You are now the President of the United States.
You ARE now the President of the United States. It’s 2024. It is your first term of office. You were elected with 310 electoral votes and won with 20 million votes over your opponent. Your political party controls both Congress and the Senate with a large majority of votes. Plus, you enjoy wide support from the public.
Your campaign slogan was: “Good Food, Safe & Affordable” because of your deep concerns about the health of all Americans.
Now it’s time to deliver on your campaign promises. Your focus will be on low-income communities because success in these communities will bubble up and improve conditions for the rest of America.
You are shocked and amazed by the current US Obesity Crisis. In 2020, 42% of adults were obese. It is projected that by 2030 half (50%) of adults will be obese whereas 1 in 4 adults will be severely obese. Childhood obesity has become a serious concern.
The goal: A healthy America where its citizens have easy access to good food that is safe and affordable.
You will need to understand WHY the current food and health situations exist before developing policies to achieve your goal. Here are some of the topics to investigate:
• If there is only one human species, why do health disparities exist in socially categorized racial groups? What is the origin of the health disparities observed in socially categorized racial groups?
• Are health disparities confined to (socially categorized) racial groups? Are there other communities similarly affected?
• Life expectancy of Americans is declining.
• Expensive to treat (yet avoidable) chronic diseases are increasing.
• Composition of the US food supply is shaped by USDA polices and farming subsidies.
• In the US of every dollar spent by consumers on food, only 15 cents go to farmers.
• 10 global food companies dominated the food products found in US grocery stores. Most foods are ultra-processed food products.
• Diets filled with ultra-processed foods are suspected of driving the obesity epidemic.
