Today, Farz takes us on a journey through the history of the US Food System. We'll talk about who owns what, what they want you to eat, and why they want you to eat it! Don't forget to start prepping for your Victory Garden, America!
Today, Farz takes us on a journey through the history of the US Food System. We'll talk about who owns what, what they want you to eat, and why they want you to eat it!
Don't forget to start prepping for your Victory Garden, America!
Hi Friends! Our transcripts aren't perfect, but I wanted to make sure you had something - if you'd like an edited transcript, I'd be happy to prioritize one for you - please email doomedtofailpod@gmail.com - Thanks! - Taylor
Taylor: Happy Sunday. How are you? Good. Did it snow by you this week
>> Taylor: In the matter of the people of State of California vs. Oriental James Simpson, case number BA097. And so, my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.
>> Farz: And we are recording in progress. Taylor. Hi. How are you?
>> Taylor: Good. How are you? Good.
>> Farz: I'm trying to fake energy right now, so, if it seems forced, just tell me and I'll go back to just like my normal.
>> Taylor: I like it. How are you? Happy Sunday. I mean, it is late for you and it's cold. I thought. Wait, didn't. Did it snow by you this week? Was it this week that it snowed?
>> Farz: It was last week that it snowed, but it is kind of cold also. Like, it's a weird time because it's, like, almost getting a little bit too late to, like, eat dinner without feeling like going to sleep, but it's like dinner time. I don't know. It's just a weird time. But it's fine.
>> Taylor: Yeah, that's fine.
Doomed to Fail is the podcast that brings you history's most notorious disasters
>> Farz: so we had your story this week and wait, let me.
>> Taylor: Let me introduce.
>> Farz: Yeah. Gosh.
>> Taylor: hello. Welcome to Doomed to Fail. This is our second story of the week. We are the podcast that brings you history's most notorious disasters, failures, interesting stories. And I'm Taylor, joined by Fars. I'm in California, he's in Texas. So that's why we're talking about time differences and weather. Because we're not next to each other.
>> Farz: Yes.
>> Taylor: We're just over the Internet, just like.
>> Farz: Everything else in the world. so my story today is it sounds boring initially, but then the more you, like, dig into it, the more you scratch the surface, the more you realize how deep it goes, which is kind of fun. So I want to talk about the US Food supply, and I'm going to break it down into several sections. One is one, why is the way that it is. the other section being, spoiler alert, why it's bad. what it could be instead. And see what we can kind of get to with this. So.
>> Taylor: Oh, excited. That's. That's cool.
>> Farz: There's some stuff in here, Taylor, that are going. If it doesn't blow your mind, then you already know, like, everything about Team Supply.
>> Taylor: I don't. So please tell me more.
>> Farz: I could not believe the stuff I found out. Absolutely disgusting. and the other thing. Okay, so I'm gonna start this out by saying on the why it's bad part or why it is the way that it is, I know that at 40 years old, I'm approaching The age of, like, my fist race saying it was better once, you know, like that crazy man. And like, yeah.
>> Taylor: Old man yells at Cloud.
>> Farz: Yeah. And like, in the, I'm raising that because, like, I don't know, you and Taylor, you and I talk about this every now and then where it's like, I don't know, maybe this is the way that it should be. Because we're humans and we change and adapt and human, like, things change and like, how much of it is like, us shaking our fists in the air versus, like, whatever, maybe we're meant to eat, you know, hydrogenated fats. Maybe that's. Maybe we'll just adapt as a human species and we'll just, like, become a different version of ourselves. Maybe this is just the way that it is, you know? Yeah, that's what I think anyways.
>> Taylor: I mean, I feel like we're. I don't, know, The thing about time travel is you couldn't eat the food.
>> Farz: So here's one thing I did hear recently that is fascinating. Apparently, part of the reason why our brains are, like, so big, inefficient, and like, work the way they do has to do with the invention of fire. Because once we invented fire, we didn't need to dedicate as much energy and resources and blood flow and all that stuff to the digestive tract because we cook food, which results in us having a contract. So that's what I'm saying. I'm m saying, like, I don't know, maybe it's a good thing we're all fat as shit. Like, I. I don't know. Maybe. Maybe that's the way it's supposed to work. And then in like, 200 years, that generation of humans, they're going to adapt. And eating Oreos for breakfast, lunch and dinner is going to be good for them.
>> Taylor: It's like in, Did you see Wally?
>> Farz: No, I didn't. I heard. It's sad, though.
>> Taylor: It is sad, but the human. The Earth is essentially just a pile of garbage and even more than it is so now. And the humans had to leave and they left and they're all on this ship and they're all just like. All they do is sit on these, like, floating chairs and drink soda and, like, bump into each other.
>> Farz: Yeah, I mean, that's. I mean, it's horrible, but that's kind of what I'm getting at.
>> Taylor: yeah, exactly.
Between 72 and 75% of Americans are overweight, according to CDC
>> Farz: So I'm going to start by throwing out some stats about, like, health in general in the US So across, like, every metric that is measurable body weight. And like fat concentration on a human body tends to be the most dependable and widely used figure to gauge physical health. Like, that's not an American thing or European thing. That's just like the whole world all around. According to the CDC, the average weight of men from 19, the 1960s to early, 2000s went from 166 to 199. And for women it went from 140 to 171. Interestingly enough, we also increase in height, but the height increase that we saw would lead to like somewhere around three to four pounds of natural weight gain. Not this percentage that we're seeing right now.
>> Farz: So, part of this conversation gets a little bit convoluted. And the reason for that is that we're all different. And because we're all different, we don't have a very clean, affordable, concise, accessible way to measure body fat. So bmi, the body mass index is the most. Is the thing that we use to call someone overweight, obese or normal, whatever. But it's like really bad. Like, it's. Do you know all the issues with this thing?
>> Taylor: Well, I do know that, like, it's not taking into an account like your muscles or your. Things like that. Right. Because it's just like, it's just like dividing your height by your weight and telling you how big you should be.
>> Farz: Yes. LeBron James. I did the math on this. He's overweight.
>> Taylor: Yeah, yeah, exactly.
