Responsibility For Food Choices

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We live in a free society, and have the freedom to make our own personal choices daily. This freedom is afforded to us in our Constitution and its Amendments; they protect our rights and freedoms as American citizens. Currently, as American’s continue to struggle with poor food choices and health related issues, the question remains, should the government have the control to dictate what we eat? That type of control is an infringement on our rights, “More than two-thirds of the population (69 per cent) say it’s not the government’s job to tell us what we should and shouldn’t eat” (Holland). However, people continually struggle to make the right decisions when it comes to what they consume, and do need a unified way to make better food choices …show more content…

Therefore, it should not be viewed as a risk to society, but rather a risk to the individual. The information can be presented to people in two ways; from labeling foods and input from a personal physician. According to the USDA, efforts have been made to improve food choices and diet quality to ensure that all Americans have access to healthy food and science-based nutrition education and advice, and this will “empower the American public to make smart choices” (USDA). Also, personal physicians have a direct knowledge of the individual, and their input is valuable to a person’s overall diet, health, and decision making. Some situations call for nutrition advice to be given by personal physicians, they are trusted and are not selling anything. Patients understand that their doctors will talk to them about their diet, and general health (AJCN). While the government is trying to be preventative in their attempts to control people’s food choices; they are using the same mindset as in helmet and seatbelt laws, which help people stay away from a dangerous choice. The government believes that poor food choices are dangerous as well, and think regulations should apply to both (NPR). However, this seems to be an unmanageable

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