The Vindication of Fat

I've been following with interest lately the plethora of articles about how American's war on fat (since the 1980s) has actually made us fatter and sicker. It seems like every day a new study is published on how fat isn't as bad as we (simplistically) assumed, and how carby crap (although, don't rush to overly simplify carbs either!) is the devil incarnate. Today, I read an article on slate.com called "End the War on Fat: It could be making us sicker," which I thought nicely brought together so much recent research. I'd highly recommend it to anyone who has had a sneaking suspicion for awhile that the food pyramid might be a little, well, back-assward (and just maybe influenced just a little by Big Food...)

Although I could go on and on about food politics here (I'm still on a anti-Republican tear after an extremely unpleasant exchange on the OH message boards about healthcare reform), I'll spare you. Instead, I'd just like to point out how positive it is that we are actually starting to recognize this and call out big food on their crap.  I sincerely hope that the Obama administration can truly be an agent of change in DC, and continue making laws that are truly in the best interest of the American people rather than corporate lobbies. I mean, sure, allow the companies to keep selling junk food all they want, just like they still sell cigarettes (I'm far from a prohibitionist!) - just make sure that it's actually marketed as such, rather than as health food. I mean, junk food's yummy, right?  And I'd like to be able to make the decision to have a Hostess fruit pie if I damn well want to - but quit saying crap like "a trip to the snack cake aisle can be like visiting a country fruit stand" cuz it isn't. It's more like swimming in the Ganges, minus the potential mystical healing powers.

I predict that we will feel about food in 20 years the way we feel about tobacco today - and the fortunes of big food will have gone the same way as those of big tobacco. Our grandkids are going to shake their heads in pity at us the way we do at our poor cig-addicted grandparents.

Related good reads: Is Big Food as Evil as Big Tobacco?  -  Monsanto's Harvest of Fear  -  Michelle Obama calls out Big Food (I have the world's biggest girl crush on Mrs. O!)

Why does a salad cost more than a Big Mac?

Interesting graphic from Consumerist. Of course, those of us on the low-carb bandwagon do benefit more from the 73.8% of subsidies going to meat and dairy than the average American. Unfortunately, those subsidies are going to feedlots and the like, rather than small, humane farms selling to their local communities.
A more interesting graphic to me would emphasize not only how bad government food subsidies are for our health, but also for the planet. Not to mention inhumane. Any graphic designers around?