Focus on teaching healthy eating, not taxes

So the sugar tax for sodas has been repealed. OK. Some of the ads I saw promoting it say the soda companies target our youth, causing record rates of obesity and the consequent health problems associated with it. However, that's really not a solution.

The bigger issue is what would you do about food ads that target both our youth and adults? What about all the fast food ads that offer high-fat, high-sodium food with way too many calories for a bargain price? The greater cause of obesity is excess calorie intake from food more so than beverages.

What needs to be done is to teach our youth about healthy eating and about making better food choices to the point where they can begin to recognize why such food and beverage choices are harmful to them instead of punishing parents in their wallets.

Add to that more time with activities that burn calories like sports and less time on video games, TV and social media. Some of our kids need life coaching now. Adding taxes will not help that.

Lawrence Kopp

Schaumburg