Government guidelines and tax policy is what put the United States in this obesity and Type-2 Diabetes predicament in the first place. Their recommendations about eating a low fat high carbohydrate diet created generations of people hooked on sugar and high carbohydrate foods. As long as it was low fat it was considered to be healthy and now we know that was by and large a bunch of baloney.
The problem was exacerbated by tax policies that subsidized big agriculture to push the foods that were making us sick. Public service announcements about how breakfast was the most important meal of the day. All of this pushed sugary cereals and high carbohydrate snacks and bars. Don’t eat eggs and bacon have a bowl of Special K instead.
The government pushed their agenda into the public schools. Subsidized breakfast and lunch had to abide by the USDA food pyramid. Low fat and high carbohydrate diets were pushed into America’s youth.
Why don’t we try something different and get government out of our guts? Stop subsidizing all agriculture. Stop subsidizing school breakfast and lunch. We all know nobody is going to die by skipping a few meals. Especially if we’re already obese enough to last for weeks.
Taxes on sugary beverages and junk food can be paired with subsidies on protective foods like fruits, nuts, vegetables, beans, plant oils, whole grains, yogurt and fish. Emphasizing protective foods represents an important positive message for the public and food industry that celebrates and rewards good nutrition. Levels of harmful additives like sodium, added sugar and trans fat can be lowered through voluntary industry targets or regulatory safety standards.
Nutrition standards in schools, which have improved the quality of school meals by 41 percent, should be strengthened; the national Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program should be extended beyond elementary schools to middle and high schools; and school garden programs should be expanded. And the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which supports grocery purchases for nearly one in eight Americans, should be leveraged to help improve diet quality and health.
The New York Times
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