>> Farz: The most athletic man the world has ever produced.
>> Taylor: I saw something funny that it was like a guy on Instagram who was like, they sent a social worker to his house because he was drastically underweight for his, his height and he only had one leg.
>> Farz: Yeah, yeah, exactly.
>> Taylor: He was like, yeah, of course I'm missing an entire leg, you know.
>> Farz: Yeah, yeah. So like, so I'm going to, I'm going to be throwing out a lot of like, stuff around obesity and overweight. And it's all based on bmi, which again, is not a amazing indicator, but I would probably wager that it's within like a, 70% margin of error. Correct. Give or take, is my guess right now.
>> Taylor: Correct, like in what? correct.
>> Farz: And how, as in like most people on the bell curve fall in the middle of the bell and therefore they are not on the extremes of missing limbs or being abnormally physically fit. Like a LeBron James. That's what I mean.
>> Taylor: Yeah, yeah. Okay.
>> Farz: So, but, but again, it doesn't account for like an actual bodybuilder would be considered like morbidly, morbidly obese because those guys weigh like 300 pounds. They have 2% body fat.
>> Taylor: Right.
>> Farz: So, so with all that being said, some quick stats. So the obesity rate in the US is about 42%, 75 or so percent. Between 72 and 75% of Americans are at the very, very least overweight. Obesity is the other 42% there. and obviously this is due to several factors. One is food intake, the other is exercise. So, part of this is such an interesting topic because I remember this was like a huge yielding in the middle of COVID where all these like health people were like, people need to lose weight and then their comorbidities drop and then the impact of COVID is lessened because the biggest comorbidity we have is our, our weights. And like, that was like, I know that that wasn't a popular opinion. People don't want to say that. But like the things that are linked to, to being overweight, cardiovascular diseases like hypertension or heart failure, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, cholesterol, risk of stroke, there's like a million. Every horrible thing that can happen to you gets dramatically worse based on being overweight. This part's incredible. So oddly enough, despite a brief dip in lifespan contraction, in the US because of COVID our lifespan is going up. It's, it's an inverse relationship or, well, I guess it's a direct relationship between becoming more overweight and our lifespan increasing. But that also explains why our healthcare is the way it is.
>> Farz: So all this stuff we architected around our insanely convoluted, complex and overpriced healthcare system, all the incentive structures around research and development for drug manufacturers, all of this is being done because our lifestyles are becoming more sedentary, we're gaining more weight and our medical costs are increasing. So they're just coming up with more and more creative ways to keep us alive longer. So imagine how much better we would be doing, how much longer we could potentially be living if like none of this was an issue.
>> Taylor: Right. And I think, but also, like, I know some companies do interesting things. Like I know like my friend worked at Disney and if you like rode your bike to work, you got like an extra certain amount of money a week or something. Like just like keep you healthy because it's less expensive for them to like try to keep you alive that way than it is like via healthcare.
>> Farz: Yeah, yeah, 100%. And the numbers kind of bear that out. So these Numbers aren't gonna sound that dramatic, but it's a pretty good indicator of, like, where things are headed. So the average cost of health care per person in 1970 was $2,100. That's adjusted for inflation. Real number was, like, $300. today it's $14,570. So it's a 7x increase in the cost of maintaining someone's health. So there's. There's also some caveats here. Like I said before, it's like, there's some people where being, like, being, very few people can actually get into, like, movies, star shape, like, six packs.
>> Taylor: Right.
>> Farz: Stuff. Like, that's not,
>> Taylor: It has to, like, be your job.
>> Farz: Yeah. You have to, like, have the money for a chef. You have to, like. It has exactly has to be your job. And. And. But, like, the vast, vast majority of people can just get to a place where, like, they're, like, mostly fit. Like, I mean, I know for myself, when I look at myself every now and then, it's like, wow, my love handles really starting to sag. Like, it's like, okay, let's do something here. Like, this is getting out of hand. but it is also true that some people have lower resting metabolic rates.
Taylor: I started doing yoga consistently about three years ago
Some people are predisposed to retain fat more easily. Some people lack the hormones that, drive satiation of feeling full. There's a whole host of reasons why people could not be in a position to lose weight. I will say that through this research, the vast, vast majority of people aren't in that category. Again, it's like the LeBron James situation that you're looking at the bell curve. It's on the opposite side of that bell curve. So about 10% of the population falls into that category. That does not account for the 75% of us who are overweight or obese. So, there's that. So why are we gaining weight and becoming sicker than the rest of the world? What do you think, Taylor?
>> Taylor: Their food?
>> Farz: Yes. Well, so it's food and it's our lifestyle, but it's like, 97% food. The whole, like, fact that we don't have, like, I mean, you lived in New York. Like, what was it like? How does your body feel in New York? Because weren't you walking, like, everywhere?
>> Taylor: Oh, yeah. Oh, my God, Totally. I walked miles a day. yeah, I definitely was, like, super. Not, like, I don't know, whatever. I was way more fit in New York than I am anywhere else. Cause you're just. You're moving Constantly.
>> Farz: Yeah. When I was in, in Lisbon, in Portugal, like three years ago, I. Lisbon's super hilly. Like, everything is up and down hills. And I. I actually injured my knee because, like, I was overweight and out of shape and not used to walking a lot. And it was just. It stunned me because you'd look over and you'd see like a local who was like an 87 year old woman and she was like lugging like a side of beef.
>> Taylor: Of course she was.
>> Farz: Good for her. Yeah, it's like our lifestyle is not good either, but we're not gonna address that here.
>> Taylor: That's hilarious. And I love her. And there's so many old women in those. And like, yeah, when I was in Italy, there were women like that too, like, just lugging their stuff, you know, wearing their little low heeled shoes. And you're like, oh my God, you're like 200 years old. I love you so much.
>> Farz: Yeah. You know what's funny also, like, as I was researching this, I like pulled out all the data on blue zones, you know, the place where people live dramatically longer. And it was. I don't know, there's like some conspiracies around that. They're like, maybe those aren't really a thing. And really it's just an indication of like, pension fraud because, like, people are claiming that their dead grandmother's still alive.
