What to Do About Americans’ Weight Gain?

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/04/opinion/americans-weight-gain.html

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To the Editor:

Re “Americans Still Packing On the Pounds” (news article, March 26):

We don’t need more data; we need a government that values the health of its constituency. It doesn’t take data to see the effects on American bodies of 50 years of hormones, pesticides, fungicides and genetically modified crops.

Humans evolved along with the foods we consume; when we ingest altered substances, our biology cannot recognize the nutrients. We grow fat and sick. More data is an excuse to do nothing but keep feeding us corporately sponsored disease.

RACHEL HOFFMAN, PORTLAND, ORE.

To the Editor:

What stops Americans from eating a healthier diet? Certainly not ignorance. Americans are bombarded with information about nutrition. But research shows that the more we sell the benefits of healthy eating, the more people prefer to eat unhealthy food. Why?

Talking about food in terms of vitamins, minerals, fiber, antioxidants and the like — “medicalizing” the meal — strips food of its enjoyment. It’s time to start selling healthy food as tasty, so that the healthy choice becomes the pleasurable choice. Our national obsession with nutrition is getting in the way. The French would agree.

DINA ROSE, WHITEFISH, MONT.

The writer, a sociologist, is the author of “It’s Not About the Broccoli: Three Habits to Teach Your Kids for a Lifetime of Healthy Eating.”