Actual Week 4: Guest Speakers

I didn’t realize we did not have to post last week, so this is my official week 4 post.

I really enjoyed the two women who came in to speak to us about the various topics and research! I especially found interesting the second presentation by Dr. Pinard regarding food policy and dietary guidelines. First off, her statement that soda is a non-food item and should therefore be taxed like other non-food items such as tobacco was brilliant. I have heard this argument before but her point of view just really struck me for some reason. I totally agree that because soda is hazardous to your health and also poses no nutritional value, it should be considered a “non food” item. Once placed in that category officially, lengths should be taken to essentially deter people from consuming it (just like with cigarettes) such as taxation or limits on serving size nationally. Some people might say, “People will do what they want and, regardless of tax drink it anyway”. Well that might be true, but like Dr. Pinard said, if nothing else a taxation on soda could provide tons of funding towards things like nutrition education or government nutritional aid like SNAP benefits. So regardless of whether treating soda like a non-food item would change people’s behaviors, at the very least it could provide some money to much-needed areas that are a positive influence in the fight against obesity and hunger.

The second part of her presentation that really struck me was her talk about the new National School Lunch Program (NSLP) guidelines and the controversy surrounding them. I, like many other people have heard of the backlash from the new guidelines and how kids hate them and are now spending the school day hungry because they aren’t getting enough to eat. I think there is a lot of misinformation out there causing a lot of people to be against this new policy! Not many people know the whole story, they just hear “kids are hungry” and are suddenly up in arms about the new guidelines being wrong (and even cruel) for our children. I’m sure many people don’t know some of the facts that Dr. Pinard presented; such as being able to get unlimited seconds on fruits and vegetables, or that kids are now throwing away twice as much as before the new policy. I think some people expect that the obesity epidemic will just fix itself, without them having to really change their behavior too drastically. I’m sorry but news flash: in order to change the obesity epidemic, BIG things need to change with what we eat, and how much we eat of it! This policy is in accordance with what this country needs right now, just as Dr. Pinard said. We are no longer a country in the great depression with scarce food availability, so why would we still have a system in place that was made for that situation? We are a country with astounding food availability, low activity levels and huge portions, therefore we need to change our policies to fit those needs, and that is was the new NSLP guidelines are doing. I loved Dr. Pinard’s presentation and loved her point of view on food policy in this country.