An issue that is affecting today’s society is obesity. Unhealthy eating can cause many problems towards a person’s health and the way a person lives their life. There are many people that suffer with this disease mainly because it is easily accessible to purchase junk food. This can be found in every convenient store and in vending machines that are located in public congested areas. In order to stop the urge to consume this type of foods, I believe we must increase the tax of purchasing junk food, inform people about the amount of calories that are in junk food, and what are the common problems that occur to a person’s body.
We must make a pro active approach at making it known that unhealthy choices are bad to children. I believe that one of the main reasons so many kids consume these foods is because they are one of the most inexpensive foods on the market. We have market that is full of healthy choices like bananas, apples, pineapples and vegetables but those are way more expensive than a Kit Kat bar. Go to any supermarket and grap yourself a pineapple and a chocolate bar. The pineapple will run around $4 while the bar is around 3 for a $1. If I was a teenager on a limited budget of change found in the back of the couch, I would clearly choose the chocolate. A whopping 450 calories in one bar. Give them three to eat, and they will, and they are on their way to being obese.
It only takes 3500 extra calories to gain one pound. A number that seems like a lot but in the world of junk food it is a number that can be taken out in one lunch. Besides gaining weight, these children get into serious health problems. In our area we have a severe problem with diabetes. It's a problem that can be prevented. Being that the Hispanic population is more likely to get diabetes, we have to even try harder to teach our children that making the right food choices is better for them. I say use scare tactics. Every kid can be scared into stopping a behavior you don't want them to do. When I was a kid when I would not want to go to sleep my parents would come into the room and say that the monster in the closet would come out at 11 o'clock if I would not fall asleep. You know what happened, I never stayed up long enough to see if there was a monster. Same thing with the kids. We need to show them what happens if they eat the wrong foods. The food is so highly taxed that they will not be able to buy games, toys, clothes, shoes. We got to tell them if they eat trash they will wear trash. If they are going to eat a doughnut they will die!
I know it might sound a bit extreme but death by diabetic coma is an extreme death. We do not want our children to have a poor quality of life. We want them to be picked first on the baseball team, to be able to run and play with all the other healthy kids. We don't want them to live a sad live because we did not teach them right when we had the chance. At age 20 the gain 40 lbs because of the pizza. At age 30 they gain another 30 because of the beer. At age 40 they get a heart attack. THE END! Our kids should not be brought up that way.
So how much should we raise the tax on the poison that we call junk food? Cigarettes right now are taxed so high that people are finally realizing that paying $6 for a pack of HEB brand cigs is outlandish. That's the same effect we want on food. A $4 tax on junk food. If they want a Kit Kat instead of 33 cents it would be $4.33. Now the chocolate is more expensive than the pineapple.
Not only with the children know that it is unhealthy to eat junk, they will also know that they will shorten their lives. Plus to top it all off, the food will be so expensive that it would not even tempt them to even buy it. Problem solved. By doing this and following it to a “T”, we can single handedly fix all our kids present and future problems. The tax money could be used to give all kid free admission to gyms. Give them a pro-active life instead of a life that will be unpleasant and exhausting.
JUST KIDDING. This is what my sister turned into class and I thought it was funny.
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