What's your point of view on federal intervention?

Read the articule at this link and give your opinion.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/diet.fitness/08/27/obesity.st udy/ View 1: The govt should be responsible for fighting our obesity epidemic. "People can't exercise personal responsibility in a vacuum," he said. "If you're telling people to eat healthier food and there are no grocery stores in the neighborhood; if you're telling them to be more physically active, and they live in poor, unsafe neighborhoods or in suburban neighborhoods with no sidewalks, then you've created an environment that doesn't make it possible for people to exercise that personal responsibility. That's where government plays a role." View 2: The govt should keep their hands out of it and let people manage it on their own. "Obesity is a private issue and we do not need Big Brother wagging his finger at us every time somebody wants to eat a doughnut," said Justin Wilson. "If someone wants to be a little heavier because they enjoy eating food that tastes good, that's a person's personal right."

"He cited two simple ways for people to lose weight -- "closing their mouth, going for a walk. It's the world's easiest diet plan." " Me?  I think the government should take a part in the battle by forcing our food suppliers to provide us with healthy, affordable choices. The feds and state governments should force locals to become more fitness focused and offer things like free rec centers, SIDEWALKS and other things. Also I think it'd be beneficial if the 'governing bodies' provided psychological assistance to those who are obese.  I really feel like there's not enough emphasis on combating obesity in America. If only as much 'hype' was placed on it as is with STDs, cancer and Paris Hilton then perhaps we'd be a healther nation.  To sum it all up, I'd say I agree with View # 1.   View #2 is completely repulsive to me. It sounds like the typical "Well, why don't you just STOP eating so much and exercise you fat ass?"  Clearly, we know why we are fat. I don't think anyone wants to be a little heavier.. C'mon.. you gotta be kidding me? How freaking naive!? Must be a skinny person...  I do not mind 'big brother' stepping in and telling me what I should and shouldn't eat.  I've obviously got it all wrong, otherwise I'd be 180lbs. 

I think your health is your own responsibility, not the governments.  I think that the government could get involved by promoting a more healthy lifestyle with ads or whatever but I think that's as far as they should go.  I don't want to be told what I can eat and when I can eat it.  I don't want to be forced to go to the gym if I don't feel like it.  My health is my business, and no one should get involved in my health unless I want them to be.

generally speaking I lean toward libertarianism... so my answer is a bit suprising... I think that the feds should be involved in many ways.... 1.  Obesity should be labled as an ilness and insurers should be required to pay for treatment.  This could be as simple as being able to see a nutritionist and a psychologist, or it could be for WLS.  People who are paying for health care coverage should have care that helps them.  period. 2.  Our children are at risk.  because I am a small busines owner struggling through the early years my son qualifies for free breakfast and lunch at school.  This would be a huge help if I was not convinced that the school lunch program is contributing to his weight issues.  A school lunch is REQUIRED to contain at least half of the average childs required intake of 1400 calories per day.  In additon it is very heavy in grains and low in protiens and veggies.  School breakfast is an even bigger joke.  There is white or "wheat" toast with jelly or cinnamon sugar, an assortment of cereals,  and apple juice available.  The feds already have control of this program.  How about a breakfast program that consists of whole wheat toast, scrambled egg and a banana???  How about a lunch of 3 or 400 nutrient dense calories?  How about we abolish chocolate milk? 3.  get the vending machines OUT of the school! 4.  Again with the kids, P.E. class should be daily and mandatory from day 1.  P.E. should not be about who is the most athletic kid (yes I am pissed that my son got a C in P.E. because he "lacks the necessary athletecism to be an A student".  PE should be focused on life long activities.  How about everyone getting out of their desks and taking a 20 minute walk around the campus once a day?  no need to change clothes, no special instructor required....  Just get em up off their arses and get em moving! 5.  Use home ec to teach kids to cook food.  Last year my son had home ec.  they made "puppy chow", cookies, and hot chocolate.  Would it have been that hard to teach them to make an omlette or maybe a chicken breast and veggies of their choice??? 6.  Food stamps should be abolished.  In the 1970's when we were poor my parents went to a big wharehouse to pick up our fed food.  govt cheese was wonderful.  we got peanut butter  and flour and other real food items.  Fed dollars should NOT be spent on cheetos and twinkies.  these are luxury items. 7.  The FCC should limit the types and amounts of advertising played during children's shows.  Parents should turn off sponge bob. 8.  The fed should give adults resources that are helpful and say more than "eat less, excercise more" .  Classes could be held to teach adults to use more healthy foods... how to soak beans... how to cut up a chicken.... stuff like that.... nuff said?

