It's a piece of Cake! Begin Rant!

I know it’s been around for a long time now (actually since 2004, which doesn’t make it THAT old) and it has finished production in 2007, but Lazytown was on the other day and it got me thinking.

Is Australia doing enough for the overweight and encouraging us to stay fit?

The government launches a couple of ad campaigns each year for a little while. They target the couch potato by making them TV ads, they show you how bad it is for you to get overweight. But could they be doing a little more.

I got to talking with a mate on the weekend, and it turns out that the US has a rebate scheme in place for supplements and health foods. At the moment I haven’t been able to track down an article or any solid confirmation of this, but the concept makes sense.

Why should the government fork out millions each year for health care to those who bring it on themselves? Shouldn’t the answer be that age old adage “prevention is the best cure”? Would then the government be wise to spend this money on health care to prevent a multitude of sickness and health problems, and to promote healthy eating? Of course, by why aren’t these systems in place?

The likes of Lazytown is at least encouraging the healthy lifestyle from an early age, but what happens as you get older and it just becomes “easier” to buy junk food and money is better spent elsewhere than at a gym? Would more people actually do something if a gym membership was government subsidised? Would we eat healthier if it bought the weekly food bill down to half of what it normally would be? I would think so. Maybe some of those already stuck in their ways wouldn’t convert the thinking, but surely it would encourage the healthier lifestyle that we are supposed to have.

End rant…