Is it okay for Government to have a say on our diets?

Deciding what is beneficial for the country by the government can be considered as a great thing. However, in this 21st-century government interfering with people’s rights could be considered as a huge crime too. Day by day more rights is given to people which is the basis of democracy and more rights on freedom of speech and freedom of choices are well-practiced and will be improving in the future. Although these practices are with huge benefits there are also drawbacks that hit hard and affect badly on the country. Therefore, the government deciding on people’s diet could have benefits and drawbacks.

To begin with, the government deciding what diets the public will have to choose could be considered beneficial. If there is a hale and hearty population due to specific food guidelines in the country it would cut huge costs for the government. Suppose, the Maldives can be considered as one of the few countries that cover most of the common medical treatments for its citizens. From the common cold to some big surgeries could be done free of charge in almost all the government hospitals. Even most of the private hospitals will have a fifty percent discount on treatments. Therefore, the government deciding the foods for the country could be considered as a blessing to its citizens.

There is no iota of doubt that a food guideline could build a productive and constructive working class. Being safe entails more than just being in shape and looking better; it also entails maintaining that state's diets too. For instance, we do find from studies that eating antioxidant-rich foods can lower a person's risk of developing cancer by shielding cells from injury (Stuart, 2020). If the government is not putting tariffs on products that make the population unhealthy, in the future we could be having an unhealthy and very unproductive group of the working class.

On the other hand, in today’s world controlling someone’s diet could be considered as undemocratic, a violation of the basic rights of people, or an attack on people’s private life. Although due to bad eating behavior, it affects the health of people, they would never want the government to consider how they should be keeping their diet. People would want to fulfill their cravings by eating something sweet, a good snack, or cheesy burgers. This is a reason why the government should refrain from dealing with what people should eat.

To conclude, although the government has a concern about building a healthy population, it has to first consider the rights of its citizens. This is because, human civilization has evolved so much that anyone putting a nose on anyone’s life can be considered as immoral, unethical, and narrowing of someone’s rights. However, due to these constraints, the government is unable to work towards a common dietary regulation that is quite fundamental for the well-being of all the citizens of the nation as health is wealth.