Oh my garsh violamom... you said it ALL! I agree 100% The school lunches REALLY tick me off to! In my line of work- it is LAW that I feed these kids HEALTHY meals. I cannot feed them a hot dog- unless it is a turkey dog. I have to feed a "bread" or alternate (enriched wheat flower 1st ingred.), a fruit & 2% milk for breakfast (under 2 has to be whole milk)  I have to serve a snack w/fruit or veggie & a bread or protein.  Lunch has to be a bread, fruit, vegi, meat & milk. another snack & then dinner is the same as lunch. And they must be certain sized portions (calculated by age by the FDA!)   I *have* to follow these guidelines... and I DO. But look at the schools!  They serve crap in the lunch room!   The thing is- the regs say you can not make a kiddo eat the healthy stuff. The kids are to serve themselves. Even IF they provide fruit/vegies, what kid do you know that will TAKE the protein & vegies BEFORE the chocolate milk and  pizza?  I am VERY careful with my group. Mine don't have to serve themselves so I actually put everything on their plates and I really work with each one to TRY. I've had them eating orange/yellow peppers- and loving them!  LOL  But I just really work at stressing the "game" of eating certain things first. I do not MAKE them eat anything- but I try to get them to :)  If I was to put all on plates in the center of the table and let THEM dish themselves.... everything would be on the plates BUT the sweet FRUIT :)  And fruit IS good for you- but so are other things ;) I think it's a really tough thing with raising kids because parents can raise them as fit and well as possible- but look at all the crap the stores place right at the check-out stands! And it is there FOR a REASON. To entice last minute shoppers to BUY. The children see it and throw a fit- they get a candy bar cause moms stressed or whatever. It IS her place to say NO... but WHY place it there? WHY target the kids?  But as far as my job goes... the feds ARE involved in some of it already.    

think about it though....  according to the regs you cite a days meals could be  Breakfast - cereal, 2% milk and apple juice snack - apple juice and crackers lunch - 2 baby carrots, apple juice, peaunt butter sandwich, milk snack - canned peaches (heavy syrup???) crackers dinner - mac n cheese with turkey hot dogs (contains milk) beans (which may or may not get eaten) and more juice. so this is what "some" kids are being fed - in accordance with the regulations!!! bread, bread bread!!!  TONS of simple carbs there if the care provider isnt making careful choices. When we were kids school lunches were MEALS.  nice hot dinners.  remember turkey gravy over mashed potatoes with green beans???  It sure wasnt french bread pizza!

 

 

Breakfast - cereal, 2% milk and apple juice snack - apple juice and crackers lunch - 2 baby carrots, apple juice, peaunt butter sandwich, milk snack - canned peaches (heavy syrup???) crackers dinner - mac n cheese with turkey hot dogs (contains milk) beans (which may or may not get eaten) and more juice. That is a pretty accurate description of what I feed some days. Though for the mac & cheese I have to ADD extra REAL cheese to it. And I would have to serve say, string cheese with the peanut butter sand as it is not enough protein. All juice must be 100% as well. I don;t mind at all- it has helped ME to eat better :) But the SCHOOL doesn't serve that stuff. well actually they DO  at times but the kids do NOT have to take it. They take the "sweet:" that is offered.

I am not trying to nitpick you - I know that you have to work within a budget and within the guidelines...  but wouldnt it be effective if the guidelines nationwide required whole fruit, complex grains (and less of them) , more proteins, etc???  The schools work within very similar guides - but as you know the interpretation of those guidelines can lead  to quite a lot of crap food.  I'm not big on children having a lot of choice in what they eat.  If they are hungry they will eat whatever is set before them.

breakfast could be whole grain toast with natural peanut butter and banana slices and skim milk snack could be a whole grain cracker and apple slices and skim milk

lunch could be baby carrots, cherry tomatoes, chicken tenders (not breaded) and brown rice snack could be cottage cheese and cantelope etc etc etc...

Oh I don't feel your nitpicking at all... and the above is a LOT what I serve as well :)  I think really, the only thing different in the nutritional value of what I posted and yours,  is the whole grain and the milk must be no lower than 2% for above 2 yrs.   There is NO room for interpretation with the state- you must serve/document what is on your menu and they can/will pop in at any given moment- if it doesn't match- you're out of compliance.  It *must* be under the  FDA requirements. But aren't the schools held to that same regulation? And if not- WHY not? And don't THEY get the pop ins like we do? Hmmmm... I'm going to have to ask the principle!  :) Sorry- I didn't mean to monopolize this thread! 

