In the national
debate over health care, we didn't hear much about food. We heard
about prescription drugs, co-pays, pre-existing conditions, doctor networks,
diagnostic tests and so on, but no one talked about food.
Which is really
an amazing thing, considering the indisputable fact that food is the most
important factor in determining your overall health. Your body makes everything
- your muscles, your bones, your hair, your skin - everything, out of the raw
materials you put in.
Quite literally,
you are what you had for dinner last night and what you had for breakfast this
morning.
Now I know food
is a very personal issue, and people tend to get really upset if you tell them
what they should and should not eat, but honestly, folks, we're at the tipping
point here.
Somebody has to
teach the obese teenager making his way up to the fast food counter to order
another double cheeseburger with fries and a giant soft drink that his choices
are going to spell a lifetime of trouble for him.
Sure, there may
be some nutrients in the pickle or the potato. There might be some
protein in the meat. But look at the rest of the meal:
the
incredible amounts of sugar and fat
the
GMO ingredients in the soda, the cheese, ketchup, the bread
the
antibiotics in the meat
the
pesticides in the lettuce
How do those
things help a growing body? What happens after years of eating that kind of
food? Who is going to say something? And when?
One of our
doctor friends says that taking your child to a fast food restaurant on a
regular basis should be considered child abuse. I agree.
Kids whose parents
let them eat junk food deserve a better future - one without physical pain,
doctors, waiting rooms, diagnostics, medications, co-pays, pre-existing
conditions.
We should teach
our kids how to eat. It may not be politically correct, and it may not be
popular, but it's the right thing to do.
