Perfect is the Enemy of Good
On Friday, I sat through a round of presentations at the Institute of Medicine’s Committee Meeting on Front of Packaging Labeling Systems. In layman’s terms, the committee is trying to decide the best method for highlighting “healthy” or “better for you” foods on the front of the food packages so consumers don’t have to study the in-depth information on the Nutrition Facts Panel.
The committee’s job is due diligence, and I get that. We want our government and policy organizations to be researching, investigating and exploring all the options. But at some point, from my perspective, the discussion and debate becomes exhausting. I’m a dietitian, I truly care about these issues, but the ability of my colleagues to poke holes in and debate the various systems, and the advantages and disadvantages becomes exhausting.
And at this point, I call to mind a saying that many have said. Perfect is the enemy of good. While he didn’t coin the phrase, Dr. David Katz, the inventor of the NuVal scoring system I work with, will often bring it to mind when the debate gets too far into the minutia, too far into the details, too far into the weeds.
If what we want is a perfect solution, we’ll never get there. If what we want is a really good system that can help consumers make more nutritious food decisions, we’re there.
Visit www.nuval.com to meet Dr. David Katz and to explore a really good, but perhaps not perfect, system.