Gary Taubes Mind/Body Health: Obesity

Author, Gary Taubes states in an interview for Fed Up that, “This whole generation of kids, they’re doing their best, they’re torturing themselves to do the cure that we tell them and it is the wrong cure and we’re blaming the willpower, the immortal fortitude of these kids, and it’s a crime.” (Fed Up) Obese patients are doing the “cure”, as Taubes describes it, that society is telling them will work but it is not doing anything for them and instead of questioning the “cure” society blames obese patients. This causes these patients to doubt themselves and can lead to depression and an increase in weight. This topic of discussion from the documentary if supported by the paper, Mind/body health: Obesity published by the American Psychological

Care2 presents one such law in its article, Big Food Wants Final Say Over Health Reports, that explains what the law was and why the food industry wanted to control it. The article states that, in January 1977, fearing the fast approaching obesity problem, government proposed the first dietary guidelines in the form of The McGovern Report. This document expressed that the American diet had “...become increasingly rich--rich in meat and other sources of saturated fat and cholesterol and sugar.” and suggested to reduce the intake of such harmful products. (Greger) After hearing these statements the food industry fought back. The Egg, Sugar, Dairy, and Beef Association's banned together to protect their products. They rejected the McGovern Report and demanded it be changed. Due to this strong opposition the document was rewritten and the words “reduce intake” were removed from the report. Instead, the new version encouraged consumers to buy food that was leaner and less in fat. (Fed Up) Thus a new line of food was born and more money was put into the food industries

During an interview in Fed Up Marion Nestle, Professor of Nutrition at New York University, comments that, “ Food companies are interested in selling more food. That’s their job as a corporation, and one way to do that is to co-opt potential critics.” (Fed Up) An example of this is Former First Lady Michelle Obama's “Let’s Move” campaign. Launched on February 9, 2010 “Let’s Move” opened people's eyes to how food industries market harmful products to kids. An article from ThinkProgress explains how big food corporations swayed the focus of Michelle Obama's “Let’s Move” campaign away from the food industry. The article shows that at the beginning of her campaign in 2010, Mrs. Obama gave a speech at a Grocery Manufacturers Association's conference, stressing that personal habits would not change if big food companies continued to target children with ads for sugary and fatty foods. She urged these companies by saying“... we need you not just to tweak around the edges, but to entirely rethink the product that you’re offering...and how you market those products to our children.” (Shen) This scared the food industries so they agreed to help her. “Let’s Move” partnered with companies including Coca-cola, Hershey’s, Kraft and many more. After their partnership the meaning of the