MAHA – What is it? And why isn’t it a bipartisan effort?
- jennmcauliffe
- Nov 5, 2024
- 4 min read
By now you may have determined who you are voting for and/ or have voted and no doubt your choice is determined by the issues. RFK Jr. – who was a candidate himself - paired with Trump to promote his MAHA efforts (Make America Healthy Again) . I wanted to draw attention to some of the big issues included in MAHA and why it is important. I am truly hoping some of this gets fixed - no matter who is voted into office!
Quite frankly we are facing a health crisis, which includes an obesity epidemic and poisoned food. Did you know that the CDC’s own website has published an article called “Unfit to Serve” and it basically states that American kids are so unhealthy that we could have a crisis in that we couldn’t recruit for the military! Approximately 1 in 5 children is obese and 2 in 5 adults are.
To further explain some of this – I am turning to another leader in this space that I discovered recently is Casey Means, a doctor who has evangelized all the wrongs in our “health” care system and ideas on how to fix it! Her most recent newsletter succinctly details some of this and I hope that no matter who becomes president this becomes part of the platform!
Remove conflicts of interest and industry influence in the National School Lunch Program and serve children nutritious, real food in schools.
(Directly taken from her Newsletter – and some of you my have witnessed this – our schools are not serving the most nutritious meals nor is it sourced from high quality places (i.e. LUNCHABLES, which is ultra processed and its ingredients in a sample meal (chicken dunks and capri sun are listed as :
FRUIT PUNCH FLAVORED WATER BEVERAGE WITH OTHER NATURAL FLAVOR (FILTERED WATER, SUGAR, CITRIC ACID, STEVIA LEAF EXTRACT, NATURAL FLAVOR); FULLY COOKED BREADED NUGGET-SHAPED CHICKEN PATTIES (NUGGET SHAPED CHICKEN PATTIES [WHITE CHICKEN, WATER, POTASSIUM LACTATE, MODIFIED CORN STARCH, CONTAINS LESS THAN 2% OF SALT, POTASSIUM CHLORIDE, DEXTROSE, SODIUM PHOSPHATES, CARRAGEENAN, SODIUM DIACETATE, LEMON JUICE CONCENTRATE, FLAVOR], BREADING [ENRICHED WHEAT FLOUR (WHEAT FLOUR, NIACIN, REDUCED IRON, THIAMINE MONONITRATE, RIBOFLAVIN, FOLIC ACID), WATER, ENRICHED BLEACHED WHEAT FLOUR (BLEACHED WHEAT FLOUR, NIACIN, REDUCED IRON, THIAMINE MONONITRATE, RIBOFLAVIN, FOLIC ACID), DEXTROSE, MODIFIED CORN STARCH, YELLOW CORN FLOUR, ENRICHED BLEACHED WHEAT FLOUR (BLEACHED WHEAT FLOUR, MALTED BARLEY FLOUR, NIACIN, REDUCED IRON, THIAMINE MONONITRATE, RIBOFLAVIN, FOLIC ACID), WHEAT GLUTEN, EGG WHITES, TAPIOCA DEXTRIN, SPICES, SALT, CARAMEL COLOR, PAPRIKA (COLOR), ONION POWDER, GARLIC POWDER, EXTRACTIVES OF PAPRIKA, SOYBEAN OIL (AS A PROCESSING AID), MONOSODIUM GLUTAMATE, CELERY SEED EXTRACT, SPICE EXTRACTIVE], BROWNED IN SOYBEAN OIL), CONTAINS: WHEAT, EGG; KETCHUP - STABILIZERS AND PRESERVATIVES ADDED (WATER, TOMATO PASTE, HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP, CORN SYRUP, DISTILLED VINEGAR, SUGAR, SALT, POTASSIUM CHLORIDE, MODIFIED FOOD STARCH*, SOYBEAN OIL*, SODIUM BENZOATE* AND POTASSIUM SORBATE* [PRESERVATIVES], DEXTROSE, ONION POWDER, XANTHAN GUM*, GUAR GUM*, SPICE, NATURAL FLAVORS, *INGREDIENTS NOT NORMALLY FOUND IN KETCHUP); NATURALLY AND ARTIFICIALLY FLAVORED STRAWBERRY CANDY (CORN SYRUP, SUGAR, DEXTROSE, MALIC ACID [DL-MALIC ACID], CONTAINS 2% OR LESS GUM ARABIC, CARNAUBA WAX, NATURAL FLAVOR, RED 40 LAKE, COLOR ADDED).
What even is all this???
2. Investigate toxins in our food supply and restrict/ban those that are known to cause diseases in animals and humans.
(This is includes simply giving us the same products they make for European countries – see my first ever blog post on cancelling Kellogg’s!
3. Put warning labels on all foods known to cause disease, including most, if not all, ultra-processed foods.
(Hey it worked for Tabacco!)
4. Eliminate the ability of pharmaceutical companies to advertise directly to consumers on TV.
(Sick of the Jardiance commercial- but can sing it beginning to end? - ME TOO!)
8. Incentives for healthy food purchases on SNAP and other public assistance food programs.
(Know what the #1 purchase is on food stamps – COCA-COLA!) Terrible choice for kids (&adults) but hey also, inner city kids don’t even have access to nice food emporiums- it’s often the corner bodega for dinner!)
9. Reform crop subsidies and create programs to rapidly increase the adoption of Regenerative Farming practices.
(Our subsidies program is so backwards that we spend billions of dollars still subsidizing tobacco, yet barely spend any money subsidizing vegetables.
Further we are running our soil – so much that it is said the soil will be destroyed in 50 years. Talk about fixing things for our kids! This is a no brainer!)
HOW you ask? Research, a change in farming practices, banning pesticides, using alternative pest control, plenty of smart people have ideas to fix this!
11. Require nutrition and functional medicine courses in medical schools.
80 % of medical schools do not require any nutritional courses. What do doctors learn? How to treat ailments with pharmaceuticals (it’s called medicine for a reason) but so many diseases are REVERSIBILE –with diet and exercise! I reversed my Hashimoto’s (Hypothyroidism) and my doctor said – it couldn’t be done! (Needless to say I broke up with her) (We are still friends)))
I took the bigger points straight from Casey’s newsletter (the snarkiness is my addition) – want more from Casey ? Visit : Casey Means MD
And sign up for her newsletter!
If you want to learn more about some of the things America needs to change - Watch the Dr. Phil Special as shown on his new network – Merit Street Media – here :
I do not know why this fell solely on the Republican side of the campaign, but it is certainly important enough to be pursued on either side, no matter who wins, because our country’s health and future depends on it!
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