By Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel
CHULA VISTA, California –When George Orwell wrote his famous 1984, I doubt even he could have anticipated Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s proposal to ban large supersized beverages in New York’s food service restaurants and establishments.
Obesity is certainly a problem for young people, but is it correct to assume that it’s because of the beverage business? Personally, I enjoy eating only organic foods and I haven’t consumed any large beverages since I was a kid in grade-school. Nevertheless, must we empower the State to micro-manage people’s dietary lives?
A number of studies show that children are not receiving enough gym classes; simply put, physical fitness is not an option for a lot of schools. Too many schools have not been fulfilling the NY State requirement that children receive 120 minutes of exercise a week. Creative solutions are necessary. I think the Mayor Bloomberg is picking on only one industry. What about Starbucks Coffee, which sells a 20 ounce drink that has more than 500 calories? Why should they be exempt from the ban?
After Mayor Bloomberg gets this ban passed, some say he will target movie theater popcorn, coffee drinks and milkshakes. What about kishka and chulant? Are they next on Blumberg’s list of forbidden foods? What’s to stop a child from having multiple servings of high calorie drinks? Are we going to monitor children with State supervisors?
New York is not the only place that has nutty politicians wasting the public’s money on such well-meaning projects that deal with the symptom of the problem but not its root causes.
Don’t laugh at the following example; it really happened.
Back in February, a North Carolina mom became irate after her four-year-old daughter returned home late last month with an uneaten lunch the mother had packed for the girl earlier that day. But she wasn’t mad because the daughter decided to go on a hunger strike. Instead, the reason the daughter didn‘t eat her lunch is because someone at the school determined the lunch wasn’t healthy enough and sent it back home.
The incident happened in Raeford, N.C. at West Hoke Elementary School. What was wrong with the lunch? That’s still a head-scratcher because it didn’t contain anything egregious: a turkey and cheese sandwich, banana, potato chips, and apple juice. But for the inspector on hand that day, it didn’t meet the healthy requirements. What did it lack? It lacked a vegetable. Adding insult to injury, instead of offering the child a salad or something really healthy, the school gave the girl chicken nuggets instead. On top of it, her mother was then sent a bill for the cafeteria food.
I would much rather see the politicians spend their time encouraging schools and communities to devise more public fitness programs. I remember JFK promoting physical fitness and we need more role models to do the same. Offering special incentives or prizes to lose weight is a more practical solution—one that might possibly work as well.
Can we do better? Sure we can, but we don’t need a Nanny State supervisor to violate our personal liberties. Maybe the state ought to give tax refunds for people who lose a certain number of pounds each year.
While childhood obesity is a real problem, much of the problem is due to genetics, and to imitative lifestyles that exist in the family. When a child sees an overweight adult supersize their diets and eat multiple helpings of food—children follow their parent’s example. They suffer for the dietary sins of their parents. Such destructive behavior as this does a lot more damage than what the restaurants do with their supersized drinks.
Simplistic solutions will not work, but imaginative and creative ideas combined with practical incentives might have greater success than the Mayor of New York is willing to admit.
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Rabbi Samuel is spiritual leader to Temple Beth Sholom in Chula Vista. He may be contacted at michael.samuel@sdjewishworld.com