Healthy Economics

Daily news stories would have us believe that we are in perilous economic times on par with the Great Depression. This may be the way to build television ratings or sell magazines but the fear mongering doesn’t always play out in real life. For example it has long been assumed that eating healthy is expensive even in a bustling economy but is it really true?

            Bluntly put the answer is no eating healthy foods is no more costly than eating regular foods. In fact it usually cost less to eat healthy foods prepared at home than it does to eat out at restaurants. To analyze and prove this hypothesis some parameters need to be set.

            First maintaining a healthy diet usually means preparing more foods at home from scratch and dining out less at restaurants. Next healthy foods must be examined in light of established standards. For example you may order a burger at a restaurant large enough to cover a trash can lid but a healthier portion of meat is much less. A standard serving of meat is 3-4 ounces which is usually half of what restaurants offer. Finally we should compare the cost of home prepared meals with prices charged in restaurants. With these guidelines let’s take a look at the cost per individual serving.

            Our menu for this exercise will be roast chicken, herbed rice and wilted spinach. Let’s say that we found boneless and skinless chicken for sale at the local market for $4 per pound, one pound of rice for $.78 and a 10 ounce bag of washed baby spinach for $2.99. The chicken purchased at $4 per pound will cost $1 per four ounce portion; the rice will cost roughly $.20 per half cup serving and the spinach about $.50 per 4 ounce serving. We will add to this meal a wheat roll with butter at a cost of $.15 and add in an extra $.25 for seasonings and other items used in the cooking process. The total for this meal then comes to $2.10 which is probably about a penny per calorie.

            Take this example and begin to plug in other items you like. For example if fresh tuna were purchased for $6 per pound the total meal cost would only increase by $.50 to $2.60 per portion. If a medium sized baked potato were put in place of the rice the difference in cost would likely be less than what could be found in an old pair of trousers. Even if the vegetable portion was increased to one whole cup or eight ounces the cost would only increase by 2 Pac Man games. All of this without mentioning the lower fat healthier meal that you get by cooking at home.

            To be sure I am not against eating out in restaurants. Our area has many great eateries to choose from and I can be found in one most nights of the week. I am however against misinformation and the notion that eating healthy is expensive is simply not accurate. It may absolve one of guilt to say that when they are choking down an entire cheese and sausage pizza but even most of those cost at least $2 per slice. Do the math, when is the last time a family of four ate in a restaurant for less than $10?

           

Consensus: the absence of common sense

Recently my aunt who is the family historian posted some old family pictures on Facebook. One picture of my grandfathers’ mother and aunts taken in the 1930’s or early 1940’s was particularly striking. It was interesting because all of the women in that picture were big. None were fat but they all were stout in stature. The same is true of those in that family line down through the years.

What is really interesting about seeing that picture is that is stands in stark contrast to what we are routinely told about people of that era. They were healthy, they were active and they ate better than we do. In contrast we are instructed that our generation is fat and getting fatter leading to all sorts of diseases and health issues.

The consensus seems to be against us yet for all of the cries and moans of the current health establishment it appears that common sense has been left out of their thinking. Why because not everyone prior to 1980 was thin and without health issues. In fact history shows that those on the heavier side have been around for a long time even without television, fast food or video games the usual suspects in the obesity debate.

 Is there an epidemic of obesity? I think the jury is out on that one. Obesity has been around throughout history and was once considered the way to be by the in crowd. In truth people who are thin and people who are fat get sick and face poor health it is just a part of life. What is also a part of life is that not everyone is the same as some are thin and others are not.

It may be the consensus of science that obesity leads to poor health but as has been said before consensus is the absence of leadership and certainly of common sense.  

The Economics of Eating Healthy and Going Green

At heart eating a healthy diet is a perfectly fine thing to do. By the same token going green by recycling, driving a hybrid car or having a compost bin in the backyard are equally fine things to engage in. Anyone electing to participate in either of these two things gets my full support. When these activities are coerced then I have issues.

Over the past several years our government has lobbied hard for green energy. Millions if not billions have been “invested” in companies by way of loans to bolster what is touted to be the wave of the energy future. Yet the invisible hand of economics has put the slap down on that idea.

 Just this week several stories were published highlighting at least three green energy technology businesses that have gone under. Solyndra, for example, a green technology company based in California closed after having received over $500 million tax payer dollars to start their company some investment huh?  

In other green economic news Chevrolet reported selling only 302 of its hybrid Volt model in August. The Chevy Cruze on the other hand sold over 21 thousand in the same month.  

It may be the fervent desire of many in our nation and the wish of some in our government to see such clean technologies thrive but until there is a greater demand on the part of the buying public for such things they will remain only marginal in the marketplace. In other words the invisible hand of capitalism may be choking the green industry.

