Unlike so, so many out there, we don't give a shit about being perceived as "balanced" or "moderate" -- besides which that usually means "mostly plants, whereas "mostly meat" is unbalanced, immoderate, unsustainable. But most of all, we just care about being healthier and far higher nourished than the "mostly plant" dupes.

So in addition to the three fresh oysters on the half shell I consumed on site, here was today's haul.

Farmers Market Haul

The fennel bulb is explicitly to flavor a crock pot roast (truly amazing). Then there's...

• Raw milk from Organic Pastures
• Leaf lard, 3 pounds of ground beef, and a cross rib roast from Prather Ranch
• Beautiful, 100% grassfed/finished flank steak from Knee Deep Cattle
• 100% pastured bone-in bacon chop, enormous shoulder chop and pork scaloppini from Range Brothers

What you see above was about $115 total. And, I'll actually consume every last bit of it. This is another problem I have with vegetables and fruits. I waste a LOT. I just don't feel like eating them, so I don't and before too long there's no choice but to dump it. Another reason why potatoes are a good option. And they're good nutrition and a quality source of protein.

One thing to note about Prather Ranch, listed above. While certified organic, it's not 100% grass finished.

For all organic feed production, no synthetic herbicide and pesticides have been applied to feed crops for a minimum of three years. The animals spend the majority of their lives grazing on organic forage in irrigated pastures or on grazing land. The organic cattle are finished on a diet of chopped forage, with some organic barley and organic rice.

But only a few minutes reading about their history and practices ought to be enough to convince anyone that this is a super-quality operation. Practices that stand out to me are that they have their own abattoir and only their own cattle are processed there, they transport only in their own vehicles, and they have not introduced any cattle from outside their own herds since 1995.

But here, take a look at this flank steak from Knee Deep up in Oregon. The guy at the Prather booth highly recommended it to me as a grilling steak. I'll find out on Monday.

Flank Steak

And here's an interesting cut that they call the "caveman" cut.

Bone in Bacon Chop

Part pork chop, part bacon, with the bone to form the shape of a club. It's perfect. That's going in the sous vide.

Here's what I'd like to see from all you vendors out there, and pastured eggs guys as well (no retail place or farmers market to get pastured eggs here in the south Bay Area that I'm aware of). Try to get into more farmers markets, more of you. How many dammed fruit and veggie stands selling the same things does a farmers market need. Jesus, already; it's like a goddammed mall and women's shoe stores.

Related posts:

1. Grilled Grassfed Flank Steak
2. Downtown Campbell Farmers’ Market
3. The San Pedro Square Farmer’s Market
4. Bavette, Bone Stock Reduction & Sweet Potato Fries
5. Big Meals to Fuel Big Workouts and Big Gains

So, get started and the rest will follow. Had I told my parents a couple of years ago that it had to be grassfed or nothing, they would have probably figured this dietary style was a bit too pricey for them, too exclusive and elitist. Now they go out of their way (including a 100 mile drive yesterday) to get grassfed beef. Once you know that this is the way you will eat for life, it's pretty easy to make it economical. We're talking high-value dense nutrition. In terms of nutrient density, paleo is cheap compared to the empty, sugar, flour, crap laden junk in boxes & packages.

I just got back from the Campbell Farmer's Market. Wow, it was packed to the hilt and it's a big market. Amongst a few other things like fresh sauerkraut (smoked jalapeno!), a shot of kraut juice, three fresh oysters on the half shell with my preferred vinegar & lemon rather than cocktail sauce (eaten on the spot), and some very fresh scallops I'm going to do sous vide, I stocked up on some grassfed beef from Prather Ranch. Click for the larger image.

Prather Ranch Grassfed Beef

Three pounds of 85/15 ground beef, a pack of short ribs, two briskets and two chuck roasts. In all, 13.5 pounds of grassfed goodness and with the specials factored in, it was $95 (instead of $110). That comes out to a very respectable $7 per pound of tastiness and top value nutrition.

I'm about to throw one of those briskets in the crock pot with a bit of beef stock and one, maybe both of those fennel bulbs. Maybe some onion.

