Comments on: Anti-obesity mafia http://wisebytes.net/wordpress/2006/07/25/anti-obesity-mafia/ Bits and pieces of my life Wed, 03 Mar 2010 19:50:07 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: lzwise http://wisebytes.net/wordpress/2006/07/25/anti-obesity-mafia/comment-page-1/#comment-20 lzwise Tue, 25 Jul 2006 23:21:48 +0000 http://wisebytes.net/wordpress/2006/07/25/anti-obesity-mafia/#comment-20 Banning "junk" food sounds okay until you start to decide what constitutes junk. Do we start making value judgements between fruit sugar and "bad" sugar, between between nuts and donuts, between butter and margarine? Or do we look at balance across the whole diet? Do we ban tim tams and chocolate teddy bear biscuits (an essential food group by itself !) or do we replace them with anzac cookies (lots of fibre) or are they also bad (lots of sugar and fat)? Are muesli bars "good" because muesli is good, whereas snickers bars are "bad"? Is Gatorade a good energy drink but coke is junk? Is apple juice "good" because it has fruit in the name despite being really high in sugar? If I were the food police, I would ban all drinks other than water, and replace sugary drinks with pieces of fruit (fibre and all). So long as there are good yummy balanced eating choices readily available at canteens, there should be no need to ban junk. And don't get me started on sport with no competition - sport is indeed untenable without winners and losers!!! It is a very important lesson in life to deal with not winning, to deal with loss. It is very important to understand that effort does not always beat skill, that no matter how good you are, there is always the possibility of someone better or luckier on the day ... and it is great when people learn how to be truly competitive with themselves and with others, but at the end of the competition, to shake hands and be friends (or in competition with yourself, to look back with pride on your achievements knowing you tried your best). Banning “junk” food sounds okay until you start to decide what constitutes junk. Do we start making value judgements between fruit sugar and “bad” sugar, between between nuts and donuts, between butter and margarine? Or do we look at balance across the whole diet? Do we ban tim tams and chocolate teddy bear biscuits (an essential food group by itself !) or do we replace them with anzac cookies (lots of fibre) or are they also bad (lots of sugar and fat)? Are muesli bars “good” because muesli is good, whereas snickers bars are “bad”? Is Gatorade a good energy drink but coke is junk? Is apple juice “good” because it has fruit in the name despite being really high in sugar? If I were the food police, I would ban all drinks other than water, and replace sugary drinks with pieces of fruit (fibre and all). So long as there are good yummy balanced eating choices readily available at canteens, there should be no need to ban junk.

And don’t get me started on sport with no competition – sport is indeed untenable without winners and losers!!! It is a very important lesson in life to deal with not winning, to deal with loss. It is very important to understand that effort does not always beat skill, that no matter how good you are, there is always the possibility of someone better or luckier on the day … and it is great when people learn how to be truly competitive with themselves and with others, but at the end of the competition, to shake hands and be friends (or in competition with yourself, to look back with pride on your achievements knowing you tried your best).

]]> By: mjs http://wisebytes.net/wordpress/2006/07/25/anti-obesity-mafia/comment-page-1/#comment-19 mjs Tue, 25 Jul 2006 22:39:01 +0000 http://wisebytes.net/wordpress/2006/07/25/anti-obesity-mafia/#comment-19 I agree, this is all pretty silly--though I think it's one of those things that sound a whole lot more silly when put forward as earnest official government propaganda. I don't particularly mind the government getting involved in encouraging healthy eating (for example, I think banning "junk" food in schools is probably okay), I guess largely because the current situation is objectively bad, and also because government action seems "efficient"--governments can get involved at school level, enforce food labelling guidelines and so on. (Maybe I'm getting soft--I've never been particularly fond of the argument that the state should "correct" moral failings/bad parenting, etc.) Teachers here in the UK don't use red pen, and don't cross out work. (I'm not sure how "official" this is, but it seems to be very common, at least.) I'm wondering how they deal with sport--it's pretty untenable without winners and losers. I agree, this is all pretty silly–though I think it’s one of those things that sound a whole lot more silly when put forward as earnest official government propaganda. I don’t particularly mind the government getting involved in encouraging healthy eating (for example, I think banning “junk” food in schools is probably okay), I guess largely because the current situation is objectively bad, and also because government action seems “efficient”–governments can get involved at school level, enforce food labelling guidelines and so on. (Maybe I’m getting soft–I’ve never been particularly fond of the argument that the state should “correct” moral failings/bad parenting, etc.)

Teachers here in the UK don’t use red pen, and don’t cross out work. (I’m not sure how “official” this is, but it seems to be very common, at least.) I’m wondering how they deal with sport–it’s pretty untenable without winners and losers.

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