Why are we getting sicker as food becomes cheaper?
Emily Woody
Here's an interesting statistic: While the percentage of income spent on food has fallen by half since the 1950s, the societal cost of health care more than doubled.
My questions is, are we really paying less for food? Or are we just paying the full price later in life with a lower quality of health?
Our industrialized food system produces an abundance of food that is lower in nutrients than it was 50 years ago. And it does this by disregarding soil health. Unhealthy soil produces unhealthy food. This style of farming therefore gives us a diet which produces a lower quality of public health.
What if we were to do the opposite? What if instead of mass produced food we instead had food produced by the masses? What if we had many small scale farmers, all farming with an emphasis on creating healthy soil? Healthy soil would produce more nutrient-dense food which would therefore give us a healthier diet.
This of course would make food cost more upfront but would pay dividends later down the road with a higher quality of health.
Which would you prefer? Cheaper food now or better health later?
These are the questions we need to start asking ourselves when we buy our food because the reality is there is no such thing as cheap food. We always end up paying the full price eventually.
My questions is, are we really paying less for food? Or are we just paying the full price later in life with a lower quality of health?
Our industrialized food system produces an abundance of food that is lower in nutrients than it was 50 years ago. And it does this by disregarding soil health. Unhealthy soil produces unhealthy food. This style of farming therefore gives us a diet which produces a lower quality of public health.
What if we were to do the opposite? What if instead of mass produced food we instead had food produced by the masses? What if we had many small scale farmers, all farming with an emphasis on creating healthy soil? Healthy soil would produce more nutrient-dense food which would therefore give us a healthier diet.
This of course would make food cost more upfront but would pay dividends later down the road with a higher quality of health.
Which would you prefer? Cheaper food now or better health later?
These are the questions we need to start asking ourselves when we buy our food because the reality is there is no such thing as cheap food. We always end up paying the full price eventually.
