Can we educate people to live a better life, or are humans simply incapable?

[Woodznutz]

Exactly. Everyone has their own vision of the good life.

And good health is generally necessary to fulfill it.

 

[dblack]

And good health is generally necessary to fulfill it.

Not necessarily. Different people have different values.

 

[Blues Man]

Not necessarily. Different people have different values.

Show me one person who has ever been happy to have a heart attack or Type 2 diabetes or cancer.

 

[initforme]

People are capable but sugar in particular is an addictive killer.as are refined carbs which precede it. Then there is Fast Food, pop (soda) etc. Really, is anything worse for us than soda on a.reguoar basis? It should be age restrictive it is so destructive to the body over time. How many parents pick up a 24 of soda? It isn't even necessarily eating the best foods, but avoiding the worst.

Very well said. Excellent. Shut down all fast food places and things improve. Thats extreme I know just pointing out fast food is everywhere and Americans are not in good shape overall. If parents would simply step up and eliminate fast food and lower sugar intake for their kids things might very well take a step forward.

 

[SweetSue92]

'You look in supermarket trollies - no wonder they’re overweight’, Tory MP urges kids to eat more vegetables

Conservative MP Sir Roger Goodwill said more needs to be done to educate people on healthy food choices.

uk.yahoo.com

"'You look in supermarket trollies - no wonder they’re overweight’, Tory MP urges kids to eat more vegetables"

"More should be done to educate people on healthy food choices in order to battle the "ticking time bomb" that is the obesity crisis, a Conservative MP has said.

Sir Robert Goodwill, who chairs the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee, made the comments as the committee published a report suggesting that food insecurity will result in 40 million people being obese by 2035."

I read this article and wondered whether it's even worth it. You could "educate" people till the cows come home, but the reality is most people will ignore whatever education they get and turn to a default program setting inside.

There is nothing more personal than people's bodies and what they put in their mouths. Therefore, if nations want to "fix" this, they need to look at demographics. WHO is overweight, and WHY, and have targeted solutions for targeted groups.

I walk nearly daily when I can, and when I'm teaching, I walk multiple times a week (plus I'm on my feet all day). I've made it a lifestyle and now I'm addicted.

But here:

--I have a safe, walkable neighborhood
--I had the health to sustain this from the beginning
--I can afford good walking shoes
--If I like, I can walk alone or with several friends who also walk

What are the factors that keep XYZ demographic from eating heathier and exercising? It would need to start with them, I would think. Are they happy with their health, do they have health conditions? Do they have access to good health care? Have their health care providers explained their conditions and how to treat them? What prevents them from taking steps to improve their health--ie, good nutrition and exercise?

Of course, some people wouldn't care, but I think some would want to improve their health if they could. But again a top-down approach imo does not work.

 

[Devils_Advocate]

I did talk about "the topic". You don't get to decide what is "best" for people. You seem to think that eating "healthy food choices" is best. For some people, maximizing their calories for the limited money they have is "best". For others, buying the food they prefer is "best". For others, eating what is fastest and easiest to prepare is "best".

What is best may not be the healthiest way of living and results in medical conditions that later on society has to pay for through Medicare and Medicaid programs.

Because you believe your right to be fat, out of shape, and diabetic is your personal choice does not mean it is the correct choice and the amount of money spent to keep you alive could be saved if you would just exercise a little and stop eating all that junk food.

Now before you jump on me my eating habits have been awful and I know it but I also accept the fact my eating habits are the reason why I have such poor health conditions in life, so maybe society should learn a better eating habit than what we have now.

As the OP can see from the responses you can not teach a species like Humanity to eat properly and better because their definition of eating properly will vary from culture to culture and no one will agree.

 

[Unkotare]

'You look in supermarket trollies - no wonder they’re overweight’, Tory MP urges kids to eat more vegetables

Conservative MP Sir Roger Goodwill said more needs to be done to educate people on healthy food choices.

uk.yahoo.com

"'You look in supermarket trollies - no wonder they’re overweight’, Tory MP urges kids to eat more vegetables"

"More should be done to educate people on healthy food choices in order to battle the "ticking time bomb" that is the obesity crisis, a Conservative MP has said.

Sir Robert Goodwill, who chairs the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee, made the comments as the committee published a report suggesting that food insecurity will result in 40 million people being obese by 2035."

I read this article and wondered whether it's even worth it. You could "educate" people till the cows come home, but the reality is most people will ignore whatever education they get and turn to a default program setting inside.

Decade after decade of undermining the family and look what you get.

 

[The Duke]

My mom had a more simple plan. Every day is Summer Vacation, she told my sister's and I ...

"Go out and play ... and don't come home until the street lines come on"

It was like that for most everybody when I was a kid.

One epic day. I had a friend, a good friend, and his dad's friend or something gifted us a waterbed mattress and,

well, somehow it got filled up with air, and prior to everyone having a trampoline, it was quite an effective..

child launcher? I mean, if my fat friend jumps on the other end for maximum effect, you can get 6-7 feet in the air.

We/he knows how to control it by where he jumps, so that was everybody's favorite thing until the lights came on.

Until it popped after ..several days.

It was cool AF IMO, the dudes down the street had a lil young brother so he didn't get the full effect like I did, that'd

be dangerous.. Nothing was approved by OSHA.

Oh but my "Big Boy" friend knew how to dial back the launchage so the little one would not get hurt and still have fun.

We had some good times.

Many! All of us, oh we did some stuff. Saw how some kids didn't have it so good and tried to help them too.

Nothing major, just normal doings. We weren't big enough to kick this one kid's older brother's ass that stole

his Pop Tart while we were right there gettin' him to go do something, but we could give him a hot dog shortly after that.

Some humans are going to be dickheads and some aren't. Fact of life.

 

[Dekster]

What is best may not be the healthiest way of living and results in medical conditions that later on society has to pay for through Medicare and Medicaid programs.

Because you believe your right to be fat, out of shape, and diabetic is your personal choice does not mean it is the correct choice and the amount of money spent to keep you alive could be saved if you would just exercise a little and stop eating all that junk food.

Now before you jump on me my eating habits have been awful and I know it but I also accept the fact my eating habits are the reason why I have such poor health conditions in life, so maybe society should learn a better eating habit than what we have now.

As the OP can see from the responses you can not teach a species like Humanity to eat properly and better because their definition of eating properly will vary from culture to culture and no one will agree.

Medicare pays for deaths. The rest are details.