Ahh! First, sorry for the absence! Life has been busy and blogging has been pushed to the wayside. I didn’t even turn on my computer all weekend. Updates might be a little more sporadic over these busy summer months, but I hope you’ll stick with me!!! Here’s a post I’ve been SLOWLY writing for about a week!
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When I was on the plane back from Fort St. John a couple weeks ago I read this article in Women’s Health Magazine and found it fascinating.
The article is really interesting, so you should read it, but I’ll sum it up briefly. Basically, it talks about the lifestyle of Norwegians, one of the leanest groups of people in the developed world. In Norway, people walk or bike where they need to go and almost all of their food is locally grown. In 2007 a survey done by WHO showed that only about 5.8 per cent of Norwegian women were significantly overweight, compared with about 30 per cent of American women and 23 per cent of Canadian women.
Norway also has the lowest rate of type two diabetes of all Western nations (3.6 per cent), a disease primarily caused by being overweight.
The Norwegian people are naturally healthy, which therefore makes them naturally thin and fit. But there healthy lifestyle is in jeapordy. When the Norwegian economy boomed in the 70s and 80s, so there shift has been more gradual than North America’s. It’s only been over the last 20 years or so that using cars has become more frequent and they can now afford to pay for imported goods as well as fast food and junk food. Norway is still one of the slimmest of ALL developed nations, BUT there obesity rate has doubled in the last 10 years. Doubled!
So now, doctors and politicians in Norway are trying to think of ways to prevent their country from continuing down the path that it’s on. The government has begun discussing whether or not to instate the “fat tax” on sugar and junk food. This has generated debate over whether or not Norway would actually succeed in slowing obesity or whether it would become a “nanny state” that doesn’t give it’s citizens the chance to make intelligent decisions and another bill that mandates fresh fruit and vegetables in school has received backlash because the money would have been better spent on music programs and science labs.
This quote at the end of the article is interesting:
So what has motivated the Nordic nation to successfully implement such large-scale reforms? It’s simple, Pedersen says: “We fear becoming like you.”
Here’s what I think–GOOD FOR YOU, Norway! I blogged about extra tax on pop before on my old blog, and most people disagreed with me and said that food taxes aren’t fair and that people should be able to make decisions for themselves.
Well people aren’t making the right decisions, and it’s costing our countries millions of dollars a year in health-care costs. 30 per cent of children are overweight today, compared with 10 per cent 30 years ago. Something is wrong.
I don’t buy the argument that people are intelligent and should make these decisions for themselves and blah blah. Clearly, people are NOT making the right decisions when it comes to food and it’s costing us all. The government needs to step in. This is not some silly little issue, this is huge! Obesity has become a major problem in today’s society and I don’t think enough is being done to prevent it!
Wouldn’t you be less likely to buy a Big Mac if it cost the same or MORE than a salad? Wouldn’t you think twice about picking up that chocolate bar and bag of chips for a snack if there was a larger tax on them?
What do you guy’s think about this article and the idea of adding a “food tax” to bad food? Would it work at discouraging obesity or would it just piss people off? What else could we do to prevent this widespread epidemic?
PS: I am running my second half-marathon on Sunday and raising money for the Heart and Stroke Foundation. Heart Disease is one of the top killers of people in North America and one of the reasons it’s become such a problem–unhealthy lifestyles! Please support my run and go here to donate, every little bit counts!!!!
{ 19 comments }
I have always been a strong believer in a “fat tax”. If they REALLY want people to care and think for themselves when choosing food? Then healthy and unhealthy food need to cost the SAME. That’s one of our biggest problems — unhealthy food is CHEAP CHEAP CHEAP. :p
i’m mixed because I like to have my cookies or brownies (i prefer making them though). But otherwise I feel like i’m logical about my decisions when it comes to food — but really, it’s not all about the food that’s making people obese. it’s the sedentary lifestyle. most people sit at their desks all day long, get home, watch tv all night long (guilty!) but i also take the time to go work out.
then there’s also that lifestyle where (at least here) people literally work to “live.” I say that for myself — I literally work to live, I wish i didn’t have to, so of course there are times when I’m trying to find something that’s easy to make and not having to take so much time making something healthy and tasty for myself.
like mel says — unhealthy food is CHEAP. healthy food — not so much. but i’m still managing to try to stay on a $60 weekly grocery budget for 2.
obesity is certainly a “big” issue. and people are bastard coated bastards with bastard filling. people have to be told what ’s right and what’s good or they will always go for easy and cheap without considering any long term consequenses. people have to be corralled into doing what’s best for them. the biggest problem is that no two politicians can agree on what’s best for them. so they are the true dumbasses here.
sorry, i sound a little jaded today.
