Would Fat Tax Actually Counter Obesity?

There have been numerous arguments to whether fat tax would actually help counter obesity. Some say that this tax would simply hinder underprivileged, and others believe that it would deter people from buying high-calorie food. The items that would be taxed are unhealthy foods or foods that contain especially unhealthy ingredients, sugar-sweetened drinks, or empty calorie snacks.

Taxing foods that have a high fat or sugar content does pose its challenges. Not every food that contains fat is bad for you. For example, foods like nuts which are considered healthy but contain a high amount of fat would be included in this tax. However, it also has benefits because taxing foods that contain high-fructose corn syrup “could encourage manufacturers to use fewer unhealthy additives and produce healthier, tax-exempt products”.

A snack tax may be the most doable option. Snack foods usually contain empty calories and are processed. But on the other hand, determining exactly what foods would be included in this snack food tax would be difficult. Also, only adding a tax on snack foods may not counter obesity substantially enough to be considered successful.   

Sugar-sweetened drinks “may be the single most important driver of the obesity epidemic”. Adding a tax on these types of drinks “would substantially reduce the risk of obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and related conditions”. Taxing sugar-sweetened drinks would also most likely generate the largest amount money compared to taxing snack foods and foods with high sugar or fat contents. Although, simply taxing sugar-sweetened drinks “would not reverse obesity trends by itself,” but would presumably cause less of the population to become obese or diabetic.

The size of the tax must also be considered. Studies show that a small tax would not make a big difference to the “obesity epidemic”. However, a tax of twenty percent or greater would decrease obesity and the number of diabetics especially if that money was used to fund health education and subsidizing healthy foods.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3828689/

What Food Labels Really Mean

http://health.usnews.com/health-news/articles/2012/08/22/what-food-labels-really-mean

This article discusses the fact that even though the nutrition facts panel on packaged food are regulated, the labels on the front of the box can be extremely misleading. For example, when a food is labelled as “fresh” it only means that it must be “raw or unprocessed, and never have been frozen or heated” so that doesn’t mean that they have been either picked or killed recently, only that they are unprocessed. That could mean that the food you are eating has been sitting in the store or been in transit for weeks and could accumulate bacteria from being out for so long.The author states that food manufacturers stretch the truth of the condition of the food, then goes on to explain what some deceptive labels actually mean. Ruth Frechman, a spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, says that the most important thing for consumers to do is to “be informed so they know how to interpret the label”.

I chose this article and this topic for my research paper because I believe that all of us have the right to know exactly how our food has been handled before it enters our bodies. Even though we most likely won’t be able to change the way that our food is handled before it ends up on the shelves, we at least should be as informed as we can about what the labels really mean, so we can try to be as healthy as possible. Most people won’t be able to choose the healthier options because healthier foods cost more than unhealthy foods, but understanding what “fresh” and “fat-free” really mean can help the consumer to at least wash their food before they eat it or not eat as big of a portion.

Food and Poverty

Poverty  is increasingly becoming an epidemic all around the world. Why? At the rate and quantity that we are producing food there is no way that anyone on the planet should be hungry. America has so much food that they are throwing away produce that "isn't the right size, shape, or color." If we can distribute that wasted food to the poor and homeless, I imagine there would be a huge drop in the poverty population. For many people in the city there are miles in between them and the nearest grocery store. There are more McDonald's on every corner than grocery stores. When you do not have money every dollar counts, so if you had five dollars to feed a family of six are you going to buy a head of lettuce or a few burritos from Taco Bell? This topic begs the question of what is the government doing to help not only the hungry, but to help the overall health of the nation. In America out government is based on only the strong survive basis, so if you can't get out there get an education and make some money you will probably be doomed. For those people who don't have those opportunities how do they figure out how to survive? The inevitable end to this scenario is obesity in America and the impending downfall of the poor.

Meat or Beans? What Will You Have?

http://sks.sirs.com/webapp/article?artno=0000313169&type=ART

This article is about how American people would gladly choose a piece of steak than some beans. They both provide protein. Going over the numbers, you find that a 5-ounce steak has about 300 calories, 44 grams of protein, 120 milligrams of cholesterol, 12 grams of fat (most of which is saturated); while in beans you find that a cup of pinto beans has 265 calories, 15 grams of protein, no cholesterol, and 12 grams of fat (polyunsaturated). While steak has no carbohydrates and fiber, beans have 26 grams of complex carbohydrates and 15 grams of dietary fiber. The article also notes that it is true that steak has a good source of iron and beans cause gas, but also notes that the pros of beans outweighs the pros of steak if you include the cons too. The article also goes over a study, conducted by the National Institutes of Health and the AARP, where they evaluated 545,663 people's morality. They found that the people who ate the most red meat lived for a smaller amount of time than people who ate less red meat. The article goes over various cancers and other problems that may be caused by red meat; such as colon cancer, prostate cancer, poor sperm quality, stomach cancer, lung cancer, bladder cancer, breast cancer, and more. "When it comes to health, red meat is oversold and beans are undervalued."

My politics of food post- Food Labeling

https://cspinet.org/protecting-our-health/nutrition/food-labeling

The idea behind this source is food labeling being a failure to food promotion. This act is making people become obese and less active then they really should be. The food people are buying are buying are not being upfront because they have very poor information influencing almost everybody's shopping habits. I believe there needs to be a change in the food labeling everywhere in all places and be more honest with people's food. People will eat whatever they want to regardless of the labeling facts and should do that if they want to or simply if they just do not care about what they are eating they will eat no matter what. For the people that do care about what they are eating should have the opportunity to know the truth and not be mislead. The idea behind this article is food labeling misleading people causing many serious health problems like obesity and diet- related diseases.  In this article it states that "food labels play an important role in the battle against obesity and diet-related disease, which are responsible for hundreds of thousands of premature deaths in the United States each year. While food labels provide a great deal of information, the labels should be updated and made more readable and deceptive practices should be stopped."  I personally agree with this statement and by having a change made will be helpful by making people realize how bad they have been eating and how they can make a difference in their eating habits and also as said in the article a change will give a realistic idea of how much sugar is in their food.

AF: Politics of Food, Blog Course 1

Due by Monday March 13th (6:00 pm)  

1 post, 1 comment

Complete at least one post where you introduce a reputable source to the class. Share the link and write a 250-300-word post explaining the idea behind the source and how it might be helpful. Also, complete at least one comment on someone else’s post.

AF: Your Food Story

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What is your food story?  What are your earliest memories around food, cooking, and eating?  What is  your favorite food?  Favorite cuisine? Favorite restaurant? Your guilty pleasure?   Who is the cook in your family?   Do you cook?  Are you interested in learning to cook?  How will you learn? Who is your teacher?  These are prompts! You don’t have to answer all of these questions!  They’re just here to get you started.

Many of us -- especially  women, but not only women -- have painful and troubling issues around food (and body image).  Do you know anyone who is plagued by this?  Do you enjoy food, or is food a problem?

Use all of your skills as a writer to craft your food story:  good language, good organization, sensory details -- even dialogue! This is a narrative, so use of first person is fine!

• Between 450-650 words
• MLA format
• Turnitin.com
• Due March 7