Paulette Delcourt: Bloomberg, Big Gulps, Broadway and the Obesity Debate
As long as government can tax obesity, why would officials ever be motivated to eliminate the problem?
This weekend, I was carrying a small book case up a flight of stairs when I realized it was too heavy to move any further. I was stuck mid-flight.
I yelled for help, but my pleas of desperation were not heard over the hormone-infused wails of One Direction and the Game of Thrones DVR recording; my 11-year-old son was in the basement patching software and trying to resolve something called a “chunk error” (nothing to do with ice cream).
There was no option but to give the furniture a big shove, and I lost my balance. No, I wasn’t crushed by a heap of imported laminate. I walked away with back spasms and a bruised ego.
I also learned two important things:
1) One Direction does not sing one song that doesn’t contain the word “baby” and
2) My acupuncturist will be in business for years.
What was I thinking? I wasn’t.
In a moment of impulsivity, I forgot I couldn’t lift a bookcase just because a little voice in my head told me I was strong enough. It’s the same voice that convinced me that a Snickers bar is technically health food (nuts), and that if I drink Beaujolais I’ll be a skinny, proxy Parisienne.
It’s also the same voice that tells me it’s OK to stay up writing until 1 a.m. (nobody tells me to go to bed).
Yes, I have a few bad habits.
There is a lot of proposed legislation designed to curb everyone’s bad behavior. Most notably, Michael Bloomberg’s proposed ban on super-sized soft drinks.
Science tells us soft drinks are linked to obesity. But saying soft drinks cause obesity is like saying beer causes alcoholism. A full bottle of Heineken is a paper weight. It’s not the substance, it’s the abuse.
New York Assemblyman Felix Ortiz (D) is an even bigger buzz kill. He plans to tax fatty foods and sedentary activities like going to the movies.
Is Broadway next on the obesity hit list, or do jazz hands exempt shows from being a taxable, “sedentary” activity?
Obesity isn’t just about food, it’s often about behavior. (Yes, many medical conditions cause obesity, too.) There are lots of books, blogs and quotes about the power of “yes,” but “no” is just as important.
“No” keeps kids off drugs. “No, thank you” means dessert isn’t on the menu tonight.
“No son, it’s not safe to make a rocket out of gunpowder, Mountain Dew and Mentos.”
No, I won’t be doing any heavy lifting any time soon.
I’ll stop there. It’s late and nobody told me to go to bed.
Frank F
2:02 pm on Wednesday, June 13, 2012
I read recently that Ohio gave Coca Cola a "job creation" tax incentive to open a plant there.... the federal government continues to subsidieze high fructose corn syrup...
The gov't hands out incentives to corporations to produce these soft drinks, and then levies taxes on those who purchase the products.
Why not just eliminate the goverment subsidy? Then let's see if the price of the product in the free market controls comsumption without government regulation?
Paulette Delcourt
9:32 am on Wednesday, July 4, 2012
Frank - this is a great point. The government is encouraging the sugar lobby on one hand, while supposedly taking up anti-obesity causes. It's disturbing.
Kent Frederick
5:33 pm on Wednesday, June 13, 2012
I was watching Fox News Channel the other night, and there was a panel discussing this topic. Among a few journalists was magician Penn Gillette (Penn & Teller), who subscribes to Libertarian political philosophy.
He argues that the reason that Americans are overweight and obese is simple. Food is the U.S. is very cheap. We can grow tremendous amounts of crops at very low cost, and we can raise very large amounts of livestock, either for meat consumption or for milk production.
We also have an amazing ability to turn basic commodities into an very wide array of products.
If food required larger amounts of income, people wouldn't buy as much.
After all, should people living below the poverty line be overweight? No, and they weren't 100 or even 50 years ago.
Back in the days of the Soviet Bloc, people from eastern Europe were amazed at the amount of food in a typical American grocery store. They were more amazed that anyone could shop at such a store. Grocery stores with a wide array of items in eastern Europe were reserved for Communist Party leaders and other VIPs.
Like anything else, when it's cheap, Americans will use too much. This isn't to say that we need to increase the sales tax on any and all food. But, we must learn that simply because something is easy to be had in large quantities doesn't mean we should take as much as we can.
Paulette Delcourt
9:42 am on Wednesday, July 4, 2012
Well cheap, and even worse--addictive. Many low cost foods are packed with sugar which has the same addictive affect on the brain as cocaine. One has to wonder if this is by design.
Dan
8:26 pm on Wednesday, June 13, 2012
You can pretty much see into the future where the all you can eat Sunday brunch at the Drake becomes the All You Should Eat Buffet complete with government trained TSA style agent where I guy like me won't see plate one until my BMI shapes up.
Of course what government program would be complete without waivers? While the Golden Coral customers will be held to a high standard those that frequent Sweet Tomatoes will get a pass because of the primarily vegetarian choices. Everyone knows that over indulgence on salads and pastas is just plain healthier and besides vegetarians are just better people.
First they came for my soda and next it will be my buffet.
Paulette Delcourt
9:48 am on Wednesday, July 4, 2012
One of the problems I have with government intervention is that regulations don't consider individual people. What if it was decided that eating meat was bad for people and banned it (an extreme example). I would suffer. I was a strict vegetarian and felt so ill all the time until I found out I am allergic to most grains and beans. What's good and right for one person, is poison for another. The administration is also a huge friend of Monsanto and their GMO seeds. GMO seeds outpace our evolution--plants and foods should co-evolve with people. It's no wonder there is so much disease in our society. Thanks for your thoughts.
