Friday, September 11, 2009

Health Care Is Not the Problem: We are Too Fat Is the Problem


The health care debate matters, but no matter what Congress does, America's health is not likely to get any better

Because health care isn't causing the problem: our diet is.

"The American way of eating has become the elephant in the room in the debate over health care," writes Michael Pollan in the New York Times.
"According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, three-quarters of health care spending now goes to treat “preventable chronic diseases.” Not all of these diseases are linked to diet — there’s smoking, for instance — but many, if not most, of them are."
See here for the eye opening piece by Michael Pollan
"There’s lots of money to be made selling fast food and then treating the diseases that fast food causes."
Yes of course WE the PEOPLE decide what to put into our mouths and most of us make terrible choices most of the time. And we pay for them with our sick, fat and tired bodies by the time we're 40.

But it doesn't help that nearly ALL the food that is available is not food at all, but spicy, addictive food-like substances with lots of toxic chemicals. And the meat and dairy in every supermarket is full of antibiotics and growth hormones. All this stuff is made with artificial ingredients that have long shelf life, and little nutritive value. But it's cheap.

Like the man said, there’s lots of money to be made selling fast food and then treating the diseases that fast food causes. And we the people are going along with it.

Yes, we don't pay for it immediately, but we sure do pay. Don't we?

Oi Vey.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

please don't give B.O. any more ideas.... I don't want or need my diet regulated. thank you very much. I would however like to know what foods contain GMO ingredients. they could do that at the very least for us.

Kim Klaver said...

Anon:

Who said anything about regulating your diet?

Dave C said...

A team of ambitious lawyers could potentially have a field day with the Big Food industry companies.

As in the W.R. Grace executives' trial for the alleged crimes of negligence involving asbestos mining. And, as with Big Tobacco -shelling out huge settlements for loading up on nicotine, the addictive property of cigarettes.

Big Food should be nervous right now. It took decades for Americans to 'catch on' to the Big Tobacco Boys. The first cancer warning links were printed on cigarette pacs in the mid
60s. Likewise, it might take a few years for the general population to catch on to Big Food.

I predict it'll happen. It seems obvious that Big Food is knowingly poisoning the populace -just as it is alledged W.R. Grace did knowingly poison the town in Montana; and as did Big Tobacco. Much like Big Wall Street knowingly damaged innocent families on a global scale.

Sometimes it seems like it takes forever -but, the jerks always get found out about. As Hunter Thompson said, "The scum always rises."