Food for thought

Published on April 23rd, 2007

Give me my McNuggets!

This report shows a very interesting relation between the poor and obesity.

Drewnowski gave himself a hypothetical dollar to spend, using it to purchase as many calories as he possibly could. He discovered that he could buy the most calories per dollar in the middle aisles of the supermarket, among the towering canyons of processed food and soft drink.

And why, you may ask? Government intervention of course!

For the answer, you need look no farther than the farm bill. This resolutely unglamorous and head-hurtingly complicated piece of legislation, which comes around roughly every five years and is about to do so again, sets the rules for the American food system — indeed, to a considerable extent, for the world’s food system. Among other things, it determines which crops will be subsidized and which will not, and in the case of the carrot and the Twinkie, the farm bill as currently written offers a lot more support to the cake than to the root. Like most processed foods, the Twinkie is basically a clever arrangement of carbohydrates and fats teased out of corn, soybeans and wheat — three of the five commodity crops that the farm bill supports, to the tune of some $25 billion a year. (Rice and cotton are the others.) For the last several decades — indeed, for about as long as the American waistline has been ballooning — U.S. agricultural policy has been designed in such a way as to promote the overproduction of these five commodities, especially corn and soy.

Well, American waistlines are doomed… Doomed I say! I’m going to continue my shopping at the farmers market until I’m poor I guess…

26 users responded in " Food for thought "

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# 1 sdf said, on April 23rd, 2007 at 8:51 am

yipes – they should put a statue of that woman on Ellis Island

# 2 BubbaRay said, on April 23rd, 2007 at 9:39 am

This is a most disturbing and complex issue — an interesting diatribe.

From the linked article:
“The flow of immigrants north from Mexico since Nafta is inextricably linked to the flow of American corn in the opposite direction, a flood of subsidized grain that the Mexican government estimates has thrown two million Mexican farmers and other agricultural workers off the land since the mid-90s.”

How to verify the veracity of this statement? What, blame 2M illegal aliens on the farmers and the ‘farm bill’?

# 3 Mister Justin said, on April 23rd, 2007 at 9:52 am

US farm aid is consistently brought up at the WTO. Easy enough to find references to it. Just look up US farm aid WTO.

I don’t about whether blaming illegals was the intent…

# 4 julieb said, on April 23rd, 2007 at 10:27 am

HAHA! Good job on the caption!

I’M AMERICAN AND I DEMAND NUGGETS!

# 5 Miguel Correia said, on April 23rd, 2007 at 10:32 am

With that shirt and all, that woman is an entirely different notion of “American Beauty”. lolololol

# 6 Gig said, on April 23rd, 2007 at 11:05 am

Is someone feeling a little bloated today? There are three stories about being fat today.

# 7 hhopper said, on April 23rd, 2007 at 11:56 am

That was a woman???

# 8 Named said, on April 23rd, 2007 at 11:57 am

Smoked ribs and chicken on Friday, grilled calamari and steak on Saturday, homeburgers and steak (again) on Sunday… yeah, I’m feeling pretty clogged. Gruel for dinner tonight!

# 9 James Hill said, on April 23rd, 2007 at 12:07 pm

It’s all about portion control, kids: Something this country gave up in the 60’s.

# 10 Noam Sane said, on April 23rd, 2007 at 12:54 pm

Is that Meat Loaf?

# 11 Gwendle said, on April 23rd, 2007 at 1:14 pm

That, right there, is a beautiful mullet.

# 12 jz said, on April 23rd, 2007 at 1:39 pm

Congrats, John. The notion that people choose what they eat and are 100% responsible for it is nonsense. Obviously, cost has something to do with it, and I will add another factor not mentioned in the article: the addictive qualities of the foods being subsidized. Wheat and milk have morphine like qualities. Corn mimicks the actions of nicotine, and soy has valium like properties. Unfortunately, these effects, well known in scientific circles, are rarely mentioned to the public. The public is told obesity is ALL their fault.

Of all the deplorable acts by the government, though, the worst has to be corn syrup. Sugar or sucrose is a naturally occuring substance; corn syrup was originally invented by the Japanese in the ’70s. In one study, mice were fed the same number of calories of either sugar or corn syrup and the ones consuming corn syrup were far more obese than their sugar eating cousins. Corn syrup does not stimulate insulin secretion which induces satiety, and it has been shown to be toxic to the liver. And to top it off, corn syrup is more expensive than sugar, so why on God’s green earth are we using corn syrup instead of sugar?

Politics. The tariff on imported sugar makes corn syrup a cheaper alternative. The U.S. is the world’s #1 producer of corn but it cannot compete with the likes of Brazil or Mexico on the price of sugar, so we tax the crap out of sugar once it enters our country. The bottom line is the U.S. is paying for a more expensive, artificial, and unsafe sweetner all courtesy of our polticians in Washington. How fucked up is that?

# 13 mark said, on April 23rd, 2007 at 4:17 pm

12. I see, its CORN SYRUP and not that 14th slice of pizza before bed last night, got it.

# 14 BubbaRay said, on April 23rd, 2007 at 4:57 pm

13, mark, 12 js is right about relative prices, In order to get a real Dr. Pepper made with sugar, you’ve got to travel to Dublin, Texas. But I’ll take that 14th slice of pizza now, please.

http://www.dublindrpepper.com/

# 15 mark said, on April 23rd, 2007 at 5:39 pm

Which is why I stick to Whiskey, neat. No corn syrup to be found.

