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200 sats \ 4 replies \ @Undisciplined 9 Aug 2023 \ on: Who is to blame for the obesity epidemic? nostr
To a first approximation, obese people are responsible for the obesity epidemic. Knowledge is basically free and consumers are sovereign.
Other parties who deserve some blame
- USDA, for advocating the highly fattening Food Pyramid
- AMA, for completely ignoring diet and exercise
- FDA, for certifying bogus health claims
- Every food and beverage company that advertises health claims they know are false
- Fad diet influencers who know their diets don't work for long term health
Love this answer. Puts individual responsibility front and center without ignoring the absolute role of the health and food-industrial complexes on our society.
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Thanks. I really despise modern victim culture (I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy). People are more powerful than they're encouraged to believe, but that doesn't mean there aren't forces unjustly aligned against them. I don't understand why people feel like you can't acknowledge both of those points.
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There are armies of paid PHDs whose sole purpose is to get you to consume junk. Since we were children, we were told to: eat cereal for breakfast, that bread is part of a normal, balanced diet (it isn't), that we must eat 3 times a day, that gaining weight is sinful and we must atone by punishing ourselves and counting calories as if we were stoves, that eating meat is bad, etc.
Yes, we are all responsible adults and make our own choices, but it is extremely difficult to talk about this stuff. All of these organizations are funded by corporate interests, so where will people get their information from? Ideally, we should keep educating ourselves, but I don't see a bright future ahead for our health.
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If the question were the broader "Who is to blame for declining health in America?", then I would strongly agree with you.
With respect to obesity, specifically, I think very few obese people can honestly say they've been following a healthy diet consistently. Rather, we're talking about people knowingly over eating garbage food. If that's their preference, fine, it's none of my business. However, that also means the systemic problems you point to aren't the primary culprits.
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