Fixing Health Care isn`t the Answer

Politicians of all stripes have solutions to our heath care crisis, whether it's giving everyone access or letting the free market rule.

But you can't solve health care without solving health. Otherwise the current cycle just continues.

That cycle, discussed in my previous column, is based on health fads, each promising to fix our health with new supplements and enhanced foods, and each fad in turn proving to be insignificant or counterproductive. Look for example at the now discredited low-fat craze still driving many diets.

Will today's fads (super fruits, omega-3 fatty acids, and vitamin D) follow the same pattern?

It's taken us 10,000 years to adapt to dietary changes resulting from the invention of agriculture. Some of us still can't eat wheat and dairy. How can we thrive on foods invented in the past few decades or less?

Is an antioxidant really better than fruit? Refined flour better than whole grains? Factory-raised meat better than wild game? Pasteurized non-fat hormone-treated milk better than fresh whole milk? Vitamin water better than real water? "Natural flavor" better than any real food?


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Real Health Foods

Imagine that you are the owner of a health food store who is cryogenically frozen for 200 years. When you wake up, you are told that everything you sold at your store is actually bad for you, and all the stuff that was supposed to kill you is actually good for you.

That's what Woody Allen finds out in his science fiction movie, "Sleeper." But it may also be the key to America's health care crisis.

It turns out that the food industry in this country has been lying to us for decades. Every time they come out with a new product they say is supposed to be good for you, it most likely is just the opposite.

Industry has accomplished much positive. Food is now much cheaper, it transports more easily, it doesn't spoil as quickly and it is much more convenient. People that were starving before are much more likely to be able to afford food.

But this progress has come at a huge cost. Each bit of processing brings a food item one step further removed from the foods we evolved to eat.


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ABCDEFG Haiti

I'm pretty frazzled these days. As of a couple weeks ago, I'm organizing a fundraiser for the earthquake victims in Haiti.

The event is Feb 19 at the Elks Lodge in Boulder, and you can get all the details and buy tickets here.

The event is a Mardi Gras party, with live music, food, a silent auction, and lots more, all benefiting the American Red Cross Haiti Relief and Development Fund. Tickets are $25. I encourage all my readers in Boulder to attend, as it will be amazing fun and is all for a good cause. If you're in town, you won't want to miss it.

It all started a few days after the earthquake. I was on my bike, and while riding the pieces all just took shape in my head. When I got home I started contacting people I know who either were energetic and could help or who knew people who could help.

When I started I doubted that something this big could be pulled together so quickly. But so many people feel strongly about the cause that it's been pretty easy (although the number of details is making my head spin -- and my head isn't the only one spinning).

The venue was pretty easy, I just had to ask. After the first musician, the rest followed. Now we have more than we can fit into the time, and are having to turn away some great acts that want to support us. We discovered a sound engineer who could do the event. One of my friends took charge of the food and found a gourmet chef who was willing to help. My friend's brother is an amazing graphic designer (see above). Donations for the auction are starting to roll in.

It's mostly about the music, food, and auction, but we're also working on a number of other surprises, just to keep it interesting and relevant. We'll have a slide show from Haiti, and hopefully some good guest speakers who can tell us what's been going on there.

So, if I seem a little loopy these days, cut me a little slack. It's all for a good cause.

Smarter than Mother Nature?

While traveling from mainland Ecuador to the Galapagos Islands, I wrote about how a species, whether bird or human, can actually drive itself into extinction through the actions of a few rogues. We're back now, and I have a few more thoughts on the topic.

I still haven't organized the hundreds of pictures and videos I took in the Galapagos, and I'll post more when I can make some sense of them. But here is a picture of Lonesome George, the very last member of his species, the Pinta Island Tortoise. He is kept at the Charles Darwin Station on Santa Cruz Island in the hopes that eventually another of his kind (hopefully female) will show up in some private collection sometime in the next century (his expected lifetime), to keep this species alive. For companionship, he shares his space with a couple of females of a different species of Galapagos tortoise, but the hybrid eggs produced, even if they hatched and were fertile, would not be the same species.

George is so lonesome because, prior to the protection currently enjoyed by the native and endemic species of the archipelago, the giant land tortoises and other animals were hunted extensively. Four species (out of fifteen) of the tortoise are extinct and the fifth is down to just George.

During the down times on the boat during our cruise, I read about Easter Island, among other things. Easter Island is about 3000 kilometers southwest of the Galapagos. When the Polynesians first moved to Easter Island, they built an amazing culture. It is symbolized by the Moai, huge stone statues like the one shown here, up to 33 feet high and 82 tons.