# 16 Bruce IV said, on April 23rd, 2007 at 6:33 pm

That picture pretty much sums up almost all of the negative stereotypes of Americans that there are.

# 17 BubbaRay said, on April 23rd, 2007 at 7:00 pm

#15, mark, cool !! From the Firesign Theatre (spoken by Native American): “Corn — now we can Whiskey !” I’ll have a Jack Mint Julep, please, since Kentucky Derby is coming soon. But whicky and branch water is good, too. Unless you want one of those strawberry daiquiris.

And #16, Bruce, you are correct, sir. Blame it all on corn syrup…..

# 18 joshua said, on April 24th, 2007 at 12:54 am

corn syrup…..according to my expert…Mom….has been around for a whole lot more years than the 70’s.
It has been a market staple since at least the 40’s.

# 19 Frank IBC said, on April 24th, 2007 at 5:56 am

Jz writes: Wheat and milk have morphine like qualities. Corn mimicks the actions of nicotine, and soy has valium like properties.

But all of those foods existed for millenia prior to our sudden obesity epidemic in the past 30-40 years.

# 20 Frank IBC said, on April 24th, 2007 at 6:24 am

Jz also writes -

Corn syrup, including high fructose corn syrup is not an “act by the government”. Corn syrup is made by grinding the endosperm (white heart) of the corn kernel, yielding corn starch. A series of acids and/or enzymes (also naturally occuring substances) are then added to the cornstarch, converting it into corn syrup, which contains glucose and fructose, both of which are both naturally occuring substances. Fructose occurs in fruits, and glucose is plain old natural cane sugar.

High fructose corn syrup is created by using a particular set of enzymes when converting the cornstarch, to yield a syrup that has significantly more fructose than glucose. It is popular with food manufacturers not just because of US agricultural policy (cane sugar monopolized and expensive; corn syrup subsidized and cheap) but because it is sweeter and more soluble than glucose.

# 21 tikiloungelizard said, on April 24th, 2007 at 7:23 am

# 18
Corn syrup has been around a long time, (see: karo syrup) but was nowhere near as ubiquitous as it is in foods now. Eating so much processed food may be bad for us, but let’s also keep in mind that we are also exporting food to the entire world, and those “staples” feed huge numbers of people who have no problem with obesity. What happens later is up to them. I must say though, that it disappoints me when I see how many “free market” conservatives are all for huge subsidies to corporate farms and the nuclear energy.

# 22 Frank IBC said, on April 24th, 2007 at 7:50 am

In case it wasn’t clear, I oppose all subsidies for agriculture.

I think at least part of the problem is that there is a lot more prepared food than there was a half-century ago. It’s just so easy to eat these days. You just grab a bag of chips out of the cabinet, or nuke a frozen dinner, or drive down to a fast-food joint, or dial up Chinese or the Hut and have them deliver. None of this spending hours assembling raw ingredients, chopping, mixing and slaving over a hot stove anymore.

# 23 Big Dubyah! said, on April 24th, 2007 at 8:12 am

Is that a woman or a man wearing the flag shirt?

# 24 mark said, on April 24th, 2007 at 8:25 am

22. I think your right, people do lose track of what they eat because of the abundance of it. It takes a conscious effort, add it up in your head as you go, be cognizant of what you take in, and EXERCISE. Especially the weight bearing type to increase metabolism, sound boring, it is, too bad.

# 25 Mister Justin said, on April 24th, 2007 at 10:07 am

22,

You know, when I cook, I’m always amazed at how few ingredients I use. I always cook from raw ingredients. 6-8 items in a dish is a lot. Usually, its more 3-5. When I read a box of processed food, it’s just deplorable. I made homeburgers… ground beef and pork, onions, bread crumbs salt-and-pepper, some cayenne and an egg. Even the egg is optional! But that’s it. Delicious!

Pasta salad – pasta, red onion, cukes, red pepper, olive oil, salt-and-pepper, oregano, feta cheese. That’s all! Good food is simple. Simple food is great!

# 26 jz said, on April 25th, 2007 at 2:17 am

#22, you asked a good question. Why is there obesity now since many of the foods I have mentioned have been around forever? First off, high fructose corn syrup, which is in damned near everything, has only been around since the ’70s. There is a direct correlation between the rise in American obesity and the use of high fructose corn syrup. That is why I said it was the worst. As far as HFCS being “better”, you need to get out more. Almost every other nation in the world uses sugar over HFCS, and I have yet to hear one consumer who prefers HFCS over sugar.

You are right about all the other foods being present way before the obesity epidemic and the rise in prepared foods contributing to obesity but you didn’t get into why. French fries are a simple food. They should be potatoes, cooking oil, and salt. But McDonald’s has just been sued because they advertised their fries were gluten (or wheat) free. A person with Celiac’s disease, who is supposed to have no wheat, ate the fries and had an extreme reaction. McDonald’s later admitted they put wheat and milk in their fries as “seasonings”. To the average person, they think of milk and wheat and say “no problem”. You can imagine what I thought of their “seasonings” and why they lied about it.

The average American has been trained to think that obesity is 99% due to the lifestyle choices of the individual. I think it’s probably closer to 1/3 genetic, 1/3 chemical, and 1/3 lifestyle choices. If it were 99% lifesyle choices, then diet pills and surgery wouldn’t work for obesity, and they do.

But getting back to John’s original point, why are we subsidizing milk, corn, and wheat and not fruit, vegtables, and meats while in the middle of an obesity epidemic? That policy makes no sense.

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