Related posts:

1. Grassfed Beef Meals
2. Grassfed Beef Special – La Cense Beef
3. Farmers Market Take, Today
4. The Grassfed Beef & Lamb Experience
5. Braised Bone-in Short Ribs

After a fairly late dinner and cards with friends, I didn't hit the sack until 1am Friday night. Nevertheless, up at 7 and feeling like I could easily get another 1-2 hours, I headed off to Modesto to meet up with my dad. That was 1 1/2 hours in the car. Then we drove another 100 miles down to Fresno to visit The Vineyard Farmer's Market. It was small, but nice in variety -- unlike a lot of others that are vendor after vendor of fruits & vegetables. This one had two grassfed meat vendors and a pastured egg vendor. And an artisan sausage vendor. And a coffee roaster! For a pretty small FM, excellent variety in covering all the bases.

Also I'm really loving my new camera. Just took delivery on a new lens more for outdoor work. So here we go. If you click on the images you get higher quality but the same size.

Pastured Eggs (the chickens eat bugs as supposed to, not 100% vegetarian)

This final one was shot in my parents' back yard after we got back. Some tree is blooming and the bees are taking advantage of it.

A Bee At Work

Related posts:

1. Breakfast Variety
2. Farmers Market Take, Today
3. Is Grassfed Beef Too Pricey?
4. Downtown Campbell Farmers’ Market
5. The San Pedro Square Farmer’s Market

...Never tried it, and I stated so long ago, back around the last time these discussions heated up. And I never would and, of course, why would I? I've achieved marvelous results as I've pointed out too many times.

Look, I'm not going to question that Dr. Campbell's chosen foods work well for him. I believe it. I believe it can be workable, perhaps ideal for others. I'm not in the least threatened by that. But Dr. Campbell seems threatened by the notion that a WHOLE FOODS eater that includes lots of meat (and sauces from marrow bone & chicken broth I make myself) is just as health and well-being promoting. He doesn't seem to get that the most likely explanation that his diet, Ornish's and mine can prevent and reverse heart disease (see Dr. William Davis' Track Your Plaque website) is because they all have one thing in common: elimination of modern processed foods.

I wholeheartedly agree with the Doc on that point, and we really ought to get on that focus. It's just like Pollan. I respect him immensely for the education work he does. But mostly plants? Nope. Mostly meat for me. It's the crap, folks. It's that crap "food" of modernity, and even the Chinese eat it. Hell, I lived in Japan for 5 years in the latter half of the 80s and they too were already very big into junk. I used to joke (but it's true) that you could sit at the window in a McDs in Tokyo and see 1-2 other McDs down the avenues.

It's the crap, not WHOLE FOOD animal products.

Here's real food. First, you take care and prepare it yourself.

Lamb Chops

A little seasoning, rosemary, and you're on your way. Gather some veggies and cook them up in high quality pastured butter for Christ's sake. I kinda got carried away with the reduction  of the bone marrow stock on this one, a bit too thick but tasty and densely nutritious nonetheless. I did these sous vide, but unfortunately it was a while back and I can't recall what temperature and time I used.

Lamb Chops Sous Vide

Now I ask you, is this really the sort of thing that's destroying America's health, or, is it more likely something like this?

And have you seen the blog by the school teacher who's eating the school "lunches" every day for a year and photographing the "meals?" Go check out Fed Up With School Lunch, but you'd better not have recently eaten. And hey, if ever you're fasting, get hungry and need a helping hand to completely lose your appetite, just keep that site bookmarked. Here's a sampling of school lunch "food."

School Lunch Frankenfood

That crapshit makes airline food look gourmet. You know, when I was in grade school I did my time in the kitchen, and it was a real kitchen with real laddies cooking hot meals each and every day. There was always real meat, real vegetables, and so on. It was served from the lunch line onto plates with spoons, forks & tongs, not in sealed containers. Disgusting. And look how we generally fare in comparison to school lunches from around the world. Or, how about this one, from France.

School Lunch in France

As the author of the article where I nabbed this photo identifies, "In France, schoolchildren are served guinea fowl instead of chicken nuggets." And she goes onto describe her experience.