>> Taylor: Sure, that's funny. But I was thinking about that when you said that, because, like, I heard, and I don't know if I think maybe I've said this before, but like, I heard one indicator is like, cultures where you have to sit on the floor and get up a lot. Like, that really helps, dude.
>> Farz: Yeah, the combined effort of it is like, really, really useful. So like. So, yeah, that's like, again, I'm like, I'm not in good shape. Like, I'm definitely overweight. I definitely could lose like 30 pounds and like, not be hurt by that. But I will say that I started doing yoga consistently about three years ago. My knee pain's gone. My knee and back pain is totally gone. And like, I don't even notice it anymore. And. And I can do stuff now that I'm like, surprised by my body that it can do. Like the, like, the elasticity of joints and stuff. Like, it kind of surprised me every now and then. Just like a little bit of this stuff has a huge cumulative effect. It seems like there were a couple.
>> Taylor: Years in New York when I was doing yoga regularly, and I do it every once in a while. Now, but very rarely. But, where I could, like, touch my toes. That was, like, the only time in my life I could do it. Like, I can't do it now. I couldn't do it for a long time. It took, like, a year of yoga to get to the point where I could touch my toes, Kayla.
>> Farz: Like, even now at, like, what I weigh now, given how much I've done yoga, I could literally put my entire palm on the ground while I'm standing.
>> Taylor: Oh, my God. It's so cool. I'll be proud of you.
>> Farz: But. But, dude, like, four years ago, I couldn't move. Like, I would wake up and lay in bed because my back hurts so much. I wasn't doing anything.
>> Taylor: I saw another thing one time on the Internet that was like, I hate to tell everybody this, but I actually feel better after doing yoga in the morning. And you're like, like, you know, you know that it would make you feel better, but you just don't want to.
>> Farz: I mean, I can't do it in the morning because, like, I'm not motivated to do anything in the morning.
>> Taylor: Yeah.
>> Farz: So, anyways, back to this.
Food coloring red that causes cancer in lab rats has been banned
So I, I, I wrote down about, like, how generally speaking, and, you know, this about me. I don't like to describe blame. I think things happen for a reason. Like, there's a history behind everything, whatever, yada, yada, yada. But I will say that I'm starting to think that our food system is almost entirely driven by, like, malice towards children, like, a desire to hook them on things that they shouldn't want, shouldn't have them on it.
>> Taylor: Yeah.
>> Farz: So one, one thing I looked at here, because it just became, it just came up as news because it just got banned. But red dye number three.
>> Taylor: Yeah.
>> Farz: So this is food coloring red, obviously, like a candy red that's used in gum, in Pez, candy corn, jelly bellies, sour gummies, fruit by the foot. Any cookies with red icing has this. And, like, pretty much anything with, like, vivid red coloring has red dye number three. In the 1980s is when researchers found that this kind of dye causes cancer in lab rats. And as a result, it was banned by the FDA for use in cosmetics. But they said that ingesting the dye had, like, an acceptable level of risk, so they kept allowing manufacturers to use it in food and medicine supply.
>> Taylor: We learned in the solid my episode that, like, it was the federal, like, it was drug, fda, Drug Administration and cosmetics. Like, food, drug and cosmetics. That's crazy, because it was like, also, like, of course it makes Sense that part of it is, like, something you would put on your body.
>> Farz: Like, it's like, put on your body. But why would you ban the thing that you. Why would you ban the thing you put on your body and not the thing you put in your body?
>> Taylor: In your body? Yeah, no, good point. I don't think. Yeah, I'm gonna say money lobby.
>> Farz: Yeah, we're gonna get to it. But, yeah, obviously, right.
>> Taylor: Intentional malice towards children.
>> Farz: Like, legitimately, there's somebody twirling a mustache, clubbing a baby seal, and, like, putting lobby dollars into, like, red dynam or three.
>> Taylor: Yes.
>> Farz: So it was only in January of this year, 2025, that the FDA mandates that, it be removed from the food supply by 2027 and removed from medicine by 2028. Comparison here, Europe removed it and banned it in 1994. Like, we've been eating this.
>> Taylor: I love jelly bellies.
>> Farz: How is that anything but absolute malice?
>> Taylor: Like, I know.
>> Farz: How am m. I supposed to.
>> Taylor: No, I know. How can you. I don't know how you can sleep at night, but, you know, like, if your job is to do that. Wow. I don't know.
Taylor: First round of successful lawsuits against tobacco companies alleging misleading Advertisement started in 1980s
>> Farz: So let me ask this, Taylor. This is the part where I ask you a question.
>> Taylor: Okay.
>> Farz: Can you think of any other products from, like, an earlier era that were aimed at kids that weren't good for them?
>> Taylor: like, besides, like, the. Just sugary things.
>> Farz: Besides sugary things.
>> Taylor: cigarettes, I wrote.
>> Farz: That's right. Cigarettes.
>> Taylor: Really?
>> Farz: Yes.
>> Taylor: Yes.
>> Farz: So what would the. What could the overlap here possibly be? Can you take any guesses what the overlap here is?
>> Taylor: is it, like, addiction?
>> Farz: No.
>> Taylor: What is it?
>> Farz: We'll go. So a lot was going on in corporate America in the 1980s and the 1990s.
>> Taylor: Is it Ronald Reagan?
>> Farz: No. So no, actually, in this case. But Reagan did have something to do here, which I'll talk about here in a moment. So in the late 1980s, that was when the first round of successful lawsuits against tobacco companies alleging misleading Advertisement. Advertisement. Focusing on children specifically. And, like, with Joe Campbell, Joe Camel, and them knowing that cigarettes are addictive and them knowing that it causes cancer and not stating that to their customers. So all these lawsuits are huge and take forever. Which means if you're litigating one of these things, you can see the writing on the wall for, like, a very long time. Right. The lawsuit gets filed in 83, concludes in 92. So, you know, something's coming down, down the pipe legitimately. That was the actual date. So, like, there's a case called, CIP Alone versus Legget Group, which is somebody who sued this massive tobacco company. Not the biggest one, but one of the big ones. and they had to pay damages for the cancer that product gave to the, to the customer in that case literally started in 83 and ended in 92.
