It Figures

With all the concern about the increasing childhood obesity and the health risks involved for overweight adults and kids, you'd think that after creating this new food pyramid the government might invest some of their money toward subsidizing the healthier foods? After all, they already subsidize farmers for growing grains. Many of them sell their grain to other farmers as animal feed. We get the milk, eggs and meat we need as a result of that but we also get cheap stuff used in processed foods.

Subsidies encourage an abundant supply of corn, wheat, rice and soybeans. Much of the corn and soybeans is fed to livestock. Some also is turned into nutrition-poor ingredients in processed food for people. For example, toaster pastries contain partially hydrogenated soybean oil that gives them a flaky texture, and they contain high-fructose corn syrup to sweeten their fruit filling. That translates to lots of calories, lots of artery-clogging fat and little or no fiber.

That's not what we need and yet there are no subsidies given to farmers growing produce.

Know what that means? Junk food is cheaper; the healthy food is expensive. Using the above example of the toaster pastries, it's cheaper to feed your family buying a package of those things than it would be to get the whole grain bread and fresh fruit.

What if you are on a fixed income? How can you go buy a cartful of fresh fruit and vegetables that will take a big portion of your check and not last as long as the cart full of processed food?

And now again: the Department of Agriculture subsidizes the lunch programs in our schools. Which types of foods do you suppose they are going to provide, even though they recommend more fruits and vegetables?

Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns has begun a series of "listening sessions" across the country to gather input for the next farm bill, which dictates how subsidies are distributed. But the department doesn't write the farm bill. Congress does.

I see what I need to do. There are big lobbies that work to keep things the way they are. Maybe I can't change a thing but at least I can speak up and use my vote.

Read the full article here.