Lately, I've seen quite a few documentaries regarding food and health. They have been very interesting to say the least. Coupled with this is that several years ago I read several books on the food and agriculture business in our country. Now, obviously, this doesn't make me an expert in this field, not by a long shot, so please keep that in mind. With that being said, I thought I'd share my thoughts on these couple of subjects.
Everyone in this country knows we have a health care system problem to say the least. Obama tried to fix it with Obamacare which a lot of people hate with a passion. I can't say I understand this completely, perhaps because I've been to Europe and have been influenced by their system or because I have a pre-existing condition and find it extremely difficult to find private health insurance. The part of the health bill that I disagree with though is making employers cover birth control for their employees. This seems to blatantly fly in the face of religious freedom and conscience so there's that. Also, I listened to a podcast that said it doesn't make sense to have health care tied to a job. Why should they be responsible for your health care? By that logic why aren't they responsible for your car insurance as well? This podcast recommended health care be separate from jobs, which makes sense if you ask me. You'd probably have to pay more but you'd also get paid more by your employer since they wouldn't have to cover your health insurance. With this in mind, I also believe everyone should have health insurance. Better yet, I believe in universal health care, again this is influenced by my European travels in the past. Why wouldn't we want to pay for everyone to have health care? That seems like it should be a basic human right in a developed country such as ours.
Anyways, let's dive into the economics of our food system for a minute. In my humble opinion, this has a lot to do with government subsidies. We are subsidizing corn, wheat, and soy to the extent that farmers are incentivized to grow these crops and nothing else. As a result, corn and soy in particular are in everything on our food shelves at the grocery store practically. We have put high fructose corn syrup into soft drinks and a ton of other stuff as well. Now, don't get me wrong, I love my soda as much as anyone, but it isn't healthy or good for you, is it? I don't hear anyone arguing that point so I'm going to move on here. There are a couple ways to get off high fructose corn syrup. We can either tax it, like we've done with tobacco; or we can end subsidies to corn. I'm not saying we should end subsidies to farmers period, just that we should shift them. What if we subsidized farmers based on diversity and how they were helping the soil become sustainable? What if we subsidized smaller farmers instead of these huge farms that are destroying the land? Furthermore, and W and Obama both have supported bills along these lines by the way, let's put aid money towards teaching developing countries how to produce their own crops as opposed to sending them our excess food. Shouldn't the goal be to have those countries be able to feed themselves as opposed to depending on us for their food? These types of bills have been vetoed in Congress due to strong farm lobbies though who want more money for their excess food that they've grown.
There is also another problem with our food system, and that is ethanol and other bio fuels. Some bio fuels are fantastic, particularly ones that use plant and animal waste products as fuel. However, ethanol is made from corn which pushes up the price of corn and that effects poorer countries who can no longer afford corn anymore due to the rising prices. How you can fix this I really don't know, except to say that we shouldn't incentivize corn production for ethanol as I believe that is encouraged under current law.
Now to how the economics of food intersect with the economics of the health care system. We are subsidizing corn and soy so they're placed in a ton of our food products. As a result, we have cheap food that is highly processed and all around bad for you. Your body wasn't meant to take in all these chemicals and they trick your brain into making you think you're hungrier when you should already be satiated. Furthermore, this is causing our obesity epidemic as more and more of our foods are increasingly filled with sugar or corn syrup. Obesity causes a ton of health problems that are largely preventable, such as heart disease and diabetes. These health problems, in turn, incur a ton of costs on our health care system.
What if, instead of treating illnesses and symptoms after the fact, we instead prevented them? My heart breaks, as do many of your hearts I'm sure, for developing countries who suffer from waterborne illnesses and diseases that are largely preventable just by clean water. Why do we not see the same idea in regards to our own health? If we know that a poor diet leads to obesity which can cause major health problems, why don't we go about preventing a poor diet? Well, it's more expensive to eat healthy. You're absolutely right on that subject, and that says something about our food system in the first place, doesn't it? However, if you look at it long-term, you're either going to have to pay more now for healthy food or pay more later, a lot more later in some cases, for more expensive health care. You'll have to pay for hospital visits and a host of medications just to keep you moving.
Now, I've been struggling with my weight for the past few years. Every time I go overseas, I lose anywhere from 10-20 pounds. I think this comes largely from a change in diet; smaller portions and not as much processed foods, and the fact that I walk more overseas. Lifestyle changes are the hardest of all to make in my opinion. We have to be willing to try though. We have to take responsibility for our own health and making healthier choices on a regular basis. Keep in mind I'm one of the worst offenders of my own health as I have a massive sweet tooth and I give into it way too often for my own good. But as I become more educated on proper nutrition and how it effects my health, I'm slowly but surely starting to change.
If you're interested for further reading on the subject, check out The Omnivore's Dilemma and you can skip the first three chapters for the most part to help you get through it by the way. There is also An Eater's Manifesto and Food Rules, all by Michael Pollan. There are other books I'm sure, but those are the main ones that I've read. If you're interested for further viewing on food and how it effects our health, check out Forks Over Knives, Food Matters, and Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead. All of these are available on Netflix. Another one that a friend suggested to me last night but I haven't watched yet is Hungry for Change. I won't recommend this one though until I watch it. Your opinions and comments are welcome, however please have some sources and not just your opinions so I can look into them.
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