Government May Soon Regulate Portion Sizes

Published on June 2, 2006 By Gideon MacLeish In Current Events

In the latest attempt to create a nanny state, the FDA is looking to enlist restaurant owners in their attempts to reduce portion sizes to combat obesity. Not only does this overlook personal freedom issues, it will effectively do nothing, as all it will do is cause customers to spend mroe to overeat.

I said some time ago that I envision a future where individuals are arrested for public gluttony, and where parents have children removed from their homes because they smoke in the homes. I am beginning to believe this could include the outlawing of "all you can eat" buffets as well. At the time, most people considered my arguments extreme; however, given current trends, it could well happen in the not too distant future. As for kids being removed because they overeat, that's already happening; basically if your child isn't within the 33-66 percent growth curve for their age, you run a very serious risk of having them seized by a nanny state "in the best interests of the child" in some parts of our country.

It is not much of a stretch to see FDA "agents" complaining when their attempts to control our weight are not successful, and demanding enforcement methods to ensure that we control our weight, because the "government knows what is best". In addition to public gluttony laws, this could well include tracking of our purchases and offering "counselling" to families known to purchase inordinate amounts of hohos. The government does not belong in the restaurant business, nor in fact does it belong in my life, making decisions for me that I was meant to make for myself. We should do everything we can to restrict the government from legislating portion sizes.

Comments (Page 1)

Jamie Burnside

on Jun 02, 2006

Are you sure that they're looking to mandate portion sizes, or to just offer recommendations?

It is conceivable that a restaurant that participates in something like this could use "health smart portion sizes" as a marketing angle.

Gideon MacLeish

on Jun 02, 2006

Jamie,

Oh, they're looking to "offer recommendations", in the same way that CPS "offers recommendations" for parenting before it seizes half a million children a year; the same way the various Health departments "offer recommendations" for vaccines before making public school admission contingent on having them.

Everytime the government "offers recommendations", it follows with enforcement for noncompliance. That's why we need to do away with these agencies.

bakerstreet

on Jun 02, 2006

The fact that they are bothering with any of this, on our dime, is a crime. They have no business wasting our money in such a way. I can see it now, a government warning on sneeze guards at the buffet:

"The Surgeon General warns that eating too much can make you a fattass..."

Wow, that will be helpful. I bet it will only cost a billion or so dollars to implement once they have several commissions to study how best to do it, and then commissions to study findings of those commissions. Then they'll have a commission to decide on the font that should be used, and a congressional subcomittee to look into allegations that the first and third commission used part of the money to take their secretaries to the Bahamas for a "meeting".

I want my f***ng money back for all this moronic garbage, and I want the people responsible for it fired. IMHO anyone that wastes a doller studying the effects of cow farts on the environment or whether or not overeating makes you fat should be jailed for malfeasance and forced to work to repay every dime.

Gideon MacLeish

on Jun 02, 2006

I want my f***ng money back for all this moronic garbage, and I want the people responsible for it fired.

BINGO!

ParaTed2k

on Jun 02, 2006

"Educate and Inform" is giving way to "Mandate and Reform".

The difference? Educate that inform assumes and demands the general public be willing to take information and make choices... it also comes with accepting the benefits and consequences of those choices.

Mandate and reform allows the government to accept the consequences for our choices offering the lie that all we are left with are the benefits.

Apparently it is becoming too hard for "We the People" to look to ourselves, we seem to be demanding that Mommy and Daddy Government make everything "all better" for us.

After all, it is more "enlightened" to think that way.... Right?

Great article, Gid!

Dr Guy

on Jun 02, 2006

"Educate and Inform" is giving way to "Mandate and Reform".

I think it has always been that way. Get the foot in the door, and then shove the elephant through.

andrea

on Jun 02, 2006

too freaking funny...really did laugh my ass off reading this.

MasonM

on Jun 02, 2006

It's a good thing. The government knows what they're doing and have our best interests at heart. We should do exactly what they tell us without hesitation or complaint. We'll all be much better off.

cactoblasta

on Jun 02, 2006

Personally I reckon all parents who let their kids get overweight should be rounded up and shot, but I'm not a parent so I have no idea how hard it is to deny a kid fatty and sugary foods. I'd rather it wasn't regulated at all. Those kids will end up paying for their parents' lack of willpower, so really it'll serve them right if they get sent to a terrible nursing home.

That would be justice, and justice without even a hint of government interference.

Gideon MacLeish

on Jun 03, 2006

Personally I reckon all parents who let their kids get overweight should be rounded up and shot,

So, thyroid disorders should be justification for ruling a parent a bad parent?

Now, grant you, I agree that much childhood obesity is the result of parents who are unwilling to say "no!", but not all of it is. You can't make rash assumptions. And it is certainly not the government's place to make that determination.

singrdave

on Jun 03, 2006

Will this affect my Costco membership? (You know, the forty-pound bags of instant potatoes, the giant tubs of margarine, the box of 500 Hot Pockets?)

cactoblasta

on Jun 03, 2006

So, thyroid disorders should be justification for ruling a parent a bad parent?

To be honest I think thyroid disorders are like ADHD - greatly overdiagnosed. Sixty years ago we didn't have anywhere near as many fat people as there are today. Unless thyroid disorders are environment based I don't think we can excuse the current 'epidemic of obesity' on distorted thyroids.

And yes, I often can't help but think that a parent is not doing their job properly if they've got an overweight kid, particularly if they themselves aren't overweight. It may not be fair, but hardly anything is these days and I certainly have no power to force my opinions on others.

Gideon MacLeish

on Jun 04, 2006

While I don't want to see the government regulate even more and more of our private lives, I DO wish restaurants would voluntarily offer sane portions at reasonable prices.

Voluntarily being the key word here, LW. I guarantee if the government does begin mandating portion sizes, customers WON'T see a drop in price at their favorite restaurants.

Gideon MacLeish

on Jun 04, 2006

And yes, I often can't help but think that a parent is not doing their job properly if they've got an overweight kid, particularly if they themselves aren't overweight. It may not be fair, but hardly anything is these days and I certainly have no power to force my opinions on others.

Usually that is true, cacto. But not always. We can't jump to conclusions. And, as LW said, it's not a good reason for the state taking custody of a kid (anymore than they should take custody of a kid because they play too damn many video games).

cactoblasta

on Jun 04, 2006

That might be true, but do you advocate the state stepping in, (other than in extreme cases) and possibly taking custody of the child?

Of course not. I reckon the state should stay well out of most families. Sure they're disfunctional, but every family is. But, like everyone else, I need someone to sneer at, and fat kids with skinny parents work for me.

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