"The Humdinger," courtesy of This Is Why You're Fat
… the one with the sauerkraut, and chili, and cheese;
It’s got jalapenos, and breading, oh please!
*sings, dances, capers, cavorts*
Yeah, they don’t let me write childrens’ song lyrics, either. Can’t imagine why, really.
In a marginally less disturbing visual, earlier this month, Congress began considering legislation, in partnership with many large restaurant chains, to begin being slightly more helpful than putting a picture of a broccoli floret, or green check-mark, or other icon signifying “healthy” menu items. They’re discussing going, er, whole hog, and publishing calorie counts right on the menu.
Is this really such a good idea?There a formal wear chain’s slogan that goes, “An educated consumer is our best customer.” Most of me lauds this sort of thing — I like it when people have a clue. However, there’s apt to be some consumer backlash when they’re confronted with truth about the man behind the curtain. Whether this unawareness stems from apathy, lack of ready availability of said info, or active avoidance and denial of what they’re eating, the end result is the same: people eat unhealthy crap.
However, is dictating full caloric disclosure the right answer? I spend entirely too much time online arguing about our various Constitutional rights with people whom I both agree and disagree. This means that almost nothing is as cut-and-dried as it might initially seem — while I do tend to fall generally into the camp that “companies should not have the same array of rights as individual citizens,” there is part of me that thinks compelling this sort of thing might be, if not crossing a line, at least reaching over it and going, “Nyah, nyah, I’m not touching you!” Assuming that some hypothetical legal decision agrees with that assessment, what then should be done to, essentially, protect the restaurant patron from this sort of caloric and nutritional blindside assault?
Better health and nutrition education.
Folks who have a more complete grasp on what healthy eating habits are can make more informed decisions about portion size, side items, or even which restaurant to go to in the first place. Having this mental toolkit in place from an early age — yes, even when it’s presented as the near-blasphemy that is “Cookies are a Sometimes Food” — to recognize healthier food options offers one of the most effective potential uses of health and education resources from a purely pragmatic financial standpoint. Spending relatively little to teach a child healthier habits leads to a lifetime of living with them, and passing them on to their children is a lot more cost-effective than the tremendous systemic changes facing proponents of health-care reform today (I’m not offering any opinion one way or the other on that, beyond recognizing that doing something is probably necessary).
Being able to recognize when we’re about to order the thinky-disguised Cardiac Platter, or go to the Heart Attack Grill by choice (which I’ve done; their burgers and fries are, somewhat unfortunately, delicious) means that, there is social doom on the horizon — people will need to take responsibility for what they eat.
Aw, man. I just can’t drown my sorrow over this very effectively in one hot cup of tea.
Related posts:
Recent Comments