Quote:
Originally Posted by TheHurricaneKid
Since the IRS will be forcing me to subsidize the health of others I wish the others would take better care of their diet. I would be a lot happier if Americans ate like the French, Japanese, or even how Americans ate a few decades ago, when they didn't eat much junk food and when children weren't indoors all day. While disease, disability, and accidents are unavoidable, there is a strong correlation between the quality of diet (and lifestyle) and health.
Since the IRS will be forcing many of us to spend money on health care, it would be a serious favor to all of us if we took the time and money to learn about nutrition and cooking healthy meals. I would imagine the savings would be considerable enough to offset some of the cost forced on us by the IRS.
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There is no existing short-term incentive for people to eat better foods at the moment; if I were to challenge everyone at my job to eat healthier and lose weight and there will be a $500 prize for everyone that drops twenty pound they would lose that weight including myself. How could we 'make' people eat healthier, especially the people of my generation? It's close to impossible to say 'hey, your obesity is only going to make your tax-rate rise', they don't understand that logic, they understand an incentive logic.
Our classrooms aren't teaching us about how certain products such GMO's are harmful for us because there is no incentive to. People can go to restaurants like this one back in NC named Cheddar's and get Ribs, Chicken Tenders, Corn, Fries, and a large drink for $12 and of course that's all genetically modified. The food I get from Whole Foods that never really fills me up cost like $9, so what's the better short-term deal? Until health foods become cheaper and far more abundant, we will continue down this unsustainable path.
Since moving to DC/MD I've realized that it isn't all about filling up your stomach until you can't eat anymore, but back in a unhealthy area in NC that I come from (which ironically had a huge hospital, AND the highest junk-food per capita in the USA, coincidence, huh?) eating healthy was complicated or too expensive. Places like Cheddar's and fast-food restaurants are virtually everywhere..
So I conclude that availability and the cost play a huge role in rather we eat like the French or Japanese, or we eat like pigs and only go by what taste good.
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