Nutritional Information on the Front of Food Packaging
By: Keith
According to this report there are about to be new food labeling guidelines set forth by the FDA requiring nutritional information to be printed on the front of food packaging. The rule currently states that nutritional information can be anywhere on the package as long as a customers can easily read it. Now, according to my calculations there are 6 sides to a rectangular prism shaped container. Holding a cereal box here in my hands, Grape Nuts, it took me 5 seconds to leisurely scan all 6 sides (I’m guessing about 5). The government, to their credit, has their hearts in the right place. They genuinely don’t want people to get fat and it could be argued that they’re just trying to help us simpletons out by making the placement of nutritional information standard on all packaging. However, as with most regulations, this one totally misses the point. It isn’t going to make anybody healthier. The simple fact is that while we’re obviously not conscientious of our health, we’re not stupid like the government seems to think.
There’s no Such Thing as a Vitamin Cookie:
Everybody knows Oreos are unhealthy. There’s no possible way somebody says to themselves, “Gee, I think I’ll have a box of Oreos. That’ll help me lose weight.” Have you ever tried to figure out a person by looking into his grocery basket? I have. The funny thing is that you know what’s in the baskets before you look. When is the last time you’ve ever seen some really fat person (the kind who uses those little electric carts) with broccoli? Unhealthy people know perfectly well that the three bags of Cheetos they’re about to buy do not count as a serving of dairy. The person’s problem is not that he doesn’t know he’s killing himself, it’s that he doesn’t care enough to change it. Food labeling isn’t going to stop someone who wants to eat Cheetos from eating Cheetos. The government would be better served with a plan to convince people to eat better, not by micro-managing their lives. Nobody ever changed anything through force. Food labeling isn’t education, it’s bureaucracy. People should see the personal and social responsibility they have to eat gooder (that’s a word) and then change their behavior willingly. Labeling obviously doesn’t do that.
The Government has no Right to Lecture:
It’s a little obvious to point out, but isn’t the government just one big bloated fat guy who can’t control himself in the cookie isle? The absolute last person or entity that should be lecturing about austerity is the federal government. Even when it comes to food they have no right to lecture. Jamie Oliver has this great program called Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution. He takes a trip to West Virginia and tries to change the school lunch program into something resembling healthy. The resistance he encounters is comical. Take a look. It’s eye opening. The government has no right to legislate our health if they can’t even get their own business in order.
If I Were in Charge:
I like to exercise, and I know exercising is healthy, and it would go a long way towards making everybody else healthy too. Thus, following the government’s reasoning, everybody should be made to exercise every day because it’s in our collective best interest. Well, at least we should remind people to exercise, right? We ought to require that every television set be labeled on the front (somewhere on the casing) in big red letters EXERCISE! Never mind that it’s distracting to see a big red warning label while watching the TV. People need to know, damnit! It begs the question, where does it stop? That’s the problem with government. They miss the point. People choose not to exercise just like they choose not to eat well. Labeling boxes is just another silly regulation that nobody needs or wants. I don’t think the government is going to stop at food labeling either. It’s not crazy to imagine, sometime in the future, state regulated diets. No thanks.
Changing people diets and fitness practices requires a social consciousness that a lot of people don’t have. Yes, fat people drive health care costs up. Yes, heat attacks kill mothers and fathers of small kids and then leave those kids stranded in life. But, unless people understand the social implications of poor eating, no amount of regulation is going to help. Not only will it not help, it’ll alienate people, causing them to fight the government rather than help it. I already eat healthy, but hearing that the FDA thinks I’m stupid makes me want to go buy some chips and soda just to spite them.
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You raise some excellent points, but the problem, as I see it, is that no viable solution has been proposed. Much like the healthcare clusterbomb we just went through, the issue with eating healthy and exercise is difficult to diagnose. We live increasingly automated lives that creates our increasingly sedentary lifestyle. I’m as guilty as the next when it comes to not getting nearly enough (ok, no) physical activity. But even at that, diet is an even bigger component.
Before I was diagnosed with diabetes I would wake up and not eat a thing until early afternoon because I was too busy taking care of my son and running errands. At times I would stop at Chickfila and get a meal plus a milkshake, not realizing what I was doing to myself.
After my diagnosis I became obsessed with memorizing facts and figures, especially as it relates to carbs since controlling intake of those in paramount to managing my diabetes. So, I started looking up what I could still eat on the go and was aghast that what I would order added up to 2,700 calories, which is easily a day and half worth of food based on what I should be eating.
Needless to say I don’t do that anymore, but it explains a lot of things, like how I managed to balloon to 319 pounds. I’m down 75 since that time, but still have a good ways to go to get where I should be.
While this isn’t the perfect solution, maybe it will give people the jolt they need to stop consuming a sleeve of Oreos at a sitting.
.-= PJ Mullen´s last blog ..Sweatshirt Blanket’s Spread Your Warmth Campaign =-.
PJ: I lost 45 lbs 5 years ago by quitting fast food and soda. I decided I was going to make a concerted effort to put food first. I guess I could have been smart and learned to cook, but I didn’t. I just started eating a bunch of fruit and veg on a plate. It’s incredible how bad some of this fast food stuff can be. We don’t realize it either because of it’s ubiquitousness. I remember the article I did about the Bento boxes a few weeks ago. When doing some research for that I found out that the Japanese are becoming more westernized in their big cities and their cases of heart disease are starting to go way up. But, in the country, where people eat traditional diets, it’s not uncommon for people to live past 100 and work right up to the day they die. You’ve done great by losing 75 lbs. I didn’t know you’d done that. You’re right, people need some sort of jolt.
Keith, your last paragraph sums up my feelings exactly. Thank you. Did you hear about the regulation with the restaurants? I just heard something the other day about this. I need to investigate more.
Note to PJ Mullen: Oh man! Chicfila will get me every time. I don’t care if it’s 10,000 calories per sandwich-I’m eating them. Maybe it’s a good thing there aren’t any out here on the island. I would be in some trouble.
Denise: No, I haven’t heard much about restaurants other than they’re trying to get salt banned now. I haven’t had a chickfila sandwich since I left Texas. Now you guys are making me miss them
I’m not convinced that the government is out to protect us from our foods. I’m also not convinced that “we’re not stupid.”
The commercial food landscape is dictated by government policy. As pointed out in “Food, Inc”, half the grocery store is made out of corn. We feed our livestock with corn so they grow big and fat quickly. Then we feed our children with the same corn because…uh, “freedom” or some other BS.
Yes, people need to accept responsibility. But the one thing they never seem to accept responsibility for, is to level the playing field, and end the regulatory capture that corrupts our food supply with one hand, and gives us enhanced warning labels with the other.
.-= Chris´s last blog ..The Snake and the Angry Swami: A Cautionary Tale =-.
Chris: Yes, Food, Inc brings up some interesting points. So too does Omnivore’s Dilemma. But, I do think a lot of that is corporate greed more than government corruption. Although I’m no fan of the government, I do think they wouldn’t act against their own best interest even if it means a misguided attempt to regulate consumption. Now, what the government regulates and pushes on our school kids? yeah, totally agree with you there. That’s a case of downright mismanagement and incompetence.