NPR : A State’s Battle Against Obesity:
A State’s Battle Against Obesity
Arkansas Takes a Frank Look at its Weight Problem
Interesting piece on NPR this morning about Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee and his campaign to fight obesity in the deep-fried South.
Interestingly, he’s framing this as an issue of personal choice and responsibility, not as the fault of the evil fast food purveyors: he’s even opposed to forcing restaurants to disclose their nutritional information. While I commend his for taking the high road on this, especially given the unhealthful regional cuisine, I quibble with that: I don’t know that you can ask people to take responsibility for their choices if they don’t have the information they need. But perhaps the food outlets will take the initiative and release this information themselves, to demonstrate that they don’t have to be forced to do the right thing.
I also like the reference to the new physical fitness in a related piece: this is in full swing at my kids’ school and it’s all about individual achievement and personal goals, rather than team sports and competition. They compete against themselves on a variety of skills and activities and no one loses: with young kids, I think it really helps to avoid the issues that physical differences can bring into it. There can be almost a year’s difference in age in the same classroom, and the different sizes and growth rates can distort that even more.