>> Taylor: So they're the only person to sue for that?
>> Farz: No, no. What ends up happening in these situations is one case breaks the barrier because it's so obvious and egregious. Then the flood, the dam is broke, and then all these class actions come in behind it. So that was 83 to 92. In 1985, the 49th largest company in the US and the largest tobacco company in the world was a company called Altria Group. And that is the parent company of Philip Morris, which makes every cigarette, you know, of Marlboro, like, cool, whatever. All of them are made by these guys. And they saw the writing on the wall. This is absolutely. Blows my mind. So they go out in 1985 and acquire General Foods for $5.6 billion. Then in 1988, they buy Craft Food for 13.1 billion. Then in 2000 they buy Nabisco holdings, all of which are merged into Kraft General Foods.
>> Taylor: Wow.
>> Farz: Yeah.
>> Taylor: They maintain Big Book.
>> Farz: Yeah, Big Book of business. So they maintain their holdings here for about, till about 2007 and before they start selling bits of it off. But those 22 years they held on to this were pretty important. So during those years, the world's biggest tobacco company controlled the ingredients, supply, distribution, marketing and advertising for every brand name staple at the American, like an American grocery store. This is insane.
>> Taylor: That's insane.
>> Farz: Did you know this?
>> Taylor: No. What was the, what is the, what was a. Was it because they were looking, they needed something else to like make money on while cigarettes were getting less and less popular?
>> Farz: Yeah, because they knew, they saw that all these lawsuits are coming and we, we're not, I'm not going to, I'm not going to sell my beach house. So. Yeah, go find some other stuff we can, we can do.
The market in general is craving natural and less processed foods
>> Taylor: Wow.
>> Farz: The marketing piece here is absolutely critical as it is. They're exceptionally good at targeting children. and you called out one of the characters here, which is like, it's incredible. Like this thing hasn't been in use for like 30 years and you still called it out immediately. So in 1991, the American Medical association found that 1/3 of 3 year olds and half of 6 year olds recognized Joe Camel over Mickey Mouse.
>> Taylor: Yeah, I remember Joe Camel.
>> Farz: Well, of course, we all remember Joe Campbell.
>> Taylor: That's so funny. Like who was I? What a good idea.
>> Farz: But this is how, this is how Tony the Tiger, the Tricks Bunny, the Captain Crunch. Captain. That's how all these characters came into being and that's what drove the market for children wanting probably the single worst thing to put in their bodies, which is like sugar cereal with like a bunch of.
>> Taylor: Yeah.
>> Farz: Food. Diet number 1, 2, 3, 4. Yeah. So Philip Morris's expertise besides marketing was also how to create high margin products which led to the processing of food beyond what is natural and what should be on shelves today. The use of things like artificial flavor color preservatives to enhance shelf life also came around this time. Emulsifiers, which I don't even know what emulsifier is. Do you know what this is?
>> Taylor: No, that's a good question. I don't know what it really, what it means by processed food.
>> Farz: Basically some things just don't go together. Like if you, like if you were to take, if you were to try and make like natural mayonnaise without emulsifiers, they would separate, right? The oil would separate from the cream and all that stuff. I don't know. I don't mean it. The reason why I think it's like.
>> Taylor: Egg whites and oil. But. Yes.
>> Farz: Yeah. So whatever it is. But like oil generally doesn't stick to anything. Anything that you put in oil separates from oil essentially. and then emulsifier combats the natural tendencies of that product to separate so that it appears nicer to you, but it's just another chemical you're putting in your body.
>> Taylor: Is that why there's like some peanut butter that you have to stir?
>> Farz: Yeah, yeah. Natural peanut butter. You have to stir.
>> Taylor: I hate that now spill it. Sourced.
>> Farz: But it's better for. You should be eating that instead of fake peanut butter.
>> Taylor: No, I know but.
>> Farz: But the whole aspect of how food stop resembling food, like it's this 1980s-90s takeover of all this by a tobacco company.
>> Taylor: It's crazy.
>> Farz: So these techniques were also perfected around this time by fast, food restaurants. The explosion of fast food, like really like I mean the 1960s when like McDonald's for example started becoming a thing. But back then it was still like a hamburger patty. Like you know, it was still food as opposed to like things that were just like so processed they barely resemble the cow. by the time you're done with it.
>> Farz: There are a lot of culprits in why things are the way they are. I think I'll mostly blame The Food and Drug Administration for prioritizing cheap and easy access to food over good food and for prioritizing industry growth over general health. But there's good news. So the good news is that people are speaking. So I think most people are starting to realize that the stuff that they are putting in their bodies has like an impact on how they feel and what they do. And that's why you see this rise of natural grocery stores like Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, Central Market here in Texas. Sprouts, etc. Is an indicator that the market in general is craving natural and less processed foods.
>> Farz: The bad news is it's not that accessible. Like, I honestly I don't, I, I will shop at a Whole Foods or Central Market when I need something specific, right? Like I need like a cut of meat that I know is like super good. And like, you know what I mean? Like it's, I'm not going to go there and get like milk, eggs, bread. It's just too expensive.
>> Taylor: Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. I mean I definitely have gone in there before and like looked at an artichoke and it was like $9. And I was like, are you freaking kidding me? Like I can artichoke, but I also will like go to Whole Foods if I'm like, well, the last time I went to Whole Foods was when I was on like a work trip spending work money to buy dinner, you know, and then I was like, cool, I'll do like the hot bar or whatever.
>> Farz: you've never been to a Central Market, have you?
>> Taylor: I don't think so.
>> Farz: Okay, so Central Market must be like a uniquely Texas thing because we have Heb here and he, HM. Has like, that's like the normal grocery store. Then they have Central Market and I next time you're here, I'm gonna take you to one because it will, it is like it will shame a Whole Foods. Like it is.
>> Taylor: I've definitely been in a very beautiful Whole Foods in Austin.