Clap, clap clap!! Encore!! Encore!!! The bit about the feds controlling the school lunches is only partially true.  It depends on the state and at that point it's the state that takes care of it. The problem is that it really isn't monitored the way it should be.  If it were, you wouldn't have chocolate milk, sweets and all the other nonsense.  My school lunches were usually a potato, taco or salad bar or you could have hamburgers or pizza or the daily special which was usually something like fried chicken or chicken nuggets.  So nutrional and NC is one of the states that has a goverment mandated school lunch program!

I work at public schools and I MUST comment: on your Item 2 ( I broke it up into sections): a.  " This would be a huge help if I was not convinced that the school lunch program is contributing to his weight issues.:  Actually, a school meal is one antidote to obesity.  It is portion correct for students by grade. Fruits and veggies are offered at every meal. b.   " A school lunch is REQUIRED to contain at least half of the average childs required intake of 1400 calories per day." A k-4 meal is about 675-ish calories...1/3 of the child's required daily allowance. (5-8 is about 760 cals, High school, about 800.)   The problem is that some kids need more food than that, other kids need less. Related to this:  most kids do not move around anymore to need that much food.  Let me draw a mental pic of a school meal for a 3rd grader:  a 2 ounce hamburger patty with 20% soy on a 2 ounce bun + 8 baked tater tots + 1 cup carton of 1% milk + 1/2 fresh orange + 1 one ounce oatmeal cookie with raisins  (lettuce, pickle and mustard or catsup pkts on the side).  Most 3rd graders do not finish that amount of food...let me clue you in...they NEVER eat the orange. c.  "In additon it is very heavy in grains and low in protiens and veggies."  growing children NEED grains, these meals are designed for them - NOT US! Also, there is protein in most grain products, so a nutritional profile will prove that most school meals are about 160% of the required amount of protein. Kids do not eat veggies - everybody knows that. Yet, a school meal offers those daily.  OFFERS....the kids most ot the time do not take them - and why put them on a plate when we all know they will not eat them. Most moms at home don't even try to make veggies with meals at home, let alone fruits. d.  "School breakfast is an even bigger joke.  There is white or "wheat" toast with jelly or cinnamon sugar, an assortment of cereals,  and apple juice available. How about a breakfast program that consists of whole wheat toast, scrambled egg and a banana???  How about a lunch of 3 or 400 nutrient dense calories? " healthier versions of food COST more...most families do not buy 100% whole wheat bread..kids do not know what it is.  It tastes dry and strange to them. we tried a whole grain blueberry muffin at our schools...made from scratch...the kids absolutely will NOT touch them. e.  "How about we abolish chocolate milk?" many kids do not drink milk unless it is chocolate.  Milk is under-consumed in America. It is still the numer one way to get calcium into children.  Most schools serve 1% or nonfat chocolate milk. The little bit of sugra is the trade off for them to get any calcium!  School admin will not forbid all foods into school so that we can have a captive audience to create balanced, healthy meals that kids "should" be eating.  And there is no such a thing as a school meal budget that CAN afford the highest quality items like low sugar yogurts, natural cereals (like kids eat that stuff - again, they have never seen that stuff - no WAY do most families buy that kind of food) - plus the price of labor in the kitchens is astronomical...so there goes the labor to do slow foods.   On the Shaq show...pro chefs like Naked Chef tried to make school meals and failed...kids do not eat that stuff, there is not time to serve them - they need to get back into class in 20 minutes...playtime, all of it has to happen in 20 minutes... this is a complicated problem! we have to tear down all we know about school days...somebody mentioned letting kids taste foods and talk with them...do you realize most lunchrooms have about 200 kids per meal session in there and about three adults to do that urging and cajoling and helping?  Those kids are hereded in and out...nobody has time. The aides have to get out to the playgorund where the rest of them are out there playing already.  There's NOT enough help at schools at all. BTW:  Have YOU seen what kids bring to eat from home???? leftover pizza...kindergarteners with SODAS! Capri Suns! Sip-its! Lunchables! Oreos! Twinkies! Bologna sandwiches! Crackers! I have yet to see any home packed meal include BOTH fruits and veggies like the school meals offer...and even more rare...see a kid actually EAT them when mom does pack it.