I’ll Take My Persuasion with a Pinch of Respect
Let me decide how much salt I want in my food!
I’ve seen many signs in the media that we are becoming a food and health conscious society. You can see it in the growth of CSA memberships (Community Supported Agriculture), production of movies like “Food Inc.”, and the success of shows like Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution. There’s now rumors of a television show featuring food pioneer Alice Waters, where she would talk about the importance of eating fresh, locally grown food and supporting local farmers. The message is out there, loud and clear, that we should be thinking about what we put on our tables and in the bellies of our children. This all adds up to a strong, compelling message of persuasion.
There’s a different kind of persuasion brewing at the FDA. For the past few days the big food story has been that the FDA is seeking to regulate the amount of salt in processed and prepared foods. Here’s my problem with this. This is persuasion of the mandatory kind. As in we know what’s good for you and will make you do it because we don’t respect your intelligence. Nope, we aren’t convinced that we can make a persuasive enough case against salt for you to follow our guidelines, so we’re going to demonize the essential spice of life.
I will agree that for those with hypertension, or even prehypertension salt may be a dangerous health risk. But for the rest of the population without that health risk, there’s no good reason to mandate salt restrictions. While I applaud all the efforts of those food crusaders on a mission to convince the public we should be cooking our own food more often, choosing whole, unprocessed ingredients and eating a more healthy diet, I don’t trust government health czars. Given their track record of health mandates – consider the flip flop arguments on margarine and eggs; or how about the flip flop on exposure to sun? many of us are now deficient in Vitamin D to our detriment – you’ll know that if they seek to take away all of our salt today, some scientist will discover tomorrow that the 90% of us without hypertension now have our own set of health issues because we’re salt deficient. As I said, persuasion is a good thing, but mandates are not.
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4 Responses to “I’ll Take My Persuasion with a Pinch of Respect”
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I basically agree with you but today I heard the concept of a “food desert”. Food deserts are usually inner city neighborhoods that has a population that can not get to a place that provides good fresh food. Studies have found that if good quality food is within their reach they will buy and take the time prepare it. Instead these areas are serviced by convenience stores and fast food restaurants. Coming back to the salt mandate, I think it is the salt mandate for processed foods that may begin to save people from their “food desert”.
First it’s sugar, then it’s fat. Now it’s salt. I guess the powers that be think that people are too stupid to know what’s good for them. As for myself, I make my own decisions regarding sugar, fat and salt! Any legislator who makes laws regarding my salt intake is “not worth his salt,” and he is definitely not “the salt of the earth.” And “if the salt has lost its flavor” we should vote him out. Take anything that man says “with a grain of salt,” and if he looks back at the voters, he may be turned into “a pillar of salt.” I for one will enjoy “the saltness of time” and use salt as I do sugar and fat – my decision, my amount.
I raise my salt rimmed margarita glass to that!
I’ve read about those “food deserts” so I understand your point. But I’d much prefer the government spent the money that would be spent on legislating and prosecuting those who violate these salt mandates on finding ways to make fresh food available, at an affordable price, in these “food deserts.” All they’re doing is perpetuating the hollow illusion of health once all the processed food manufacturers get on the bandwagon and proclaim in bold lettering on their packages that they’ve met the government guidelines on salt restriction. It misses the point of what these poor people really need.