(note: I read this aloud to Chris because I was so impressed by it)
I completely agree with you that a sense of personal responsibility has to come into play in making one's self healthier. The only problem that I see with that is that your income level does have a play in how healthy you can be. It aggravates me to no end that for $1, I can get as many unhealthy calories as I need (think bag o' chips, McD's, fast food, candy, etc.) as opposed to $1 of healthy calories (one apple, one banana, a salad...).
I don't know why this is, though; could be farm subsidies (corn, anyone?), production-cost-ratios, market demand...all of the above. Yes, you can grow your own food, shop at a farmer's market, participate in a co-op; but for people with a lower income level, they need to get the most "bang for their buck," hence buying the crap food that provides an unhealthy amount of calories. Studies have shown that obesity tends to hit harder in areas that are more impoverished.
I actually just watched "Killer at Large: Why Obesity is America's Greatest Threat" (and forced Chris to watch it with me) and it talks about a lot of those issues - the only problem I had was that it focused too much emphasis on the government and corporations for making America fat and tried to make "just diet and exercise" a fallacy.
I agree with you totally, and I want to take it one step further: we're a society that's become so blinded by our wants/desires that it's driven the wheels of our economy (corporations and govt.) to become too imbalanced on the side of catering to instant-gratification. I'd love to see corporations become more responsible and actually care about the people they are serving (us), but we have to face it that the almighty dollar is the grease to their cog and the only way to change at this point is, like you said, to make that change with yourself first. The only problem is that those who make too few to live a good lifestyle may fall by the wayside if no one is there to look out for them and/or help them out.
no subject
I completely agree with you that a sense of personal responsibility has to come into play in making one's self healthier. The only problem that I see with that is that your income level does have a play in how healthy you can be. It aggravates me to no end that for $1, I can get as many unhealthy calories as I need (think bag o' chips, McD's, fast food, candy, etc.) as opposed to $1 of healthy calories (one apple, one banana, a salad...).
I don't know why this is, though; could be farm subsidies (corn, anyone?), production-cost-ratios, market demand...all of the above. Yes, you can grow your own food, shop at a farmer's market, participate in a co-op; but for people with a lower income level, they need to get the most "bang for their buck," hence buying the crap food that provides an unhealthy amount of calories. Studies have shown that obesity tends to hit harder in areas that are more impoverished.
I actually just watched "Killer at Large: Why Obesity is America's Greatest Threat" (and forced Chris to watch it with me) and it talks about a lot of those issues - the only problem I had was that it focused too much emphasis on the government and corporations for making America fat and tried to make "just diet and exercise" a fallacy.
I agree with you totally, and I want to take it one step further: we're a society that's become so blinded by our wants/desires that it's driven the wheels of our economy (corporations and govt.) to become too imbalanced on the side of catering to instant-gratification. I'd love to see corporations become more responsible and actually care about the people they are serving (us), but we have to face it that the almighty dollar is the grease to their cog and the only way to change at this point is, like you said, to make that change with yourself first. The only problem is that those who make too few to live a good lifestyle may fall by the wayside if no one is there to look out for them and/or help them out.