I guess if we have a ’sin’ tax, we could probably have a tax on other things like junk food, etc. But aside from helping to fund out healthcare system, I don’t think it would change people’s behaviors, unfortunately. The choice to change how you eat, etc, has to come from inside…
Good luck w/ your 1/2 this weekend. So this is random, but I dreamed that you PR’d by a couple of minutes. I think in my dream I was reading a blog post about how elated you were at PR’ing in this half. So random, I know! I must have 1/2 marathons & PR’ing on my mind now that I’m registered for a race in October!
It would just plain piss me off, since it is already ridiculously hard to afford HEALTHY food. It seems the healthier the food, the more expensive it is. Yeah, can’t afford that on one-income, 2 student loan debts, house payment, 2 car payments and what not. Food is something you need to survive, so I would NOT be happy.
I think there are plenty of healthy foods out there that are just as cheap to buy as the junk. People are just getting lazier and lazier to make the effort to eat healthy. Our society is heading in that direction where they can’t think for themselves….basically on autopilot. I think if they did implement the fat tax people that are eating unhealthy are just going to continue buying junk. I don’t think the cheaper cost of junk is the reason they are eating unhealthy in the first place so they’ll get rid of some other cost just to be able to continue buying crap food. Maybe they should use exercise as a tax deduction!! LOL a minimum amount of physical activity logged will get you a certain amount of tax deducted…..LOL LOL
Good luck this weekend on your 1/2!!
I’m on the fence about this one because I do agree we need to DO something and should have done something a long time ago, but I do see a “fat tax” just pissing people off and not doing much good. I’m honestly not sure what the solution is, or if there is one. People need to make these decisions for themselves.
Interesting article/debate topic. I agree with implementing the ‘fat tax’ as it’s obvious a nanny state is needed. People will always err for the easier/fattier/more convienent food and even though there is a small percentage of those that are consciously health and diet appropriate it’s far from the norm anymore. Afterall cigarettes and alcohol (depending on province) are taxed and both cause health issues which require medical time/money. Obesity is no different.
Perhaps the tax surplus could go towards educating children about healthy eating and lifestyle or prescreening for diabetes and high cholersterol count and the such.
Sadly, I think a food tax on unhealthy foods would just end up pissing off a majority of people. While there would be some people who would reduce the amount of unhealthy food they eat if it were more expensive, I think most people would continue to eat the way they always have while simply complaining about the cost. The bottom line is parents need to not only start teaching their children from an early age about healthy eating habits and exercising regularly, but they need to lead by example as well. Of course this, like most solutions, is easier said than done. :-\
I almost forgot - good luck in the half-marathon on Sunday!
At one time, in the late 60’s and early 70’s it was very common to go out and have a few drinks and drive home. People don’t do that as much anymore. What changed that mentality? My belief is that it was education. People are intelligent human beings, you must make them aware and educate them. I don’t think we change people by taxing them, but we change them by educating them. I’m not saying I disagree with the tax, but I feel that education and awareness are far more important tools when attempting to make changes. Our nation needs to focus on education and awareness for health. This will not only facilitate changes, but it will help our healthcare system, it will improve the quality of life and it will improve the longevity of the human race.
Great post about a very important health issue.
I agree with Katrina’s comment about our society heading in the direction where people can’t think for themselves. Taxing “junk” food is just going to exacerbate that problem. Who gets to decide what “junk food” is and isn’t? And what if I (selfishly) don’t want to have to pay more for my occasional delicious Big Mac because other people don’t know how to make smart eating and exercise choices, or maybe are just pre-disposed to obesity? Not to mention, (still using McD’s as an example) many of the salads on their menu have similar calorie/fat counts as some of the burgers - and that’s without the dressing.
A “fat tax” wouldn’t likely have the same results as, for example, the cigarette tax; cigarettes are cigarettes and everyone knows they’re bad, even (or especially) those who smoke them. It’s different with food, because there are so many different ways it can be “good” or “bad”.
