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In remarks before a United Nations General Assembly summit on non-communicable diseases, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg asserted that “a government’s highest duty is to ensure that its citizens practice ‘healthy eating.’” Bloomberg explicitly rejected what he characterized as “‘minimalist government fantasies’ that would restrain us from taking obviously needed pro-active steps to eradicate people’s bad habits. The notion that government must stand by idly and abide self-destructive behavior in the name of ‘freedom’ is simply wrong.” The Mayor argued that “the unalienable rights to life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness expressed in America’s Declaration of Independence are more...

The way Mrs. Obama flings around orders, the title of “First Lady” should be changed to Commander-in-Chieftess. Remember when “Big Thriver” Michelle Obama reminded the nation that, unlike herself, most Americans don’t want the “whole pie” because whether they know it or not, “most…feel blessed just being able to thrive a little bit?” Appealing to that “thrive a little bit” constituency, recently the campaign came up with the innovative idea to hawk raffle tickets, at $5 a pop, to groupies who would love to spend an evening breaking bread with Barry. Adorned in $42,000 Katie Davis diamond-encrusted wristlets, the first...

Perhaps First Lady Obama needs to drop by President Obama's re-election campaign headquarters in Chicago and give some tips on healthy eating and moderation: The overworked staffers are absolutely gorging on lousy food, according to Rufus Gifford, the National Finance Director for Obama for America. Staffers have eaten a year's worth of junk in "the past few weeks," Gifford said today. And they're hyper-caffeinated, too. "We've all had more pizza and bad takeout in the past few weeks than anyone should have in a year," Gifford wrote in an e-mail request for a $3 donation. "The staff and I are...

When tough times come, you’ll likely discover that people today, overall, are not as resilient as they were in times past. For many of us, our grandparents generation included a higher percentage of self-reliant rural folks who both ‘made do’ on less while growing and raising their own food. Today, most people are far removed from the land and the routine of being responsible for supplying their own food; many even have a dangerous government-dependent mentality of entitlement. Fact is, the morality that both sustained and restrained previous generations during tough times is not as widely embraced in this present...

Jim Rogers is a long-term bull on commodities based on scarcity in a growing world. Silver and gold "will both go much higher over the next few years," he tells Economic Times. Oil prices will recover as "known quantities of crude continue to decline." Sugar is going to "at least double or triple before this all is over." But there's only one sector he would buy right now: I am thinking about buying agriculture right now. I am not thinking about buying base metals or gold or oil right now, but I am thinking of buying agriculture maybe this afternoon....

Judge Patrick J. Fiedler of Wisconsin stated in a recent clarification of his decision about the sale and distribution of raw milk that, “This court is unwilling to declare that there is a fundamental right to consume the food of one’s choice without first being presented with significantly more developed arguments on both sides of the issue.” Well then, let me present you with some “more developed arguments” on my side of the issue–the side that says, “I have the right to own the livestock of my choice and reap the benefits thereof.”

Just like that the season has changed. Certainly the days are getting shorter and cooler, and driving home at night with my car window open, I swear I can taste the warm, intoxicating flavors of fall. Days and nights like these make me nostalgic for the warmth and charm of my late mother's kitchen. No matter what season we were celebrating, there was always a touch of fall. It could have been the aroma of the yummy cookies she baked, or the comforting tastes of the various dishes she liked to send home with her grown children -- who really...

The revelation that the U.S. Department of Justice has been paying exorbitant prices for food and drink ($16 apiece for muffins and $8 a cup for coffee) at official functions sparked a heated exchange between Congressional critics and Administration officials. Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) labeled the outlays “extravagant and wasteful. We’re in a recession. The budget is in a big hole. Families have to scrimp and save. What kind of a message does this sort of ‘lord of the manor’ attitude toward federal spending send?” Representative Frank Wolf (R-Va), who chairs the House appropriations subcommittee that oversees the Justice Department,...

The President’s wife is telling us how to eat. This is a scary thought. ALG’s Rebecca DiFede has decided that we simply must put the Team Obama Spotlight on Michelle Obama.

