What can be done?

From author and philanthropist John Robbins: "Americans today spend a smaller percentage of our income on food than any people in the history of the world. And we spend vastly more on disease care than any people have ever done. Meanwhile, we have the highest rate of obesity any nation has ever experienced. These facts are deeply related. The annual health insurance premiums paid by the average American family now exceed the gross yearly income of a full-time minimum-wage worker. Every thirty seconds, someone in the U.S. files for bankruptcy due to the costs of treating a health problem. The chairman of Starbucks, Howard Schultz, says his company spends more money on insurance for its employees than it spends on coffee. In all the heated debate about healthcare reform, there is one basic fact that is rarely discussed – the one thing that could dramatically bring down the costs of healthcare while improving human health. The single most effective step most people can take to improve their health is to eat a healthier diet. The CDS (Communicable Disease Service) estimates that 75% of U.S. healthcare spending goes to treat chronic diseases, most of which are preventable and linked to the food we eat. Today, it’s primarily unhealthy foods like feedlot meat, sweetened beverages, and processed foods with added fats and sweeteners that are the cheapest to purchase. What will it take to turn this around, so that it becomes easier and more affordable for people to eat healthier foods? How can we break the cultural trance that permits industrial fast food and factory farms so much control over both national and state food policies, and ultimately over what most of us eat? How can we create a food system that provides us with foods that are nutritious, affordable, and produced in a sustainable and humane manner? What do we need to know, and what do we need to do, to be part of a genuinely healing food revolution?" What can be done? For starters, educate yourself as to which foods are healthy, and which foods are not: Read nutritional expert Dr. John McDougall"s new book "The Starch Solution". http://peopleforplants.blogspot.com/2012_05_01_archive.html It is a MASTERPIECE.

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