this post was submitted on 12 Jul 2024
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Imagine if people gave a shit about what they consumed
People in despair don't care about much at all. Nevermind this shit is addictive, psychologically manipulative, it also acts as a little dopamine hit in an otherwise miserable life. Obesity deaths are deaths of despair.
Imagine if people wanted to live.
Then make the decision to live. Let people choose. You want to exercise? Do it. You don't? Then don't. You want to eat shit? Then eat shit. You don't? Then eat better. Oh no I don't have the willpower to stop eating shit but now I can't afford to continue so it doesn't matter? This isn't improvement
People don't just randomly make the decision to live, they need to have things for which to live.
You're right, taxing sugar isn't an answer. Banning it is better, somewhat, but it's still not the best solution.
The best solution is to make people want to stop eating like shit and stop killing themselves. I called obesity deaths "deaths of despair" because it's really not much different from any other unhealthy/dangerous behavior be that drug abuse, self harm, etc. Screaming "make the decision to live" at people is kinda fucking stupid lol
Do you know what portion of overweight people are depressed compared to healthy population?
As we see here, obesity and very low body weight are both associated with worse mental health outcomes. Merely being overweight, interestingly, seems to be associated with better mental health outcomes. This tracts, being overweight isn't necessarily associated with the kinds of unhealthy or dangerous behavior that obesity is - that's just a problem of quantity rather than quality.
IANAD but I think obesity is the real killer.
Is this tax not hurting the most vulnerable group the most?
That's why I favor outright banning added sugars, or even better, improve their lives so much that they don't want to fill the void with sugar.
Banning added sugar? From what?
Well to start, everything that's included in this sugar tax. Does anyone really need this garbage?
But really, it's more important to give people lives that are good so they don't get sucked in to unhealthy behaviors.
Give people something to live for any they won't kill themselves.
How is banning sweet food in its entirety supposed to help give people something to live for? It only makes life shitter
Not what I said.
I said I prefer a ban instead of a tax. A tax just bans sugar for the poor. A ban effects everyone, so it's fair and more effective.
But also, the optimum solution instead of a tax or a ban would be to make people's lives better so they don't kill themselves.
I wonder how much diabetic deaths would increase with no easy access to sugar
To clarify, I didn't say to ban the ingredient itself, just foods with added sugars i.e. sugar-sweetened beverages, sugary snacks and junk food, sugary breakfast cereals, etc. We're talking about this in context of the tax, which doesn't ban raw bags of sugar.
If someone wants a teaspoon of sugar in their coffee at home then whatever, that's not the source of the public health crisis. The problem is from convenience and processed foods. We could solve the problem. We won't.
Imagine if people weren't constantly bombarded with expertly tailored marketing campaigns designed to psychologically manipulate them into consuming things that are unhealthy.