I've written about my family on these boards before, but in the past few days, they have journeyed from our tiny town in Montana to visit me in Los Angeles, where I currently reside. My mother and youngest sister were walking down the street with me. We were in the park and sat down on a bench to rest. My sister was drinking from a juice box that, from the label, it was very clear that she was drinking Hi-C. A young woman (with her own toddler) was strolling by and felt compelled to let my mother know that Hi-C contains high-fructose corn syrup and is BAD for you. When my mother told her to mind her own business, the thick Midwest accent gave her away as a 'yokel'. The woman went on to state that Hi-C is not sustainable OR organic, and is detrimental to my sister's health. Thank God this didn't happen the day before, when we were in the same park with Kool-Aid!
Today, on my nightly news, I noticed a segment that placed a huge amount of blame for current healthcare costs on obesity and also suggested that a "vice tax" on unhealthy food, especially soft drinks and liquids in particular, could be foreseeable. These two incidents to me really get at a crucial aspect of current nutrition and food policy, and one that policy makers seem really loathe to address - and that is the classism inherent in the decisions being made about food.
Food policy in the US is messed up - I have no argument there. However, I really think vice taxes are a terrible idea. The products that would be taxed - those containing the dreaded high fructose corn syrup, trans fats, ect. - are also some of the cheapest foods out there. These low-grade, easy to produce ingredients make it so. So it logically follows that these foods would become staples of the middle and upper classes, as opposed to the better off. And that's exactly what has happened. Your far more likely to enjoy McDonalds and Coke and Twinkies if you don't have the money to buy anything else (or don't live in an area where alternatives are available). There's a great scene in Food, Inc. (which is actually quite good) where a woman explains to the camera that for the price of a small order of produce, she could buy a large order of meats and other, less nutritional foods and feed her entire family.
Yes, I have heard it repeated that being vegan/green/organic does not have to be expensive. And I'm sure that that is true. But I haven't seen it. For a week of groceries at Whole Foods takes almost my entire paycheck, whereas at Shoprite with non-organic versions, it's a lot less. Guess where I shop. It's also an issue of privileged availability. I eat better here than in Worden, where if it's not available at a fast-food place, Wal-Mart, or a local corner store, YOU DON'T EAT IT. And that's the way it is. But still, a huge amount of guilt and blame seems to be getting laid at the feet of consumers, who are made to feel terrible for makes choices that better fit their budgets. And I don't get it.
I understand that the environmental/green/sustainable food movement is important - and I support it. I love the idea of CSAs and revamping American food policy to better support nutrition and helping people make better choices. But those problems should be laid at the feet of the policy-makers, not people who are doing what they can do within their means. Making a judgment about a family letting a child drink Kool-Aid or Pepsi or eat packaged cookies is a classist action, and ultimately a really feel-good exercise in making oneself feel superior. Spare the sympathy, I say, and take up the fight with the people who can change the policy, not those affected by it. And no to vice taxes.
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i totally agree with what you're saying. it seems ridiculous to tax the food like that will help people already struggling with bills. i do eat a very clean healthy diet (no meat etc.). but i don't shop at wholefoods. I do the best i can at the local everyday grocery store, buy in bulk and make most things from scratch. i realize that's not reasonable for some people and that's cool with me. people do the best they can, it's really all they can do!
I would agree with you about not taxing cheap but unhealthy foods directly, but I'm not sure that cookies and soda are the best examples. First, it's not just poor people who drink soda and eat cookies; most middle and upper-middle class people do too. Second, those aren't actually food, and them being unavailable or more expensive would by no means hurt lower-class people.
What did you have in mind for the policy-makers to do? I'm not sure quite who/what you're referring to.
I'm not sure that a "vice tax" on things that are not food and are unhealthy (soda, for example) would be bad, but I don't think it would work for things that are food but are just unhealthy. I'd rather see financial incentives for small urban groceries to carry cheap and healthy food (rice and other grains, various beans, and potatoes are all good examples).
Oh, and that woman was a douchebag. I hate when strangers try to proselytize to you.
Wouldn't it be easier to just stop subsidizing corn? The savings there a further tax would be needed.
Because Midwestern states make up a big chunk of congress and include Iowa.
Well, subsidize corn LESS, and subsidize other fruits and veggies MORE.
^tax wouldn't be needed
You know what's cheaper than pop or kool-aid? Water. Adults can eat what we want, but when people are feeding their infants potato chips and children are obese we obviously have a problem.
