So..why are we reducing caloric intake in school cafeterias at a time when (allegedly) childhood hunger is at an all-time high?
This does not compute.
Child hunger
isn't an all time high. Child
obesity is at an all time high. I'm pretty familiar with healthy diets and have on a number of occasion beaten some posters senseless because they simply do not know what they are discussing. A simple healthy diet is no more expensive than going to McDonald's. However, people have been indoctrinated into thinking that healthy food is
expensive. This has been done by corporations and to some extent the laissez faire mentality of many capitalists.
The poor are the most affected by this approach. They are continually told that going to a local farmer's market is something the
rich do. They are told that prepared foods are inexpensive. The reality is that prepared foods are overtaxed (which means the government gets their share) and produced with low quality ingredients (which means corporations make a killing) high in corn fructose.
All of that ensures that they walk like sheep into the nearest big box store where they cater to the poor and make sure they get fatter. They are told that they can't afford locally produced food and then they are told that it's
easier,
better,
faster to buy it pre-cooked when that just couldn't be further from the truth. I find it outright abhorrent how the lower class has been taught to
love ****ty food with the banners of
'Murica and
Freedom waving high.
The Founding Fathers would have been disgusted if they saw the word
freedom being used to turn our population into a bunch of fat ****s who couldn't defend the country if it needed them. Well, they would have been disgusted, then they would have cut the heads off the owners of Kraft, Coca-Cola, Mars & P&G.
The best part is that it's clearly and without a doubt the beloved capitalism of old that right wingers are least likely to be blamed for obesity in this country. Kids have been conditioned through generations of constant ad bombardments to believe that 24-7 television, ordering pizza and sitting all day eating and playing video games is
normal behavior for kids. There isn't a single period in human history where being inside for 10 hours a day eating and staring a single spot on the houses' wall was normal child behavior. So then who do we blame? The parents. Are you kidding?
The parents were conditioned to do that too in the 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, 00s and now the 10s by their baby boomer grandparents or parents. So how do you criticize a parenting style that wasn't an issue for
at least 60 years? You don't. You cut it at the source and restrict the way ads are presented and where they can be presented or you create initiatives for companies to improve their products.
Give tax rebates for companies who make healthier products. Reschedule advertising on children's television (for example: instead of a 24 mins show with 4 commercial breaks - have a 6 min commercial break between shows.). Lower taxes on local farmers. Create bus routes that specifically lead the poor to cheap food markets. Bring back cooking classes in schools, make them compulsory and use them as an excuse to teach healthy diets. Those are really simple options that can help the populace make better choices regarding what to eat.