what i learned today

Remember MackeyCare, Whole Foods CEO John Mackey’s steps to improve healthcare, which he outlined in a WSJ op ed last summer? Well now it’s taking shape, as the company introduces a new approach to encourage its 51,000 employees to lead healthy lifestyles.

Whole Foods will offer up to a 10% discount (on top of the 20% discount employees are already given at the market) to employees who

1. don’t smoke
2. have low blood pressure below 110/70
3. have low cholesterol below 150, and
4. have a BMI less than 24

It’s a voluntary program, and those who sign on receive free health screenings.

I quite like the idea. Apparently, so does Safeway, Kellogg, Dell, J&J, who all do something pretty similar. But not everyone does, as demonstrated by the outlash from groups like NAAFA who call the program discriminatory and urge a boycott of the stores.

Isn’t it a little ironic that the same law that the Democrats changed in 2004 is what lost them the Massachusetts Senate seat in such a dire time?

(The Democrats, fearing Mitt Romney would appoint a Republican Senator if Kerry were to win the presidential election and vacate his Senate seat in 2004, submitted a bill to change the law to require a special election within 145-160 days after a Senate seat becomes vacant. Even more ironic is that Kennedy was instrumental in that change. Even more ironic is that they’d still hold that seat if the previous law was upheld.)

I hosted a “Spirits and Spirit” party a couple weeks ago where some friends and I convened to drink spiritual/religiously themed spirits, watch the film Baraka, and see where the conversation would take us.

It may sound a bit cheesy, but it really was a great night. We had Chimay, He-Brew beer, “Seven Deadly Zins” Zinfandel, and Chateauneuf du Pape, a papal wine.

We watched Baraka, a film by Ron Fricke that is about everything and everyone. It’s just footage, shot in 70mm, of nature, rituals, places of worship, and people from over 152 locations throughout the world. We stopped the film throughout to comment and discuss - themes, editing, location, everything. If you haven’t seen the film, I recommend it. It is kind of mind blowing. This part especially.

When some Americans believe the current president is a communist cult leader trying to brainwash the nation’s schoolchildren, and other Americans want the last president to be dragged off his ranch in handcuffs, it is time to reassess the state of our union. So may I make a modest proposal. There is a way to end the bitter bickering over health care, affirmative action, abortion, religion in the public square, taxation, torture, and the proper role of government. It is called secession. Yes, I know: Splitting the U.S. into two nations is a bit extreme. But extremism in the defense of America is no vice. And since we’re already segregating ourselves by what we watch, listen, and read, why not go all the way?

Think of the possibilities. In a new nation fashioned out of the current red states-call it, for the sake of argument, Limbaughland-the federal tax rate would be cut to 10%, Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security would be abolished, abortion would be illegal, gays would be closeted again, and Christianity would be the official state religion. Anyone could buy any kind of gun, no questions asked. In the current blue states, which we will call ObamaNation, the federal tax rate would top out at 90%; all employers would institute quota systems for minorities, women and less-abled persons; and you’d get your health care form a single-payer system like Canada’s. Fast food and guns would be banned, while gay marriage and marijuana would be legal. Voila! No more rancor, leaving only one remaining problem: What would we all feel so aggrieved about?”

-William Falk, editor of The Week

Big Food vs. Big Insurance - Michael Pollan

Actually it was yesterday. Great article. He mentions research done on foodsheds, a term with which I was heretofore unfamiliar. I wanted to learn more, so I did..

A foodshed is the region between where food is produced and where it is consumed. Our foodshed is basically the entire world, as the food we consume is from all over. The foodshed to which Pollan refers, however, describes local farmland surrounding a city. The goal is to utilize a city’s regional foodshed to provide as much food to feed its inhabitants. This helps

• the environment - by decreasing transportation costs
• public health - as food is fresher, less processed, less subject to pesticides
• the local economy - by creating local employment opportunities

Interestingly, about a third of all of America’s farms are located near a metropolitan area. Yet you stroll through a typical city market, and all you see is produce from elsewhere in the country and world. A perfect example of this disconnect - New York is the second largest apple producing state in the US with about 700 growers producing 25 million bushels each year. But 75% of the apples consumed by New Yorkers are imported from the West Coast or overseas. Why is that?

Beyond foodsheds, the recent marketing campaign against soda, and the mandate for displaying calories at chain restaurants, there are some great ideas out there for fixing that disconnect in New York. More on those later.