>> Farz: Probably the first one was in Austin. The first one was in downtown. Yeah, yeah, no, they're great. Don't be wrong. I like Whole Foods, like Central Markets. Here are unbelievably 20 species of grapes, just all kinds, like 50 kinds of mushrooms. It's unbelievable. M m. But again, it's not really accessible. Right. So like that's where the concept now, arises, where a. You got to be super wealthy to be, to have the luxury of being cognizant of your food, to be able to shop at these places. But then there's some people that even if they had access to the money, they don't have access to the stores because there's deserts all around America.
Richard Nixon's administration focused on increasing the food supply and reducing costs
So these are like impoverished places where grocery stores don't feel like there's any revenue opportunity. So why would they set up a grocery store? Which like, also makes sense. Why would you.
>> Taylor: If you totally have a business places here, we're like. So we have like, we have a, we have a couple grocery stores of a Walmart, a Vons and Aldi. Like, oh, whatever, we have plenty. but there are places that are like 20 to 30 minutes in either direction of where I live, where the only thing they have is a Dollar General, you know. Of course, yeah, but they're not getting. There's no like fresh food. And then like the food is also like weirdly proportioned. It's like Dollar General is always like weird deals. It's a, it's a whole racket of like weird things.
>> Farz: And that's exactly the next point. It's like those people, the only place where they could get their food is from a Dollar General, a fast food joint, the corner market, where like the, the hot dog was on the floor 20 minutes ago. And you know, it's just, it's just not good stuff for you.
>> Taylor: Yeah. Like even in like in New York City, like you. Which, I think was really cool, but like you would get produce at like a corner thing, you know, like there were corner places, especially when I lived in Queens where like it was like a store, I don't know, I mean, who knows if they're there anymore but like run by like a family forever. And that's where you get your fresh produce, not the grocery store, you know. So it was like an interesting, like older way of shopping where you would have to go to like different places for different things. as opposed to like the One Stop shop or something, which I'm sure is also part of it too. If you're like, I'm going to Walmart for you know, a, ah, PS5 and.
>> Farz: Yogurt, I can't do that. I can't. I think I've aged out of that. Like, there's a really good Target next to me that has like a grocery section and I've bought fruit from there before and I'm like, it just makes me feel different. I don't know why, but like, it's just not the same as like a grocery store.
>> Taylor: I mostly buy food at the Walmart because it's cheaper and it is. And it's convenient, but it's definitely cheaper and it's definitely. I am very, all for a Trader Joe's in my neighborhood too. Even though their produce isn't that great, but the rest of the stuff I think is really good.
>> Farz: Yeah. Anyway, so people have tried fixing this in the past. So it all seems like how we got to where we are right now has to do with how bad things were in the US Back in the day with access to food. So we did not have an abundance. we did not have an overabundance issue. We had, underabundance issue, whatever you want to call that. LBJ is the one who launched his war on poverty and hunger during his administration, which established kind of the food welfare program. And that's part other. Other presidents did other things as well. But that was kind of like the starting point of how we ended up in a situation where we have more food than we really need. And the kind of food we have is horrible. Anyways, the pattern was probably, the most impactful president on this was probably Richard Nixon. So Nixon's administration was super focused on increasing the food supply and reducing costs, which led to basically factory farming. That was the inception of factory farming was Richard Nixon, as well as the subsidized subsidization of corn and soy corn, flooded the market because the US Government was giving, was paying farmers to produce it even if there wasn't a buyer for it. So that flooded the market, which drove the price down dramatically and led to the use of it as high fructose corn syrup to replace sugar, which isn't good, but at least it's a real food. Like it's a whole food. It comes out of a plant. it's a great case study in the law of unintended consequences because I think that Nixon's heart was actually in the right place here. But the downstream impact created the scaffolding on which someone like Philip Morris, McDonald's or whoever else could start building these empires of these super processed shitty foods and drowning kids in it, basically.
>> Taylor: I just got went to the library, next in Yucca Valley, the town next door to ours had a book sale yesterday and a bunch of kids books were free. It was wonderful. We got ton of stuff. But I got a book on Pat Nixon. and it has like photos in it. And the photos are like, Richard Nixon on the beach with his family. And it's always. So I always just like whenever I remember he's from California, I'm like, how are you from California. How are you ever on a beach? You know, even the pictures of him, the beach, he looks very happy, but his, his face is at the face of a person who's been to the beach. But he's been to the beach.
>> Farz: Whenever I found out that his presidential library was in Loma Linda, I was like, why, like, why shouldn't it, shouldn't it be like in a farm in like the middle of Pennsylvania or something?
>> Taylor: I know. I think Miles and I are going to go in a couple weeks because I have to take him to the doctor over there. And I was like, let's go to the Nixon library. but it's always weird to me that he's from California.
>> Farz: Yes.
>> Taylor: I think he had a lot of good intentions, you know.
>> Farz: So Loma Linda was apparently a. Before all this, like, saying that it's not real. It was apparently a, blue zone city in the U.S. yeah. So I think the way that this gets addressed is by looking at incentive structures and finding ways to subsidize and incentivize producing clean, whole food and getting rid of factory farming systems. The factory farm stuff is so disgusting, Taylor, because in wide, expansive space here in Texas, as you drive, you will smell the factory farms. Like, oh, yeah, how is it legal to keep animals like this? Like, I know, giant animals stuffed in cage. Like, it's unbelievably terrible. It's unbelievably cruel. And a lot of our own diseases are sourced like mad cow. They take diseased cows, process them there and then feed them like they're not carnivores. They're like, it's unbelievable how horrible that system is. And that needs to change as well. And that's like a piece of. This is like changing the factory farm system, increasing the education and the accessibility of community gardens, which like Michelle Obama really tried hard to do. And she was called like a psycho for doing it, which is like, I.
>> Taylor: Know, like, like, I'm sorry, why is that? So vegetables, you witch. You know, like, you know, I like re.
>> Farz: I went back to my memory bank. It was like, were Republicans really that mad at Michelle? But I was like, oh, yeah, they were. They really, really, really were so funny.
>> Taylor: I mean, what.
>> Farz: Yeah, some cities.
