Healthy food prescriptions could save billions in healthcare costs

[Kaido]

https://www.popsci.com/subsidize-healthy-food-medicare-savings

The study team found that subsidizing fruits and vegetables would prevent 1.93 million cardiovascular events, like heart attacks, and 350,000 deaths from the conditions. Subsidizing fruits, vegetables, and other healthy foods would prevent 3.28 million cardiovascular events, 620,000 deaths, and 120,000 cases of diabetes. The fruits and vegetables program would save nearly $40 billion in healthcare costs, and the addition of other healthy foods would save over $100 billion.

 

[balloonshark]

Why not go a step further and make the governement give more subsidies towards truly healthy foods and lower and eventually eliminate subsidies on foods that contribute to killing us and destroying are ability to live on this planet? Getting rid of all the special interests calling the shots in the government would also go a long way to fixing the problems we face.

 

[TheVrolok]

"But I don't like vegetables" remains a problem unfortunately, as much as I would want to see actual movement made on fighting food deserts and promoting healthy eating.

 

[snoopy7548]

"But I don't like vegetables" remains a problem unfortunately, as much as I would want to see actual movement made on fighting food deserts and promoting healthy eating.

To me, people who say that are just stubborn children. Or they may not realize that you can cook vegetables to taste really freaking good.

 

[Ken g6]

I'd like to see food stamps for all, but only on healthy food.

Of course, the next problem is defining "healthy".

The other problem is that some people can't cook - they don't have the time, the tools, or the knowledge.

 

[pauldun170]

Why not go a step further and make the governement give more subsidies towards truly healthy foods and lower and eventually eliminate subsidies on foods that contribute to killing us and destroying are ability to live on this planet? Getting rid of all the special interests calling the shots in the government would also go a long way to fixing the problems we face.

As someone who lived through the Reagan era "Ketchup is a vegetable" nonsense, I think I know how government subsidies for healthy foods would work when certain political parties wield control.

You'll get that first group of lawmaker who will make the initial pitch of subsidizing fresh, locally produced vegetables.
The end product that will make it through Canned yams, ketchup and chicken nuggets combined with a lettuce drenched in corn syrup. All produced by the one of the major food companies.

Sad part is, several members on this forum probably just read that and thought to themselves "That sounds delicious!!! Will there be diet coke served with that?"

 

[herm0016]

I'd like to see food stamps for all, but only on healthy food.

Of course, the next problem is defining "healthy".

The other problem is that some people can't cook - they don't have the time, the tools, or the knowledge.

WIC only covers thing the state has negotiated a price for, and it changes with the age of the children in the house. babies get a certain brand of formula, toddlers get a gallon of milk, so many dollars of fresh fruit/veg per month, 1 can of PB, 1 tub of yogurt, etc. It's actually a pretty good, healthy list of foods.

we use some benefits for Foster kids when we have them in our home. Many foster kids qualify for the benefits. most states have an app to scan stuff to make sure it qualifies, but the whole thing is overly complicated and difficult to implement on the family level, only certain stores take it, you have to go to a cashier, the system is flaky sometimes and you you standing there, and its not working and you keep telling them its WIC and not a CC and the cashier is not doing the right button... It should be easier. I don't have the answer on how, but it its a lot to manage for a Mech. eng and my wife with a masters taking care of 2 foster kids, then its too hard for a single mom with 4 kids.

we found bread to be the worst. there are 100 different loaves on a store shelf and there is 1 or 2 that qualify for WiC. if the store is out of the one you know, or they changed the skus for some reason it takes forever to find the next one that works.

We do need programs like this, but F*%^ the government knows how to make this shit way more complicated than it needs to be.

 

[whm1974]

I would think any brand of Whole Grain or Whole Multi-Grain bread would qualify for WIC.

 

[herm0016]

I would think any brand of Whole Grain or Whole Multi-Grain bread would qualify for WIC.

NOPE. only a particular brand and size. PB was stupid, some stores did not carry the small jar which qualified, but did carry that brand.

 

[whm1974]

NOPE. only a particular brand and size. PB was stupid, some stores did not carry the small jar which qualified, but did carry that brand.

