Better Off Than Fifty Years Ago? Part Two: Starving for Prosperity
Foolin’ the People About America
Obvious “Truths”
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There is an abundance of food in America
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There is a huge problem with obesity in America because folks actually have too much to eat.
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People are overweight because they eat too much.
Starving for Prosperity
“Have some more, there’s plenty!”
And my family never starved back in the Fifties and Sixties. The dinner refrain was “Have some more, there’s plenty.” 
Though we were fairly poor by the standards of that time, I never, ever, ever imagined there being a lack of or limitation on food. There were big restrictions on sweet treats and goodies, but not on wholesome food. So it shocks me to see how much more concerned parents are today about how much their children will eat, as well as how precisely they mete out their gustatory offerings when entertaining.
“You’re not leaving this table till you’ve eaten all your…ketchup.”
When not long ago I worked in a group home for troubled boys I was shocked and distressed to see the controversies over the food portions given and the restrictions on when they could eat. This was a government-funded group home and had to abide 
by all kinds of minimal standards in nutrition. Still, ever since Reagan determined that ketchup qualified as a vegetable serving, I have noticed this public stinginess about food.
Where I worked, sugared-water drinks qualified as juice, and peanut butter consumption was limited to a thin layer like that of butter that’s spread on bread. Cheap sugar this and thats and nutrient-low, colon-clogging baked goods, noodle dishes, and pizza were the at-hand substitutes for wholesome, more substantial offerings. The resulting blood-sugar swings and erratic, aggressive behavior were handled with drugs and listed within their case histories.
“Please, sir, some more?”
There was much more like this but suffice it to say that I could hardly believe the happenings in this Oliver Twist world. My heart went out to those young boys who in this once wealthy land and still surrounded by plenty in this post-millennial, rich 
suburban California stood near the kitchen with plate in hand, their eyes pleading if they might “please have some more.”
This miserliness about food seems a prevalent thing throughout the culture as it is evident in school lunch programs also. Whereas at the grammar and secondary schools I attended while growing up I enjoyed complete wholesome meals on a par with and sometimes surpassing the enjoyable repasts at home and even seconds were allowed, what is considered a decent school lunch today is shocking. Corporations have taken over as suppliers. Can you believe we had a Joe the Cook in grade school who concocted home-style offerings, which was ladled out by those of our mothers, including my own, who had volunteered?
The beloved school cook–Pepsico
Today the school meals are akin to that in fast food restaurants and just as monotonous … 
pizza, chicken nuggets, spaghetti, greasy burgers, hot dogs, fries. They are not “cooked.” From what I understand, they are taken from freezers, popped in microwaves, and dealt out to pupils like one would cards. The epidemics of obesity and diabetes in our country attest to how much worse is the nutrition for young folks today. 
Continue with Aren’t America’s “Extermination Policies” Just More Undetectable Than Nazi Germany’s? Starving the “Beast”—That Means You: Your Money or Your Life
Return to Foolin’ the People About America. Better Off Than Fifty Years Ago? Part One: Peaking in the Sixties
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Culture War, Class War 
#1 by sillymickel on April 13, 2012 - 12:08 am
Cassie Burke Foyle writes:
There’s no doubt about the major changes in our diet. (Social change) 1. Two parents started working 2. parents divorcing (Agricultural) 1. What haven’t they done with “all” the farmland in America? 2. Corporate takeover (like you mentioned). 3. We were fooled into believing that burgers were meat. And the sugar prevalence is way out of control, that you mentioned. Your right, we drank water if we were thirsty, had whole milk, and juice. Soda was an occasion. We had wholesome meals. Now they’ve changed the internal structure of the food that you can’t get the proper nutrition (GMO’s). How ’bout the farmed fish, and trash meat. I’m not a meat eater myself. You really have to be very crafty when deciding what to eat today. Honey, I could go on & on. Good article Michael.
#2 by sillymickel on April 17, 2012 - 7:36 am
Lots of good points and additional information on this subject. Thanks much for your comment, Cassie.
#3 by Al Kovnat on April 14, 2012 - 10:25 am
Americans have always been fooled and have this illusion that we are the greatest and best country in the world. Unfortunately most people don`t take the time to find out the benefits and safety net programs other nations give their people. In most countries people have paid up education, even higher education with no loans or very little. Health care paid through their tax structure cradle to grave free! Minimum wages at least $12 per hour, many nations have it up to $15 per hour and at least 4 to 5 weeks paid vacations per year with sick days off and maturity leave for up to a year. Less stress in most nations since they don`t participate in occupying other nations militarily, and they take care of their own, not like in America. Now tell me again what a great nation we live in!
#4 by sillymickel on April 14, 2012 - 10:05 pm
I thoroughly appreciate your informed and informative comment, Al. Thanks!
#5 by Al Kovnat on April 15, 2012 - 3:06 am
Thank you for your comment, I appreciate your article also!