Taylor: Things are about to change for prescription drugs
This is something that I found interesting. Which contest on what you brought up before, when we were talking about this, but like, I don't like this concept, but they have this, tax on sugary drinks. But I looked this up in my own area where a bottle of Coke, like a little one use bottle is cheaper Than like the equivalently marketed nice bottle of water, right? Like, like if you look for app apples to apples, like yes, you can also go get like these super flimsy bottles of water for way cheap. And like the sticker rips off the second you hold it. You know, it's like, it's like, like it's like, like it's not a like for like product. If you're, if you're going to compare it to Coke, you want to compare like a Fiji water or something. And those are actually more expensive than the Coke is.
>> Taylor: I m mean, they do that with cigarettes. Like I remember like in New York City 20 years ago, I took the cigarettes there. The tax was insane, you know, and it's way more. I don't know how much cigarettes cost, but like, you know, they made it more and more.
>> Farz: Well, that's. That seems fair to me because the alternative is to breathe air and air is free. But I don't think it's fair to like charge. A poor person attacks when they couldn't get the like for like product for less than that product.
>> Taylor: Right, right. That totally makes sense.
>> Farz: Then you have the rise of semi glutides and GLP1s. And that's like the WeGov, the Ozempics of the world, which showed that they can help regulate hunger and overeating. And the results are typically somewhere in the 20% loss of body weight. Of 20%. but then it creates the exact same problem we discussed before because they're like, stupid expensive. Like, they're super, super expensive. Most insurances will not cover them unless you, like, have a severe, severe, severe problem. and it's catered to the same people that also can afford to shop at Whole Foods every day, so.
>> Taylor: Oh, absolutely. Yeah. I feel like I know people who have been prescribed is epic and different for different reasons. And a lot of them can't take it because they can't afford it.
>> Farz: But if you're prescribed it, won't your insurance cover it?
>> Taylor: No.
>> Farz: Really, if you're prescribed it.
>> Taylor: No, they, they will. It'll still be like super expensive on your insurance.
>> Farz: Wow. Okay. I assumed. My assumption was you would only get it. You know what, there's two categories here. One is everybody has to get it prescribed. But I think that if you have like a bariatric situation, I think in that situation your issues probably have to cover it. But in that situation you're probably also like 600 pounds. So like, you have all those other problems.
>> Taylor: I mean, I don't really get it, because I remember. Do you remember I was saying how my diabetes medication, I mean, like, my Prediabetes pill was $0.54 a month?
>> Farz: No, I don't, but that sounds great.
>> Taylor: Well, it was. And then this month it was $4. And they were like, oh, it's a new year. You know, like, whatever. Things are about to change for prescription drugs. And like, the, rise from $54 to $0.54 to $4 isn't going to break my bank. But a rise from $54 to $400 would, you know.
>> Farz: Well, I think, I think, Taylor, what that is tied to, and someone can correct me if I'm wrong again. This is also convoluted. Our health care system. If you were to try and untangle, it would take someone 50 billion years. I can probably do it eventually, but I think because the Biden administration was negotiating reduced rates on pharmaceuticals, Remember this? There was like, yeah, 10 drugs on the schedule, and then there's going to be 10 more and 10 more. Like, it was like some weird thing like that. But part of the arguments I was hearing on the other side of it was like, we have to charge this much, because if we do not charge as much, we cannot afford the research and development on net new drugs because it takes 20 years to get FDA approval. So we got to sink billions of dollars on these drugs, and we need the old drugs to pay for the new drugs.
>> Taylor: I don't know how much I believe that, but, like, I don't know the details because I know that like, like Biden made insulin, $35 a month. Now it's going to be back to $1,000 a month, but it costs $2 a week.
>> Farz: So my assumption. My assumption is there's a price somewhere in the gray. I'm not going to say I'm going to trust the health care professionals when they tell me stories about why they need to trust, charge or whatever they need to charge. But there's probably some. But there's also the, the idea. I mean, the part of it that makes sense to me is like, yeah, like getting a drug approved for public consumption probably takes billions of dollars and tons of years before you realize a single dollar sale out of that. And like, somewhere, somehow the cost needs to be born somewhere in the equation. It's just. I don't know what the right way.
>> Taylor: But then that's. That's where we see, like, the CEOs are getting like a billion dollars. You know, you're like, I don't know, they could.
>> Farz: Well, some of them are getting shot in the back.
>> Taylor: They could submit, they could, you know, chip in.
>> Farz: I'm not, I'm not. Listen, Luigi, don't come for me. I'm not standing up for the health care insurance companies. I'm just saying like there's, there's arguments to be made on all, all sides here.
>> Taylor: I think there were things. Do you know James Franco's brother, what's his name, something Franco. But he looks like Luigi.
>> Farz: Yes.
>> Taylor: And, and he like I saw something on today on the news where he was like I've never been gotten more text messages in my whole entire life than I did. And they caught that guy and people were like, oh my God, he does.
>> Farz: Look just like him. He's probably Dave.
>> Taylor: Dave Franco. Right?
>> Farz: Dave Franco. Yeah.
Dave says the best way to avoid smoking is to avoid health care altogether
Is it really Dave?
>> Taylor: Isn't it?
>> Farz: I guess look like a Dave, but it's gotta be. Yeah, you're right, I think it's Dave. But my last point here is again like the trade offs. Like you eat a bunch of sugary stuff, you eat a bunch of super processed stuff, you feel like shit and your body doesn't perform well. And then you fall into a health care system that is a nightmare to navigate and all that. Like it is all kind of like a trade off one way or the other. And I actually think the exact same thing about drugs like Ozempic and WeGovy. Like I think like, I don't know, like I think that nothing's for free. I think that if you put something in your body that you get some sort of a benefit out of that. You pay for it eventually. And I think that. I don't know, I hope hopefully not. But like in 30 years if we find out that Ozempic turned your guts into jello, then like okay, well shit, like there it is. We, you know, I think that in the end it's probably better to whatever extent your socioeconomic status allows you to. To engage in activity and to try to eat as whole foods as possible as consistently as possible.
>> Farz: So you don't ever end up in a situation where you are in the health care system and. And then you're. Sucks.
>> Taylor: But like yeah, no, like the answer is to like avoid it.