There's just one problem with that - good water is still a privilege in many places.
Bottled water is actually more expensive than most equivalent amounts of manufactured soft drinks. A six pack of water actually usually costs more than a six pack of soda.
Well, use your tap water, you'd say. Well, you can - if you live in an urban or suburban area that has an effective water treatment system and environmental pollution has not rendered the water toxic/undrinkable (yes, this still goes on). Shocking I know, but half on Americans are still rural dwellers who get water primarily from groundwater/well sources.
Saying "drink water" instead is not a solution per se - and it also still lays the blame at the feet of low-income people who drink these things because they are the cheapest available, mostly do to the giagantic corn sunsidies our government doles out - and seems to plan on continue.
Doesn't kool-aid go in water?
Yes, if you make it yourself. Kool-Aid can be purchased pre-made in bottles in supermarkets.
I am making the point (one that shocks many) that in many parts of this country, clean drinkable water is still a privilege. There are charities that do a lot of work taking water filters into rural and low-income communities. You know that it happens else where in the world, so it should come as no shock that it happens here.
That some Americans are living without the drinking water systems available in most of rural Namibia is obviously a problem. I don't however think that's a driver for this: http://health.usnews.com/articles/health/diet-fitness/2009/07/27/health-buzz-obesity-costing-america-billions-and-other-health-news.html
Well sure, obesity is a problem for a lot of people. But that doesn't mean that the current methods being suggested to deal with it (vice tax, raising certain food prices) is the answer. I would like to see some subsidies from corn transferred to other produce. I would like to see the farming industry itself transferred from mega-sized commercial factory farms back to family and individual farmers who produce better product for lower cost. I would like to see people be given more options of what to eat for the same dollar amount.
However...
That was not your original comment. Your original comment was a flip "well, drink water instead!" That's a privileged statement, because it doesn't cross most people's minds that a lot of Americans cannot drink the water in their communities. It's a privilege, one your comment shows you clearly have (at least where you are now). And most people have this privilege (I did!). However, a lot don't. So solutions as simple as yours (which still place the burden on individuals as opposed to attacking a system which seems to, if not encourage obesity, at least turns a blind eye) really aren't solutions in the lonf run - it's too complex of a problem for such a simple answer.
Can you tell me what percentage of Americans don't have access to clean water as cheap or cheaper than kool aid or pop? I could well be "privileged" about this, in which case you are free to correct me, but I don't know that the percentage of our population is high enough that a switch from colored sugar to just water wouldn't be an affordable health improvement for the vast majority.
Family farms went under for a reason - the corporate farms are more efficient and thus more profitable.
If we went back to "family farming" we'd be paying more for inferior food - and that would hurt the poorest people the most.
And if we went back to the old days of small technically backwards farms, we'd need a lot more workers to pick America's crops - but they'd have to be paid even lower wages than farmworkers make now (and that's saying something, because most farmworkers make minimum wage or less!)
Sorry to nitpick, but "half on Americans are still rural dwellers" just isn't true according to the census: http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/planning/census/cps2k.htm
It says that a little more than a fifth of Americans live rurally. I haven't been able to find any citations on use of well water vs. other water, except for some website that said 60% of Americans drink bottled water.
Do you have a citation for your claim? I'm not being snarky. I'm genuinely curious.
ElleStar,
The stats you're referring to, I believe, are in reference to world population overal (which is now mostly urban) - my comments about safe water were in reference to the United States (sorry if I didn't clarify that!)
Here is an article about the world urbanization:
http://www.forbes.com/2007/06/11/third-world-slums-biz-cx_21cities_ee_0611slums.html
The United States city population in the 1990s was about 41%. Since the 90s, city population has actually dipped as people have transitioned to the suburbs and exburbs (father away suburbs). City polulations in most places are decreasing while poverty is rising. The current fastest growing area of the country is the deep south and Bible Belt, two areas not known for their urbanization. Here's a link:
http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_1741500824_7/United_States_People.html#s33
Hope this helps!
Right, but suburbs and exurbs are still not rural (and do not typically have drinking water access problems). Even nineyears ago the US population was nearly 80% urban.
Not saying drinking water isn't ever a problem in the US, but for most of the US population, replacing our sugary beverages with water is a completely affordable option.
Do you have any information on what percentage of americans cannot drink their tap water?
Naught,
The EPA's statistic is that approximately 90% (89.3) of the United State's water supply is fit for human consumption, which means essentially non-toxic, those these are federal guidelines, so take them as you will :) That means that about 10% of American tap water is below the standards of the Safe Drinking Water Act. It doesn't sound like alot, but American is a country of over 300 million now - i think - and 10% of that is still a pretty big number.
