Empowering Healthy Kids Blog

I came across a couple of Yorkshire’s Post’s Letters to the Editor, questioning obesity “experts”and the role of government in providing solutions to community problems:

From: Richard Bedford, Ellis Court, Scalby Road, Scarborough.

I AM writing to say that I am fed up to the back teeth with reading dubious reports about obesity, particularly where children are concerned (Yorkshire Post, November 17).

I encounter many children in the course of my work and very few could be described as overweight. Indeed, I tend to see more who appear thin and under-nourished.

Instead of accepting at face value the “figures” put out by the Government, I would like to know precisely how their information was gathered, by whom it was collated and exactly how many children were involved.

The same applies to the “predictions” by “experts” regarding adult obesity. Names of “experts”, please, qualifications, salaries and details of whom these faceless ones are working for. Incidentally, as I understand it, maths is an exact science – you can’t have “about 1 in 5.” It either is 1 in 5 or it’s something else.

We seem to be sleepwalking into a control-freak led society, blithely absorbing the twaddle pushed at us by teams of manipulative number crunchers with hidden agendas. It should never be forgotten that we do not elect governments to regulate every aspect of our lives.

I believe that this problem facing us has arisen because so many people perceive that our present party political governmental system is now outdated, inadequate and pointless. The obsession with surveys, percentages and predictions therefore has a deeply sinister side. Government is desperate to divert attention from all its many failings and control means survival.

We must know far more about the countless unelected “policy institutes” which seek to shape life in this country. Baroness Sayeeda Warsi enticed one representative out of the woodwork (Yorkshire Post, November 17), but this can only be the tip of the iceberg.

We all should continually question things far more deeply and demand proper answers.

Accept nothing less and, above all, remember the ultimate irony – they who occupy the seat of power, who were elected to serve their country, most emphatically have no intention of ever doing so.

Relying on experts and policy institutes can bring on a false sense that since “something” is done, then it is OK. My view is that it is up to us to empower kids to make positive decisions on their health. We should be working and supporting parents to create a healthy environment if they choose to do so. It is and always will be about choice. Children and parents will need to make the choice themselves. No amount of government regulation and rules will substitute for that.

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