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Trying to fix our rising health care costs without fixing our food system is like trying to fix our defense budget without ending our two wars in the Middle East. In fact, it would be like trying to get a grip on defense spending while invading Pakistan. Or something like that. Here's what I mean:
This graph shows the percentage increase in health care costs between 2001 and 2006 for people classified as "Normal" weight, overweight, and obese.
In a recent blog post over at FoodPolitics.com, Marion Nestle summed it up best. Recently released CDC stats show that the percentage of Americans engaged in physical activity is remaining stable, while obesity and diabetes rates are rising in tandem with one another. Our problem is food. And given the fact that the problem is getting worse, we've gotta do something about it. Not just for our wallets, but for our quality of life.
UPDATE: I posted this on DailyKos and some people thought I meant that we don't need a public option or single payer, and we should replace those ideas with national weight loss. Nothing could be further from the truth. No amount of food system reform can provide care to the 50 million uninsured Americans. We need Congress to fix that. What I am arguing is that in addition to that, in order to control costs and improve quality of life, we ALSO need to fix our food system.
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