Most of the 10% of bad water is in wells - large metro/urban treatment systems are generally safe. Private wells (meaning on the land of the person(s) using the well for private use) or small community wells are the most likely to be toxic. Toxic water can result from living near a large animal farm/slaughterhouse with lax sanitation policies that let fecal matter enter streams/groundwater; being near a past/present dump site; living within range of certain mineral deposits, ect.
I know the number is small, but I post it because I do, as someone who studies both environmental & human rights law, think that it is tragic that in the US, the richest country on earth, there are citizens who are still unable to consume safe water or risk their lives by drinking it.
The EPA report is here:
http://www.epa.gov/OGWDW/faq/faq.html#safe
Alternet's report on water safety is here (though It's mostly focused on bottled water):
http://www.alternet.org/water/86690/
Elle,
The only issue I take with the stats you have is that, at the bottom, it defines "urban" area as any town that within its boundaries or "cluster" has at least 2,500 people. My town had a population, at it's peak, of about 900 (down to about 700 now). Urban, as it's defined by the US Census (via Wikipedia) refers to areas that, within it's borders, have a population of 50,000 or more. Anything less is simply called an urban "cluster." However, individual towns and villages are not recognized as urban areas. Also, if you define urban in terms of resources, than not much other than cities or suburbs qualify. Most small towns have limited resources in terms of what is inside them and what the people have access to.
In terms of suburbs, I would argue about how you define them and how far out you would be willing to go. It depends a lot of geography. My hometown is classified as a suburb of Billings (150 miles west).Technically, I think it could be considered an exburb, but that's neither here nor there. To me, a town of 2,500 people with no hospital, no supermarket, or lack of other services probably isn't urban. I prefer Britanica's version, which defines urban as cities themselves. Suburbs I think are really a class unto themselves, because they have inherently different values and makeup than the cities, but I can see where they would be considered an urban area as well.
Lots of drinking water in wells or rural areas ends up being better than urban water since less pollutants are getting in the water.
It's actually the opposte in most cases - you'd assume that rural water or water from less desne areas would be healthier - and you'd be wrong.
Rural and open-land areas are often the most used for factory farms and industrial plants. The output from factories is constantly absorbed into the ground, and hence, the groundwater. In factory farm/slaughterhouse situations, animal fecal matter often gets swept out and enters waterways and groundwater supplies as well. It also matters if you live near an active/inactive dumping site, where toxins have been allowed to enter the stream/well (Look up Woburn, MA for a more recent (1980s) example of this). Alot of factors can determine if water is suitable to drink. However, urban areas and cities tend to have more modern treatment systems, and also, they do one thing that most well systems don't do - they cholorinate the water, and most often fluoride treat it as well. Major metropolitan and large-scale well systems are pretty well regulated - however, the smaller the system, the more likely contamination / SWA violations are (Safe Water Act). However, again, any well system is open to toxins, especially. But still, the smaller the system, the more likely there is to be problem.
So, being fat is a crime now?
And I guess eating low cost convenience food is too!
Sounds pretty totalitarian to me!
GREGORYABUTLER10031 replied to aleks :
So, being fat is a crime now?
******************
No. Try again.
Just a couple of ideas to throw out there:
I disagree with the notion that telling someone Hi-C is not healthy for such-and-such reasons is a self serving act aimed at exploiting class differences. There are many reasons why someone might be compelled to comment, one being genuine concern. Moreover, people learn things from other people. For instance, I learned about high-fructose corn syrup from hearing people talk about it...maybe the woman wanted to make sure your mom was fully informed.
Also, I have been vegan for 5 years, and I can honestly tell you it was so much more expensive for me to eat when I ate meat and non-organic items. Junk food is far more expensive than eating grains and veggies, in my experience. But, the idea that people should be penalized for lack of knowledge/information/accessibility (in the taxing of certain foods) is horrible!
It's one thing to learn from people talking online, in the news, and among friends, and quite another to be judged repeatedly by a stranger on the street.
And how is junk food far more expensive than eating organic grains and veggies? Where do you live that you are so lucky?
I go to my local farmer's market and buy organic produce. $20 gets me a couple peppers, onions, corn, peaches, and a pint of fresh milk or a box of fresh eggs. Just enough for a couple of meals and some snacks. That same $20 at Walmart gets me several frozen pizzas (each of which is two meals for me), cheap cereal and a gallon of milk, a dozen eggs, boxes of chips and cookies, etc -- enough to feed myself and my partner for several days.
