The Federal Fat Police

...The grant-receiving states would be required to mandate that all health care providers in the state determine the Body Mass Index of all their patients in the 2-to-18 age bracket and then report that information to the state government. The state government, in turn, would be required to report the information to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for analysis....

To make it easier for parents to put healthy food on the table, we’re going to keep track of the low-income areas where residents live more than a mile from a supermarket or large grocery store, and for rural areas we’re tracking those that are more than 10 miles away. And we’ll set a goal of eliminating all those “food deserts” within seven years.

We live 8 miles from town and 9 miles from a grocery store. Guess we’re safe, for now.

Years ago, there was a tiny store about 1/8 mile from our house. They made their living from snacks, cigarettes and beer. They went out of business when the elderly woman who owned it died. There was, even back then, no way that store could have stocked fresh fruit/veggies and sold it before it spoiled.

All the tiny villages used to have grocery stores. They failed because they _had_ to charge more than the larger stores in bigger towns. It was a case of economy of scale. One of these stores went out of business after about a year of trying to find a buyer.

So, now, they are going to try and reinstitute the neighborhood grocery. These stores will not have cigarettes to use as a profit center. They will not be able to sell candy to anyone without making sure they are under the *ideal* BMI. The government is going to make energy so expensive that these places will not be able to run coolers, let alone freezers. Therefore, the government will have to subsidize these places where there will be nothing anyone wants at a price no one can afford without the subsidy.

At the same time, one cannot purchase milk from the dairy farmer or beef from anyone without a government certification. They have put the small butcher out of business, just as they put the small family-owned cheese factory out of business.

With subsidized groceries, the government will control our food from field to store even more than they do already. They made a mess with regulation and control and now, they *have* to take over with even more regulation and control.

Every third or fourth farm out here has eggs for sale. During the summer and fall farmers put out fruit and produce in a wagon with an honor box. No one gets cheated. For decades, we purchased milk straight from the bulk tank. Real whole milk with risen cream. We made our own wonderful butter and farmers cheese. We processed our meat at home, usually making a party of it, with two families sharing the raising, processing, wrapping and freezing. We were scrupulously clean because we were the ones eating it. We still do that with our venison. We make our own ground meat, as well. Chicken is available from the farmer and tastes like chicken, too. People still fish and then have home fish fries. If they bring that back to the general public, I guarantee everyone would be a lot healthier. Yes, it takes some time, but really, not that much. As it is, they are going to make a worse mess trying to clean up their previous mess.

I have been to big cities. There were two or more greengrocers on every block. Fruits and vegetables were stacked attractively on the sidewalk. You could not ignore the displays. Have these disappeared? I doubt it.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.