America's Obesity Epidemic and Possible Solutions

[cool_chick]

[Sandman]

Dharma

If your intent is to show that we are dealing with drastically more diet-related health problems now than ever before in human history, trust me, you are preaching to the choir. I'm kind of a low-end health nut. I know our current diets are shittier than ever, but unless you can somehow prove that there absolutely was no such thing as a shitty diet at all before certain chemicals and processing concerns entered the market, or that there were zero diet-related health problems before the 1900's (or whatever other arbitrary, agenda-driven point in time you choose)..........then the whole pursuit becomes pointless. It becomes a subjective witch hunt, because at the end of the day, if you outlaw donuts for sugar content you'll also logically have to outlaw grapes straight off the vine.

[The Dharma Bum]

[Sazari]

[Kane]

Attack the problem at its source:

Eliminate The Farm Bill.

No more subsidies to ConAgra, Monsanto, etc. Corn will no longer be cheap as sh*t. Same with soybeans. Go for the opposite: Subsidize Vegetable and Fruit farms. Currently they account for less than 5% of all crop yield in the US.

Start there. Watch sugar/high fructose corn syrup/soybeans go up in price.

It's f*cking shameful.

[Kane]

Attacking it through the judicial system, civil or criminal, won't do much. That's the last place you should look for truth or solutions. Getting consumers to change their habits just out of heart won't work either, the costs need to be felt. The natural solution is to raise the price of the cheap fatty foods and sugary drinks. Obviously taxation on these items looks like the state going nanny on everybody and nobody likes a tax hike or lame solutions with easy work arounds (I'm looking at you Bloomberg). Remove the HUGE subsidies for corn and soybeans. Let people enjoy the real price of the beverages and foods they're eating...and watch everything else work out in the long run.

[Revenant]

fatties just need to walk a bit

jesus christ

[The Comrade]

doesn't japan have a fat tax? like, a literal one where if your BMI is too high you get taxed more?

do that.

[Spider]

[Zeugma]