After rent, utilities, insurance, and transportation costs, I have about $100 per week to spend on food -- I'd love to spend it all on healthy, organic, local food, but I truly can't afford it.
Stopping our outrageous corn subsidies is a start, but that will end up making junk food more expensive (by making a main ingredient more expensive). If we invest those corn subsidy dollars into local farmers who are growing a variety of foods in a sustainable way, though, then local organic foods will be cheaper, and more of us will be able to afford them!
I made the mistake of going to the Harlem farmers market today - and I paid $ 20 bucks to get 3 bruised apples, 3 dirty looking pears, a container of overripe strawberries (that I had to eat as soon as I got home because they were a few hours from turning) and some cherries.
I would have been better off going to Pathmark and getting the "normal" pesticide treated corporate produce - it would have been cheaper and better quality.
People buy junk food because it's cheap and it tastes good - and if you're on a budget, it just doesn't pay to buy the so called "organic" produce - where you pay inflated prices for inferior product!
I notice that many vegans, vegetarians and health food fanatics have this moralistic smugness about them - and ignore the financial privileges that allow them to buy expensive inferior food.
I find their arrogance quite galling!
Gregory --
you touch on some excellent points here, i think. I think affordibility is quite possibly the first (and maybe biggest) hurdle to better food for the lower/middle classes. While I don't doubt that in some places vegan or organic can be cheap, it's not the case for many (also, I'd like to point out what one considers cheap is pretty relative to what one had before and income, so "cheap" is subjective term).
You also touched on another critical issue for me - accessibility. Even if one might have the money to spare a bit on organic, not everyone can get to an organic market. I know that the closest one to my hometown is a 300 mile round trip (the cost of gas alone, let alone time, prohibits it). Even in cities like NYC, it can be an issue - no car, no car fare, have car fare but need it for work, can't afford a cab. The list goes on.
When it comes to growing one's own food, i support it. If one can do it, then I think it's a noble pursuit. However, like you meantioned downthread, it still involves some privilege. Time, space, the startup investment - and indeed, the ability to do so at all (for example, a person with a disability may not be able to engage in the task of gardening) - even family size! I am a part of a family of seven, and although my mother grew herbs for some foods, we could never produce enough veggies to sustain a family of 7.
I agree with you on all counts, thanks for pointing out some things I missed!
I definitely agree that many health food fanatics have incredibly arrogant attitudes that can come from their financial privilege.
I do not have financial privilege at all, nor am I trying to push my beliefs on anyone else...for instance, my partner is not vegan or vegetarian, and loves junk food. We simply cannot afford meat for him to eat, nor can we buy the junk he loves...spending $10 on a 10lb bag of rice, is the choice we have to make, versus spending $8 on one frozen pizza. This is merely the experience I have in my life.
As for a comment you said about butting into other people's business, my point was not that it isn't rude - of course it's rude! I just didn't agree with the idea that making a comment about another individual's choices is always a privileged act. I believe many factors go into someone making a decision to speak out.
I have lived both in Chicago and Denver. I merely stated my experiences. No at all trying to be self-righteous, just trying to add another idea to the mix.
My food budget is about $60.00 per week to feed myself and my partner.
Sorry, wasn't trying to accuse you of being self righteous at all! I was genuinely curious, since your experience seems to be the opposite of anywhere I have lived.
The problem with "making sure others are informed" is that it's a privileged exercise. What makes her think that none of us ever read the label and knew what was in there? Did she know whether my sister drinks Hi-C all the time or if it was an occasional indulgence? Did she know if we could even afford a "better" juice alternative? Did she know any of this? No.
It's patronizing to "make sure" those less well off than yourself are informed. It presumes a hell of a lot, especially the method used above. Instead of trying to "inform" people in the guise of shaming, why don't people find a more productive way of changing the way we eat in this country?
"Take up the White Man's burden--
Send forth the best ye breed--
Go bind your sons to exile
To serve your captives' need;
To wait in heavy harness,
On fluttered folk and wild--
Your new-caught, sullen peoples,
Half-devil and half-child."
Rudyard Kipling, 1899
VeganBee, 2009 (of course not in so many words)
Ah, the privilege of getting to tell people they're doing it wrong.
Oh, and organic food cheaper than junk food? Come on now. Do you live on an organic farm? Because you know that's simply not true for most consumers out there, don't you?