At one school, students were served a choice of salads — mâche with smoked duck and fava beans, or mâche with smoked salmon and asparagus — followed by guinea fowl with roasted potatoes and carrots and steamed broccoli. For dessert, there was a choice of ripe, red-throughout strawberries or clafoutis. A pungent washed-rind cheese was offered, along with French bread and water. Yes, the kids took and ate the cheese. [...]

In addition to the goodness of the food, there were other good things about these school lunches. First of all, they weren’t rushed. About two hours are given for lunch, a portion of which is used for very loud and active exercise. Second, they were civilized. Food was served on heated plates; real silverware and glasses — not plastic — were used; and the lunchrooms were pretty and comfortable for the kids. [...]

What impressed me most of all about the French school lunch was not just the deliciousness of the food, but that everything about it — the brightly decorated lunchrooms, the gorgeous kitchens, the lunch moms, the chefs — sent such a deep message of caring. To my ears it fairly screamed, “We care about and love our children. They are us, after all, and we want them to eat well and be nourished.”

Unfortunately, that is about the last message American school lunch sends to our children. Instead, we’re saying, “We have to feed you something; it’s gotta be cheap, and we don’t really care about it or you.” This doesn’t mean that those who put the meals out feel that way, but they are mostly given nothing to work with, be it pots and pans or the knowledge about how to do things, like ripen fruit so that it tastes good when it’s offered.

Shameful, isn't it? ...and by that I mean just doing an all-around crappy, not even half-assed job. You know what I think about the state, in general, but everyone with anything to do with this disgraceful mess ought to be made to eat this school lunch crap 365x3 until they clean up their act.

Sticking with France for a bit -- since I lived there and understand very well the French relationship with food -- I was happy to have been sent this article in Time by a reader: School Lunches in France: Nursery-School Gourmets.

"The food is very good, Madame. The meat is 100% French," the official said, picking up a brochure from her desk. I knew this brochure well, having e-mailed it to friends in the U.S. last year as a this-could-only-happen-in-France conversation piece. It lists in great detail the lunch menu for each school day over a two-month period. On Mondays, the menus are also posted on the wall outside every school in the country. The variety on the menus is astonishing: no single meal is repeated over the 32 school days in the period, and every meal includes an hors d'oeuvre, salad, main course, cheese plate and dessert. [...]

I finally saw the system in action earlier this month. Caught short by a sick nanny, my son, who was accustomed to eating leftovers from the refrigerator, sat in silence with his 25 classmates at tables in the nursery-school cafeteria, while city workers served a leisurely, five-course meal. One day, when I arrived to collect him, a server whispered for me to wait until the dessert course was over. Out in the hall, one of the staff shouted for "total quiet" to a crowd of 4-year-olds awaiting the next lunch seating. "I will now read you today's menu," he told them. "First, you will begin with a salad."

Americans struggling with obesity epidemics have for years wondered how the so-called French paradox works: How does a nation that ingests huge quantities of butter, beef and cakes keep trim and have such long lives? It could be the red wine, as some believe. But another reason has to be this: in a country where con artists and adulterers are tolerated, the laws governing meals are sacrosanct and are drummed into children before they can even hold a knife. The French don't need their First Lady to plant a vegetable garden at the Élysée Palace to encourage good eating habits. They already know the rules: sit down and take your time, because food is serious business.

And that's it folks. Food is serious business. It's your first line of "pharmaceuticals" and the way we're doing it here is about like feeding kids the equivalent of crack, by comparison.

Related posts:

1. School Lunch #Foodrevolution in Full Swing (but keep an eye on counter-revolutionaries)
2. It’s Gotta Be The Fat…
3. Julie & Julia
4. More Stupid Nonsense
5. Links and Quick Hits

