do we as a whole have a responsibility to change the health recommendations to something that works?

Yes and no, imho, I think that people have their personal responsibility first, of course. And then, those that get called by the personal passion to take the truth to the FDA/whoever should totally do it.

But, not everyone who ‘gets it’ is going to have that passion. They may feel more inspired to open a CrossFit gym. Or a healthy restaurant. Or keep working at their jobs, but share happily with people who ask them, “Dude, what have you been doing?”

Changing the governmental juggernaut is a task that I believe will happen, but not through rebellion. Too much resistance that way. Instead, enough people will be lovingly loud, and change will happen from within.

Just look at Wal-Mart’s environmental initiatives. People have hated WM for years, complained, etc. – nothing. But then, the President/CEO dude gets an awakening moment about going green, and blamo – there they go.

So keep preaching it, brothers and sisters. Share your loving message, and those whose ears are open will hear it, one at a time.

There are also many rural and urban places with no opportunities for recreation and exercise- no sidewalks, no bikepaths, few parks, no YMCAs, no public pools, etc. I live in one of those rural areas. There is literally ONE single road in the entire area that has a shoulder wide enough to walk along. As a result, people actually drive from all over the area just to come and walk, run, or bike along this one road. We are desperate for safe places to recreate!

So yes we all need to take individual responsibility, but we also need to hold our politicians and city planners accountable for making our towns livable, walkable, and with the appropriate zoning and tax breaks to bring in healthy food retailers, farmers markets, etc.

The hurdles with school children are a bit larger, since I believe the courts have stated that the schools do NOT have an obligation to make foods healthy, since “parent’s have the option of packing a lunch for their children if they like”. Of course, that doesn’t help the poor families that received free or discounted lunches. The large companies who produce mounds of processed crap usually give school distracts a discount to buy from them. It’s a pretty frustrating, corrupt system where (predictably) the interests of the children are pretty low on the priority scale.

Prison reform is also a big issue for me. (not to get off topic) I don’t want to sound overly bleeding heart, but I do think that conditions in prison are pretty unacceptable and that we have a responsibility to keep those people safe and well cared for while they are there. Note that this doesn’t mean I think they should be pleasant places – if anything I think they need to be more strict, but better ran and staffed, and thus safer for the inmates. (Constructive discipline is excellent, inmate on inmate violence is not) Come to think of it, I might write a post about this, and tie in some of my ideas from social psychology with my logic here.

My issues above aside, I think you’re right from a pure cost-benefit perspective. When enough statistical data is there, I wonder if health insurance companies would adjust rates based on diet, as they do with other lifestyle factors. The plus here is that these organizations are pretty good at getting the numbers right. If they give people discounts for following the food pyramid, then those people get sick at a higher than predicted rate it will eat into their profits and they’ll adjust. This might also give people an immediate financial incentive to take care of themselves. That shouldn’t be necessary..but, I can dream.

“I think, though, that for most people, self-discipline, motivation and follow-through are so lacking that it doesn’t much matter what approach they decide to take, sensible or screwy. They’ll give up when it gets hard anyway.”

As much as I get annoyed at this attitude (and it does really get to me) that seems to describe the majority of people, or at least the majority of Americans. Does this mean we don’t attempt to help them? As a society the cost we incur from these people is HUGE.

I suppose this comes down to a phisolophical question about individual determination and non-interference versus collective welfare. I’m not going to get into that one at the moment, mostly because I have rather conflicting thoughts on it.

And, um, yeah I’m a bit of a pessimist!

- Dave

The SoG