Live healthy. Eat healthy. They can’t say it enough. Live healthy and you’ll live longer, happier, better. Eat fruit and vegetables every day, don’t smoke, don’t drink too much alcohol, be good.
But do they really want us to be healthy?
Today I was watching an episode of Grey’s Anatomy. Here in the Netherlands, these episodes are sponsored by KitKat. There’s an advertisement before and after every commercial break, which spreads one single message: eat this and you’ll feel great. It’s not just that. There’s more. If you go to the website, you can win a dvd box and a supply of KitKat Senses big enough to get you through a whole night of Grey’s Anatomy. So, what message are they spreading? Eat this not very healthy chocolate bar. You’re a winner.
Advertising campaigns for cigarettes are forbidden and on every pack there’s a warning saying ‘smoke me and you’ll die’. Not literally, but the message is clear. Still a lot of people keep on smoking. The governments sometimes tend to respond to this by increasing taxes on cigarettes.
What if everyone stopped smoking? This would probably be great for common health, people being in better condition. And nobody would buy cigarettes, decreasing tax income by thousands and thousands of euros or whatever the country’s currency is. Of course, a lot of money going into health care for smokers would be saved, but would this be as much as the taxes which would no longer be coming in?
A friend of mine visited her family in Canada this summer. She told me that every day, they have some sort of health bulletin on the evening news: tips and tricks to live healthier. Then she crossed the border to the States, where a small portion of anything edible is about the size of an extra large portion here in the Netherlands. There’s kids eating junk food for breakfast, lunch and dinner. When they make anything at home, so much oil or butter is used that it comes closer to frying than cooking or baking. But nobody does anything about the huge portions of food, which are so much more than any child (or adult) needs. And when we eat more than we need, every single day, we gain weight.
Sometimes companies try to convince us they want us to live healthy and they want to help. McDonald’s has these salads, which are actually quite a good try. But here comes Burger King to ruin all the fun. I visited the Dutch website today, trying to find out if they sell anything that comes close to being healthy. The first thing I see is this: “Would you like an extra portion? Yes? No problem. Because ‘yes’ is the answer to all your wishes.” Well, that’s a nice start for some extra fat on my bottom. Luckily, there’s also good news. They sell salads. The only problem is (and this doesn’t only occur at Burger King): the salads are really expensive compared to a double cheeseburger king deal (double cheeseburger, French fries and a drink for €2,95) or the so-called ‘euroknallers’ (a hamburger, or 6 chicken nuggets for €1). So, what would most people do, buy the cheap and unhealthy burger or get a salad? You do the math.
On the other hand, there’s also positive initiatives. I remember an announcement at my highschool: all the healthy food would become cheaper and the prices of less healthy food would be increased. And the really unhealthy, fatty stuff would only be sold one day a week. We could get a sandwich with ham, cheese, cucumber and egg (no sauce or anything) for just one euro and everyone loved it. It became the favorite canteen food for most of us. Apples were only 25 cents while a Mars or Twix bar cost more than double. Money being very important, this actually encouraged a lot of people (or at least the girls, who tend to be more health-conscious anyway) to eat more healthy.
Or take a look at Jamie Oliver, who tried to healthify the lunch menus at many schools. It didn’t always work out perfectly, but it was always better than what was served before.
Live healthy. It’s something we can’t do alone. We need help from governments and companies. Putting a healthy life before bigger profits requires a change of attitude. But if we start with ourselves, there is a way. I’ll do my part, will you do yours? In the end, it’s up to you.