Without further ado, let me introduce you to enthusiastic reader and commenter, Patrik. He came to me a few weeks ago saying that he wanted to do something to contribute, but rather than another blog or forum, he had something far different in mind. I think it's a good idea and I hope you'll contribute to the effort with your knowledge.

~~~

I am Patrik, a long time Paleo enthusiast and commenter amongst the Paleo community. I remember when most of us were commenting mainly on Art de Vany's blog just a few years ago (seems like eons now) and Richard's blog was more varied in subject matter, and included commentary on politics and other subjects. And now, wow, things have changed very rapidly, Paleo is on the verge of being The Next Big Trendy Thing and Richard is in the spotlight of international media.

For me, eating/living Paleo has changed my life for the better (I won't go into it now). And I have long wanted to deepen my involvement in and give back to the Paleo community. At first thought I surmised I might start blogging, but I quickly realized that I would leave that to people that are more intelligent, more knowledgeable as well as better writers than myself.

But I always thought there might be a way to improve and facilitate (the tremendous and evolving) knowledge transfer within the Paleo community. And so I came up with www.PaleoHacks.com. PaleoHacks is using the StackExchange platform in attempt to do the following:

1) Answer the right questions by letting the community ask and answer them

These questions evolve dependent on where a person is in the Paleo lifestyle.

2) Organize and centralize the Paleo community knowledge

Blog authors don't have to spend time re-answering common questions, plus PaleoHacks is built on a platform to allow for the answers to change/evolve to those same common questions as more experience and information comes to light.

3) Empowering Paleo enthusiasts to help themselves

As Richard has often remarked: Paleo is about empowering yourself and NOT relying on a guru.

So, what is a hack? A hack can be thought of as a rule-of-thumb or quick fix. For example, the quick answers to common problems and experiments, things like what works in terms of IF-ing, Paleo recipes, Paleo lifestyles and Paleo-eque exercises (be it CrossFit or HIT) etc., etc.

In short, what people in the tech world call "hacks".

In sum, Paleohacks.com is an attempt to leverage technology for the Paleo community. I envision it as a site that complements, not competes with, the existing ecosystem of Paleo blogs such as FTA, Hyperlipid, PaleoNu, Robb Wolf, Theory to Practice, Whole Health Source and many other amazing resources out there.

You might be asking yourself, "How is this different from a forum?" Great question. I think the specific functionality and UI of the StackExchange changes user behavior to focus on questions and answers versus drawn out discussions (which certainly have their place in forums elsewhere and/or blog posts/comments).

I envision it serving as an easy-to-use crowdsourced question-and-answer site that evolves with current Paleo thinking, much like I have seen FTA evolve (to Richard's credit). But ultimately, it depends on whether or not the Paleo community finds it useful and helpful. So, check it out, I have seeded it a few questions so you can see how it works. I invite you to ask AND answer questions regarding Paleo. If you have a question regarding X, Y or Z - chances are that there are hundreds, if not thousands who have the same!

Let's have fun with this.

And, we're also on Twitter: @PaleoHacks

Related posts:

1. Friday Update, no Bullshit
2. Wellsphere
3. Ask Mark Sisson
4. Admin Note
5. New to Paleo: Comments, Questions & Adoration

In an article in Pediatric News, Rice Cereal Can Wait, Let Them Eat Meat First: AAP committee has changes in mind...

There is no good reason not to introduce meats, vegetables, and fruits as the first complementary foods, according to Dr. Frank R. Greer, a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics's Committee on Nutrition.

Introducing these foods early and often promotes healthy eating habits and preferences for these naturally nutrient-rich foods, said Dr. Greer, who is a professor of pediatrics at the University of Wisconsin in Madison.

Rice cereal has traditionally been the first complementary food given to American infants, but “Complementary foods introduced to infants should be based on their nutrient requirements and the nutrient density of foods, not on traditional practices that have no scientific basis,” Dr. Greer said in an interview.

In fact, the AAP's Committee on Nutrition is working on a statement that will include these new ideas...

Well I'm glad that in 2010 (already!!!) someone is coming to their senses. Imagine it! What will medical science come up with next? Feed 'em meat! Man, I wish someone had thought of that a long time ago.

Rice cereal has been the first complementary food given to infants in the United States for many reasons, including cultural tradition. By the 1960s, most U.S. infants (70%–80%) were fed cereal by 1 month of age. By 1980, rice cereal predominated, as it was considered to be well tolerated and “hypoallergenic”—given growing concerns about food allergies, he said.

