Dear Tiffy,

<<I'd like to encourage the young lady who wrote this to not be upset in the face of hostile comments.>>

That young lady is the hostile party.

It is her who uninvited wishes to interfere in our lives, using the full force of the state, including their guns and prisons, to dictate how we should live.

Should leading an unhealthy life-style become illegal, so that if one refuses to follow what the state deems as "healthy" then they are violently arrested and thrown into the "healthier" life-style of prison-life (presumably living longer in there...)?

Can you not see the slippery-slope, where if others are allowed to decide for you what is healthy and what isn't, then anything dear to you could tomorrow be declared "unhealthy" and denied from you? As I do not know you personally I cannot tell what it is which is most dear for you (in the way that for some people it is their fatty/sugary food), but surely there is SOMETHING which is, surely there is one thing or another which would make you extremely upset had the state took it away from you. Watch it: your turn could be next, you could become the state's next victim, then you would cry a lot.

Oh I'm remiss. I didn't realise that I was sharing this form with a whole bunch of libertarian brothers and sisters.

You guys are absolutely right!!

Government is bad!!

Everything the government touches is bad. It is incapable of doing any good and incapable of nuanced thinking (not unlike most libertarians).

We don't need a monopoly of force.

We should just let good people like Ayn Rand tell us how to live selflessly.. We should all follow the flawless logic of fellow libertarian moral objectivist philosophers like Stefan Molyneux. The man who believes in anarchism... as long as his voice rules. We should all get our news from Alex Jones because he's proved himself so right time and time again!!

And most of all we should never, ever, EVER consider the fact that there are times where State intervention has yielded positive results. That would be anathema.

I usually oppose any effort of government taking steps to dictate how we should live our lives - without exception.

But the issue of kids nutrition may be an exception.
Some of the kids these days are totally nuts with ADD type behavioral problems.
And parents aren't allowed to discipline their kids anymore and are literally being pushed to their limits.

I think nutrition might have something to do with it and if I'm correct, I must question why school canteens are feeding kids garbage if it's contributing to the problem.

Its only logical that schools should advocate eating healthy...

However, on the other hand, I loved eating sausage rolls and chicken, lettuce and mayo burgers at high school.
Tuckshop day broke up the tedious repetition of the school week and was something I looked forward to.
It was also a tool my parents could use against me to keep me from playing up!

Ultimately I'm not totally sure where to stand on this one, but I must admit I have more compassion towards people with medical issues that were no fault of their own and can't do anything about it than I have for people with obesity.

Obese people could have taken steps to change their situation whereas others have medical conditions that they cant do anything about.
- And I feel for them more.

Tiffy, Alex Jones is probably right about things more often than the news everyone else watches, and he is also helping people to be healthier with the products he sells to fund infowars.com

What exactly have you done to help people better understand nutrition and help them to become healthier?

Please don't criticise people who do more to help others than yourself.

Dear Tiffy,

I find several faults in Ayn Rand's teachings and I have no clue who the other two people you mentioned are.

If you look for selfishness, you can hardly find more of it than in those involved in government, be they politicians, employees or contractors.

I do not support selfishness, yet the one who is forced to give without consent, is denied the opportunity to be unselfish. When government "does" it for us, our sense of charity atrophies so like any unused muscle, we lose our ability to be good.

Once people organise on a voluntary basis, then and only then they get the opportunity to express the goodness of their hearts, yet involuntary territorially-based states as we now have, are the anathema not only to free-will, but to goodwill and the ability to refine one's character and motives so one comes to love and care for others. The state can undoubtedly produce POSITIVE results, no argument there, but it cannot produce GOOD results.

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Dear Critic,

It is indeed a problem when parents are no longer allowed to discipline their children - so solve this problem, rather than patch it up.

When I grew up there were no school canteens: Instead, my parents wrapped up sandwiches and fruits in my bag every morning, which were tasty indeed - if you do so instead of giving money to your child, then you can control what they eat while in school.

it isn't what people eat, it is the amount of food people eat that causes them to become obese. You can exercise all you like, but why not just eat that little bit less. Cut out the morning and afternoon tea and supper, don't snack while you watch TV. Don't buy soft drinks, for the sake of your children's health.

Garbage Barbara. I eat one small meal a day. It is the same food, but less than half of what I ate 6 or 7 years ago. Then I was working hard on my property, today with a knee, hip & back problem I do very little exercise. Then I was slim, now I am over weight.

I am not much over weight, but only because I don't like being overweight, & try hard to limit that weight gain.

As a young bloke I ate more chocolate biscuits & cream cake than healthy food, but working hard, never gained a single pound, & was very fit.

With the mess that is science, where one day carbs are great, & next week a killer, the last people I would take nutritional advice would be academics, or bright eyed, bushy tailed young graduates.