Mark ... while I understand what you're saying ... what is REALLY unethical is allowing food companies to market to young children in a way that makes them so FAT that they end up with diabetes at a young age. That illness is devastating.
It's easy to say that they should just "eat less and exercise more" ... but HOW do you do that when our food is loaded with High fructose corn syrup (blocks the hormone leptin ... a major satiety signals ... and promotes overeating) and other JUNK. Kids do not understand how to experience SATIETY ... because so many processed food ingredients are chemically composed to promote overeating (not to mention the sophisticated advertising of cheap and junky carbohydrates).
It's unethical and very SAD to think of what is happening to so many young kids.
C.C.
I agree CC..that is unethical as well.
But I also agree with maineman, that in the case of children, its the parents responsibility. I have written here that I and many friends are dealing with this - I have twin boys who are 9, and 6 year old daughter.
I might be a bit exteme, but I feel that allowing your kids to eat junk to the point they are obese is a form of child abuse. As parents, I'm responsible for their health and safety - everyone now knows the health results of being obese, and also the functional damage i.e. its a physical disability, and the emotional damage especially to kids of self esteem.
HOW? do you do that ...you use PARENTING SKILLS.
I know loads of parents who have healthy kids, and some with obsese kids at 7...talk about depressing.
There are some very clear differences to those two results, that have everything to do with parenting -
1. Healthy Kids were started on healthy food as soon as solids were started, and NOT given any sugar via sweets, drink etc ...which often means being the 'uptight party pooper' who tells relatives, friends, strangers not to give junk to their kids...the parent know the brains/taste buds are being set down. Junk is for birthdays and other special occasions.
Obese kids parents like to give them sugarly treats, yeah its fun to see that happy look after downing junk...but at what cost?..programming kids taste buds to prefer junk.
2. Healthy kids are given vegatables, and told you don't get desert/movies/go to bed etc unless you eat them. When they throw a huge tantrem ( which most do ), you stick out the 3hours + of trauma, which occurs many times, because you know why its so important - eventually ALL kids prefer to eat healthy than not get desert, not watch movie's, have to go to bed etc..this is what parenting is.
Obese kids parents give in, and once they do its over - the kid learns if they cry, scream enough..they won't have to eat vegatables and can eat junk.(and they learn to apply this to more than food).
3. Healthy kids parent give them respect for the body so they want to keep it healthy, exercise as a family, and educate them how to use nutrition to keep it healthy - the parent has to lead by example.
Obese kids parents provide poor examples to their kids.
Sure its difficult, parenting is frickin' difficult, but its no more difficult than dealing with drugs issues, sex issues, or many other social issues in our society, alot less difficult I would say.
I've said before, this is why I believe the obesity problem is NOT about food at all, its a symptom of a lack of skills - in this parenting, and also psychological in that the easiest way for society to deal with stress is to medicate with food. If you banned all junk food, a new problem would replace it - increased drug use, or some other way to deal with societal stress..its just food is the easy and cheap way currently.
So the big HOW? is how to get the 'grown ups' to parent better, and stop medicating with food?
There's tons we could do -
For parenting, I think there are things we could do
- You can't drive a car without going on a course but you can be responsible for a human life? ..all new parents should be offered a free course on parenting teaching basic skills, and specifically how to deal with this issue.
Society can re-enforce the message -
- Like smoking , we could try economic solutions. We could levy a tax on junk, and use that revenue to subsidize healthy food to make it much cheaper - currently its the OTHER WAY, junk is cheaper than healthy food.
But the medicating with food is a deep rooted psychological issue, that no amount of 'educating/harraging' is going to change - we have seen that the last 10 years. Doctors, media, everyone bangs on about what to do, but no effect.....most people try to do 'the right thing', but because their psychological drive to medicate with food is not dealth with, they 'fall off the wagon'..
-
Expecting people to stop medicating with food, its like expecting an anorexic to 'just eat', or a depressed person to 'just cheer up' .....yes, its obvious WHAT they need to do, but its incredibly hard to do it.
I really am not optimistic about this situation for that reason, were are not all going to go the 'head shrink' to deal with all our dysfunction that lies at the root of this medicating.
So I dunno'....the obvious thing to do is look at other countries with similar lifestyle( stress)...say the UK..yeah, and guess what...obesity is going up as fast now ..especially in cities like London.
People say 'Europeans' have less obesity and eat healthier - well, maybe the French and Italians.
OK - but they have culture of eating healthy, UK and USA do not ....and its very hard to establish a 'new culture'....I mean, I guess that's the only way. It would take a massive effort supported by Govt' and state' to bombared everyone in every way to 'healthy culture' ......over maybe 10-20years that might work....i'm talking using every t.v. programs for example to ram home the message ( like war time propoganda)
But this takes us full circle, the sharks are making fortunes off this problem.......40$billion diet industy, the junk food industry, the phara' industry, medical companies.....this CRISES is very profitable and in our weak form of democracy, they pull the levers of the political/media system ...and so have no interest in actually do this.
As i say, not on optimist on this one....too many powerful vested interests exploiting it.
Importantly, I hate this blame game, I'm a fitness/health nut but I try to help people not berate them and errode self esteem further - I could equally 'blame' many 'thin people' for not being fit as they don't exercise, or majority of people for 'not thinking! But I don't see anyone is 'too blame'...most people are dysfunctional in my experience, me too and proud of it!... and that leads to problems like poor impulse control.... are we 'too blame' for that....I thought we could blame our parents!!!.....
Mark.
Edited by entropy, 12 October 2007 - 01:06 PM.
Question everything, especially what you believe you know. The foundation of science is questioning the data, not trusting the data.
I only trust fully falsified, non vested interest 'data', which is extremely rare in our world of paid framing narratives 'psy ops'.
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