How do hybrid cars and solar panels relate to eating a healthy diet? While both are good ideas they still have to compete in the market place. Try as they might well intentioned people in the health industry and in government have preached the healthy diet and exercise sermon. So often have we heard that we now ignore it so their tactics have intensified.

Recommendations have turned into restrictions and regulations on everything from salt to Trans fat to cup cakes at school parties. Even Happy Meals have been demonized for their supposed unhealthy content. On the subsidy side fruits and vegetables have been pushed for decades with various government nutrition programs. To what end have all these intrusions been effective?

Consider that 99% of that we hear regarding nutrition and health is how bad it is. We are tragically obese, unhealthy and getting worse by the day by many measures. Moreover they insinuate we unable to pull ourselves from the plight of this dietary disaster without their benevolent hand. The truth is that the hand at work is not government but economic.

  

 Right or wrong, good or bad the reason fast food and junk foods are so popular is because we like them. For a variety of reasons we like them including price and convenience but still we like to eat there. Burger stands and pizza joints are copious in every town in America because those foods are universally accepted and enjoyed. The same is true of fruits and vegetables because every grocery store in the country has a plentiful supply of these goods for sale. If they didn’t sell they wouldn’t be stocked on the shelf. These laws of supply and demand are all simple truths of economics.

Anyway you slice it eating right or minding the environment are laudable notions. Most do these things by choice everyday without being told to. They do these because they have a personal motivation for doing so not because someone has instructed or forced them to do it. When an individual, a family and community or a country develop a passion for an idea their passion for it is greater than if it is coerced it is usually unbreakable.   

You Got Some 'Splainin To Do!

Daily we are berated by health elitist on what the best ways to be optimally healthy are. Some of those things just seem odd to put it kindly. On the other hand when the so called experts are ignored in favor of eating what you like without being riddled with guilt we are accused of being simple minded and ignorant. The fact is common sense cannot be ignored for long. As for those experts, well in the words of Ricky Ricardo "You got some splainin to do"!

Karan Diwan is a 51 year old TV health guru advocating a holistic approach to nutrition and health, promoting exercise, a vegetarian diet of organic fruits and vegetables. She recommends detox diets, colonic irrigation and supplements, also states that yeast is harmful, that the colour of food is nutritionally significant, and the utility of lingual and fecal examination

Nigella Lawson is a 50 year old TV cook in Great Britain, who eats nothing but meat, butter and desserts.

No explanation needed!

Hurricane Health

Did you notice that there was a hurricane up the eastern seaboard recently? Unless your head was in the sand you surely heard endless news reports on the minute by minute movement of Irene.  Although some sadly lost their lives and major damage was done in a number of areas the hype may have been greater than the storm itself.

Since hurricane Katrina newscasters in true Hollywood fashion have seemed desperate to cover Katrina II the sequel. So they spent the last few days covering hurricane Irene searching for the devastation and looting. In a twenty four hour a day news cycle the coverage has to be filled with something so as is usually the case the bad news leads. So the fear gets repeated and the facts are left out.

This manner of reporting is also how issues of health are often told. The bad news and the fearful things make great splashes across the headlines while the not so interesting truth is resigned to a below the fold position next to the obituaries. Moreover the worst case scenarios and exceptions are often heralded as the rule of the day. To illustrate this consider the so called obesity epidemic.

The Centers for Disease Control and their compatriots in the fear mongering media made great fanfare of the findings in a 2005 study that they said showed 400,000 Americans die each year from and obesity related maladies. No doubt news headlines were filled with mantras like “fat kills” and “the bigger you are the sooner you will die”. The truth that these findings were dubious however did not make the same flash on the nightly news when or if they were later reported.

In a much less publicized PDF file explanation buried deep on their website the CDC later admitted the fallacy of the 2005 study saying “we will no longer use the previous estimate of deaths from poor nutrition and physical inactivity”. Instead they will stand behind a complex computer model that estimates obesity related deaths at somewhere around 112, 000 per year.

So the truth is that relatively few people die from causes directly related to obesity. How is this true, because computer modeling and estimating risk based on assumptions amounts to little more than voodoo science? Another truth that is glaringly obvious is that true science has been replaced with a tendency to manipulate data to fit previously held assumptions. This should never pass for science, especially tax payer funded science.   

In truth are there some whose life and health are negatively affected by their weight? Yes, but is that even close to a majority? Does it even come close to an epidemic? No and many including Thom Naughton whose documentary Fat Head, Dr. Glen Gaesser and his book Big Fat Lies as well as yours truly are beginning to show that weight and health may not be as inextricably related as once thought.

