The fiscal cliff was the main topic of discussion at today's meeting. So why is this blog post about food? Simple, our diet determines our heath and healthcare cost will dominate the Federal budget as the boomers age. In our discussion, it was pointed out that the healthcare crisis will not be solved unless we improve the American diet. While we don't like the idea of the government telling us what to eat, there is one area where government guidance is welcome, school lunches. After all whose going to take care of the sick old people if the young people are also sick.
Here is a TED talk about what was wrong with the school lunch program. Talks like this, has inspired Michelle Obama to champion the new school lunch rules, which came into effect a few months ago. Unfortunately, with so much other news, we did not discuss the school lunch diet, even though is could have a profound effect on the nation's long term future.
So let me use this blog to open the issue. Was the new school lunch program rules an example of good government or bad government?
I think that the new rules focused too much on fats and not enough on sugar. Whole milk was banned, but there were no rules against sodas. It is hard for the government to make rules about food while there is still, so much controversy on what is healthy.
ReplyDeleteWhile riding home from the discussion group I heard the last 15 minutes of the Diane Rehm show on WAMU. The topic was sugar and the guest had written a book, I didn't get the title. He mentioned that whole milk was better than flavored skim milk because the sugar content was less.
DeleteI found the book you heard was listed on the Diane Rehm website. The book is "Sugar: The Bitter Truth" by Dr. Robert Lustig. I think that Dr Lustig was on 60 Minutes and he has a popular video on YouTube.
ReplyDeleteLink to video
Food is an important but narrow/limited avenue to address health care policy
ReplyDeleteThe fiscal cliff (still don't know what the term means) was our group's first and most discussed topic because it was a major news item last week. What was not a ma news item and should have been was the role and size of our government(s). After all we are a federal system, Washington is the national government. The cliff in my opinion is a symptom--certainly in the news, but begs the question of the role and priorities of our federal system. The extent of taxes and debt in my view follows what "we the people" instruct our elected officials.
As a starter of looking at the federal system's priorities I focus on the president as the only elected official who has a "national" constituency. All other national elected officials represent states or or districts.
Given the divisions in Congress the president should lay out his vision of the role and scope of government.
I look to the presidents state of the Union speech to see what is his vision for the USA.
Vince