Food fight: round 2

I just wanted to compliment Shape editor Anne Russell on the April Editor's Letter, "The Fight Is Fixed for Over-eaters." It was clear, thoughtful and balanced, and I felt she did a great job of raising awareness of the power of food companies to influence our desires and behaviors--without denying the paramount importance of personal responsibility.

--L.W., New York City

Editor Anne Russell's insistence that food manufacturers are the cause of overeating in this society is outrageous and just an easy way to pass the blame. We are all responsible for what we eat. If you choose to eat the jumbo bag of popcorn, that's your decision. Just because it's available doesn't mean you have to eat it.

We all have choices, and when people make bad choices, it's their own fault. You can't blame food companies, restaurants or the government for your failing to make healthy food choices. This column just perpetuated the belief that people are victims, rather than being in control of their lives.

--Lori Chester, Vernon, Conn.

Editor's reply: Although we may want to believe we are making rational decisions about what we eat, in fact there are many subtle and insidious ways in which food marketers subvert our good intentions.

You can only be personally responsible for choices that you make in a state of full awareness, so if you want to be truly in control of your eating, it pays to recognize the strategies that marketers use to push their profitable junk foods on you.

The best defense against come-on packaging and lowball junk-food pricing is increased awareness and knowledge. The so-called "decision" to overeat is in fact often not a conscious choice; by building consciousness, however, you win control and make better choices. That's what we at Shape are trying to help our readers do. It's not about excuses or victimization; it's about learning to outsmart the food pushers.

For some good ideas from Shape readers on this very subject, see "You Told Us" (on page 23).

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