>> Farz: Because. Because then like, I mean, okay, so now, now I take this pill for my hypertension and that causes my. How you're made is like the way it should work. When you start fiddling with one thing or the other, then like it throws the rest of it off kilter. I think.
>> Taylor: And I think, I mean, I think I don't know. I think it's a balance. People died from those things before we get the pills for them. You know what I mean? There's people who are exposed, like, high cholesterol or like blood heart attacks before all of this. So it's not like. It's like. Some of it's like you said, some of it's genetic, some of it is whatever. So if you need medicine for some things, that's not necessarily bad.
>> Farz: Well, I'm going with the. An ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure.
>> Taylor: Fair.
>> Farz: Yeah. I think that if you can do anything you can do to not get into that cycle, it would behoove you not to. And you cannot count on product marketing from tobacco companies. Just make your own decisions, like feel how your body feels and decide how to do things on your own. Don't listen to advertisements. That's my theory.
>> Taylor: Unless it's an advertisement. Do you listen to this podcast?
>> Farz: Please subscribe. Like, tell your friends. And that's, And that's our story. Doomed to fail. Brought to you by, Camel Cools. Camel cools. No, cools are different. Right? Camels are.
>> Taylor: Yeah. I'm pretty talked about it before, but I love smoking cigarettes. I'm m not going to, but I dream about it. I think I dreamed about it last night.
>> Farz: I. I think that, like, man, if you could cut our lungs open, I bet. I bet we did permanent damage.
>> Taylor: Taylor, I. Absolutely. I'm sure that I did, but I remember when I stopped smoking, like, for real. For real. I coughed up tar, you know.
>> Farz: Seriously?
>> Taylor: Absolutely. And then I had to, like, get over it. And I'm sure there's still something in there, but it's been a long time. But I couldn't, like, breathe all the way in, you know.
>> Farz: How long did you smoke?
>> Taylor: M For like eight years.
>> Farz: Like a pack a day, you think?
>> Taylor: No, much less than that.
>> Farz: Okay.
>> Taylor: like maybe a pack a week. But like, still, that's not that bad.
>> Farz: I've.
>> Taylor: I mean, it's all.
>> Farz: I think, yeah, I've done a pack in a weekend where I'm like, drinking with friends.
>> Taylor: Yeah, best.
>> Farz: But I think I've done a pack in one weekend with you.
>> Taylor: No, I wasn't smoking by the time I got to la.
>> Farz: Fine, I'll be the bad one only.
>> Taylor: I know. I wish that I was. I mean, again, if we're gonna find out to make. Oh, wait. To make that not kill you, I'd be down for that one. But, yeah, no, I feel like I feel better When I eat better, I feel like your body knows these things. So, like, you know, in moderation, but also, like, it's a good warning that, like, it's hard to come back from a lifetime of bad eating.
>> Farz: Yeah.
Taylor: The biggest risk with vaping is habit and lack of indoctrination
>> Taylor: Which my kids do. My kids eat terrible. They can't. I cannot get them to eat good food. And it's just, like, not the battle that I want to fight every day, but.
>> Farz: And that's, Honestly, Taylor, like, my opinion is, like, that's fine. It's not like, if you house, like, a pizza every now and then or what. Like, it's not. That's not what matters. What matters is, like, the habit and the lack of indoctrination. As long because your kids didn't. Weren't raised the way we were. Like, we. Like, you're great. Like, we would say that we would dress up as Tony the Tire for. For Halloween. Like, m. We were indoctrinated. It was, like, embedded in us. So, like, this is. These are the things that you're supposed to, like, it was everywhere. Like, your kids. I don't think they do that anymore because I don't think it's, like, acceptable to do that.
>> Taylor: Yeah, I mean, they don't really watch commercials for food or, commercials at all also. But they do see, like, things that are, like. Well, we got. One time I saw Tony the Tiger at, Walmart. He was there like, someone dressed like Join the tiger. Florence was not amused and was afraid of him. But, like. Yeah, I mean, they know about, like. I don't know. I guess there's, like, a lot of candy and stuff, but I'm not the kind of person who's like, only have one candy in Halloween. I'm like, eat till you get sick. It's Halloween.
>> Farz: You know, they're young and their kids and, like, the thing. The only thing that matters is, like, not develop, like, a dependency on, like, I have to have sugar. I have to. It's like, what's that? Because you can. A lot of people go through those phases, and then they go into, like, they join fitness. they like sports in high school, and then they join fitness groups in college. And then their lifestyle becomes their lifestyle. And, like, that's totally fine. It's not redeemable. It's just, like, don't start that habit that results in bad things. I was gonna say the biggest risk, I think, like, now is things like vaping. Like, that's. That's gotta be so bad. That's gotta be so bad. Nothing. I feel that sweet in Your lungs, like, you, shouldn't have sugar in there.
>> Taylor: No. Vaping is really bad for you.
>> Farz: Also, you look like a douchebag. Nobody looks cool. Literally, like, smoking, Everybody looks cool. Smoking, vaping, nobody looks cool.
>> Taylor: Agree to agree.
>> Farz: Are we all, Taylor, are we shaking our fists in the air a little bit.
>> Taylor: But I do think, but I do agree that like, I've seen really bad things about, people who are vaping like, you know, a million times a day and then they like, you know, have very terrible, their lungs or have to get like, new lungs or they die. And they're like 25, you know, so you have. But. But like, I think it's the same with like everything else where it's like, I don't know, sometimes I see like, people who are, what you might call it, like, drink like 15 monster energy drinks a day, you know, like, it's bad.
>> Farz: Yeah, Yeah. I guess everything in moderation.
>> Taylor: Yeah. If you can.
>> Farz: Except smoking. Just don't smoke or babe.
>> Taylor: Yeah, I know.
>> Farz: Or at least wait until you're 80 then start smoking.
>> Taylor: That's a good point. I feel like if I like Apocalypse Day, I'm gonna smoke again.
>> Farz: Oh yeah, yeah, me too. Me too.
>> Taylor: Yeah, Yeah, a little.
>> Farz: That was never my thing. My thing was dipping. I like dipping.