Only a small jar? Good grief I think went through several good sized ones almost by myself when I was a kid, and I was an only child.

 

[ch33zw1z]

It won't matter if Americans aren't willing to make the change. We could save billions on healthcare right now by people choosing to eat healthier, what's stopping us?

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

It won't matter if Americans aren't willing to make the change. We could save billions on healthcare right now by people choosing to eat healthier, what's stopping us?

Corporations demanding a certain lifestyle from their serfs, laziness, lack of knowledge about food, lack of interest, acceptance of fast food as a 'normal' diet and, the rise of the great God Convenience.

 

[ch33zw1z]

Corporations demanding a certain lifestyle from their serfs, laziness, lack of knowledge about food, lack of interest, acceptance of fast food as a 'normal' diet and, the rise of the great God Convenience.

Makes you wonder why some us know these things, and try to abide the best we can, and other DGAF. I've linked CDC reports on obesity, diabetes, heart disease in other threads.

We learned about healthy eating in school, from our parents, etc...it's kinda strange at this point to claim ignorance

This stuff directly impacts our healthcare costs. For us to further subsidize food costs via insurance just seems like another corporate wet dream.

 

[Kaido]

It won't matter if Americans aren't willing to make the change. We could save billions on healthcare right now by people choosing to eat healthier, what's stopping us?

Makes you wonder why some us know these things, and try to abide the best we can, and other DGAF. I've linked CDC reports on obesity, diabetes, heart disease in other threads.

We learned about healthy eating in school, from our parents, etc...it's kinda strange at this point to claim ignorance

This stuff directly impacts our healthcare costs. For us to further subsidize food costs via insurance just seems like another corporate wet dream.

The core issue is that people operate off human nature. Unless you have a personal food production system, backed by a personal productivity system that will ensure that you are enabling yourself to eat well on a daily basis, then cooking becomes a real challenge for a lot of people. Not because cooking is hard, but because human nature creates a barrier to executing even simple tasks. Everyone on the planet already knows how to get in shape:

1. Eat turkey sandwiches instead of greasy cheeseburgers
2. Walk on a treadmill every day
3. Go to bed early so that you have the energy to cook & exercise and not just feel exhausted all the time

However, for most people, life is not that clear-cut. Our days are filled with distraction & mental fog that results is us losing our focus. Anyone can get a washboard stomach with a 6-pack, but it's so rare for people to actually follow through on that, that you can get a job being a model if you bother to achieve that goal.

My own personal journey went something like this: about ten years ago, I decided to get in shape. I was a beanpole my whole life, but got fat in very short order as I got older. I dived in by exercising a lot (exercise is a chore for me & is not fun) & "eating clean" - lots of plain chicken, broccoli, brown rice, sweet potatoes, and water. It worked, but I did not enjoy it.

After that, I went through many diets, trying to figure out what worked & what didn't. I eventually settled on IIFYM & have been very happy on that for a long time now. I also settled on a calisthenics-based workout routine for keeping myself healthy & in-shape, which I can do at home with no gym. I'm still pretty terrible at going to bed early, but at least I know what works for my body & what doesn't, at this point.

The point is, it took me a loooooooong time to figure out what worked & then to figure out how to implement it, and that was with me actively trying & working on things & chipping away at it for years & years. And despite all of that work, I've still fallen off the wagon from time to time! I don't expect that people universally will be able to magically overcome their problems, change their lives & habits overnight, and make positive, permanent changes for the better in short order just because they have the knowledge, because there's so much more to life than that, in terms of actually making real, lasting change in your life.

I do think that there's a lot to be said for convenience. If your doctor was like hey, you're overweight, your blood sugar is through the roof, all of your bloodwork is bananas, and you're headed for an early death...and then prescribed you a healthy food subscription service that (1) fit your macros, (2) was made of whole foods, (3) actually tasted good so that you would want to eat it, and (4) was relatively convenient to make, well, I think that would probably work wonders because then they're removing so many of the barriers that people face in taking control of their health from a food perspective.

