Why We Need a President Who Cares About Food

Our food system is completely broken.

The foods that nourish us, elevate our health, and prevent chronic illness are more expensive for farmers to produce and for consumers to buy than those that have been proven to create disease. They’re also destroying our environment and causing climate change at the same time.

Children are being fed nutrient-poor sugary, starchy foods at school and we wonder why so many of them can’t focus and why they’re always sick. They are being led on a difficult, lifelong path right from the start.

And then there’s the national economic burden of disease, which is only increasing as rates of type 2 diabetes and obesity do the same. In fact, one in three Medicare dollars is spent on diabetes and poor food choices kill 11 million people every year. Over the next 35 years, it’s going to cost the US a whopping 95 trillion dollars to deal with diseases that can be prevented by lifestyle and dietary choices.

These are grim statistics, but the truth is that we CAN do something to elicit change. We can ban together to change the food system and promote better health for our global community.

My guest on this week’s episode of The Doctor’s Farmacy, Ohio Congressman Tim Ryan, joins me to talk about how we can change our food system, educational system, economy, environment, and public health with community-based solutions. In addition to his political roots, Tim is also the author of two eye-opening books, The Real Food Revolution and A Mindful Nation. He believes in the power of real food, regenerative agriculture, and mindfulness to solve many of our country’s chronic problems.

Tim recently announced he’ll be running for president in 2020. Now, I’m not here to tell anyone who to vote for, but I do believe that food and revolutionizing the food system is one of the most important topics we need to be discussing heading into the 2020 election. Our food system affects each and every one of us and it needs to be addressed; this is our chance to make that happen. No matter what your political affiliation—Democrat, Independent, Republican—these are topics we need to get front and center for the coming election.

I hope you’ll tune in to this episode of The Doctor’s Farmacy to hear what Tim Ryan has to say.

PS – If you like what Congressman Ryan has to say, and you care about the food system, I want to ask you to consider donating $1 or more to Tim’s campaign. If Congressman Ryan gets 65,000 donations, he’ll officially be granted a seat on the debate stage, and we can make sure that this conversation gets the platform it deserves. Whether or not he gets elected, he’ll have the opportunity to start a national discussion about making healthy food more accessible.