Comments on: Demonizing Food Corporations Won’t Make America Thin Again

By: sinz54

sinz54 — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 19:59:19 +0000

sftor1:

Sounds like everyone is on board with taking a long, hard look at the Ag Bill and how it distorts the economy of the food supply.

True. But the steady devaluation of the dollar is also making many healthy foods too expensive. The devaluation of the dollar affects the dollar price of all imported foods, from lettuce to coffee. After Nixon devalued the dollar in 1974, the price of coffee quadrupled.

By: sinz54

sinz54 — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 19:57:37 +0000

The gluttony for sugar doesn’t explain why salt has to be added to just about everything.

I tried to purchase a package of ordinary frozen mixed vegetables–unseasoned–at my local supermarket. It turned out they had added salt to it anyway. It’s a good thing I checked the ingredients on the label, because I’m on a low-salt diet.

By: furrydoc

furrydoc — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 19:06:20 +0000

As the one who deals with the ravages of obesity professionally, I agree with David that with few exceptions, the business of marketing abundant food to those who gobble it up excessively does not seem to be a significant part of the solution to obesity. While McD’s may have removed the supersized portions, the 7 oz soda bottle will never again replace the 7-11 Big Gulp, which seems to be what the consumer wants. Across the street from my medical center there is an Old Country Buffet where for a nominal sum patients can prepare for their pre-op evaluation with the bariatric surgeon by gorging themselves to even greater surgical value.

I think ultimately you need to change the consumers by making gluttony uncool.

By: DFL

DFL — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 18:45:39 +0000

Venture into a supermarket sometime and look at the slovenliness of the average American. Tens of million of Americans are slobs because that’s what they want to be. Government can’t make policies to alter that in a democracy.

By: LFC

LFC — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 16:11:33 +0000

SFTor1, I think most conservatives at this site would agree. The political realities are another story. And the line isn’t Dem / Repub, it’s more ag-dependent state / non-ag-dependent state.

By: SFTor1

SFTor1 — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 01:22:49 +0000

Sounds like everyone is on board with taking a long, hard look at the Ag Bill and how it distorts the economy of the food supply.

By: sinz54

sinz54 — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 14:19:04 +0000

reason60: Fast food is not only targeted to our evolutionary taste buds, but government subsidies help make it artificially cheap as well.
Agreed.

And there’s more.

Because much fresh produce is imported from Latin America these days, the steady debasement of the dollar has made it more and more expensive to buy such healthy foods.

It has become tremendously expensive to “eat healthy.” A 3,000 calorie diet plan consisting of healthy foods (whole grains, fruits and vegetables, etc.) is far more expensive than a Big Mac with fries and a shake. The poor just can’t afford it.

By: Reason60

Reason60 — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 01:29:51 +0000

A good article; The basic premise is sound that ultimately no one chooses what to put in our mouths but ourselves; McDonald’s has always offered salads, but no one ate them in quantities like Big Macs;
Having said that, David does point out that there are often hidden government policies that discourage healthy choices- like schools cutting back on athletic programs, and allowing fast food menusto be substituted for balanced ones.
Which raises a deeper point; one of the most pernicious myths in the conservative dialogue is the notion that whatever status quo we are talking about- health, housing policies, land use- is the result of the invisible hand or the free marketplace.
In most cases this is simply demonstrably untrue. In health, for example, although people do have an insatiable hunger for fats and sugars which would lead to fast food being popular no matter what, the fact remains that we are subsidizing the production of corn syrup, sugar beets, and cane sugar. Fast food is not only targeted to our evolutionary taste buds, but government subsidies help make it artificially cheap as well.