> The book is written by cardiologist William Davis who says that thanks to the actions of Big Food and government agencies such as the USDA and places like the American Heart Association that are always pushing “whole grains,” we are sicker and fatter than ever. > Have you tried getting off wheat? If so, did it help?

Encouraged by Michelle Obama's campaign to reduce childhood obesity, the company that owns the Olive Garden, Red Lobster and four other popular restaurant chains is pledging to cut the calories and sodium in its meals and overhaul its kids' fare. Darden Restaurants Inc. was unveiling the changes Thursday, with the first lady on hand to lend support. The company will pledge to reduce the calories and sodium in all its meals by 10 percent over five years, and by 20 percent over 10 years. For children, French fries and sugar-sweetened beverages will become the exception and not the rule....

Social activists are outraged over a proposal in Michigan that would limit welfare benefits to four years in a lifetime. Perhaps that limit might be a bit harsh given the state of the economy where often people find themselves unemployed for extended periods of time through no fault of their own. However, given America's pending financial ruination, these very same agitators should be as outraged about the growing trend of permitting aide recipients to apply their benefit payments to restaurant tabs. Since many of those on public assistance are unemployed, are you going to tell me that such individuals don't...

For centuries, almost all carrots were yellow, white or purple. But in the 17th century, most of those crunchy vegetables turned orange. Why? It may have to do with Dutch politics. Next Nature explains: In the 17th century, Dutch growers cultivated orange carrots as a tribute to William of Orange – who led the the struggle for Dutch independence – and the color stuck. A thousand years of yellow, white and purple carrot history was wiped out in a generation.Although some scholars doubt if orange carrots even existed prior to the 16th century....

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The site foodstoragemadeeasy.net has a great 58 page Recipe Book with many of the recipes using shelf stable food. You may wonder what are shelf stable foods? Well this is from the recipe book:What Does “Shelf Stable” Mean? There are many reasons that people choose to build a food storage. There are certain scenarios where it is highly likely that there will be no electricity for cooking. While it is great to use food storage in combination with fresh ingredients for everyday cooking, there is also a need to plan for meals, snacks, etc. that use only ingredients that can...

They say no publicity is bad publicity, and for that Paul M. Kramer must be truly grateful. Since word of his upcoming children’s book, Maggie Goes On a Diet spread throughout the blogosphere, he has received considerable bad press.

When someone says “survival food preps” or “stockpiling survival food“, what do you think of? Do you think of tons of dried rice and beans stored in mylar bags? How about a basement full of #10 cans, does that come to mind? Or is it a combination of several things? When I was thinking of writing an article about survival food preps, the first thing that popped into my head was – MREs, canned goods and garden seeds. But where does perishable goods fit into that narrow picture? For the first week or so people are going to be eating...

Ok, I have some good news and some bad news about this INCREDIBLE 99 cent quarter chicken meal. First the good news:It truly is only 99 cents and it includes rice and beans at La Parrilla restaurant. NO coupons needed. I checked it out today with some trepidation since I usually like to eat a half chicken. However, while waiting for my order to be presented I noticed a plate with a HUGE mound of rice plus a large bowl of beans. I figured it must be part of an order for a whole chicken. I was WRONG! It...

I have lived in many countries over the years, and have always had a vegetable garden. Not just for cost, as many of the countries I have lived in have had what we considered dirt cheap food, but for the quality. Nothing compares to the taste of veggies fresh from the garden. Recently, some friends told me about the bad drought in Texas. Their gardens are blackened and burnt, with food only coming in, grudgingly, thanks to heavy watering every other day. It immediately took me back to two of the hardest places I have ever tried to raise food....

It is possible to create jobs, have healthier diets and improve the local economy by re-birthing local agriculture on small plots of land. Each pound of lettuce or eggs or beef shipped from California, Latin America or Mexico raises our dependency on foreign oil. And buying food from far away costs us jobs locally. Some communities have figured out a new path forward that fixes all that. North Carolina’s Rutherford County has one of the highest unemployment rates in the nation. Yet some 6,000 families own between 5 and 20 acres of land, and chefs in nearby Charlotte are in...