Actually in the next decade the system is set to be under massive strain because of the increasing costs of treating people with lifestyle-related diseases. You have the option to be fat and unhealthy... only because there's enough people who haven't chosen that option, yet.
If I were American, I don't know that I'd want to pay taxes to bail out all the fatties. The US population's size and health is an unrecoverable train-wreck at this point.
This will be somewhat offset by the constantly decreasing incidence of tobacco consumption, main effect being that we'll see lung cancer slide lower down on the list of most likely causes of death.
Tobacco deaths though are at least subsidized by the massive amount of tax applied to tobacco. That massive tax (which is increased at the federal level and provincial level almost every year) is also a big driver behind the decrease of smoking rates. The main issue behind obesity is that people lack education, and they're unaware that being obese is just as unhealthy as smoking a pack a day. This information is obviously out there, but it's not as 'in-your'face' as the health warnings on tobacco products. Figuring out what and how much you should really be eating in order to be healthy actually requires effort, discipline and sacrifice, so there's the other problem.
Third issue is that fast food and candy are actually cheaper than good food. There's constantly a deal on chocolate bars, chips and pop every time I walk into a grocery store, and you can get a full meal at McDonalds for literally $5. Thinking about tobacco again and how that legislation had helped curb smoking rates, here's probably what should happen to all forms of junk food, fast food and pop:
- No more promotional pricing. no 2 for 1 deals, no Toonie Tuesday's, nothing. You are not allowed to stimulate demand by giving deals.
- Create a tax that reflects poor dietary options: is your food super high in sugar and lacks fiber (e.g. pop)? Taxed. Is your food high in both carbs and fats? Taxed. Trans fats? Taxed.
- Mandatory messaging on products that meet the above guidelines. How many people are actually aware that basically the worst thing you could eat is a meal that simultaneously high in carbs and fat (this covers almost all fastfood)? How many people know that drinking juice isn't nearly as beneficial as actually eating fruit? How many people know that carbs aren't just carbs, e.g. there's a massive difference between white bread and steelcut oats? etc. In other words, use the bad foods people are eating to create messages about the foods they should be eating.
