English Class Bibliography

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Alshehri 2

Government’s Role in Making Healthy Choices Easier in America

A number of citizens in U.S.A. are obese according to the recent researches. It is important to consume healthy foods. Eating junk meals is a concern to the nation. The need to make extra money keeps individuals busy to the extent of lacking time to prepare healthy meals. Government intervention is significant in making sure people eat healthy, by providing education to institutions and individuals on the best food to consume. According to Story, Karen, Ramona and Karen Consuming balanced diet hinders infections and malnutrition among the community (148). Women need to be involved more because they are the mothers and understands the best meals to serve their families and this will help bring up healthy and energetic children.

American government has a significant role to play in ensuring a healthy nation. Unhealthy eating and high costs of health care services contributes to obesity among children and adults. The law enforcers can set out guidelines and policies that caregivers should follow. For example, the 2012 minimum nutritional balanced meals for all public school breakfast and lunch includes fruits and vegetables, this has resulted in healthy eating in children of different age groups, and therefore, reducing chances of kids developing conditions such as being obese (Hales 281).

The Affordable Care Act, was enacted in 2010 and includes, the provision that needs food suppliers and vending appliance operators to highlight and include calorie content on food products and in machines. The wholesalers should provide any significant nutritional information, and this helps consumers to know what exactly they are consuming and the effect it will have on them before buying the item (Hales 111).

The federal law introduced the minimum protection policies that allow all working nursing mothers to get time to breastfeed their babies and this helps the kid to get all the nutrients needed, and therefore, grow healthy. The act also supports parents who are trying to make sure that their children are getting essential high quality, healthy food when they are still young. The State’s agricultural policy helps a lot in training and advising on the best health products to consume to all citizens locally and in national level.

Citizens in the US have a right to choose what to consume at the end of the day. The role of the government is to ensure that food sold meet the required standards. The State can control what is consumed by making sure that restaurants and fast food joints are restricted to sell meals that contain little sugar levels and fats. It is achievable by prohibiting the selling of products with high concentration of fats and sugar; and by closing any business found to be supplying those items to the public (Parvanta, David, Sarah and Richard 76). Citizens will have different choices to choose from the different healthy food available, therefore creating a healthy nation.

The government can work with health care providers such as pediatricians. Hospital staffs and clinics attendances should be adequately trained by the state to ensure that they have all the knowledge pertaining healthy diet. Doctors should advise patients on the importance of having fruits and eating a lot of vegetables. The state can achieve this by subsidizing the cost of medication, and therefore, allow more people to access the services rendered by health care institution.

The government can offer training to locals on the importance of healthy diet through programs that are friendly and educative. According to White and Maggie Activities that encourage citizens to participate in sports events promote exercising and change of unhealthy diet, for example, Healthier US was initialized by President George Bush to encourage the USA citizens, to exercise frequently and eat a balanced diet (139). The government can use initiative such as team nutritious and train students how to make healthy meals and choose wisely on what to eat to avoid consuming threatening foodstuffs.

The government can use supplementation nutrition mechanism. Though supplement program, the state can offer assistances to the unfortunate who cannot afford and access health meals. The federal institution offering nutrition assistance acts in limiting hunger and benefits low earners to be able to purchase healthy food (Carter and Karen 75). Most participants in this program are children, and therefore, they will grow up knowing the importance of eating nutritious meals.

In conclusion, healthy eating is essential and contributes a lot to the health status of a nation. Unhealthy food makes people sick. Nations that encourages nutritious eating can perform better because the cost of incurring medical attention will reduce, and therefore, such states can invest in other sectors. This point is supported by Cunningham, Michael, and Venkat that the government should create policies and regulations that institution such as hospitals, schools, and that firms that offer services to citizens to help them advise individuals on the importance of eating healthy meals (83). The state can introduce laws that require all manufacturing companies within the country to label all their products and include all the content that make the item. Educating the public is important because they get to know their rights as consumers and if violated the can sue the manufacturer or the service provider.

Works Cited

Carter, Jill, and Karen E. Peterson. Planet Health: an interdisciplinary curriculum for teaching middle school nutrition and physical activity. Human Kinetics, 2007.

Cunningham, Solveig A., Michael R. Kramer, and Venkat K.M. Narayan. "Incidence of childhood obesity in the United States." New England Journal of Medicine 370.5 (2014): 403-411.

Hales, Dianne. An Invitation to Wellness: Making Healthy Choices: Making Healthy Choices. Cengage Learning, 2006.

Parvanta, Claudia F., David E. Nelson, Sarah A. Parvanta, and Richard N. Harner. Essentials of public health communication. Jones & Bartlett Publishers, 2010.

White, Alan, and Maggie Pettifer. Hazardous waist: tackling male weight problems. Radcliffe Publishing, 2007.

Story, Mary, Karen M. Kaphingst, Ramona Robinson-O'Brien, and Karen Glanz. "Creating healthy food and eating environments: policy and environmental approaches." Annul. Rev. Public Health 29 (2008): 253-272.

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