So let's see, General Mills and whoever else were successful in marketing campaigns to get babies off breast milk and onto fructose & soy laden poison commonly referred to as "formula," But That's Not All Folks! You Also Get...RICE CEREAL! Oh; Yay! & Yippee!

So now, 60 years later we've finally developed the scientific knowledge to take you all the way back to the beginning of humanity -- to meat! But not so fast there...

However, newer thinking is that the emphasis for complementary foods should be on naturally nutrient-rich foods. This includes protein and fiber, along with vitamins A, C, D, and E and the B vitamins. In addition, saturated and trans fats should be limited, as should sugar, said Dr. Greer.

Saturated fat should be limited? But I thought this was about "complementary feeding," i.e., in addition to (hopefully) breast feeding, because breast feeding by itself becomes insufficient nutrition at about six months? This post is off the cuff but if memory serves, human breast milk is about 4.4% milkfat; about 55% of total calories. And guess what else? Not only is human milk very high in cholesterol, but about 50% of its total fat is saturated (and there's a few percent of naturally occurring trans fats, too).

So why advise any limitation of "saturated fat?" Haven't you guys gotten the memo? The saturated fat hysteria is DOA. Done. Finished. Dead and Buried. To continue to hold otherwise is ignorant at best, dishonest and life threatening at worst. The best anyone could do for their health is to replace as much sugar & flour in their diet as possible with real foods plentiful in saturated fat.

In light of this thinking, rice cereal is a less than perfect choice for the first complementary food given to infants, he said. Rice cereal is low in protein and high in carbohydrates. It is often mixed with varying amounts of breast milk or formula. Although most brands of formula now have added iron, zinc, and vitamins, iron is poorly absorbed—only about 7.8% of intake is incorporated into red blood cells.

'Cause it's not real food. Duh!

In contrast, meat is a rich source of iron, zinc, and arachidonic acid. Consumption of meat, fish, or poultry provides iron in the form of heme and promotes absorption of nonheme iron, noted Dr. Greer. Red meat and dark poultry meat have the greatest concentration of heme iron. Heme iron is absorbed intact into intestinal mucosal cells and is not affected by inhibitors of nonheme iron from the intestinal tract. Iron salts present in infant cereal are generally insoluble and poorly absorbed.

'Cause it's real food. Duh!

Well, here's some folks who get it. Rex Loves Beef!

Thanks to Dr. Stephan for the tip on this article.

Related posts:

1. What Do You Really Know About Dietary Fat?
2. Dr. Robert Lustig on Fructose: “Alcohol without the buzz”
3. Everything’s Better with Massaman
4. My High HDL “Secret”
5. Marisa’s Comment and Bratty Kids

Let me preface this by saying I'm just starting out on my Paleo/Primal journey. I am also terrible at wading my way through scientific studies, and have the kind of luck where I think I've got something covered, and then some other group of studies pops up and I'm on my ass again. In short: as a layman I tend to steer clear of grand scientific statements, like "fat is good/bad" for fear of sounding like an ass. [...]

However, I come across things like this. [A discussion on Mark Sisson's forum as to whether too much fat can be bad. -Ed]

And I'm more than a little lost. This guy seems to have a rather solid case that one group, who I thought were a prime example of what a good diet could be like, actually have serious health problems. Things like this always leave me worrying that I don't have my ass covered on the data here and, well, I just worry that I might have made a mistake and end up paying for it 20-30 years down the line. [...]

I am serious about committing myself to a diet, even it means a major overhaul, but only if it's right. I just think it's obvious, given what we know about diabetes as well as what man's body is designed to handle, that anything which is basically sugar must be avoided, so it didn't take much to convince me to give these up... but going the other way, determining what I ought to eat has been a lot harder to figure out. [...]

Do you recommend any method for really going about learning to integrate all this data about and learning what is right? I fear that, because I only come across scientific articles from what you and people like Mark recommend, that I'm getting a biased perspective, and not getting a really good, overall view of the data.

Have you read Good Calories, Bad Calories by Taubes? In that book and others (like The Great Cholesterol Con by Colpo) much in the way of studies that supposedly support the "lipid hypothesis" are cited. It should not be difficult to find studies that support conventional wisdom. Just look at the news outlets regularly.

