[–] Mechanicalmechanic 0 points 3 points 3 points (+3|-0) ago
Although sickening I still see it as a sign of a bigger problem, greed. Someone once said that "The money is in the treatment, not the cure."
So follow this. People had fairly decent nutrition and meals until WW2 when processed food became a thing. Sugary drinks became a thing. Fast service food became a thing. By the 70s and 80s eating unhealthy once a day became a regular thing, chronic illnesses rose, cost of health care rose. The 90s had an explosion of added sugar and frozen dinners. People got fatter and sicker, health care costs rose, sugar industry was making huge profits, schools no longer prepare food from scratch but heat up processed garbage. Nutritional education was minimal while the fitness industry grew.
So you have the food companies making huge profits selling us cheap, shitty, food like products. The health care industry is making huge profits due to chronic illnesses. Big pharma is making huge money by developong drugs to manage chronic illnesses which enables the behavior in the first place. Fitness companies make money because "Its because you're lazy not because you eat poorly".
Food corps make money. Big pharma makes money. Fitness corps make money. US government makes money due to all of the money spent on these things plus the kickbacks and donations.
Where is the incentive to teach nutrition and keep people healthy? The US doesn't have an agency that promotes the health and well being of Americans. That won't exist until it hurts the government to have Americans sick. If it was monetary then taxes would be raised. If fatties were taxed more for being fat, fatties wouldn't care and the government makes money. If fatties paid less taxes the government would raise skinny taxes.
[–] Unsung_Heroes_again [S] 0 points 2 points 2 points (+2|-0) ago
I like where this is going. I totally agree it is all about the almighty dollar. However, we also live in an age where it is easy to gain access to information, to research whatever we want at home, on the go, in a car. Ignorance is a piss poor excuse in this day and age. It isn't like Ronald McDonald went to an eatbeasts house and said "eat my quarter pounder or I am going to clown rape you".
It isn't about societal incentive, though paying less for food, being on that physically healthy, even low beauty standard of being a healthy BMI should be plenty of incentive.
It is about personal incentive. People should want to do better because they can be better. They do not have to give themselves the beetus, or make excuses as to why they had a massive coronary at the age of 20. People make themselves a slave to these corporations, to the idiot box in the living room, to almighty Nestle and the rest. They are content to live their days out as they are, because it is the easiest thing to do.
My issue isn't with the greed, that is part of the game. Hell do you like doing HVAC, going through old crawl spaces? Abestos filled attics (yes I have been there), willing to bet it is not your primary joy in life, but more money means more relative comforts or a higher social standing. Sorry, I jumped around a little there, I live fairly poorly, all my posessions can be thrown in a back of a car and I can disappear, But few people chose not to play the capitalist materialism game (not that socialism is any better...).
My beef is with personal responsibility, it is just too easy to open your internet app, and have access to gods know how many documents, research papers, and a long line of written human history.
[–] Mechanicalmechanic 0 points 3 points 3 points (+3|-0) ago
With the internet of information also brings the Internet of distraction. People have to WANT to do these things like you said. People crave that instant satisfaction that is granted when using social media and fast food. Education is "hard" for some people because it seems that not too many people want to learn. They will educate themselves for a profession but that is about it.
Even in a mechanical trade like ours there are quite a few lazy fatties who will install and service heating/cooling equipment but couldn't be bothered to change the oil in their own car let alone any other mechanical maintenance. The point is time spent in a profession is rewarded with payment vs time spent on personal development has such a long term rate of return most people discount it's importance. It isn't until a person is 60 with heart problems, diabetes, and high blood pressure that they say "Damn maybe I should have eaten better and exercised when I was younger"
The old saying "A penny saved is a penny earned" is lost now a days. If I save $30 on an oil change (I run mobil 1 synthetic, Mercedes) that means I now have an additional $30 to then invest/save/spend. The "modern" way of financial thinking is tuned more to make as much as you can professionally so that you can afford to have everything else done for you. Their thought would be "I have a Mercedes so clearly I can afford to pay someone to change my oil."
In my previous analogy where "clearly I can afford" the very definition of "afford" has different meaning. The "old way" was to pay for things if you had money and try to stretch your money as far as possible. The "new way" is to make payments. If you can make the payments you can "afford" something. The banks satisfy the need for many people to get that instant satisfaction which is another behavior that undermines the value of hard work.
I feel a need to justify myself after stating my position. My Mercedes is a 2003 E500 that I bought a year ago. It has 110K miles on it and I paid 7500 for it. I had a car budget of 8k. I looked at a lot of vehicles but high mileage luxury vehicles are often in much better condition and end up being a better value due to people trading them in for low values because "I can afford the payments on that new shiny thing". The car has a few minor issues that I have been addressing as time and money permits, I am a mechanic after all. We are a one car, one income, 2 kid family. I have a company service vehicle for my work transportation. Every time I save money by doing the work myself it's money that gets added to savings for our house. We are nutrition conscious, vegan and runners. My wife does all the cooking since she is stay at home. We eat out rarely and prepare a majority of our food at home, purchasing minimal ready to eat foods from the store except veggies.