Obesity - What Can The ~Government~ Do?

Nutrition Edge

Nutrition Edge

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Do you think the government should have been more pro-active in its approach to curbing the obesity 'epidemic'?

In the UK, we are only now seeing government taking actions - for example banning the advertising of sugary snacks during children's TV program slots.

So is there anything the governments could be doing more of or are they powerless to intervene into an issue which is arguably a natural consequence of modern high-tech society?

Nick. :bigear:
 
theres way more they could do, they are being useles incompetent old men as usual in this issue. they let something become a big big problem (no pun intented) and only when the NHS if strained, society is strained etc do they start thinking about the issue. look at smoking and drinking problems - they could have started sorting that years ago.

as for what they could do, stop all childrens advertising of food. its rediculous. everyone knows when a child sees something colourful and fun looking they want it. the government are always bleating on about the kids well show that they care, and stop the boesity problem. in malaysia, theres not really so much advertising aimed at kids, and you dont get many obese kids over there. een though all their food is freid and prettty unhealthy, they dont hve the problem we have. its all advertising, and marketing, and product placement.

if i ever have kids ill never take them to the supermarket. every time i go shopping theres always one or two kids having a tantrum cos they want some sweets, but the parents are to blame too. same as those 'feeders' you see on those american programmes, if you dont want your mate to die, stop feeding her 4 pizzas a day. simple as. :banghead:
 
Should the government do anything?

How loudly can I say HEEEELLLL NO!!! it irritates me to know end when I hear people begging the government to force restaurants to post nutrition info - -guess what -it won't make a difference to the majority of people...

it's not the government's place to do anything... People need to take responsibility for their actions... and educate themselves about what's healthy and what's not... and in most cases, it's not what people are eating, it's how much they are eating (at least that was my situation)

The US has had the food pyramid for decades - people don't pay attention. The information has been there...

People are going to do what they're going to do and until they are faced with consequences for their actions - they aren't going to change...

There are so many fad diets and so much misinformation out there, it's tough to know what the right thing to do is. I'm pretty intelligent (least I used to be) took me over 20 years of fad dieting to figure out what worked... and it was pretty simple... We as a society need to stop looking for the quick and easy fix and just go with what works...
 
in the thread about fat being the next tobacco - i made the comment and it applies here as well...

For the past 30 or more years - cigarettes have had a warning label on them that smoking causes cancer and lung disease and other evil things.. the warning label in the UK is more more direct - SMOKING KILLS! (I loved that sign) but yet it doesnt stop people from picking up the habit every day - I see teens and early 20'ers every day smoking...

Since the early 80s - we've known how HIV and AIDS are contracted... and how to do your best to prevent it --but it hasn't helped - new cases of HIV and AIDs are reported every single day...

People know that wearing a seatbelt can help prevent injury in a car accident, and 49 states have it illegal to not wear one... but yet - people choose to not wear one every day... (heck the governor of New Jersey was in a car accident some months back and was hurt and wasn't wearing a seatbelt at the time of the accident - great example he set :D )

The park I walk in has tons of bicyclists in it - and a fair share of these people do not wear helmets - it's common sense that a helmet will protect them in the unlikely event that they do fall or something happens... heads don't bounce very well.. .there were at least two separate incidents I saw over the summer where a cyclists took a spill and landed on their head and didn't get up from the spill... without the assistance of an ambulance crew...

The government putting warning labels on things and mandating certain behavior doesn't do a thing.

People need to get over the "it can't happen to me" mentality and accept personal responsibility for their actions...
 
I 100% do not think the government should get involved. You can't make someone stop eating junk food. What is next they will tell me when and where I can use the restroom? Or how I have to wear my hair? I mean come on.

America has an obese problem. The word that needs to be used is education. Educate people about foods, calories, how your body works etc. Do not dictate what they can and can not have. After you have edcuated them then it is in there hands. If they do not want to change you will not make them! Plain and simple.