Well I read that whole thread and was quickly reminded why I don't generally partake in such discussions any longer. Yep, I think both the Kitavan diet of 70% natural carbs and the Inuit diet of 80% natural fats are extremes on both ends of the spectrum, are likely both healthful, but, as extremes, are probably not optimal.

I think a person does well to just eat real food better than 90% of the time and don't worry and obsess about it. And, I think that what one likes to eat is something that changes -- ebbs & flows -- over time. Initially, I was big on lots of protein (big steaks). However, since getting better and better at the tasty, fatty sauces I make, I'm eating less protein and I feel fine. Sometimes I like veggies, and then I'll go periods where by the time my fat & meat are eaten (often I end up leaving food) I have no appetite for veggies -- and besides, I often skip the veggies altogether in preference for a couple of enormous teaspoons of full fate Fage yogurt with a few berries, cherries and/or nuts.

I have absolutely no idea -- I have never had an idea -- what my macronutrient ratios are beyond knowing my carbs are relatively low, my fat relatively high, and I'm getting enough protein. I have no interest in knowing specifics beyond that. The more variety and randomness in my diet, the better. I never count anything, never measure anything, and I never will. I tried FitDay for about 2-3 days once and promptly concluded that it was an enormous waste of time, and boring to boot.

Seriously, it absolutely drives me nuts, sometimes, the BLATANT OBSESSION going on out there, and it's certainly not helpful for you and other newbies to the paleo / primal / evfit scene.

For a great book on diet that I'm currently reading, check out Nora Gedgaudas' Primal Body Primal Mind. While Mark's Primal Blueprint is indeed excellent and everyone should read it, it's more of a total lifestyle work, whereas the former is a body and mind integration focused on nutrient intake.

I hope that helps. Don't let people freak you out. This all makes sense and it would be extremely odd if it didn't (make sure to read Part II of my Saturated Fat series that should go up later today or tomorrow). Eat Real Food -- as much or as little as you desire, when you desire, and sometimes eat nothing and sometimes pig out, even on natural carbs.

Related posts:

1. Ask Mark Sisson
2. The Ultimate List of Primal and Paleo Resources in One Place
3. The “Groan” Diet
4. What A “Sterling” Transformation!
5. “U.S. Weight, Lifestyle and Diet Trends, 1970- 2007″

Can this study get any better? Yes it can. The investigators broke down the data into two halves: the first ten years, and the second ten. In the first ten years, there was no significant association between margarine intake and heart attack incidence. In the second ten, the group eating the most margarine had 77% more heart attacks than the group eating none.

That's Stephan, pitting butter against margarine*. Highly recommended reading.

Another tidbit:

People who ate the least margarine had the highest prevalence of glucose intolerance (pre-diabetes), smoked the most cigarettes, drank the most alcohol, and ate the most saturated fat and butter. These were the people who cared the least about their health. Yet they had the fewest heart attacks.

Ha, even smoking is less bad for you than eating industrially processed, fraudulently marketed, government backed and subsidized agri-crap.

*(nasty garbage unworthy of being fed to sewer rats)

Related posts:

1. What Causes Heart Disease?
2. Links and Quick Hits
3. A Mental Exercise
4. Shyam Kolvekar: The Most Stupidest Man in The World
5. Saturated Fat and Coronary Heart Disease, Part I: Introducing Professor Rod Jackson

Schoolkids vote 13-1 to slaughter lamb

A GROUP of schoolchildren who reared a lamb from birth and named it Marcus have overridden objections by parents and rights activists and voted to send the animal to slaughter.

[...]

The decision has provoked fury among animal-loving celebrities, animal and human rights campaigners and the parents of some of the children, and led to threats against Lydd primary school and its teachers, according to a member of staff.

Well, clearly, this is all about the children ("animal-loving celebrities, animal and human rights campaigners and the parents of some") and not about the adults who...

The children also look after ducks, chickens, rabbits and guinea pigs.

The intention had been to buy pigs with the money raised from slaughtering Marcus, but those plans have been put on hold following the furor created by the lamb's culling.

The school said the program may now have to be stopped.

"It's all up in the air," said a member of staff.

"There's been so much pressure on us as a result of all this."

Nope, it's all about the children.

But opponents branded it heartless and cruel, with animal rights campaigners asking why Marcus could not have been used to teach the children about wool, and human rights campaigners worried about the emotional impact of Marcus's death on the children.

A popular talkshow host offered to buy the lamb and give it sanctuary and Facebook groups sprung up to rally support to keep Marcus alive.

But at least the adults had the final say.

But the children had the final say.

The school defended the children's decision, calling it educational.

