Fat Tax, The Punishment Of Bad Eating Behavior

There is what has been referred to as "obesity epidemic" in Australia today. This trend affects everyone it the society; whether it be directly or indirectly. One particular concern within the "at risk" segment is children. The young in our society do not have the capacity, either mentally or the physical resources, to make their own informed decisions about their dietary consumption. Children are generally dependent upon their parents or institutions to provide them with the foods that they consume. Therefore, this group above all others deserves some level of protection against a lifestyle that can potentially have negative consequences for their health that can stay with them for a lifetime.

“America’s War on the Overweight” by Kate Dailey and Abby Ellin talks about the issues facing obese and overweight individuals. There have been countless examples of hate towards obese/overweight individuals in America which the article describes in detail. For example, when Regina M. Benjamin was nominated for a MacArthur and got criticism for her weight publicly. Some of the individuals who were criticized are not even overweight, but just normal sized with a bit of belly fat. So why is there animosity towards obese individuals? The article states it is due to self-loathing of a nation which prides itself in Puritanical beliefs. As well as psychological phenomenon known as the fundamental attribution error which makes you underestimate others

Our culture uses health and wellness with food to divide groups as well. Julier ("The Political Economy of Obesity: The Fat Pay All") discusses how obesity vilifies certain groups and how poverty and obesity have a function in society, serving the industry and the economy. Julier says rhar obesity vilifies women, the poor, and people of color, groups of people that are already marginalized, and the stress of life as a marginalized group can lead to a disordered relationship with food. Americans are incredibly intolerant of individuals who have let themselves go, and get even angrier when those individuals don't do anything about it to get to the socially accepted normal: skinny (Mead "Why Do We Overeat?"). Julier ("The Political Economy of Obesity: The Fat Pay All") gives 13 political, economic, and cultural functions of poverty and obesity, one of them being the idea that when fatness is related to irresponsible behavior, those who aren't fat and stick to the socially constructed normal of thin are able to maintain and create public agenda to control and vilify the obese and overweight.

For centuries obesity has been a problem among the people of these earth. During these last few years it has rapidly grown all around the world. Obesity has become a very big problem for all sexes and ages. And it has put The United States has been second in the list of countries of most obese people in the country. Obesity is a disease because it meets all the criteria and steps needed to be a disease. Being an obese person impairs you like any other disease. The United States is the second most obese industrialized country in the world. The first one being mexico but not by much.“It decreases life expectancy and impairs the normal functioning of the body; and it can be caused

They ought to build the measure of protection of grown-ups in the United States since weight is controllable and it's fundamentally their way of life. Before 1994, diabetes in youngsters was for the most part brought on by a hereditary issue just around 5 percent of youth cases were stoutness related, or Type 2, diabetes. Today, as indicated by the National Institutes of Health, Type 2 diabetes represents no less than 30 percent of all new adolescence instances of diabetes in this nation. ( Zinczenko,1) The cash spent to cure diabetes has expanded as often as possible. In the 1990s the sum spent for the treatment of diabetes was around 2.6 billion and number of today is over a 100 billions a year. Individuals who are fat are the ones who are continually eating fast food and not working out. Corpulent grown-ups have no calorie data on fast food items like on basic need things. They don't have notices that have cautioning names like they have on tobacco items. Be that as it may, some fast food places do give the calorie data on the off chance that you request it. Heftiness is one of the main hazard components for coronary illness, diabetes, hypertension, and a few different sicknesses that drive up wellbeing costs. It puts weight on the body that prompts general weakness. What's more, not at all like different issue, it is to a great degree preventable and treatable. In the event that one eats less and accomplishes

In the American culture, obesity is seen as a bodily abnormality and deviance that should be corrected. Obesity has indeed become one of the most stigmatizing bodily characteristics in our culture (Brink, 1994). In the Western culture, thinness does not just mean the size of the

Obesity does not discriminate against social status, sex, or race; it can take a person’s life and turn it upside down in the blink of an eye if they are not careful. Some people think of obesity as a worldwide killer because there is no outrunning it if it overtakes a person’s body. Every 1 in 3 adults are obese right here in America, that should give each and every individual some type of hint that there is a major problem occurring. The obesity epidemic is not something that has just caught the attention of people recently; it has been going on since the 1950’s! This epidemic is a major problem; over 2.8 million people die each year as a result of being obese or extremely overweight and over 40 million children were said to be obese in

