Submitted by Charles Knighton
Regarding the Barbados Advocate Editorial of July 17th, Health equals wealth I offer the following observations.
Once upon a time, mothers would say:”Sit up and eat your vegetables.” Fathers would say : “Don’t talk with your mouth full.” Other common utterances included: ” Go outside and play.” And, “After you finish your chores.” Families may not have been happier—and family dinners may have been daily rituals of tiny tortures (the ennui that passeth all understanding)—but neither were the words “childhood obesity” part of the vernacular.
At the risk of being politically incorrect, fat kids have always been among us, but obesity was not the plague it is today. Nor was it necessary for government to instruct families about how and what to eat. We all knew the pyramid scheme of nutrition. This isn’t nostalgia speaking, nor is there any mystery why kids are fatter these days or what is required to fix the problem. Eat less; move more; listen to your parents—if you can find them.
Hold the Nobel. Really.
Good for Michelle Obama and Mara Thompson for trying to get the word out that eating vegetables and playing are good things. I’m as willing as anyone to be cynical about such “insights”, and hated nanny statism before it was cool. Yet the message is important and somebody has to say it. But maternal advice is one thing and government-enforced nutritional mandates quite another. In the absence of willpower, should certain foods and spices be forbidden to all? Where exactly does one stop drawing that little line?
