Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community - View Single Post - Is It Your Fault I'm Fat? Congress Hears Debate

lurkette · 06-22-2003, 06:40 AM

I'm hearing a couple of different ideas here and I don't think they're necessarily mutually exclusive:

Art et al. are saying that lack of personal responsibility is not the only reason for obesity. People are bombarded every day by ads for food that looks and tastes good but that is horrible for their health, with no mention of consequences.

Pretty much everyone else is saying that people should know fast food is bad for them and if you eat it to the point where you get fat, it's your own damn fault.

I think both of these lines of thinking are true - it's up to the individual to decide what he or she eats, (or what their kids eat) but it's incredibly difficult to make healthy choices in the face of SO much temptation, and a lack of information about food content and appropriate nutrition. I see no reason why people shouldn't eat fast food once in a while. Face it, McDonald's fries are yummy. I ate some for lunch yesterday. But then I had a salad for dinner. I definitely think that food producers should be held responsible for providing accurate nutritional information about their products (claiming that a Big Mac Meal is healthy and balanced is laughable; again, once in a blue moon won't hurt you but if you're eating it every day you're probably going to put on some poundage), but that people should also be held responsible for making healthy choices. If a person has all the information they need about how to lose weight/not gain weight (more calories out than in, healthy balance of fats/carbs/protein) and they still choose not to eat healthily, there's not much you can do about it, and I don't see why someone else should be to blame. Since obesity is really a public health crisis in the US at this point, we ought to expect everyone, fast food and other food manufacturers included, to make it as easy as possible for people to make healthy choices, regardless of the impact on the company's bottom line.

06-22-2003, 06:40 AM	#35 (permalink)
lurkette My future is coming on Moderator Emeritus Location: east of the sun and west of the moon	I'm hearing a couple of different ideas here and I don't think they're necessarily mutually exclusive: Art et al. are saying that lack of personal responsibility is not the only reason for obesity. People are bombarded every day by ads for food that looks and tastes good but that is horrible for their health, with no mention of consequences. Pretty much everyone else is saying that people should know fast food is bad for them and if you eat it to the point where you get fat, it's your own damn fault. I think both of these lines of thinking are true - it's up to the individual to decide what he or she eats, (or what their kids eat) but it's incredibly difficult to make healthy choices in the face of SO much temptation, and a lack of information about food content and appropriate nutrition. I see no reason why people shouldn't eat fast food once in a while. Face it, McDonald's fries are yummy. I ate some for lunch yesterday. But then I had a salad for dinner. I definitely think that food producers should be held responsible for providing accurate nutritional information about their products (claiming that a Big Mac Meal is healthy and balanced is laughable; again, once in a blue moon won't hurt you but if you're eating it every day you're probably going to put on some poundage), but that people should also be held responsible for making healthy choices. If a person has all the information they need about how to lose weight/not gain weight (more calories out than in, healthy balance of fats/carbs/protein) and they still choose not to eat healthily, there's not much you can do about it, and I don't see why someone else should be to blame. Since obesity is really a public health crisis in the US at this point, we ought to expect everyone, fast food and other food manufacturers included, to make it as easy as possible for people to make healthy choices, regardless of the impact on the company's bottom line. __________________ "If ten million people believe a foolish thing, it is still a foolish thing." - Anatole France