This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jun/26/government-bad-health-policies-drink-water-juice

The article has changed 2 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 0 Version 1
Note to the government: you can't switch off bad health like a tap Note to the government: you can't switch off bad health like a tap
(about 1 hour later)
There is a smart way of dealing with the surge of obesity that is troubling public policymakers so much that they are about to come up with a new blacklist of food that until yesterday we thought was good for us. Here it is, this silver bullet: drink water. There is a smart way of dealing with the surge of obesity that is troubling public policymakers so much that they are coming up with a new blacklist of food that until yesterday we thought was good for us. Here it is, this silver bullet: drink water.
This is as brilliant in its rustic simplicity as Make Love Not War, and will be about as much use. Anyone who has ever been to the US, or even an American-style restaurant, will know this injunction to drink water is futile beyond even the normal limits of futility. Who are the fattest people in the world? Americans. What do you invariably get when you sit down in the humblest American diner? In the land where nothing comes for free? Water.This is as brilliant in its rustic simplicity as Make Love Not War, and will be about as much use. Anyone who has ever been to the US, or even an American-style restaurant, will know this injunction to drink water is futile beyond even the normal limits of futility. Who are the fattest people in the world? Americans. What do you invariably get when you sit down in the humblest American diner? In the land where nothing comes for free? Water.
The guardians of the nation's health have a fine record of coming up with recommendations that are statements of the dazzlingly obvious to people who don't need their advice, and will do nothing for the people who do. A jug of water instead of juice? We all know that people who give their kids juice do it because they think it's good for them. They will also try to feed them sensible regular meals eaten while sat down together round a table, which may well already include among the condiments (excluding salt obviously), a jug of water. It's not even worth trying to find the statistics. The guardians of the nation's health have a fine record of coming up with recommendations that are statements of the dazzlingly obvious to people who don't need their advice, and will do nothing for the people who do.
A jug of water instead of juice? We all know that people who give their kids juice do it because they think it's good for them. They will also try to feed them sensible regular meals eaten while sat down together round a table, which may well already include among the condiments (excluding salt obviously), a jug of water. It's not even worth trying to find the statistics.
The juice in this family's diet has now been exposed as a secret hideout for the demon sugar; it is also (I can reveal since the industry possibly hasn't) stupendously damaging to the environment in terms of carbon emissions, unless you actually live in the shade of an organic orange tree.The juice in this family's diet has now been exposed as a secret hideout for the demon sugar; it is also (I can reveal since the industry possibly hasn't) stupendously damaging to the environment in terms of carbon emissions, unless you actually live in the shade of an organic orange tree.
But the reason that juice is there on the table is because a year or two back, these parents were authoritatively instructed that pure fruit juice was actually good for you, one of your five a day.But the reason that juice is there on the table is because a year or two back, these parents were authoritatively instructed that pure fruit juice was actually good for you, one of your five a day.
Companies with cute, healthy names have built financially healthy empires on the basis that fruit, pulverised and expensively packaged, is good for you.Companies with cute, healthy names have built financially healthy empires on the basis that fruit, pulverised and expensively packaged, is good for you.
Water has been commodified too, obviously, because even before we knew about fruit juice being the non-cabbage route to healthy living, it was reported that access to a normal healthy lifestyle would be denied to anyone who failed to drink at least two litres of it each day. This was smart on many levels, but mainly because of the exactness of the target. No one who drinks water out of a tap, or even a jug that they might share with other people, can have any idea of the amount they consume. But once it has to be two litres, then the bottle became indispensable, and with the bottle comes the brand, the source of lots of lovely profit. Water has been commodified too, obviously, because even before we knew about fruit juice being the non-cabbage route to healthy living, it was reported that access to a normal healthy lifestyle would be denied to anyone who failed to drink at least two litres of it each day. This was smart on many levels, but mainly because of the exactness of the target.
No one who drinks water out of a tap, or even a jug that they might share with other people, can have any idea of the amount they consume. But once it has to be two litres, then the bottle became indispensable, and with the bottle comes the brand, the source of lots of lovely profit.
Pity these poor rulers of our conscience, for they are now considered responsible for saving not just us but the NHS too, since the utter, brilliant madness of those who founded it on the basis that medicine makes people well has finally been exposed for the con it always was. Pity them because they have nothing but exhortation to fulfil this impossible mission.Pity these poor rulers of our conscience, for they are now considered responsible for saving not just us but the NHS too, since the utter, brilliant madness of those who founded it on the basis that medicine makes people well has finally been exposed for the con it always was. Pity them because they have nothing but exhortation to fulfil this impossible mission.
What we need to be a healthy nation are good, steady, moderately well-paid jobs and decent, affordable homes. It would be an added bonus if healthy food were cheaper than junk food but the public health experts know exactly the cost of the low self-esteem, loneliness and insecurity that come from being jobless, and the damp, cramped housing that can wreck a whole family's health. But tackling that is not in their remit, although back in 1945 Nye Bevan was minister for housing and health.What we need to be a healthy nation are good, steady, moderately well-paid jobs and decent, affordable homes. It would be an added bonus if healthy food were cheaper than junk food but the public health experts know exactly the cost of the low self-esteem, loneliness and insecurity that come from being jobless, and the damp, cramped housing that can wreck a whole family's health. But tackling that is not in their remit, although back in 1945 Nye Bevan was minister for housing and health.
Nor are they allowed to do anything about the near complete capture of the national food culture by the global food industry which is founded on buying cheap and selling dear, although not so dear that any non-global business can readily compete. Nor are they allowed to do anything about the near complete capture of the national food culture by a global food industry which is founded on buying cheap and selling dear, although not so dear that any non-global business can readily compete.
And so we middle-class types will leap for the water jug when we hear of the need to cut sugar and we will dutifully remove the fruit juice and substitute Adam's ale (copywrite the Bible), probably from the tap. We will study recipes that can be cooked from fresh in 20 minutes and will probably trouble the NHS mainly at the beginning and end of our lives. And we will be silently encouraged by the knowledge that we have ticked the boxes, taken that extra bit of trouble, to be free to disapprove, discreetly of course, of those who have failed to look after themselves – while never needing to do anything much about it. And so we middle-class types will leap for the water jug when we hear of the need to cut sugar and we will dutifully remove the fruit juice and substitute Adam's ale (copyright the Bible), probably from the tap. We will study recipes that can be cooked from fresh in 20 minutes and will probably trouble the NHS mainly at the beginning and end of our lives. And we will be silently encouraged by the knowledge that we have ticked the boxes, taken that extra bit of trouble, to be free to disapprove, discreetly of course, of those who have failed to look after themselves – while never needing to do anything much about it.