The person that is obese has to WANT TO CHANGE more than they want to stay the same. No government or anyone else can change that.

And for cigs and acholol. Again, people know it is bad for them. Yet they can continue to do it. That is their stupidness not mine. You are not going to make someone do something they do not want to do. You could stop making cigs but I am sure that would become a problem like drugs are now.

People have to make their own decisions. They are the ones that have to deal with it in the end. Just my $.02.

T
 
Education of people is what will stop the obesity problem... but I'm honestly at a loss as to how that happens? School? I'm not sure schools teaching sex education has been overly effective and I know sex isn't taught in a lot of homes.

If nutrition isn't taught at home, then it's taught in school. otherwise kids will be going to the internet to find the information they need and there's so much misinformation out there... (about nutrition/weight loss and sex for that matter)
 
Education has to start at home. First you need to educate the parents. Then the parents have to educate the children and it have it to be continued all through school.

I was never educated so now I am learning how it all works, etc. I grew up in Georgia, on a huge farm. We had fresh cow's milk, homemade butter, killed our own meat, everything was fried and greasy! When I moved out and got married that is the only thing I knew.

I had no idea about a steamer, boiling things, baking foods, etc. It was battered and fried and slathered in some sauce like ketchup, A1, etc. Now I am trying to teach my 9 and 7 year old about healthy foods etc. I am trying to also start on my 3 year old and of my baby which is still on babyfoods.

After you have educated people, they will do with it what they want. Just like sex, drugs, cigs, acholol, guns etc. You can't make them follow the right path just because you educated them on the situation. But right now we have zero education when it comes to obesity, healthy eating etc. Except for those infomericals at like 2am which are a bunch of bull crap and are all fake.

T
 
that's the problem though -How do the adults get educated?

I learned about the food pyramid when I was in grade school, millions of years ago... nutrition was taught to some degree but a 7 year old can't do a whole lot with it...
 
Word!!

maleficent said:
Should the government do anything?

How loudly can I say HEEEELLLL NO!!! it irritates me to know end when I hear people begging the government to force restaurants to post nutrition info - -guess what -it won't make a difference to the majority of people...

it's not the government's place to do anything... People need to take responsibility for their actions... and educate themselves about what's healthy and what's not... and in most cases, it's not what people are eating, it's how much they are eating (at least that was my situation)

The US has had the food pyramid for decades - people don't pay attention. The information has been there...

People are going to do what they're going to do and until they are faced with consequences for their actions - they aren't going to change...

There are so many fad diets and so much misinformation out there, it's tough to know what the right thing to do is. I'm pretty intelligent (least I used to be) took me over 20 years of fad dieting to figure out what worked... and it was pretty simple... We as a society need to stop looking for the quick and easy fix and just go with what works...
Click to expand...

I agree with you 100% mal, that the government can lead a horse (or it's population) to water, but can't make it drink. Thats true of everything in life we know is bad and shouldn't be doing, but do anyways.

I LOVE this comment too : "it's not the government's place to do anything..." Brought a big smile to my face.

One thing though I thought I might mention about the government and weight loss from my experiences in China is simply this: True, we should not rely on the gvernment or anyone else for that matter to curb the obesity problem, but it is nice when they can offer some assistance.

Here in China the government uses the proceeds from the national sports lottery to fund the placement of very well designed and effective exercise equipment in every park and even in every single housing complex I have seen. Now they don't come out and shout at people to use it, but at least they provide an alternative to expensive health clubs. I use this free equipment, placed in 5 different areas of my housing complex daily, because, WHY NOT? its free and its there!! I simply love that. Really makes it hard to use the old "I can't afford a gym membership" excuse to exercise. They bring the gym to you.

But once again, it does come down to the individual. Just because it is there, free and very useful, doesn't mean we are going to put down that cheesburger and get off the couch to go use it.

