Wednesday, Sep. 12, 2007

There’s plenty government can, should do to help battle the bulge

NOBODY — not the government, not the boss, not a spouse or even your momma — can make anyone lose weight who doesn’t want to. At least not legally.

But others can help people want to lose weight, remove the obstacles they have placed in the way, provide some basic tools and reward good effort. Smart businesses know it’s in their interest to do these things; governments have not only a financial interest but a moral obligation to do so.

It may turn out that government will need to do more, through restrictions and mandates, but there’s plenty to do short of that. With a new report showing South Carolina has the fifth-highest adult obesity rate in an obese nation and the seventh-highest portion of overweight kids at a time when childhood obesity has become our nation’s new epidemic, it’s past time to get started.

• Promote desire. The schools offer our first and best opportunity to help people want to reach or maintain a healthy weight.

Lecturing won’t work, at least not alone; studies indicate that kids can recite all the stuff they’re taught about healthy food, but they keep eating too much junk. Thus 15 percent of kids nationwide, and 19 percent in South Carolina, are already overweight.

It’ll be interesting to watch Lexington High School. Teachers looking for a book to engage kids for a schoolwide summer reading assignment chose Chew On This, the sequel to the controversial Fast Food Nation. Early reports are that the provocative expose of food marketing practices changed the way a lot of kids thought about food and health.

Physical activity offers an even tougher challenge, not because kids are naturally averse to burning calories but because the physical education establishment has worked so hard for decades to suck all the joy out of it, regimenting it into team sports that most kids are lousy at, to running around a track under threat of detention, to those hideous school-issue gym clothes and the slimy showers .... Sorry — flashback to eighth-grade P.E. That must change, and we’re fortunate to have a leader, Russ Pate over at USC, in the nascent push to make P.E. something to look forward to.

• Do no harm. I’ve long praised the efforts to get the junk food out of schools. Schools can’t control what kids eat at home or what they bring to school, but they can refuse to be pushers. Government also should refuse to facilitate unhealthy eating anywhere: Those same restrictions our Legislature placed on school vending machines and requirements it put on school cafeterias should apply to vending machines and canteens in all government buildings.

If someone wants to bring a case of Coke to work every day to guzzle at her desk, that’s her choice; she can pour an extra cup of sugar into each can if she wants to. But the government shouldn’t help her — and it certainly shouldn’t throw up barriers to people who really want to lose weight. Put enough stress on a person, and that Snickers bar in the vending machine down the hall is to a dieter what a case of beer in the refrigerator is to an insomniac alcoholic trying to dry out.

Here’s an out-there idea: Maybe all those cities and even community groups that sponsor festivals should sell less unhealthy food and beverages (notice I didn’t even say healthy).

Food prohibitions can be a tricky thing. Whole wheat bread is a perfectly reasonable part of a low-fat diet but the kiss of death to someone on Atkins; the reverse is true for bacon and cheese. And all three foods are fine for someone who’s counting calories, if the serving sizes are small enough.

But there are some universal dieting don’ts, staring with corn syrup-sweetened soft drinks, candy bars, fried chips — empty calories, as nutritionists call them.

• Provide tools. In addition to education, a lot of people need easier access to healthy foods; maybe we should give incentives for grocery stores to locate in poor neighborhoods, as we give to big boxes to locate on the interstate. People also need a way to exercise, be it sidewalks, bike trails and parks or safer communities where they don’t feel like they have to stay locked inside in front of the TV.

• Reward good behavior. An obvious starting place is the farm bill in Congress, which finally seems likely to share a sliver of the obscene federal subsidies with green vegetable growers. And let’s not forget food stamps: How hard could it be to have a credit added to the debit cards when people buy healthy food, allowing them to buy even more healthy food?

At the state level, why not tweak our agricultural property tax law (which already needs tweaking for other reasons) so you get the biggest tax break for growing salad vegetables, green beans, fruits, soybeans, chickens? And maybe we should consider whether it really made sense to remove the state grocery sales tax from all foods. Should we still be taxing the universal baddies (sweet sodas, candy bars, chips)?

Local governments could use building and zoning laws to encourage or reward “stair-friendly” building designs and more live-work communities that encourage people to walk or bike between home, office and shopping.

There are more recommendations in the Trust for America’s Health’s “F as in Fat” report, at healthyamericans.org. It’s good reading whether you’re among the 28 percent of South Carolinians who are obese or the 36 who are merely overweight or even the 36 percent whose weight is just fine. No matter which group you’re in, you’ll end up paying for the obesity epidemic, through a shortened, unhealthy life or higher insurance and, yes, taxes to provide the expensive medical care those extra pounds demand.

Ms. Scoppe can be reached at cscoppe@thestate.com or at (803) 771-8571.

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