It's actually very RUDE to butt in to somebody's private business!
I'm a lifelong New Yorker, and the only way you stay sane in a city like mine is to Mind Your Own Business - unless somebody is getting shot, stabbed, raped or robbed, it's not your business so keep your mouth shut and move on.
I would NEVER presume to tell some random person I don't know what they should or shouldn't feed their kids - it's their child, not mine, they know his/her tastes, likes, dislikes, medical and nutritional needs far better than I do.
Only an asshole would do that - and I am not an asshole, so I avoid engaging in assholish behavior like that!
So drahill's mom was right on the money to tell that rude, arrogant, yuppie jerk to mind her own damned business!
If you consider micronutrients like vitamins, minerals and funny sounding complex compounds that only plants and animals can produce, unrefined foods like fruit and veggies are some lean protein like fish are downright CHEAP or let's say cost-efficient.
The problem is this focus on the immediate macronutrient rewards from food: you get hungry so you eat and at this moment it doesn't really matter what you feed your face as long as it stops your hunger. But this thinking over the long term is kinda uncharted territory. It used to be no problem because macronutrients and micronutrients were conveniently packaged together. Today our food is so stripped down due to soil depletion and over-processing, etc.
I think the answer is for more people to perhaps grow some of their own food. Note I said some food. It's really not reasonable for folks to say grow say wheat, but there are plenty of veggies and fruits that can be grown indoors, on balconies and on roof tops.
You can do it in soil or use some simplified hydroponics. If you check Youtube there are all kinds of people with videos on how they are growing their own food. One guy is making a living with his homemade "poor man's hydroponic unit". Regular folks have been growing stuff, ahem, indoors for a long time. The same principles for weed applies to veggies, lol. If you have an internet connection (even at the library), seeds, dirt and water anybody can do this. Hydro has the benefit of being less labor intensive for elderly people and those with physical disabilities too. There are plenty of resources out there.
I've just started this spring and I've had success with basil, chard and peppers and I'm expanding now to cherry tomatoes. Green onions from the store can be replanted and will regrow by just emmersing the roots in water. I'm trying some stuff hydroponically but so far with limited suceess due to a very hard water supply--and it sorta defeats the purpose having to buy a lot of pricey dionized water. But I've got my folks giving it a try with that soft California water, lol.
Horay! I'm growing herbs, and would love to learn how to do more. To Youtube I go! Any videos you particularly recommend?
I just started googling stuff or you can search youtube itself. I actually got the idea from a posting here in feminsting.
Youtube taught me how to start seeds in paper towel (linked below)--that's probably my favorite! There are lots of videos on how to prune and harvest stuff (like where to make your cuts and how to make a basil plant grow bushy, how to pollinate tomatoes)... I also learned online about which seeds can be used from regular ol' food bought at the store (if you think about it we throw away or eat a lot of good seeds!). There are also so sweet videos on how to make sprouts. That's so damned easy, I had no idea.
I'm pretty clueless about growing food, so I'm sure for some people this stuff is basic, but honestly growing up I was so turned off by the bugs, the weeds and the hassle. But this type of urban gardening in small spaces seems pretty doable...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=To2DlJwErao
http://www.urbangardeninghelp.com/
Most people don't have the luxury of doing the elaborate chemical analysis of food that you did at the start of your post.
Most folks have a certain amount of money (let's say, $ 250 a month - which is what New York City Social Services gives to a parent with two children as a monthly EBT card food budget) and they have to feed themselves and their families the best they can on that budget.
They have to get the most value out of their food budget - which means the most caloric value for the least amount of money.
As for the growing your own food stuff - not everybody has a backyard.
And some folks with backyards live in communities with rules that prohibit gardens.
And in a place like New York City, most folks do not have yards at all, because we are apartment dwellers.
It's illegal to use your fire escape for a garden here (you can get a big fat fine from the Fire Department and/or the Department of Housing Preservation and Development if they catch you doing it) and most buildings, for insurance liability and theft prevention purposes, ban tenants from walking on the roof.
And let's not even get into the time management issues for employed people - in particular employed mothers with small children - who already have enough chores to do around the house without adding playing at farming to the mix!
Beyond that, not everybody even wants to be Mr/Ms Green Jeans!
I know I don't!
Obviously, you enjoy gardening.
Others do not.
Others cannot, because they aren't as privileged with space and free time as you are.
Actually I started growing my food on a tiny south-facing sunny balcony and window sill. I live in one of the most crowded, polluted and dense cities on my continent.