So the truth is that the truth is not always the headline. The truth requires a little digging to find and a little courage to believe.

And that’s the way it is…    

99 Ways To Live To 100!

Recently someone shared these 99 tips on living to 100 with me. Although eating and good nutrition play a part in longevity there are a few other things we can do to live strong and long. Which of these are you doing? Also please note that all 99 of these tips encourages YOU to do something not wait for someone to do it for you.

Unlock your mind. Shoot for the moon. Practice patience. Watch your weight. Catch a firefly. Clear the clutter. Play tag. Tango as a twosome. Fish for fun. Talk with a teen. Lighten someone’s load. Laugh aloud. Be spontaneous. Master technology. Seek wisdom. Trash the tobacco. Plant a tree. Count your cholesterol. Walk the mall. Wish on a star. Love thy neighbor. Stay in control. Ask about aspirin. Get in gear-volunteer. Munch an apple. Lift weights. Solve a puzzle. Search for hidden treasure. Run the treadmill. Create a masterpiece. Believe in miracles. Seek shade. Toss a salad. Jump rope. Fooey on fats. Escape with a book. Turn off the TV. Dance to the beat. Sing out loud. Hold Hands. Quit liquor. Cut caffeine. Picnic in the park. Whistle a tune. Drink your water. Fill up on fiber. Learn from your grandkids. Stay on your toes. Find the big dipper. Surprise a friend. Play outdoors. Drive responsibly. Glory in gardening. Go to a movie. Slow down on salt. Fasten your seatbelt. Pamper yourself. Date your spouse. Dare to dress flashy. Golf with gusto. Swim like a fish. Invent a new game. Bone up on calcium. Be a good buddy. Re-read the classics. Rejoice at the sunrise. Fly a kite. Do self exams. Meditate to music. Keep a journal. Try tai-chi. Bike to the bank. Overcome fears. Pet your pet. Dare to dream. Fly a balloon. Throw a snowball. Laugh out loud. Do what the doc says. Write your memoirs. Get your eyes checked. Stretch those limbs. Watch out for scams. Forgive and forget. Add spices to your life. Shoot the flu bug. Memorize a poem. Show up for checkups. Respect the sun. Stand up straight. Don’t choke on smoke. Focus on food labels. Catch up on sleep. Surf the internet. Relish the rain. Heave ho heavy woes. Bless your abundance. Celebrate simplicity. Look for love in all places. Down with blood pressure. Celebrate differences. Welcome change. Take a hike. Savor the sunset. Believe in yourself. Live it up.  

Everyone Is Doing It!

Between the tender age of 20 and the ripe old age of 65 some will lose their hair, some their eye sight and others their mind but all of us will gain weight. The normal aging process takes a lot from us but leaves us well supplied with the proverbial spare tire or two in the middle. The question is why.

Theories posited by those in the health establishment range from hormonal imbalance to loss of muscle tissue to being less physically active. Some scientists and researchers admit however that the true reason for the phenomenon is elusive. Given that fact it could be plausible to assert that weight gain is a natural part of the aging process. Even those who remain physically active and health conscious in their retirement years still weigh more than they did in high school.

One of the hallmarks of true science is the ability to accurately predict things that occur. Medical science for example banks on the idea of predicting how the body will react to pathogens and medicines. Therefore if it is accurately predictable that we gain weight as we age then that should be referred to as a natural phenomenon. Yet the lion’s share of information disseminated by the health establishment is to lose weight. In fact strict guidelines have been set in place to guide us toward maintaining a thinner frame. Is science fighting against nature in this case?

Anyone who has cared for an elderly person knows instinctively that weight loss is one of the tell tale signs of a problem. When my grandmother was ill some years ago she began to lose weight rapidly. Her doctor instructed that she immediately be put on a high fat high calorie diet for rapid weight gain. She put back those pounds, plumped back up and did much better. Weight loss is not a panacea of good health.

During my clinical work there was a patient in his mid sixties with a rather serious illness. After several surgeries he spent a number of weeks in intensive care on a ventilator. Prior to his illness he was a big man who by current standards would have been considered overweight and perhaps obese. During rounds one day the doctor attending his case noted that he might not have made it if he hadn’t been such a big fellow to start with. During a serious illness such as this the body uses its reserves rapidly so the more you have the better you will be in such cases. This is a good example of how weight can be beneficial.

Extremely obese individuals may experience health issues related to weight but they account for only about 5% of the cases of so called obesity. The rest of us non skinny people may have a spare tire but are not impaired from engaging in an active life.

Could it be that all of the talk of maintaining a certain weight to be able to have a certain level of health and vitality is overblown? If it is natural to gain weight as we age then to try and go against that seems illogical for the purposes of improving health.