I was reading parade magazine and I stumbled onto an article on laws banning obesity in Japan. Health officials check the waistlines of citizens over 40, and those considered to be too fat to undergo diet counseling. Failure to lose weight can lead to some hefty fines. Does the U.S. need a government backed system to put an end to obesity?
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haa haa haa i knew you would blog about this topic. Personally i think this issue is a little too difficult to say yes or no to laws against obesity. On one hand obesity costs american's hundreds of dollars in health insurance, which also raises the rates of some insurance companies because obese people have a liklier chance of coronary heart disease as well as other long term illnesses that can arise. But on the other hand many people who are obese, are that way because of genetic problems; so by putting this law into action that would be like punishing them for their parents procreating. So i guess it would depend on the situation. If nothing else obesity is good for the economy (the more they buy the more money is put back into the market) :)
I don't know if it would be good to pass a law against obesity, but it would be good to have more social programs to address this problem.
Melissa, if obese people are good for the economy because they are buying more food, doesn't that mean that people are obese because they eat too much and not because of genetics?
Besides, genetics doesn't explain why Americans are the fattest people in the world. Genes don't change that quickly. And do you think it is really just a coincidence that once that American diet started to spread to other parts of the world, their rates of obesity went up as well?
Goodness gracious, seriously? There is no way that would ever be able to fly; unless we become a "big brother" kind of society. What I mean by that is if everything becomes controlled. A person's weight really isn't something that should or could be monitored by government. I would hope there would be better things a government could be doing than measuring waist lines.
Also, weight really is just a personal decision . It's one of those lessons that must be learned by the individual. You can tell someone as many times as you want to get in shape but until they want it for themselves,it just isn't going to happen.
We are in a Big Brother society, between the Total Information Awareness and the Patriot Act, we no longer have civil rights.
I'm going to have to agree with Jordan on this one - you can't force people to change and still stand for what we do as a nation. People need to be more educated on the effects of eating the way they do. They need to be taught how to eat. They need a paradigm shift. Maybe we should address the underlying reasons that we are so out of control when it comes to food...
I really wonder when people are going to realize that you just can't control everything...Yes...obesity is a problem, but i believe that it's up to the individual to decide whether or not they want to change that about themselves. I think it would be ridiculous to make laws concerning obesity and then fine people if they fail to lose the weight. I think it would bring about even bigger problems...it just wouldn't be worth it.
There is an obesity gene or at least a set of genes that allow for a person to become more obese readily. Think of this possibility in the context that we all have the possibility to contract cancer. These cancer cells are within all of us they just require a catalyst to make them active. This goes the same with the genes that deal with metabolism. The possibility is present it just requires the catalyst and maybe fast food is that catalyst.
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