Last night an interesting documentary caught my eye. Half Ton Son, from Britain’s Channel 4, told the story of Billy, a 19 year old boy who was restricted to his bedroom due to his chronic obesity.
His mother helped greatly to fuel his illness (perhaps initally at a sub conscious level) in order to keep her son close and dependent. Through her own lack of education about nutrition, she fed her son on elaborate helpings of burgers, fries and basically anything dead, deep fried and drowned in high fructose corn syrup-laden ketchup.
The doco followed Billy as he was admitted to hospital to undergo surgery to remove some of his fat stores, encouraged to exercise and adopt a healthier way of eating (see preview video below).
After leaving hospital at half his original weight, the first meal Billy’s mum served him up as a reward for his hard work was a hot dog. There’s certainly a lot wrong with this picture, no doubt. But who’s fault is it? Billy for eating in excess? His mother for feeding him toxic food? The education system? Or perhaps the big companies who market their deadly wares without concern for the consumer?
It made me think a lot about what we’re teaching (or not teaching) our kids in school. For years, the food pyramid that was taught to most of us was sponsored by the meat and dairy industries. Of course their products will come highly recommended as healthy and must-additions to the every day diet. But why did our governments allow such outright lies to be printed and promoted? Self-interests perhaps. The millions of dollars involved, quite possibly.
As we enter a new era, I really believe it’s time companies that choose to market unhealthy, potentially life-threatening products be scrutinised, before being allowed to distribute and advertise their wares to the community at large. It’s time for some accountability.
That’s exactly why I believe it’s so important to be your own prime minister or president, your own BS detector. Believing every food and beverage on the supermarket shelves has been monitored for safety is a thing of the past.
For a more up-to-date food pyramid, click here.
