The goal of food companies is to sell you more. It has been called the “Eat More” message, and it has permeated our society and affected all who adopt and pursue it. Side effects of this strategy include obesity (anyone see those Belly Fat ads? Mmm mm good), chronic health problems, immune disorders, and vulnerabilities in places we never knew we had. The relentless Eat More message has become More Mess for all of us.
How has this happened? Let’s just say, these interesting economic times we now live in were spawned by the same forces, just a slightly different flavor. Through the hearty and stoic efforts of Big Ag, Big Farma, and their corporate compatriots, not to mention the assistance of the FDA, the USDA, Congress, and those who control our science, resource and technology agendas, we’ve lost a good measure of “control” of our food supply. (We’ll come back to that control issue later).
Laws, policies, and decisions about our food have been made not with our health and welfare interests (yours and mine) in mind but with the eye on the short-term money-making get rich quick deal making mentality that has gotten us to where we are now. Interesting indeed, like in the auspicious Chinese type of way.
Like quick and easy mortgages and free-wheeling consumer credit, the Eat More campaign works in the short-term in part because food companies sell food, lots of it at seemingly low prices. How? By loading up on subsidized corn and soy (that way they get paid a few extra times), and churning out newer, apparently tastier and maximally processed products (heck, they’re a far cry from true food), they accomplish a mission: Eat More.
Eat More, however, has brought with it realities far harsher than belly fat. Our food supply is horribly broken, as is our health care “system” and all the hand waving has not stopped the above-mentioned machinery that may have many successes, but looking after our Sustenance Satisfaction Index isn’t on the list.
What this means, of course, is that we have to wake up, speak up and get down (ok, not everyone has to get down). Pay attention and question who is behind the products you pick up at the market. Think about what the ingredients are and where they might have come from. You may not know what all the terms mean (who does, except food company insiders?) but get the gears cranking and consider that you too have a choice on what kind of food supply we live with. We all do. We can speak up and create eating habits independent of the Eat More messages that pervade our lives. Got it?