ONE NATION UNDER GOD...SUPERSIZED.

Fear junk food, not the government
By Kelvin Wade
April 14, 2011

Radio talk shows and the blogosphere erupted early this week when it was reported that Little Village Academy, a public school in Chicago, banned students from bringing their lunch and required them to buy a healthy lunch from the school at $2.25 a pop.

The chattering class said this was more nanny government run amok. Conservative blogs and hosts railed about 'Michelle Obama's America' and her 'war on dessert.' One commentator mentioned 'jackboots' as if trying to get children to eat healthy meals is tantamount to Nazism and fascism.

I agree that banning sack lunches is a matter of good intentions going too far. It seems like an idea cooked up by a food contractor. (In fact, a University of Michigan study published in the December 2010 American Heart Journal found that children who ate school lunches were 29 percent more likely to be obese than kids who brought lunch from home.)

But using the school as an example of the 'police state' we're supposedly descending into and using it to bash Michelle Obama's Let's Move campaign is silly.

First, the principal of the school implemented this program six years ago, well before Michelle Obama was first lady. And since the furor and vilification, the principal has abandoned the program.

More importantly, with the focus on bashing the first lady and this irrational fear of government control, the public health issue of childhood obesity gets missed. And this is coming from someone who has struggled with this issue for four decades.

There's a national interest in promoting better health among children. You just can't have a nation of people in my shape. In a speech last fall to Duke University, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said, 'An ever-growing portion of America's 17- to 24-year-olds -- about 75 percent -- is simply ineligible or unavailable to serve for a variety of reasons, above all, health and weight requirements in an age of spiraling childhood obesity.'

Health care reform was also caricatured as nanny government. Fascism. Socialism. A government takeover of health care, the critics howled. But what do people think the problem of obesity, a sedentary lifestyle and poor nutrition is doing to our health care costs? Why isn't that the issue? Why doesn't that pack town halls?

There's no question healthy eating begins in the home with the parents. And it is a matter of personal responsibility. And yes, we have the freedom to super size it.

But we don't have to fear the government when it comes to nutrition. If there's a sinister, fascist government plot to force us to eat healthier and exercise, look around. It's not working very well.

Schools do have a role in promoting a healthy lifestyle. The Fairfield-Suisun School District has a policy that promotes good nutrition and restricts what it calls 'foods of minimal nutritional value, cupcakes, donuts, cookies or any other items not considered healthy' in classrooms. That's a far cry from years ago when fast food restaurants sometimes catered lunches at local schools.

No, prohibiting kids from brown bagging it isn't the answer. But neither is demagoging the issue and glossing over the big, fat truth. What are we doing about the problem? Peace.
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ADDITIONAL NOTES: I just about choked on the irony of me having to remind people of the serious problem underlying all of that fear-of the government running our lives thing when it comes to childhood obesity. But no addict wants their kids to become addicts. Look, this is America, where we're free to take our children to fast food joints and stuff as many tacos, burgers, and McNuggets down their gullets as our wallets will allow. No one's stopping you. But what I'm saying is that even a Potamus like myself knows that we can't have a nation of hippos. It is and will affect the country in so many different ways. The column illustrates two very big problems: defense and health care.

I can understand the desire from those who oppose the current administration to want to fit everything into this Big Government is Taking Over Our Lives Meme. I get it. And it's big ratings for people. I'm not opposed to anyone earning a living. But there's still an important issue that needs addressing and I'm glad the First Lady is addressing it.

The school in Chicago went about it in the wrong way. It's a dumb idea. It was inevitable that kids would respond to the program the way they did: by not eating and pigging out when they got home or by throwing away their veggies. It'll take a while to turn this situation around. It'll take a series of small steps. Not with heavy handed government dictation but education and encouragement.

Still...one school doing something misguided does not make a totalitarian state.