I definitely think that food is one of the best medicines there is. I think that food controls more of people's lives than most people realize: your time, your energy, your money, your mentality in having to deal with it, and so on. Because barring a healthy (and tasty) food subscription, people are stuck relying on themselves, and that is a much bigger challenge than just telling someone to "do better", because it involves a myriad of things, from habit change to personal food production management to setting goals & so on.

Your first point is exactly correct: what IS stopping you from doing, well, virtually anything? No one is stopping anyone from being ridiculously happy, being in amazing shape, eating awesome food every day, finding their dream job, getting a 6-pack, having a spotless house, continuing their education, and so on. And everyone wants all of those things...as TLC put it, no one wants to be a scrub.

But, life is hard, because we get tired, we get lazy, we have barriers...imo, having a healthy/tasty food prescription would literally change people's lives for the better. More people would feel better, look better, have better health markers, be in better shape, and as a result, be happier people because they're not being limited by feeling not so good. I mean, despite everything I know about food & cooking, I still stop at McDonalds once awhile lol. Life is hard. Go away & leave me some fries lol.

 

[ch33zw1z]

@Kaido - lots of information in that post...great reply. I'll reply to a couple points.

1. Baselining your diet is a great way to start
2. Daily exercise is a great thing, but also changing some small things can help. Like not fighting for a close spot at a store, taking the stairs, or making use of technology to help keep track.
3. The hurdles stopping people may actually be medically related, whether or not from long term unhealthy living. But that's life.

None of this matters if you either dont fill the prescription, or dont adhere to a health plan set out by your doctor. Nobody expects perfection, we're only human. But like you, if you stick with it at some majority of the time, then you'll get results.

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

As a chef, I observe what people eat, how people eat, when people eat, where people eat and, why people eat. I can tell you 90 percent of people don't care about food. They eat primarily based on their work schedule and mindlessly put calories in their face preferably without other human interaction. They begrudge the time, money and attention it takes to eat. It's sad and disturbing. I think the answer is to teach kids about food in elementary school and get them excited about different foods then. I don't think the federal government is the right tool to do this because the existing bureaucracy fosters bad eating habits.

 

[Kaido]

To me, people who say that are just stubborn children. Or they may not realize that you can cook vegetables to taste really freaking good.

Two thoughts:

1. Some people are picky eaters, either mentally because they have a barrier, or physically because stuff literally doesn't taste good to them.

2. I really didn't discover until later in life that vegetables could taste good. Roasted butternut squash cubes with EVOO, salt, and pepper has no right to taste as delicious as it does.

I think that (1) learning that veggies could taste good, and (2) doing some work to find some great-tasting methods & recipes of preparing them was a game-changer for me. Previously, I would just microwave or steam a bowl of frozen mixed veggies & plow my way through it because I wanted to maintain my vegetable intake for nutritional purposes, not because I enjoyed it.

I think most of the stubbornness that people have is from incorrect mental worldviews about vegetables, which can typically be cured by (1) adopting a willingness to try things (to try things again or to try new things), and (2) being exposed to really good food. For example, I didn't have really amazing brussels sprouts until like a year ago; they were always soggy, nasty lumps of green mush in my mind before that.

So it's not just about trying the food, but also about having it cooked properly to appeal to you. Potatoes are okay, but French fries are amazing...I'm convinced that pretty much every veggie out there has their own version of a "French fry", where it can be transformed into something amazing & even addicting!

 

[Kaido]

As a chef, I observe what people eat, how people eat, when people eat, where people eat and, why people eat. I can tell you 90 percent of people don't care about food. They eat primarily based on their work schedule and mindlessly put calories in their face preferably without other human interaction. They begrudge the time, money and attention it takes to eat. It's sad and disturbing. I think the answer is to teach kids about food in elementary school and get them excited about different foods then. I don't think the federal government is the right tool to do this because the existing bureaucracy fosters bad eating habits.

Existing bureaucracies are voted in & partially funded by lobbyists, which are driven by big business. There's a reason why meat, cheese, and grains are at the top of the food pyramid instead of fruits, veggies, nuts, etc. There are good people trying to do good work within the system, but at the end of the day, the bottom line is money.

