Does Your Favorite Presidential Candidate Have a Food Platform?
Hold on – I’m not going all political on you. I’m in the same place you are – dumbfounded by how far off the tracks we’ve gone in government leadership and common sense.
That’s stuff for another article – somebody else’s article because I’m not writing it.
But a New York Times piece entitled “Our Food Is Killing Too Many of Us” recently hit my newsfeed. It reminds us that we “Americans are sick – much sicker than many realize.” It refers to the CDC report that more than 100 million U.S. adults are now living with diabetes or prediabetes. Breaking down the CDC report, it appears that about 10% have diabetes, 90% have prediabetes which, if not treated, can lead to Type 2 diabetes within five years.
If you’ve been enduring my articles for a while, you know that I unabashedly boarded this “food is killing us” bandwagon long ago and continue as a lonely voice in a wilderness of fellow sapiens whose taste buds and habits have been taken and held captive as we slowly eat ourselves to death.
Along with the planet!
OK – I’m not going all environmentalist on you either. But, at some point, we’ve got to get real about all this.
Think about it – have you heard one garlic-laced utterance from any of the several thousand presidential candidates that included the word “food”?
Have any of them expressed concern or interest in the current destruction and burning of the lungs of our planet to graze more four-legged saturated-fat-factories?
How many of them know or care that it takes 600 liters of fresh water to produce one liter of any sugar-sweetened soda delivered in a plastic bottle. Or that, according to Soil and Water Specialists at the University of California Agricultural Extension, the water required to produce one pound of beef is 5,214 gallons.
Please assure me you won’t be holding your breath waiting for any of the above to cross the lips of any candidate, right or left.
What we can count on is the continuing political dance that steps over the problem to focus on how to ensure that the financial injury for bad health habits isn’t egregious. Nary a poke at the source of the problem – poor eating habits, lack of exercise, a food industry that thrives on government inaction and a populace ignorant to what they are doing to themselves.
Oh, and we had best throw in a healthcare system that struggles to spell “food” and would go apoplectic if asked to define “nutrition.”
The Times article acknowledges that government plays a crucial role:
“The significant impacts of the food system on well-being, health care spending, the economy, and the environment — together with mounting public and industry awareness of these issues — have created an opportunity for government leaders to champion real solutions.
Yet with rare exceptions, the current presidential candidates are not being asked about these critical national issues. Every candidate should have a food platform, and every debate should explore these positions. A new emphasis on the problems and promise of nutrition to improve health and lower health care costs is long overdue for the presidential primary debates and should be prominent in the 2020 general election and the next administration.”
I suppose we could hope it will happen –the political “food platform” thing. Nothing wrong with being hopeful but I’m inclined to put hope and wish in the inaction category. Does it make sense to wait for a political “food platform” to emerge from the tangle of trade wars, border conflicts, space defense, buying frozen countries, and free everything for everybody?
It starts with us. And our nutritional and environmental awareness. We don’t do well with the first and ignore the impact of the latter.
Meat equals money and our appetite for meat is the most direct cause of the Amazon’s peril along with other parts of the world with the U.S. near the top of the list.
Carefully engineered combinations of sugar, salt and fat are a direct cause of our sickness. We are victims of our own naivete, reprogrammed taste buds, and craving for convenience. Given all that, we individually are still the only solution.
Consider this suggestion from nutrition activist and physician Dr. David Katz ( the bolding is mine): 
“Eat less meat this week. If you eat it daily, skip a day. If you only eat it weekly, skip the week. If you, personally, had to set some majestic, 200-year-old tree on fire as a prelude to your next bacon-cheeseburger, would you do it? Those of you who say yes are beyond redemption. To everyone else: eat less meat, please. This is the price it is exacting- unattenuated simply because someone else strikes the match.
Less ultra-processed food, less meat, and more whole plant foods are the very formula most indelibly linked to less chronic disease, less premature death, less obesity, more years in life, more life in years. But in this context, that is simply fortuitous.
There are no healthy people on a ravaged planet. There are no healthy people on a planet that can no longer sustain them. We are at risk of eating ourselves into extinction.”
Thanks for allowing me back up on my soapbox. Feel free to knock me off with a comment below if you feel differently. My-fruit-and-vegetable-and-wholegrain-fed skin is getting thicker.
////////
P.S. How fortuitous. Just as I finished this article, a newspaper headline in our daily rag called the Denver Post said the following: “Trump administration limits scientific input” with a tag “USDA Dietary Guidelines”. We now know that one presidential candidate, and his administration, have a “food platform”. It indirectly supports the consumption of meat, highly processed and high sodium foods by eliminating questions about those issues from the 80 questions that the committee overseeing nutritional guidelines have been asked to explore. If you read the article, I hope you come away a bit incensed.
Food is like religion and sex – topics to stay from – much easier for politicians to talk about environment and probably will be more successful – people don’t like anyone telling them what is good or not good food – thanks for bringing this topic up
Gary should be heading the NO eat Meat show or a podcast on reducing our toxic intake of meat, salt and sugar or MSS. I for one Gary will heed your rants and reduce my intake of processed foods to zero yeah zero no BS Gary see what you did to me. Keep hitting hard on the health issue.
Twenty years ago, I wrote a speech for a college course primarily based on the book titled Beyond Beef by Jeremy Rifkin written in 1993. The irony is I could still give this exact same speech today and only change some statistics for the worse. Also, now I would ad the human health aspect.
Howdy! I know this is kind of off topic but I was wondering which blog platform are you using for this website? I’m getting tired of WordPress because I’ve had problems with hackers and I’m looking at options for another platform. I would be awesome if you could point me in the direction of a good platform.
Hi makeagingwork.com administrator, You always provide useful information.
To the makeagingwork.com webmaster, You always provide useful links and resources.
Dear makeagingwork.com webmaster, Your posts are always on point.
I like this post, enjoyed this one regards for posting. “The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.” by Albert Einstein.
Hello makeagingwork.com owner, You always provide great examples and real-world applications.
Hello makeagingwork.com admin, Thanks for the comprehensive post!
Hello makeagingwork.com webmaster, Your posts are always thought-provoking and inspiring.
Dear makeagingwork.com webmaster, Your posts are always well-supported by facts and figures.
Hello makeagingwork.com administrator, You always provide valuable information.
Hello makeagingwork.com admin, Thanks for the well-structured and well-presented post!
Hi makeagingwork.com owner, You always provide clear explanations and step-by-step instructions.
To the makeagingwork.com owner, You always provide great examples and case studies.