The government has to support people because they need get help since they get diseases related to obesity. There is also a problem when traveling. The average American has increased 24 pounds since 1960.And an airplane needs about a gallon of jet fuel to move 100 pounds on a domestic flight.The average gallon cost around $3.05, which cost a lot more for the companies and produces megatons of CO2(Source B). This would also support the satirical political image that obese people are the cause for all of our problems. The image start with an obese person eating cake, which causes a button on his shirt to pop, this ends up in the cut down of a Brazilian rain forest. While very exaggerated, there is some type of truth behind it. We obviously can’t blame everything on obese people but we can conclude that as people grow bigger so do our

Obesity is a very serious subject that a lot of people take lightly, especially us as Americans. America is the most obese country in the world. Statistics show that 300,000 people die a day in the United States of America due to obesity. This clearly shows that we have a serious problem that is massively underestimated. Obesity is also something that countries all across the world suffer from. For example, Australia is also one of the most obese countries in the world, and 50,000 people die a year from obesity in Australia. That’s 140 people who die per day in Australia. To solve the problem of obesity the prices of junk food should be raised and the prices of healthy food should be lowered and more convenient.

“If and when the public chooses to use government power to offset the factors that promote obesity, we can do so. A day may come when we decide to limit advertising of unhealthy food, strengthen lifestyle teaching in schools, and create stronger financial incentives to adhere to lifestyle recommendations. The more eager we the people are to fight the obesogenic environment, the more responsive and effective our governments will become” (Medscape General Medicine, vol. 9, no. 4, 2007).

The United States has even been called an overweight nation. About 20% to 30% of American adults are now considered obese. Even though some Americans are in the healthy category, others enter the underweight, overweight, and even obese categories. Not only is obesity unhealthy, but it is also considered unacceptable. People have been labeled and made fun of their entire lives due to obesity. For some this is an uncontrollable way of life. An example of this are shirts which say "No Fat Chicks", showing that overweight people are unacceptable and undesirable. People are made fun of, often never to regain full acceptance.

Economic costs of obesity are increasing and will continue to do so if nothing is done. Healthy Communities for A Healthy Future state that the estimated annual health care costs related to obesity are 190 billion dollars. This is 21% of total health care costs. This includes direct costs, such as preventive and treatment services, while indirect costs include income lost to days debilitated or future income lost to death. On an individual level, an obese person will cost 42% more in health care than a person of healthy weight. A tax directly related to products known to cause obesity would offset the cost of health care, and hopefully result in less obesity in the Nation.

Obesity has become a serious problem with more than one third of adults being obese in the United States. Obesity is seen as a self-destructive behavior accompanied with smoking and use of other drugs thus, government officials and other business bureaucrats expressed the need to impose higher health insurance premiums on the obese. Obesity is not always due to the personal behavior of people and can be linked with the environment and genetics; I personally feel that obese people should not pay a higher health insurance premium compared to those that aren’t. Government officials and other business bureaucrats

Weight discrimination “generally refers to negative weight-related attitudes toward an overweight or obese individual” (Puhl 1). Obesity numbers started to skyrocket in the 1990s and weight discrimination started to become a problem about five years later. Obese individuals are susceptible to weight discrimination at health care facilities, school, work, and even in personal relationships. Studies have found that the chances of experiencing weight discrimination increase the more an individual weighs. “In our study, 10 percent of overweight women reported weight discrimination, 20 percent of obese women reported weight discrimination and 45 percent of very obese women reported weight discrimination. men were lower, with 3 percent of overweight, 6 percent of obese and 28 percent of very obese men reporting weight discrimination. This finding also tells us that women begin experiencing weight discrimination at lower levels of body weight than men” (Puhl 2). For women weight discrimination is more common than race discrimination.

In fact the Australian Food and Grocery Council (AFGC) are on record as stating that a fat tax would not address our obesity levels at all. However, it is worth noting that the interests of the Australian Food and Grocery Council remain heavily influenced by the success and growth of the Australian Food industry which is made up of many companies whose products will incur the proposed tax. Therefore it is not unreasonable to suggest that the The Australian Food and Grocery Council are not wanting this type of legislation to be introduced for fear of financial loss.