Thursday, November 11, 2010

the icing on the cake (cookie?)

I just watched a very disturbing video. It was about Sarah Palin (surprise!) and her latest idiotic speech. On Tuesday, she brought cookies to a PA school as a sort of protest of proposed government regulations over limiting sweets in schools. Her main point was that parents (only) and not government should make decisions on what kids eat.
I was practially yelling at the screen.
Has she not noticed that 2/3, I REPEAT 2/3 of the US population is overweight or obese?
Why NOT limit the sweets in schools (and it's a limit not complete removal) based solely on the above statistic?
Well, my friends, the whole food industry is a very corrupted place; with major companies sending their lobbyists to Washington to make sure things stay in their favor. (ex: anyone ever been confused by a food label? It's not accidental.) They have some major power, and that is scary. That said with lobbyists and whatnot, I wonder how much she was paid by certain companies to get up there and say that.
But now people are starting to realise the fact that their eating habits perhaps should be limited in some ways. People, especially kids, have a right to eat healthy food, and should not be subjected to the fatty, sugary, fast food crap that is served in public schools. Limiting sugar (while at the same time serving more fresh vegetables and fruits) will actually HELP our children in school, Sarah.
And while I agree that parents play a huge role in their kids nutrition, how is it possible for them to regulate what their kids eat while they are away from them? Good habits only go so far. If the kids are surrounded by sweets, what do you think they're going to eat? So, parents should make the decisions, ok, but what if they never learned to make healthy food choices for themselves? Where do the kids learn what foods to eat? Oh right! There's Coca-Cola or Pepsi, or Pizza Hut, or Subway, or various other companies that spread their propaganda all over schools in the form of posters, book covers, etc. The government should regulate that too.
In short, there's a lot of players in this game, (a fight really) to get healthy foods into schools, so it certainly doesn't rest all on one person. But Sarah, you are doing a disservice to the very Americans you claim you want to help.
There's so, so much more to be said on the topic of nutrition in general, but I think that's enough for now. It can be overwhelming, and Palin's speech is the icing on the cake that showcases her horrible politics for me.

1 comment:

Angie said...

grrrrr. don't get me started on that woman.

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