Oh one MORE thing to legislate!

[niankhsekhmet]

My thanks to wingedkite for bringing This LOVELY Article to my attention.

Does anyone besides me see how blasted Orwellian this all sounds? Legislate nutrition?!

I'm still shopping for a new country.

Comments

[maai.livejournal.com]

I heard about that. The song Perfect System by 'Boingo comes to mind, yet again...

"I get enough nutrition, by eating protein biscuits, recommended by the system. It's routine regulation - I had an operation!"

That also vaguely reminds me of the joke Paneb and I have about Ahnolt putting Chromium Piccolinate in the water to "pump up" California. *lmao*

[ellimayhem.livejournal.com]

I dunno, I read this and a lot of it seems pretty much oriented towards the kiddies. It's probably not a bad idea to remove corporate junk food from schools and replace them with more nutritious alternatives, you can always send them their chips and soda in a box from home if you want them to have them. School years are pretty much when bad eating habits are established, I know I personally would have benefitted from not living on snack machine chips, candy, and soda all trhough middle and high school with neither the school nor my parents being able to regluate my access to bad food choices. Remember the blasted "four food groups", how nice of them to let the meat and dairy councils provide public schoolchildren with nutritional information that, oh, just happens to insist that their products must be consumed. In fact, getting corporate interests out of education is just a good idea in general - it is a conflict of interest. So let's separate that issue.

I think the BMI is a crock, you can't just say every person of this gender who is this height must weigh this much - we have too much variation in our genetics for that. Two women of the same height and dress size for example might have very different weights depending on things like musclle mass and bone density. Add the inherited tendecy towards a body type to it and there is no way such an index can be realistic or useful.

I'm not defending those who would persecute the ample - hell, I am something on the ample side myself, ne? But the measures discussed here fall short of Orwellian on the count that across the board they leave the choice in the hands of the adult comsumer to purchase the foods they wish for themselves and their families. And were they to get Orwellian and try to take that choice away you can bet yer bottom dollar that the massive corporations that manufacture and sell processed and snack foods would even if they eventually lost tie up such a decision in the courts for years while nothing happened. Look at the tobacco industry thing - same tactic in fact, the idea tha an issue of personal choice should be outlawed because of the effects it has on the cost of health care. Same motive, same tactic, same endless debate with no resolution. (And in some cases, same company. After all, Philip Moris owns Kraft foods and many other food companies in their conglomerate.) Ludicrous, but I don't consider them totalitarian. More like...another big waste of tax dollars time and human resources.

[niankhsekhmet.livejournal.com]

I find it offensive because I am ample, I mean I wear a size 12/14, by no means the perfect 8/10 I once was. I eat organic food as much as possible, and yes,I do indulge in potato chips, soda pop and Big Mac's occassionally....I guess I have always believed everything in moderation. I find it IRONIC that fast food joints set it up for people to eat more and get fatter because more is a better deal, or that the government helps this type of food industry, as they talked about last week on the news. I just don't like being told how much I should weigh, and what I should or shouldn't eat. Fuck them and their legislating the hell out of our lives! I eat whatever the hell I want and I weigh whatever makes me comfortable.

Tell me the pharmaceutical interests, mass produced food interests, the insurance interests and the government are all in bed together. Maybe that is why the FDA has been sitting on our 4 tons of organic cumin for the last nine weeks. :-/

[maatarubi.livejournal.com]

Pardon my naivete', but...why does the FDA need to hold onto your cumin for nine f*cking weeks? Have they given their specifics? What is the average turn around time for release of organic spices? Does where the spice was grown influence their decision-making?

[niankhsekhmet.livejournal.com]

It's coming out of Turkey, so apprently, since it is a botanical product and Homeland (In)Security is all afraid of bioterrorism - they hold organic cumin for that long! Now, we can get the NON-Organic...go bloody figure! The logic of bureaucrats never ceases to amaze me!

[maatarubi.livejournal.com]

With the imminent threat of terror lurking around every corner combined with improvements in nanotechnology, each granule could be a minuscule bomb. Wonder how much more tax money will be wasted on this 'research'? :oP

[ellimayhem.livejournal.com]

If I could get in a 12/14 I would rejoice at my skinniness. (I eat pretty healthy, but have a back condition tht pretty much keeps me from a lot of activity. The steriods they gave me to try to treat the back problem were not exactly helpful vis-a-vis my weight, either.)

As I said I disagree with pretty much all of it but the school stuff - that government has the right to make decisions about government institutions, and that includes what foods are available in schools, prisons, and other government buildings. This decision making power does not extend to private lives. When they try to cross that line, that is when it becomes totalitarian.

They may all be in bed together but bedfellows are wont to quarrel, especially when their profit motive is threatened. It's just a huge waste of resources all around. Another attempt to distract us from *important* issues. Misdirection - don't think about how much Bush has fucked with the economy, here's something utterly ridiculous to debate instead. I hate it when they do that!

I consider *all* legislations of personal choice offensive.

[niankhsekhmet.livejournal.com]

Hear hear!!

[djehutydjesi.livejournal.com]

I hear Canada is nice ;>

[niankhsekhmet.livejournal.com]

It's starting to look like Canada is my choice so far...Mexico on the coast might not be bad.

[wedjbai.livejournal.com]

I'd welcome you both to Canada with open arms! Come live in Vancouver!