I’m more in favor of making restaurants post nutritional information and calorie contents, like many are doing in NYC and other places, which I think gets the ball rolling in the right direction - education and intelligent decision-making. Placing a dollar value on good habits disconnects people from improving their health for the right reasons, and possibly from their bodies in general.
However, speaking of the right reasons, a deeper issue may be our society’s emphasis on looks and a certain weightpoint. People who are genetically “larger” will never come close to attaining the “ideal” body shape/weight that the media projects on us. Making better food choices may dramatically slash an obese person’s risk for heart disease, high blood pressure, and other health issues, and may even help them drop a great deal of weight, but they would in many cases still be considered “fat”, despite the fact they might now be healthier than a person who would be considered “thin”. That can be demotivating for many people, I’m sure, and discourage them from starting or continuing good eating habits.
I wh0leheartedly agree that unhealthy lifestyles are a big problem in this country and that we should do something about it, but I think a “fat tax” would just be an ineffective stopgap solution to a much deeper issue.
I agree with you - GOOD FOR YOU, NORWAY!! I like that they see this could become a problem and they are trying to combat it before it gets out of control (though, this would put a damper on some of our SSB!!). I live for sweets, but I also eat healthy and exercise on the regular, so I wouldn’t necessarily need the tax as a motivator, but I know plenty of people who probably would look at the tax as a motivating factor!
Good for Norway in trying to find ways to solve this problem before it blows up to crazy proportions. While the fat tax may piss off people, it may indeed help with the situation. There are various other solutions out there: education and info dissemination, health drive, etc. It’s easier said than done though but hopefully Norway can be successful with their fight against obesity.
I don’t think the problem is people’s intelligence so much as their laziness. Not just in terms of instant satisfaction for hunger, but laziness in terms of GETTING information to make intelligent decisions. If the information isn’t spoon-fed to them, 95% of the population probably will not go out of their way to find it.
I think what Norway does/is doing is great - I’m on a local-foods diet myself and I wish it would become an even bigger movement so that the rest of North America can embrace it.
Norway definitely has the right idea! As for America? Well, as a Dietitian I know I certainly have my work cut out for me…for a LONG time. We have a long way to go before things are set straight - I just hope to focus on kids and Prevention. And maybe we can learn a thing or two from the Nordic nation
The problem with taxing unhealthy food is that we will basically end up with all types of food being ridiculously expensive! I think you can get healthy foods for cheaper but you have to be willing to put in the time and effort. The reason why I put in the time and effort is because my family placed a lot of emphasis on eating healthy, being active etc. I agree with the previous posters who say that we need to educate, especially kids who can still change their habits more easily. I also wonder if we could do some kind of incentives to have people buy healthier food. A tax break? I’m not sure exactly what, but I think that would motivate people especially in tough times.
I doubt a fat tax will help much. Honestly, there are two ways to approach this problem. One is to attempt to punish citizens for making choices that the government doesn’t agree with (aka the fat tax). The other is to educate citizens on what healthy choices are. This basic problem has repeated itself time and time again and you know, educating citizens has been shown to be just as effective if not more so than punishing them, without all the civil unrest. Check out China and Bangladesh and their approaches to overpopulation. China enacted the One Child Rule while Bangladesh started educating the population about overpopulation and birth control and such. Bangladesh is actually doing better than China at bringing down birth rates and their citizens aren’t half as pissed. So I do think we need to do something about the obesity issue, but imposing taxes isn’t it.
Also, keep in mind that thinness isn’t just a matter of lifestyle but also genetics. European women are traditionally smaller than American women- part of this is because of lifestyle and culture, but it is also because a large number of American women come from a “frontier” background. Our country was originally very wild and difficult to settle, so all of the successful original settlers were usually large, strong women. We still carry those “larger” genes today. The same probably goes for Canadian women to some extent. So while lifestyle changes will make an impact, weight levels will always differ.
~Amanda
As a person that has always struggled with her weight, I understand Norway’s reaction to not want to be like us. I think most of it starts when we are young. For me it isn’t that I eat only unhealthy things, it’s that I don’t know what a portion is and American culture and restaurants don’t help me to understand that. I hope that Norway teaches their children how to eat and be healthy in general. That doesn’t mean they won’t eat a big mac from time to time, but hopefully they won’t want one. I think teaching them how to be active will also make a difference. Maybe we don’t need a tax, just parents that teach their children how to be healthy.
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