Katie Kather
9:07 pm on Wednesday, June 13, 2012
I love your opinion pieces Paulette!
Paulette Delcourt
9:49 am on Wednesday, July 4, 2012
Thank you Katie. A $100 bill is on it's way to you. (jk)
Jim R
7:29 am on Thursday, June 14, 2012
Seems the only real question is who is crazier these people making these suggestions or those that voted them into office.
Paulette Delcourt
9:49 am on Wednesday, July 4, 2012
I wish I could answer that!
Gretchen Haynes
8:56 pm on Thursday, June 14, 2012
Many cities are following the model set by NYC, where many of these laws have been in place for long enough to evaluate their effectiveness. And they have found that it is improving the health of the city's residents. NYC's life expectancy has increased by 10 years since 1987. (Source: http://news.yahoo.com/want-live-longer-move-nyc-204217030.html)
Now that NYC requires restaurants to post the nutritional information, I have been going online to find the information before going to a chain restaurant. What I have found is shocking. An example from the Capitol Grille in Oak Brook. Perhaps you decide to go healthy and order the chicken instead of the steak. Good choice, right? Wrong. The chicken entree is 1200 calories, more than twice as much as ordering the filet. How would anyone ever guess that? It is shocking! And portion sizes are out of control. The plates at most restaurants are so large that you do not notice how much is there. If you are out with friends, enjoying their company and chatting, you may not pay attention to how much you have eaten. The more this happens, the more your capacity and the less likely you are to hear your body's signals that you have had enough.
If the food & restaurant industry cannot restrain themselves, perhaps it is time for the government to step forward and say, "Enough!"
Jim R
8:29 am on Saturday, June 16, 2012
Personally my wife and I bring home leftovers which makes a second meal for both of us. What you propose would only cost us more since amount may be reduced, but do you think they would reduce the price. People need to learn self control as to what they eat, and the government also needs to learn self control regarding their budgets and stop raising taxes to get more money with an excuse of doing it for the Public good. I strongly disagree with you. I have a big brother who is in his 80's and my boss (wife) has enough powers over me, do not tell me I need the government to step into this area. Legislating that a company display contents, calories, and other useful information is good. Telling us what to eat and not to eat is absurd. 1984 passed us a long time ago do not try to bring it back.
Paulette Delcourt
10:06 am on Wednesday, July 4, 2012
There are studies that show people are included to complete what is on their plate, no matter what the size of the dish. I also agree with Jim, that many people will take home half their meal. Oddly, if restaurants decreased the size of their dishes, and their meals by 30%, both problems would be solved, and I bet many people would still bring half their meals home.
Independence666
11:09 am on Wednesday, July 4, 2012
Paulette, I agree that it would be a good idea if resteraunts would reduce their portion sizes by 30% but, at the same time, they must also reduce their prices by just as much.
Sasha Bono
5:42 am on Friday, June 15, 2012
The foods in the market place today do not fill any of the bodies needs for vitamins or minerals. Also the Gentically modified products, the artifical flavoring and preservatives are leading to obesity and disease. But no one ever speaks about the cause since that would cut into the corporate profits.....and of course all the pay backs to congress and the senate as well as cutting all money going to corporations to fund our illness. All that diet soda with aspirtame, has any one lost weight...... Remember, the FDA and USDA, do not do their own testing. The Coporations do. It is time for the people in America to wake up and do some research on your food, how it's processed, and where it comes from.......and what is truely happening in the agriculture industry.......Anything good must be banned and anything bad is promoted......
Paulette Delcourt
10:13 am on Wednesday, July 4, 2012
Truly--and small farms are being regulated out of business. The regulations are in place to make more work for the government, not to help people. We must wake up out of our complacency and fight for our small farmers. I always cringe when I hear corporations are bad when they are patently enabled and supported by the politicians who take their donations. What small farmer could afford to buy a vote or influence policy?
Independence666
9:54 am on Saturday, June 16, 2012
This country is completely screwed up. In some places we're legalizing drugs, in others we're banning large soda pops. Meanwhile, the economy is in the tank and our pandering president just granted amnesty to around a million more illegal aliens, who will be competing for the very few job openings we have left out there. What a totally screwed up mess we've made here........
Jim R
10:55 am on Saturday, June 16, 2012
Obama is just trying to buy more votes as he does with many of his social policies. He is a politician in the worst sense at a time when we need a leader. If he grants permitted residency what about the parents who came here illegally which are not included in his political statement yesterday. Are they to abandon their children who only need 5 year residency so they can be anywhere from 5 up to an age short of 30. Who pays for them Does his comment that they make valuable contributions imply unemployed workers looking for jobs do not.
Maybe if the illegal aliens are caught with 32 oz gulps they will be deported.
Paulette Delcourt
10:19 am on Wednesday, July 4, 2012
In "Tipping Point" Michael Gladstone discusses how and why large institutions collapse on themselves--it boils down to flexibility. Our government is expanding like the universe and will collapse into a black hole if we aren't careful.
Jim R
1:10 pm on Wednesday, July 4, 2012
"Our government is expanding like the universe and will collapse into a black hole if we aren't careful."
Seems to describe our congress with its ineffective committees.