunch. Our TV’s constantly tell us about the latest sugary cereal, the biggest burger and the coolest beer. With all that, do we ever hear the truth? Did anyone ever have a nutrition class in school where they explained what’s good and what’s bad? I know I didn’t. Was there an educational program I missed that reviewed healthy diets and exercise habits? I don’t believe I saw one. We don’t even educate our kids on how to educate themselves. Most schools offer no classes in critical thinking, analysis or how to research problems. So how can we expect people to be responsible for themselves when we don’t give them the tools to do so?

But Isn’t It Common Knowledge?

At the same time, it’s hard for me to accept that excuse. How can you not know that eating too much will make you gain weight? How can you not know that smoking is bad for you? How can you not know that sitting on your butt watching TV is going to lead to poor health? How can you not know that the triple cheeseburger and a milk shake you had for lunch is bad for you? I never had those nutrition classes or health education programs either and I knew this. There are a thousand and one information resources out there these days. Use them! Take responsibility for educating yourself on what’s good and what’s bad.

But Why Not Have The Government Do It For Us?

I don’t know about this one. Should the government step in? Should they force people to provide healthy food? Let me ask you a question. Here in the US, we recently had a toy recall. The toys were found to have lead in them which causes cancer. Do you believe the government was right in forcing a recall? Do you think the government should set safety standards for toys? Most of us would say yes. We do have the right to be protected from unsafe products.

So how is this different from food? Shouldn’t the government protect us from unsafe food? Isn’t a triple cheeseburger at McDonald’s just as bad as a lead tainted toy? Both lead to long term health issues which can cause death or a serious decrease in quality of life. If your kids are protected from lead based paints, shouldn’t they also be protected from deep fried twinkies?

In My Ideal World

In my ideal world, the government worries about educating people and then lets them make their own choices. Information is freely available and people can choose to use it or ignore it. The only people who have some of their decisions restricted are children and those who might be incompetent to make their own decisions. That means restaurants can make as many deep fried twinkies as they want and sell them to any adult who wishes to eat one, just as long as they’re very clear about the contents.

Unfortunately, we don’t live in my ideal world. So what do we do in this less than ideal world? Do we legislate unhealthy food away as we do unsafe toys? I think that’s a mistake. I think laws of this type never accomplish what they set out to do. Legislating lead toys away is easy, no one really wants them. Legislating fast food away is much harder. I think we’d be much better off forcing these restaurants to clearly display the nutritional information in their foods and leave it at that. If you still want to eat that triple cheese burger and a milk shake knowing that they contain 3000 calories, that’s your decision. Don’t expect me to feel sympathy or pay your medical bills though.

Summary

I still believe in personal responsibility. I still believe in having the government stay out of our lives. However, I do believe that the government can help us be more responsible by arming us with information and knowledge. What you do with that knowledge is your own decision.

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