For the rest of your rant, why not give people some damned credit? If you don't have the time or are lazy or have no interest, just say so.
I was very clear in saying that it can help if people grown "some of their food". Small amounts of fresh food can be grown on window sills, dorm rooms, and balconies.
Have you even tried to grow just a little food? Herbs? A little windowbox cherry tomato plant? You do know that lot's of people have house plants, right? Same concepts apply for quite a few edible plants too (chard for example is sometimes used for decorative purposes and can be grown in a sunny window). I don't understand why you assume that this is out of the average American's reach (who likely has at least dial-up, a TV, access to water, running electricity, etc).
The beauty of youtube and other sites proves you wrong. If poor college students can grow food in a dorm room and a guy can make money on the side crafting cheapo units that almost anybody can use to grow stuff indoors, then the cat is out of the bag on your little "it's all about privilege" rant.
The sad thing is that people are giving this knowledge for FREE and you don't even want to look into it first without deciding it's not for you.
Great post, dra. I'm against vice taxes too, unless those taxes go to subsidizing fruits and veggies more. We also really need to begin subsidizing corn less and using that revenue to, for instance, provide local, sustainable food in public schools, universities and hospitals, and/or enable more farmer's markets to accept SNAP. Those things alone would provide more access and help address the classist divide between those who eat well and those who eat what they can afford.
I do not eat nearly as sustainably as I would if I had a higher income. When I move this autumn, I hope to change that by growing some of my own vegetables and herbs and applying for SNAP to take some of the burden off my (and my partner's) paychecks, so we can afford to grow more of our own food sustainably. I've already checked it out and we definitely qualify, and I've been browsing different grow-your-own sites for tips.
I agree with spike the cat: growing some of your own food is the only affordable solution for many people, but if you don't have the outdoor space or the money to afford an indoor growing system, you are somewhat limited in what you can grow.
Just chiming in here with a personal experience.
A few months ago, I was unemployed and on a very low budget, barely scraping by as a matter of fact. Because I had a lot of time and very little funds at my disposal, I taught myself to cook. I would go shopping for fresh food every week, careful to buy everything at the cheapest place to get it. I ate a mostly vegan diet (not strict by any means, it was mostly for health and economic reasons), with my staples being tofu, black beans, bok choy, chard, and spinach. I hardly ever ate out and the times I did eat meat and/or cheese and/or unhealthy things, it was at my parents' house for a visit and thus free. I lost 20 pounds near effortlessly and got a lot healthier. I wasn't doing well at all financially, but the way I was eating helped save me a lot of money.
Then, I found a job, and re-enrolled in school to finish my degree.
Fast forward to now. I mostly eat out, have gained back a pound, and feel tired a lot of the time. I tried to continue cooking and eating healthy, but it's really difficult when you work from afternoon to evening or graveyard shifts, because the markets at which I used to shop tend to open and close early. Plus, I don't have the energy to cook when I manage the time to actually sit down and eat; I have thrown away more rotted fresh food than I would like to admit because I haven't had the time to prepare it. Most of the time, I'm eating something I've hastily picked up in the little time I have between working, studying, attending class, and (maybe) sleeping.
My point? I've experienced first-hand what it's like going from eating a damn near ideal balanced diet to not being able to maintain one. It really takes a lot of time, effort, and care to eat extremely healthy on a budget, and not everyone has the energy for that. I certainly no longer do, sadly.
Stopping every stranger you see with something unhealthy is just insanely rude. And while I do my best to eat as good as I possibly can, and I think its wonderful to educate people about nutrition, I can't say I didn't indulge myself to root beer and cupcakes earlier today. And I'm so totally making pretzels now once I'm done this post.
I can rant for hours on how going vegan saved me in the bills, but then I don't miss meat at all so I don't buy the fake meat stuff, which can be pricy, and we don't have a Whole Foods here so I'm not sure what they're like but I shop at Sobey's like everyone else, and I eat lots of popcorn and oreos too. Eating uber healthy all the time is pretty hard though, and eating organic is completely out of the question on my budget. Organic soy products I find is cheap enough but every other veggie can be twice the price of the non-organic version. I'd say on the whole I eat healthy enough but man do I have my vices.
I could get behind vice taxes on one condition: If good quality food was declared a human right and the tax went towards providing that food to people who otherwise can't afford it, like the Zero Hunger strategy in Brazil. Just do something to fix the problem rather than punish the people who suffer from the problem.