Jamie Oliver eloquently discusses the dire impact of our abysmal teaching about nutrition in the U.S. Check out also this lengthy Byran Appleyard/TimesOnline article on Art DeVanyís continuing research on the integration of good nutrition with sound exercise protocols. Good information for increasing the chances of enjoying a healthy life.
Houston's Clear Thinkers
Longtime Houston attorney Tom Kirkendall's observations on developments in law, business, medicine, culture, sports, and other matters of general interest to the Houston business, professional, and academic communities.
hey Tom, this is a great post, thanks!
I struggle with the concept of what Jamie Oliver is talking about. As the father of 4 young children I think that I do have a responsibility to better educate my children on eating healthy and requiring that they eat healthy until they are 18. On the other hand I get very concerned with the concept of government becoming the nanny state that determines such mundane things as what I am and am not allowed to eat.
Where does this stop? I am 37 years old and in relatively great health. By all measures I am the picture of health yet I eat like crap. Why? Because I like to eat things that taste good and I don’t enjoy things that don’t taste good. And quite frankly a lot of things that are good for you don’t taste as good as things that are bad for you. But that is my choice. As an adult.
And for every person who dies at a young age because of an unhealthy lifestyle I can find someone who smoked for 90 years and drank bourbon every single day.
I respect Jamie Oliver for being passionate about something but I think he is too extreme in his views that government should play the significant role that he is suggesting. Government is too big and too intrusive as is and most things that gov’t gets involved with to make things better only result in them getting worse or the cost of government intervention comes at the expense of something like personal freedom.
If Jamie and others want to eat healthy and preach healthy eating I think that is great. But when they start advocating government intervention as a solution to something they don’t like or are concerned about, I have a big big problem with it.