"When we started the farm in spring 2009, the aim was to educate the children in all aspects of farming life and everything that implies," the school said.

"The children have had a range of opportunities to discuss this issue, both in terms of the food cycle and the ethical aspect.

"It is important for everyone to move on from this issue, so the children can focus on their education."

The continuing education of these adults is not what these children are after. Indoctrination is what they're after.

In the end, they'll probably succeed in turning these adults into children, just like themselves.

(Reader Tin Tin emailed that in the other day)

Related posts:

1. Parents: Stop Killing Your Children Slowly
2. Leftovers Done Right
3. Braised Lamb Shanks
4. School Lunch #Foodrevolution in Full Swing (but keep an eye on counter-revolutionaries)
5. Greetings Real Food Fans; Let’s Get Started

So, I've been stewing about it a bit since reading this op-ed from Michael Pollan sent by friend and reader Kathleen:

Big Food vs. Big Insurance

Let's cut to the chase.

As for the insurers, you would think preventing chronic diseases would be good business, but, at least under the current rules, it’s much better business simply to keep patients at risk for chronic disease out of your pool of customers, whether through lifetime caps on coverage or rules against pre-existing conditions or by figuring out ways to toss patients overboard when they become ill.

But these rules may well be about to change — and, when it comes to reforming the American diet and food system, that step alone could be a game changer. Even under the weaker versions of health care reform now on offer, health insurers would be required to take everyone at the same rates, provide a standard level of coverage and keep people on their rolls regardless of their health. Terms like “pre-existing conditions” and “underwriting” would vanish from the health insurance rulebook — and, when they do, the relationship between the health insurance industry and the food industry will undergo a sea change.

The moment these new rules take effect, health insurance companies will promptly discover they have a powerful interest in reducing rates of obesity and chronic diseases linked to diet. A patient with Type 2 diabetes incurs additional health care costs of more than $6,600 a year; over a lifetime, that can come to more than $400,000. Insurers will quickly figure out that every case of Type 2 diabetes they can prevent adds $400,000 to their bottom line. Suddenly, every can of soda or Happy Meal or chicken nugget on a school lunch menu will look like a threat to future profits.

When health insurers can no longer evade much of the cost of treating the collateral damage of the American diet, the movement to reform the food system — everything from farm policy to food marketing and school lunches — will acquire a powerful and wealthy ally, something it hasn’t really ever had before.

So, think it'll work? Let's just say I'm skeptical: all mega-corporations (which I consider a branch of the state: they exist by state statute and are protected by statute) will do whatever it is that brings them the most revenue at least cost because officers, directors & owners are shielded from liability. If Pollan's logic, above, turns out to be that which accomplishes that objective, then it might work. Otherwise, it will just be more and more money out of your pocket.

But let me be generous and pretend that Pollan's scheme is sure to work. Well, guess what? I don't care.

You see, I have this irritating instinct. When someone asserts that something is sure or likely to work, I have an automatic response: work for whom, and at whose expense? And with striking -- I jest: it's not at all striking -- regularity, institutions and programs of state are designed to "work" for those who aren't bearing the expense. It's kinda the point, right? After all, if everyone was bearing their own expenses, with resort only to friends, family, church and community charity...ah, never mind. ...That would never "work."

But what of the "right" to health care? There can logically be no such thing as a right to goods and services produced by others. We used to have a word for it: slavery.

Sorry; call me overly principled, old-fashioned, or something. I'm just not pragmatic enough. After all, how would the Pyramids have been built? And how about the agrarian Southern United States, circa 1800? I could go on all day, y'know? There's just no end to folklore about how great the state is when they "make the trains run on time." But I know...this is just too important not to have a final solution. After all, final solutions typically "work" for somebody.

So what's my plan, you ask? I don't have one. I might suggest genuine freedom and real free markets -- since that's never beed tried -- but, you know..."that would never work."

I'll end with a modest plea. I'm happy to shut up if we can simply call it what it is, and I'll offer a suggestion: a complex protection racket funded by extortion. And it just might "work." Anyone got anything better?

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