No more running for chilaquiles, perhaps

Folks, if you haven't downloaded the HBO documentary "The Weight of the Nation", which is free, then you are missing out on a groundbreaking work.  It is as important as the Time report on our medical system and its costs.

It may change your whole outlook about overweight and your own eating habits, and as terrible as the consequences to our country are, there are some bright spots that indeed shine.

But one thing is for sure: It is much cheaper to eat junk food than it is to eat a healthy diet.  The U.S. governments give subsidies not to the producers of fruits and vegetables, but to those who grow corn and soybeans.  In fact, fifty percent of the agricultural land in the U.S. is in those two crops.  Corn is fed to cattle, who are not adapted to digest it, so they must then be given huge doses of human antibiotics to keep their livers from becoming diseased.  More antibiotics are given to cattle than to human beings.  Cattle have systems designed to eat grasses, not grains, and to roam free, not be penned up and fattened on crap.

The result, as can be seen in the New York Times health section after a search, or at the website of the Union of Concerned Scientists, is the development of antibiotic-resistant bacteria such as e-coli and other infections which have spread into the human population. 

The rest of the corn is used to produce high fructose corn syrup that goes into the sweet junk food we eat.  Subsidised diabetes, in other words.  Subsidised obesity.  Subsidised vitamin and mineral deficiencies.  Subsidised poor nutrition for the poorest sectors of our population.

Check out Square Foot Gardening, and grow your favorite veggies in your yard, on your roof, anywhere you have a little space and some sun.  It may change your appreciation for fruits and veggies.  Just a ten percent loss of weight can reverse a prediabetic condition, return liver functioning to more normal levels and reduce the fat deposited there.

Or go out and use the resource at hand:  Your sidewalk.