For example, the big milk push back in the day from the dairy industry to "get your calcium"...ignoring the fact that there are a zillion other great sources of calcium in various dark leafy green vegetables, nuts, seeds, etc. I have nothing against milk; it's just not the whole story, but marketing comes from companies with the budget to fund commercials, and that's just how it is.

I can tell you that I didn't care about food for a long time, not out of malice or anything, but simply because life is generally emotional & reactive, and it didn't occur to me that I should care or pay attention to food until later in life. I developed food allergies & then gained weight, and realized that I had no idea how my physical health worked, especially in terms of exercise & diet, and also started to really miss things like pizza, because I couldn't eat gluten or dairy without getting violently sick for days, so I came to appreciate food a lot more & care about it a lot more.

I think that without some kind of trigger like that, it's hard to push someone into caring about food, and it's important to understand that they don't care not because they're dumb, but just because they haven't gone down the path of having to or wanting to care (yet). I'm not a picky eater these days, but I definitely care more about what I choose to eat these days. I still eat at McDonalds sometimes, but because I want to, if that makes sense. I drink Soylent sometimes, which isn't real food at all, haha.

I'm a lot more conscious about food & care more about my body these days than I did in the past, where I only did pretty much mindless eating on the "see-food" diet & didn't much care about the quality or the source. But again, without some kind of trigger to get a person out of the emotional, reactive way of living, then it's hard to blame them for how they eat, because why would they do anything otherwise?

Which is why I think a food prescription would actually be a pretty great idea...I've seen people literally die from diabetes simply because they refused to change how they ate food. Food is a pretty big struggle for a lot of people & can be a real barrier, so something like a healthy food prescription just might be the ticket for fixing that. It'll never happen, of course, but it's a nice idea! Hahaha.

 

[herm0016]

I do think that there's a lot to be said for convenience. If your doctor was like hey, you're overweight, your blood sugar is through the roof, all of your bloodwork is bananas, and you're headed for an early death...and then prescribed you a healthy food subscription service that (1) fit your macros, (2) was made of whole foods, (3) actually tasted good so that you would want to eat it, and (4) was relatively convenient to make, well, I think that would probably work wonders because then they're removing so many of the barriers that people face in taking control of their health from a food perspective.


But, life is hard.

ex:
life is hard and when you are stressed you eat worse which makes the stress worse.
we had 2 extremely difficult foster kids for about 8 months. came to us as 2yo and 8 weeks old. the 2yo would be awake screaming from about 11 to 3 or 4 am and the baby woke up to have a bottle multiple times a night.

we did not sleep and ate a tone of take out as we both have full time jobs. It was terrible.

recently and after those kids left we started doing 3 meals a week with hello fresh. it is a service as you describe. We go out less which actually saves us cash as well.

and we are people that love food, and cooking, but its tough when you spend all day working and are out of decisions by 5 pm. the meal service makes all the decisions for you. just follow the directions.

 

[KeithP]

How about we just start requiring that people that live unhealthy lifestyles shoulder 100% of any costs, healthcare or otherwise, associated with said lifestyle?

-KeithP

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

How about we just start requiring that people that live unhealthy lifestyles shoulder 100% of any costs, healthcare or otherwise, associated with said lifestyle?

-KeithP

Who decides, the great orange one or, one of his fine sycophants?

 

[ElFenix]

How about we just start requiring that people that live unhealthy lifestyles shoulder 100% of any costs, healthcare or otherwise, associated with said lifestyle?

-KeithP

because it might not be behavioral

But as the experiment went on, researchers began encountering anecdotal evidence that surprised them. The people who moved out of poor neighborhoods were healthier. When they went back and measured the differences between people who got vouchers and people who didn’t, the results were remarkable: The people who got vouchers to move to low-poverty neighborhoods had significantly lower rates of obesity and Type 2 diabetes.

Robert Whitaker, a pediatrician and public-health expert at Temple University, co-authored a report on the HUD study for the New England Journal of Medicine in 2011. “By dint of the design, the cause of the difference in diabetes and obesity was the voucher and the move to a less-distressed neighborhood,” Whitaker says. “The amazing thing is that the cause of the difference in obesity and diabetes was the move.”

https://getpocket.com/a/read/2418923350