But the Polynesians destroyed the ecosystem on their paradise island. They destroyed all tree species, which meant they could no longer build, transport, and erect the statues, nor could they make seaworthy vessels for fishing. They destroyed most of the food sources on the island as well, and descended into cannibalism by the time the Europeans stumbled onto them.

These examples make it clear that people can have a huge impact on their environment, and that they have the capability to literally make their home unlivable. In the middle of the South Pacific, the Easter Island natives had nowhere to retreat (and no more ability to build any vessel capable of getting them anywhere else). Similarly, the human race is stuck on this planet. If we mess it up and are forced to eat each other, don't say I didn't warn you.

Be Prepared (for Coronary Heart Disease)

It's time for my annual rant against the Girl Scouts' sale of cookies with misleading health claims. I got the call from my niece today asking me to buy some of these cookies, and I can't turn her down. But that doesn't keep me from whining to my loyal readers.

As I've reported for the past two years, the cookies are advertised by the Girl Scouts as having zero grams of trans fats. But if you read the ingredient lists carefully, you will find partially hydrogenated oils in them all. This means they claim zero grams on merely a technicality -- the FDA's rule that companies can say they have none even if they have up to a half gram per serving. And they get to determine the serving size. This means that the typical real-life serving likely has a gram or more of trans fats.

Message to the girls: It's ok to lie to make a sale, as long as that lie is sanctioned by the U.S. government.

Trans fats are not in any way required or beneficial to health. They have been strongly linked by research to coronary heart disease. There is no safe level of consumption -- any increase leads to a corresponding increase in risk of heart disease. 30,000 people die each year because of trans fats. Therefore, the National Academy of Sciences has recommended that consumption be as low as possible.

In addition, trans fats have been linked to increased obesity, liver dysfunction, and infertility. Questions have been raised, but links haven't been proven, relating to cancer and diabetes.

Message to the girls: Making money for the troop is more important than the health of the customer.

Girl Scouts of the USA, I call on you to force your bakers to reformulate your cookies to actually and totally remove the trans fats from your cookies. Teach your girls that you don't have to lie to make a sale, and stop contributing to the heart disease and obesity epidemics in this country.

By the way, if you read the ingredients closely, you'll notice that partially hydrogenated oils are listed before cocoa, peppermint, and everything else other than flour and sugar. But they clearly don't advertising the cookies as having zero chocolate or zero mint.

Un Poco Local: The Carbon Next Door

I previously advised against buying carbon offsets. However, lest you think there's nothing you can do about global warming, I wanted to give you some ideas. Something more than the standard "use compact fluorescent bulbs, drive a hybrid, install insulation, ride a bike." This the first in a series of posts on real things you can do to reduce your "carbon footprint".

Here's something you may not have thought about. Every time you buy something, you are paying somebody else to use energy and emit carbon on your behalf. The product was transported to the store where you bought it. It was manufactured. It was packaged. The things that went into its manufacture and packaging were themselves transported, manufactured, grown, and otherwise processed. And every step along the way, energy was used and carbon was sent into the atmosphere, contributing to global warming. This is true for everything from the simplest (like a head of lettuce) to the most complex (like a house or a car).

You can't just stop buying stuff, and I'm not going to suggest you do so. And, without a huge grant and access to proprietary info from every company you do business with, there is no way to calculate the true impact of what you buy. But there are a few things you can do to get a clue, and you can use that clue to influence your decision on what to buy.

1. Look at the number of ingredients. This is easier with some things than others. But next time you are at the grocery store, pick up two packages of the same type of product made by different companies. Count the number of lines of ingredients listed. You can guess that the one with the longer list had a bigger impact when it was manufactured.
2. Buy the product with the least processing. Every step someone took to create this wonderful product used energy and contributed to global warming. That's right, organically grown, whole-grain, unenriched, zero additives, and all those other things that are supposed to be good for you also have less of an impact on the environment. Oh, and packaging also counts as a step in the processing chain, so less packaging is better.
3. Buy local. This is not just to support your local economy, local farmers, and local businesses. Local products don't have to be transported over long distances to get to you.

Remember, every time you buy something with one less ingredient, one less layer of packaging, one less manufacturing process, or one less shipping step, you are paying one fewer person to spew carbon on your behalf.

Whole Fools

I previously reported that John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods, made some stupid antitrust-ish comments, in writing, while attempting to purchase rival Wild Oats. Now, it's come out that he's been trash talking Wild Oats on Yahoo's finance forum.

So let's get this straight. First anti-competitive statements in discoverable documents, in the middle of a merger. Then, surreptitious stock price manipulation of the company he is trying to purchase.

John Mackey needs to resign or by fired by his Board of Directors. Then, the Board needs to get on with cooperating with any DOJ or SEC investigation of Mackey's actions.

