Food, Waste and Health in our Country

Understanding The Supplemental Nutrition Program (SNAP) and Its Impact

This week an article about proposed changes to SNAP benefits (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly Food Stamps) by House Republicans as part of their budget bill sent me down a rabbit hole. With federal spending at $3 trillion annually, why target the roughly $86 billion spent on SNAP.

Realizing I don’t know that much about SNAP, I decided to dig a little deeper and educate myself about the program. In my search I discovered that there are roughly 16 government programs (including SNAP) that reach millions of Americans each year and serve billions of meals to those in need. They range from school meals, and plans for older (60+) low income adults, to programs specifically for women, infants and children.

But SNAP is hands down the most far reaching, impacting some 42 million Americans each year. Some information on SNAP.

• SNAP provides nutritional support to low income families, older adults (60+), and people with disabilities.

• SNAP operates in all 50 states, and is funded by the federal government (admin costs are split with the state).

• ~90% of participants are in a household with a child <18, an adult >60, or a disabled person.

• 50% of households are white, 25% are black and 1/5 are Latin.

• To be eligible, a THREE person household must meet these requirements:

  • Gross monthly income at or below $2,379 ($28,550 annually)

  • Net monthly income, after living expenses, at or below $1,830 ($21,960 annually)

  • Total assets must fall below $2,500!

• Individuals on strike, some college students, individuals with drug felony convictions in some states, and people of certain immigration status, REGARDLESS of their income, are ineligible.

Households receive on average $127 per month, per person. Or $4.16 per day. The pandemic relief program added an additional $92 per month per person, but that’s expired.

Part of the proposed changes are to expand the age bracket of which work requirements must be met, making it harder for young adults to become eligible, as well as closing “loopholes” (limiting states ability to make exceptions for certain households). The changes are being sold as a way to save taxpayers money and encourage people to work their way out of their low income situation.

But it’s hard to work on an empty stomach, and in 2021 the US Government spent $748 billion on Medicaid (healthcare for low income adults, children and people with disabilities, a lot of the same people who benefit from SNAP) up nearly $200 billion since 2015. So if saving money is really our concern, then let food be thy medicine. Invest in SNAP and other food related programs, which will improve the health of this struggling population, and in turn reduce the absurd amount of money we spend each year on healthcare related costs, where 20 - 40% of deaths are preventable.

We have the resources, they are just being allocated incorrectly. And we surely have the food (as the next article will make clear), but for some reason the disconnect remains.

ReFED Releases New Food Waste Estimates and Calls for Increased Action by Food System

ReFED is a company I began following recently after applying for a job there (I didn’t get it, hence why I have the time to write this newsletter). ReFED is a national nonprofit working to end food loss and waste by advancing data-driven solutions.

A few days ago they published their annual estimates on food waste in the U.S. The numbers are not surprising, but they are nevertheless upsetting.

A few key stats:

• In 2021 the U.S. generated 91 million tons of surplus (unsold or uneaten) food, equal to 38% of total food production

• Food waste represented 6% of greenhouse gas emissions (food rotting in landfills), equal to driving 83 million passenger vehicles for a full year

• 80% of the total food surplus was edible, by only 2% was donated

• To produce this surplus food required utilizing 22% of the U.S. freshwater and occupied 16% of cropland

• The estimated value of the uneaten food was $444 billion and converts into 149 billion potential meals for those in need

ReFED also modeled out some 42 solutions to reducing food waste. They estimate that implementing their solutions would cost $18 billion annually but have a net positive effect on the economy of $74 billion, while saving 4.3 billion meals for those in need. It’s estimated that at least 10% of the U.S. population (or 34 million Americans) are food insecure.

Check out the report and information below.

That article was summarized and expanded on in a good piece by Bloomberg.

#51 - Robert Sapolsky, Ph.D.: The pervasive effect of stress - is it killing you? - Peter Attia

A few years ago I heard about Robert Sapolsky, Ph.D. while listening to an episode of the Tim Ferriss podcast. The guest recommended Sapolsky’s book, Why Zebra’s Don’t Get Ulcers. The title was intriguing and so was the description:

“As Sapolsky explains, most of us do not lie awake at night worrying about whether we have leprosy or malaria. Instead, the diseases we fear-and the ones that plague us now-are illnesses brought on by the slow accumulation of damage, such as heart disease and cancer. When we worry or experience stress, our body turns on the same physiological responses that an animal's does, but we do not resolve conflict in the same way-through fighting or fleeing. Over time, this activation of a stress response makes us literally sick.”

I immediately bought a copy, but admittedly didn’t open it for some time. It’s a dense book that required a certain mindset before diving into it. Eventually I got into it, and it ended up being one of my favorite reads. The correlation between stress and disease is far beyond anything I could’ve imagined. It’s a book that everyone should read. But since everyone can’t and wont, this 2 hour podcast at least serves as a good intro for anyone that is interested in the topic. A couple of interesting sound bites below.

Minute 32: “We belong to multiple hierarchies, and we are very good psychologically at deciding whichever hierarchy we are highest in, that’s the one we define ourselves by.”

Minute 67: “You look in some bloated corporation and there’s some guy who is the assistant manager of the mailroom and thats an incredibly status filled position for that guy, and theres some other guy who’s number 2 in the company who was just passed over to be number 1, and the only pertinent thing in his mind is not the 99,000 employees that he’s higher ranking then, its that there’s still someone ahead of me… in other words, its not being poor, its feeling poor.”

Worldwide Obesity on the Rise

Many physicians, organizations and pharmaceutical companies are busy promoting obesity as genetic and pushing new “miracle drugs” (and getting paid to do it), the World Obesity Federation (WOF) and World Health Organization (WHO) are keeping it real, recognizing that diet, and specifically the “disappearance of fresh food markets, control of food chains by supermarkets, and the increasing mass production of processed foods in many countries” is the real cause.

This is a topic that irks me, because touting obesity as a genetic disorder is a disservice. The information is especially dangerous for children, where drugs and surgery for children as young as 12 is now the recommendation. These drugs however don’t just reduce fat mass, they result in a loss of lean mass, which also includes muscle and bone.

We seem intent on trying to drug ourself out of this problem as we’ve tried so many times before without success. But it’s a problem that won’t get solved until we dismantle and re-engineer the three industries who are allowed to continue to push these lies: big pharma, big food and big ag.