Should
the government be able to step in to its peoples lives when it comes to
obesity? I think that they should be able to too some extent. Obesity is a huge
problem in the United States and one that could be easily cured. In 2010, no state
had less than 20% of obesity prevalence. And not only are adults obese but
childhood obesity is a huge problem as well.
The
"First Lady, Mrs. Obama in 2010 launched Let’s
Move!, a campaign
to bring together community leaders, teachers, doctors, nurses, moms and dads
in a nationwide effort to tackle the challenge of childhood obesity. Let’s
Move! Has an
ambitious but important goal: to solve the epidemic of childhood obesity within
a generation." (http://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/first-lady-michelle-obama)
I think that if you exercise and eat
right, obesity could be easily cured. I believe that the government should not
control how many calories kids eat like Michelle Obama's new plan "the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010, which limits the calorie count of
school lunches to 850. The policy, which was intended to not only wipe out
hunger and malnutrition among American students but to encourage healthy
eating, also calls for more fruit and vegetables and fewer sweet and fatty
foods. But some say the amount of food you get in 850 calories simply isn't
enough -- especially if you're a rapidly growing teen… Kirkham's colleague
Linda O'Connor penned the video, which features students criticizing the
calorie restrictions, passing out in the classroom, on the football field and
in the gym, and going to great lengths to feel full, such as sneaking out of
class to a locker stashed with snacks. The video opens with a stat from
KidsHealth.org's "A Guide to Eating Healthy for Sports" that says active
teens require 2000 to 5000 calories per day to adequately meet their growth and
energy needs… In an interview with Scholastic
News earlier this year, she told a reporter that 'Let’s Move!’ is
"not about having government tell people what to do." "I don't
believe in absolute 'no's' to anything, because that wouldn't make life
fun," Obama said." (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/26/michelle-obamas-low-calorie-school-lunch-video_n_1914394.html) But, I do believe that they should take
out all the unhealthy food items and restrict how much sugar and fat is in the
food itself. The key to balancing out the power is to not restrict the kids and
how much they eat, but to restrict what is put in to the food. The reason I
think that is because how much a kid eats is based off of the kid themselves
and what their physical attributes are or if they play a sport. But, Americans
do have to play a part in this too, like "only one-third of high school
students get the recommended levels of physical activity." (http://www.letsmove.gov/get-active) And if everyone ate only what they
needed to sustain themselves then we wouldn’t even have this problem in the
first place. And if we ate only what was necessary than we would have a huge
surplus of food and we could give food to the starving and the needy or sell it
and make a profit.
Another
thing about food is that in America we use high fructose corn syrup in
everything, but there are many studies to show that it is terrible for you.
"A Princeton University research team has demonstrated that all sweeteners
are not equal when it comes to weight gain: Rats with access to high-fructose
corn syrup gained significantly more weight than those with access to table
sugar, even when their overall caloric intake was the same. In addition
to causing significant weight gain in lab animals, long-term consumption of high-fructose
corn syrup also led to abnormal increases in body fat, especially in the
abdomen, and a rise in circulating blood fats called triglycerides. The
researchers say the work sheds light on the factors contributing to obesity
trends in the United States."Some people have claimed that high-fructose
corn syrup is no different than other sweeteners when it comes to weight gain
and obesity, but our results make it clear that this just isn't true, at least
under the conditions of our tests," said psychology professor Bart Hoebel, who specializes in the neuroscience of
appetite, weight and sugar addiction. "When rats are drinking
high-fructose corn syrup at levels well below those in soda pop, they're
becoming obese -- every single one, across the board. Even when rats are fed a
high-fat diet, you don't see this; they don't all gain extra weight…
"These rats aren't just getting fat; they're demonstrating characteristics
of obesity, including substantial increases in abdominal fat and circulating
triglycerides," said Princeton graduate student Miriam Bocarsly. "In humans, these same
characteristics are known risk factors for high blood pressure, coronary artery
disease, cancer and diabetes." In addition to Hoebel and Bocarsly, the
research team included Princeton undergraduate Elyse Powell and visiting research associate Nicole Avena, who was affiliated with Rockefeller
University during the study and is now on the faculty at the University of
Florida. The Princeton researchers note that they do not know yet why
high-fructose corn syrup fed to rats in their study generated more
triglycerides, and more body fat that resulted in obesity."
Even
though there are many studies like this one to show that corn sugar is bad for
you the real problem is that we consume so much of it and it is because of this
that I believe that we should be more like Europe and ban the corn sugar
completely.