>> Taylor: Oh yeah, I remember you used to dip.
>> Farz: Yeah.
Taylor: When I learned about the tobacco company thing, I was shocked
>> Farz: Anyways, that is my story. This has been, It was, it was very, very educational. When I learned about the tobacco company thing, I was like, My jaw was on the floor. I was like, is this real? Like this. How is this real?
>> Taylor: I know, I don't. Those guys, like those barons of evil, you know, like, who are they? What are they doing? Why are they doing that? You know what I mean? Like those people who are like, yes, my life's work is to get children to eat food that will hurt them. Like, it's like, that's your life's work.
>> Farz: Yeah. Where do you. I went on their website. I went on Altru's website and like, what is. If you Google Ultra. I forgot what the tagline was now. Oh, the tagline, if you Google Ultra, is Ultra group moving beyond smoking to.
>> Taylor: Like, other things that could hurt you. Right.
>> Farz: Ultra is moving beyond smoking, leading the way and moving adult smokers away from cigarettes to taking action to transition. It's just nonsense. It's just like nonsense gobbly goop language. Like.
>> Taylor: Yeah. What does that mean, if anything? Like, Do you ever watch Better Off Ted? No, it was like, it's like two seasons. It's pretty great. And it is that we're at a place called Verity and Dynamics and they're always building things, like a plate that can be a bomb, you know, like, like stuff like that. Like a chair that's so itchy. You have to work harder because you can't wait for the day to be over. Like, things like that. But they also have, they have like interludes with commercials. and it's like flirty and Dynamics. We here, we're like family. That's how we work on holidays, you know, stuff like that. And then they're like, because you want to see your family on the holidays. Just like really funny. And like, I think that, Yeah, I think of that too because they're like, obviously hiding something evil. You know, like working together. Da, da, da. And you're like, doesn't feel great.
>> Farz: Yeah, this place is just like so gray. but anyways, that's my story, Taylor. Hope you liked it. please tell us what you think. If you have any opinions on the topic, write to us at doom to failpondmail.com Follow us on the socials at Doom to Fail Pod.
Taylor: I don't think we need a crazy, massive federal government
Anything else, Taylor?
>> Taylor: Yeah, I have a couple messages from people that were funny. Nadine, our, friend Nadine, who lives in Canada, agrees with me about how government is much that's involved in everyday life, like paving the roads and the garbage and those things that like, we appreciate the government for, based on our conversation about the government. Because you're like, I don't want it in my life. And I'm like, it's already.
>> Farz: No, no, no. I, I should have probably painted that in a little bit. I'm aware that like, municipal government is in my life everywhere. My point was that there's like, yeah, it's just a difference of opinion. Like, I don't think we need a crazy, massive federal government. It's funny because I was doing research initially on Aaron Schwartzman. Do you remember him?
>> Taylor: Hm.
>> Farz: So Aaron Schwarzman was, one of the founders of Reddit and.
>> Farz: He became a progressive activist and he went on JSTOR and some other proprietary database and released all of these, all this research material or some sort of material that like, was. I don't, I don't know. It was, it was, it was like one of the, it was like a progressive movement thing that he did. I forgot what exactly what it was, but he got super overcharged by the federal government for doing this. And they were trying to set an example. It was just an example of like, oh, if the federal government wants you in their crosshairs, they will do whatever they can to absolutely cripple and destroy you. And they have the power to do that. And that kid killed himself. And he was, like, a legit genius who, like, creative.
>> Taylor: Did you remember when I talk is, like, weird. I don't know if this reminded me this, like, thing where, like, Google. One of their plans was for, like, Google Books, and they wanted to scan every book that was ever made.
>> Farz: Sounds like it sounds like this. It sounds like it would be horribly, horribly illegal.
>> Taylor: Make them free. Exactly. And the government was like, you can't do. You can't do that.
>> Farz: But that's my point. That's what my point is. Like, in these situations, like, there's a million examples. I'm not going to go into the details, but it's like. It's like you just don't want the government knocking on your door and, like.
>> Taylor: Asking, like, don't make them mad.
>> Farz: But, like, yeah, like, the municipal government in Texas, in Austin. Yeah. They paved the road down the street for me. And that's great. It's just, like, I don't see a need for the other side of it.
>> Taylor: Yeah. Anyways, I'm for it. Like, whatever.
>> Farz: I know. I thought about that earlier, too. I was like. It was like, oh, there's, like, a constituency that's like, I'm pro big government, and I'm like, I'm not bad. constituency.
>> Taylor: Yeah. Yeah, I think I am. And, like, so, I mean, but with caveats, like, don't do bad things. But also, like, I appreciate that they're not. I'm not getting nuked yet. Today.
>> Farz: Today, again, it's fun. Like, every. It's a difference of opinion. I don't know where the philosophy comes from, because I've never had any moment where, like, I read something and, like, I just always, like, I don't know where it comes from, but, like, it's just ingrained in me. Maybe it's because of the whole immigrant thing of, like, Iran, where, like, the federal government became this entity that, like, ran your life and, like, owned you.
>> Taylor: Yeah.
>> Farz: And I think, like, that's. Maybe that's, like, a generational trauma that's embedded in me or something.
>> Taylor: I think that. I think that that totally makes sense because I actually also. That makes sense because I know people from, like, communist block countries who are very much, like, absolutely not. You know, And I'm like, I get it. You're from, you know, someplace that the government was, like, really terrible. So I. I get it. That totally makes sense.
Juan Carlos agrees with you to eat Korean barbecue until death
one more listener. Male listener. Juan Carlos agrees with you to eat Korean barbecue until death.
>> Farz: I made my day today. Thank you, Juan.
>> Taylor: That was funny. He was like, oh, my God, that was so funny. So that was appreciated.
>> Farz: And. And for one, I actually had Korean barbecue, yesterday, so.
>> Taylor: Nice.
>> Farz: There you go.
>> Taylor: Nice. Yeah.
>> Farz: Anything else cool?
>> Taylor: No, that's it. Thanks, friends. Thanks, Hars.
>> Farz: Sweet. we'll go ahead and cut it off. Thank you, Taylor.