I am truly impressed and happy the Chinese government has provided me with a free outdoor gym, but in the long run, I am using the equipment because I want to make the changes, the government just gave me an inexpensive option.

sirant
 
You could try this.....

ugachick said:
Oh I agree - how do you educate parents that already have VERY bad habits? You got me there.
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My whole family is big.... Really big. With me for many years being the biggest of the bunch. I am also the youngest and it is so true that it is hard to teach an old dog new tricks. So how do we educate our familes and parents? A question I have asked myself many times.

Only solution I can think of is to lead by example. If we can motivate ourselves to make the changes and not only show them how great we look and feel, maybe, just maybe it will rub off on them too. Perhaps that battle wont seem so impossible if someone close to them can do it first and show them that even though it is hard, it is not impossible.

I have lost 70 pounds in the past year, and of course my overweight mom and sister have seen it happen and are thrilled to death for me. And I shared the whole process with them the ups and the downs, all the while not being overly annoying in trying to convince them to do the same. I am so happy to say my mother has also decided to get on track. Even at 60 years old, she joined weight watchers, start walking to the grocery store daily instead of driving every 2 weeks and stocking up and trying to change her eating habits. Low and behold, she has dropped 30 pounds in 4 months and feels like a new woman.

I didn't try to force her to do it, and really if I had I suspect it wouldn't have worked anyways. But after seeing how much happier, active and fit I have become, she has been able to use my experience to launch her own war on weight, and is doing great!

Now hopefully the 2 of us will rub off on the sister...... :)

sirant
 
sirant said:
But once again, it does come down to the individual. Just because it is there, free and very useful, doesn't mean we are going to put down that cheesburger and get off the couch to go use it.
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Exactly - there are tons of people who have treadmills or other pieces of exercise equipment i the corner of their bedroom or basement or living room that make for lovely clothes racks -just having it doest exactly do the job, a person has to use it...

And that desire/drive/motivation/whatever the magic word is - comes from within a person...
 
I agree, I think as a rule people are getting lazier all the time, now they want the govt to step in and help them w/ eating habits? What happend to personal responsibility??
 
Probably just to educate people, but other than that I think it would be a good idea for them to ask people to not talk about it so much. It's always on TV and I think it makes the issue worse. I think that it puts a lot of pressure on people, and then some will either end up being yo-yo-dieters for life or get depressed and never do anything about it. We all know that it's bad to be obese, so I think we should probably stop bombarding everyone with how disgusting it is and how something needs to be done...it's just depressing. We think we're helping the situation but we're probably not.
 
When I was in school, we complained about school lunch, but it was a balanced meal. Now what are kids getting in school lunch? A much crappier deal if you ask me. They might like the selection better (burger, pizza and burritos) but nutritionally they suck!

And don't get me started on soft drinks....

When I was in school (back in the stone age...the 70's) there were no soda machines. We had water fountains and an apple machine. 10 cents did buy a really nice apple though. Aside from that we had school lunch (no options) or hunger. It didn't seem we had as many obese kids back then...but PE was a mandatory course all through grade school, middle school and for a couple of credits in high school.
 
maleficent said:
Should the government do anything?

...
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Yes the government shoud do something. They can like limit fast food restaurants in their place, or imposed a law on sugary foods. Actually the government can do lots of things. If only they are willing to...
 
The "government" absolutely should NOT be responsible for weight loss of individuals. My goodness - way to throw the blame. This is the people's problem. Fixing obesity starts with parents/guardians making good decisions and lifestyles for children and ends with adults doing the same for themselves. We honestly can't sit back and say "If the government would do xyz I would be skinny."

I fully support working with schools/workplaces to provide healthier foods or snacks but this is on your personal scale because it's about you. :)
 
I think the only thing the Government should force is nutritional information is Restaurants. Fast Food company's already do it and once I found out an Individual Pizza at Uno's had 3 servings at 750 cals/ serving I stopped eating there.
 
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