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Comment by thinkingkong | Hacker News Reader

This is as much a cultural problem as a financial one. Somehow we've convinced ourselves that in spite of the fact that we can afford to provide everyone with good food and access to medical care, that we'd rather give you bad food which causes health care issues and then treat those because it contributes to GDP.

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> This is as much a cultural problem as a financial one.

I live in one of these Diabetes Belt counties. I'd like to add another aspect to the "cultural problem", which is that the median person here eats absolutely horrendously and doesn't exercise at all.

> we'd rather give you bad food

I'd like to believe that people have the agency of choosing what they eat.

> I'd like to believe that people have the agency of choosing what they eat.

They do, but they need to know how to eat a healthy diet. I don't know about you, but I've never once seen a commercial about eating whole foods with vegetables. I am however bombarded on a daily basis with adds for fried chicken and burgers. Some people just don't have the access and education.

I don't think it's an advertising thing though it could play into it.

- Eating a varied healthy diet is a lot more expensive than eating a varied unhealthy diet (if you can eat kale, rice, and beans all day then good for you but most can't)

- We're creatures of habit, if we grow up eating unhealthy we are more likely to continue to as adults. Eating healthy for most people requires cooking for yourself, many never learn this skill or see their parents putting daily effort into meals when they are children.

- Lack of public education around the topic, lack funding for free healthy lunches for school children

I had a friend when I was in school who had the most messed up disgusting teeth I'd ever seen. He had dental insurance, a decent job, decent pay. Turns out he never grew up learning that you're supposed to brush your teeth regularly so he just never made a habit out of it.

> Eating a varied healthy diet is a lot more expensive than eating a varied unhealthy diet (if you can eat kale, rice, and beans all day then good for you but most can't)

Eating healthy is not more expensive. Potatoes, rice, beans, carrots, etc. are all inexpensive. I was in the store today, and a can of Nalley chili with meat and beans is $2.19. It's more than enough for a meal.

I also buy whatever's on sale, including the day older steak which is around half off. A half gallon of milk is $1.99.

Kale, rice, and beans are notoriously cheap! When I worked in a restaurant 20 years ago we put kale out as decoration because no one wanted to eat it. Times change, I suppose.

Fried chicken and burgers really aren't that bad from a diabetes standpoint. You will sustain more metabolic damage from drinking a regular Coca Cola with that fried chicken than from the fried chicken itself.

Broccoli, right now after reading this, I'm choosing broccoli.

That's 50 Calories in a serving. What are you having for the other (let's say) 1950 Calories?

You can have more than one serving of broccoli.

As someone who regularly eats several pounds of broccoli (I love it so much), I can only describe the outcome as a cleanse, of both the colon, and if you survive, the mind.

Broccoli sauteed with garlic and black pepper is awesome. Then served over rice with a cheddar cheese sauce and I'm pretty sure you can get up there in calories if you want to.

Is the median person there dumber than the median person in the rest of the world?

Or are they eating shit, because eating shit is the path of least resistance, and median person travels down the path of least resistance, and if you set up your society such that the path of least resistance results in horrible outcomes, you're going to get horrible outcomes?

It’s not necessarily “dumber”—culture is a thing too. Attitudes towards food and what food to cook and how much to eat are deeply cultural.

> I'd like to believe that people have the agency of choosing what they eat.

Sometimes not:

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_desert

Industry caters to consumer demand. If consumers wanted white meat, fruit and vegetables, they would have been provided as cheaply and abundantly as red meat and corn syrup.

Industry can also steer demand via advertising.

I think that'd be true if chickens were the size of cows and it was easier to grow, say, tomatoes, than corn.

Chicken is already cheaper than beef. A lot cheaper.

Corn is heavily subsidized by the government.

I wonder how the broken window fallacy plays into this. I would assume a healthy population is more productive than a diseased one.

That effects healthcare profits though, so incentives aren't exactly aligned.

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