Why Government Should Not Control American Diets

America offers a culturally diverse diet. With restaurants that serve foods such as Chinese, Italian, and Mexican to fast food chains such as McDonald’s, Panda Express, and Taco Bell. This just a small example of the large selection of restaurants, stores, and fast food chains the average American has the potential run into every day, and these choices are openly available in most cities, states, and some on every street corner. With this kind of freedom to enjoy a diverse diet it is no secret that America loves fast food because it is cheap, fast, and is easily accessible. Fast foods easily fit into the fast-paced lives people take on every day and now fast food accounts for “eleven percent” (FFS) of the average American diet and “forty-four percent” (FFS) reported eating fast food at least once per week. These calorie packed meals are contributing the rise in obesity in adults, teens, and children. The CDC states that “more than one-third of U.S. adults (that is thirty-five and a half percent) are obese” and “approximately seventeen percent (or twelve and a half million) of children and adolescents aged two through nineteen years are obese” these shocking statics have caused many people to rethink their everyday diet. The news has even reported places like New York attempting to impose a high “sugar tax” also known as the “fat tax” to combat the rising epidemic of obesity by limiting the sugar intake of consumers in New York. The fat tax heavily taxes those who do choose to intake the sugary beverages, sweets, and other unhealthy goods with the possibility of the government stepping in to take out, limit, or even tax the places that these “unhealthy foods”. Even with obesity on the rise should government have a say in American ...

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...f the freedom to make important and personal decisions is taken away history indicates that there is a possibility of the obesity epidemic getting even more out of hand. This is why as a free country the public cannot support the government moving to control the important individual choices that are made each day, even if they are not the healthiest. The best way to help obesity is to arm the public with the greatest weapon. Arm them with the weapon of knowledge, so that instead of controlling what consumers buy, give them the knowledge to consume smarter. There is an old saying “you can lead a horse to water, but you cannot make him drink”. The government could replace every McDonald’s with a My Fit Foods, but would that really make the public anymore willing to choose an apple over a hamburger. As a country, we the people should accept nothing less than freedom.