When you think about the question of eating a more healthy diet, you have to consider who stands to benefit most from that decision? The foods one chooses to eat will not directly affect the health of another, but those foods may directly affect the health and well-being of the individual who consumes them. Thus, eating healthy and the choice to do so will always remain the responsibility of the individual.

We are blessed in this society with so much abundance in so many areas. One of those areas is the choice and variety of foods available to almost everyone. Due to the abundance, the choice and the availability of food, many Americans are overweight and suffer from health problems associated with obesity. It is a natural and predictable result, but what can be done to limit it? Do we legislate caloric intake, serving size and fat content? Who's to say if Congress did legislate such food controls that it wouldn't just open up a black-market for junk food where bootleg Cheetos sell for $150 a bag? The 18th amendment proved long ago that self-control cannot be legislated.

Other areas of concern for eating healthy are what goes into our foods, the chemicals used to grow them, and which chemicals are sprayed on them for what reasons. This country already has regulatory controls concerning the quality of food, food additives, and fertilizers, but those do not always work. Witness the many recalls of foods for various foodborne pathogens and chemical mishaps. Despite regulations, poisoned foods still enter the marketplace and even chemicals once thought to be safe are discovered later to have undesirable side effects. Even when we put lists of ingredients on product labels, we can neither be certain that the lists are accurate nor that they will be read by the consumer. Again, legislated regulations prove ineffective in eliminating bad food from the marketplace.

Considering the most obvious problems, it is evident that ideas to legislate controls have not been entirely successful and there is little reason to believe that further efforts to do the same will have any added benefit. No matter what we are told, what we are taught, or what the Government does to try to keep us safe, the ultimate decision as to what we choose to eat will always be decided by individuals and on an individual basis. Eating healthy and the choice to do so will ultimately remain the responsibility of the individual.

Stan Dyer