Junk Food Tax to help obesity

Trans fats to be banned to halt rise in obesity - Telegraph

If I've learned nothing else from my experience with the Atkins diet that I did about 4 years ago - it is that there is some problem with fats but there is also a problem with the amount of simple carbs in the diet.

Whether it is processed sugar, rice or flour - there are too many simple carbs in the diet today for at least a couple of different reasons.

Everyone loves a bit of sweet now and then. Even I like to eat some chocolate or jelly beans - but I also get my sweet from fresh fruits.

Economics - I also believe that a lot of what drives this situation is economics. Whole grain breads - fresh fruits and veg - meat and dairy products - these are all expensive in comparison to a bag of crisps - a candy bar - and a burger at McDonalds.

So - what's my suggestion?

I would propose that we subsidize healthy food costs by adding a junk-food-tax.

If all junk food was taxed at 20% and the money put back into the economy as healthy food credits - things would shift. People would be more inclined to buy the healthier choice for the majority of the time -but the manufacturers - and more importantly the marketers - would focus on the healthy choices because that's where they would make the most revenue. Junk food consumption would fall sharply and the entire nation's health would improve.

And if the healthier options were more profitable than the junk food options - the fast food shoppes would change their menus. Last year Hardees decided to fly in the face of social responsibility and decided on the "We're going to sell what the customers want to eat." - Which roughly translated means - "We're going to sell what we need to make our shareholders happy." -- If we make healthy options profitable the menus will change.

Oh yes - and if we make them profitable - the nutritionists and the marketers will do their part to make them popular with society.

Gee - this is not rocket science folks. Add tax to these fatty, processed junk options - make the healthier choices more profitable and more popular - and the health of everyone improves!