Paradigm Shift

In my last post, I suggested that perhaps we should consider obesity a cultural problem instead of a badge of personal shame. That idea got my imagination going – what exactly would we do if we approached solutions to our national weight crisis from a primarily cultural perspective? If instead of trying to change fat people so they could maintain a normal weight in a food-obsessed environment, could we change the environment so it enabled healthy eating?

The first thing that often comes to mind when we talk about cultural solutions to problems is the punitive approach. Tax the bad stuff. Outlaw the really bad stuff. But, as I’ve noted before, we Americans are a notoriously obstinate bunch. The minute someone suggests that a bacon double cheeseburger on a Krispy Kreme donut may not be the perfect meal, legions of indignant freedom-lovers will suddenly feel an urgent need (and God-given right!) to consume as many of these culinary abominations as is humanly possible. I don’t understand it, but in the good old US of A, it is what it is.

Yet what could we do if we ruled out penalizing folks for less than stellar food choices?

How about introducing nutrition education into kindergarten and primary school curricula? Anyone who’s ever known a five-year-old knows how tenacious and dogmatic they can be. Convince them that veggies are the way to go and they’d be off on a single-minded mission, to nag their families into merciless, healthy-eating submission. Also, as adult life is greatly influenced by things we believed at the age of five, it’s logical to think that good nutrition habits developed then just might stick – after all I believed in monsters under the mattress at that age and fifty years later I still think twice before standing next to my bed! Instead of vegetables being yucky, we could teach kids to have fun with them. Have them make Eggplant Monsters or Zucchini Dinosaurs. Tell stories about comic book heroes named Incredible Carrot Man or Super Bok Choy Boy. The possibilities are endless.

While we’re talking young people, let’s not leave the incredible power wielded by teenagers out of the equation. What if we engaged pop stars to help make healthy eating cool? Imagine if Beyonce, instead of telling fans she wanted to get chocolate wasted after losing the baby weight, had instead proclaimed her desire to get broccoli busted? If Kanye hip-hopped about Kauliflower instead of Kim? Or Ludacris rapped on Asparagus? And if parents brought out the big gun, otherwise known as reverse psychology, forbidding their adolescent offspring from listening to Sugar-Free Rock, who knows how many high schoolers would sneak out at midnight to attend underground veggie orgies? Before you know it, the appropriately named Apple would get on it and develop an app for that.

Here’s another thought: let’s use the power of government to address the scourge of food deserts in low income, urban neighborhoods. These are places without access to supermarkets, where the only food options are corner convenience stores and fast food joints, where fresh produce is hard to come by and cheap, high fat/high sodium ramen noodles and boxed macaroni and cheese abound. Since we can’t seem to abolish the practice of pork-barrel spending by our elected officials, let’s at least encourage them to do something healthy with it. Perhaps grants to subsidize urban grocery stores or tax credits to supermarket chains willing to locate in the inner city. And while we’re on a roll, could we change farm subsidy policies to cover food for people (like green beans) instead of food for cows and cars (like corn)?

Hey, I know, let’s create a new reality television show about healthy living! But instead of a program like The Biggest Loser, where fat folks get tortured and abused – um, I mean coached – by celebrity trainers, this show would feature makeovers of food manufacturers.  A Health Hit Squad would invade randomly chosen food production facilities and whip them into shape, nipping the excess salt here, tucking the added sugar there, to create a final product that people could actually eat without risking an instant heart attack. We’d have to give it a catchy name, maybe Food Fear Factor or Pimp My Candy Bar. It would be the ultimate in Must Eat TV!

I know, I know. This is all nothing but a crazy dream. But then, a girl can dream, can’t she?