I can't see that the merger can still proceed at this point. Whole Foods management should call it off now, take full responsibility for the failure of the merger, and pay Wild Oats the full $15 million termination fee.

In the meantime, we'll have to hope that Wild Oats didn't put all of its eggs in the Whole Foods basket and can somehow pull through this disaster.

Full disclosure: Although I own stock in both companies, I am not an employee, director, manager, or even CEO of either. And my name is not Rahodeb.

Wild Foods: Mixing Trust with Antitrust Leads to Total Annihilation

I can't believe what John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods, said. I'm not the CEO of a multi-billion dollar company. Yet, my employer makes sure that I understand antitrust law well enough to know when to shut up, and what not to put into writing. Whole Foods is trying to buy its biggest rival, Boulder-based Wild Oats. And Mackey actually wrote in memos that the merger would eliminate competition and prevent a price war. Doesn't the man understand that while in the middle of an attempted merger all of these documents are discoverable and will be seen? He may have created and grown a hugely successful business, but he clearly needs to either hire some better lawyers or start listening to the ones he already has.

Full disclosure, not only do I shop at both stores, I also own stock in both companies. I have not offered my Wild Oats shares for sale to Whole Foods, but if the merger does go through I will have no choice. Also, the merger is likely to have a big local impact in Boulder -- in addition to the Whole Foods (already slated for expansion), there are three Wild Oats stores, plus the brand new Wild Oats corporate headquarters. Undoubtedly, at least one of those locations will close after the merger, reducing our shopping options.

Here's what I don't understand about this merger. Wild Oats shareholders have already tendered (as of a few days ago) about 58% of the outstanding shares of the company to Whole Foods. That's enough to make the merger happen, absent legal issues. Whole Foods is now under an injunction against acquiring any more shares, and injunction is in effect until July 31. They have recently extended the deadline to tender shares until July 20 -- but the company will be under injunction against proceeding with the merger past that date. Whatever will they do?

Unfortunately, although there may be some downsides to the planned merger, it is probably far enough along that it would have a huge negative impact on Wild Oats if the deal is killed. If Mackey can't convince the FTC that his anti-competitive comments were just meaningless bluster, it will probably be left to someone else to come in and pick up the pieces.

Anyone want to buy a health food chain cheap?

Girl Scouts Gone Wild

It was one year ago today that I wrote about the scandal of Girl Scouts lying about the content of their cookies. And, right on cue, I received a call today from my young niece, soliciting me to buy some of these treacherous cookies.

While I was talking to her, I checked online. Yes, the ingredients lists of the cookies (at least the varieties I checked) still include hydrogenated oils. Yes, they still claim zero trans fats.

Again, I call on the Girl Scouts of America to stop teaching their members to lie just to make a sale. Ok, the FDA has said it is ok to claim zero grams of trans fats even if there is a small amount. But that does not make it right to teach these young girls that it is ok to make a sale based on a false claim.

What did I do? Ok, I admit, I bought four boxes. But that doesn't mean I'm going to eat them.

Hmm, maybe I should set up a table down at the mall and sell them. I would certainly have to put a health warning on them, though.

Girl Scout Scandal

I admit it, I stashed a few boxes of Girl Scout cookies on the shelf in my office, for days just like today. Today I broke open the Peanut Butter Patties. As I snacked, I read the label. Zero grams of trans fat. Good, I watch what I eat, and trans fats are right at the top of the list of things I avoid. When I bought them from my niece, I made sure that I picked the ones with none of that bad stuff.

Then my eyes glanced at the list of ingredients. There it was. "One or more of the following partially hydrogenated oils: palm kernel, soybean, cottonseed, palm."

Did my eyes deceive me, or did the box say there were no trans fat but list partially hydrogenated oil as an ingredient? I had to get to the bottom of this.

Well, here's the scoop. When the FDA created the new rule forcing food distributors to put the amount of trans fat on the label, they made an important exception. If the amount per serving is less than half a gram, they are allowed to list it as zero grams.

What this means is that when you sit down and eat your realistic serving of peanut butter patties (I won't tell you how many I ate today, but it was more than the official serving size of two cookies), you are probably getting a gram or more of trans fat.

So, the Girl Scouts are just playing within the rules supplied by the FDA, right? What could be wrong with that?

Well, when the Girl Scouts proudly announce that they have made several of their cookie flavors trans fat free and use that as marketing information, when in fact they are not trans fat free, they are sending a very bad message to the girls. They are teaching them that it is ok to lie just a bit, as long as it helps sell your product and as long as the lie is pretty much in line with government rules.

Sounds like these girls are going to grow up to be fine members of Congress!

I guess that's the way the cookie crumbles.