Have you heard that American wheat is toxic? European wheat is so much better. So many diseases are caused by gluten. Since the microbiome is the real cause of chronic disease, you’ll get better if you stop eating wheat.
Then again, the entire American food supply is toxic. The worst in the world. Processed foods will kill you. Processed meats will kill you. Processed faux meats will kill you. Conventional agriculture is causing the obesity problem. Blame seed oils. And sunscreen. And water. And…
If you’ve spent any amount of time in wellness land, the above sentiments will seem familiar. Influencers and coaches like to criticize the American food system before pitching their product or service. Magic awaits those who imbibe in their probiotics or adaptogens or vegan cleanses. And the only way to sell it is to set it against what’s on those supermarket shelves.
Let’s be clear: there are problems with our food system. Ag-gag laws protect corporate interests. Factory farms drive climate change while treating animals horrendously. While processed foods might not be the devils influencers make them out to be, eating a mostly plant-based, whole foods diet remains one of the best nutritional options for most of the population. And while drinking expensive purified water isn’t really necessary, some public water needs filtering.
In fact, after reading the report below, there are three real issues with our food system. It’s just not the one that influencers scream about.
As with most paranoid rantings from life coaches cosplaying as dietary experts, a bit of truth persists. And then, when it comes to the marketing pitch, that little bit goes off the rails.
Food Security
This post recently appeared in my feed:
This data point comes from the Global Food Security Index, which “evaluates food security in 113 countries across four key pillars: affordability, availability, quality and safety, and sustainability and adaptation. The index is based on a dynamic benchmarking model constructed from 68 qualitative and quantitative drivers of food security.”
So I downloaded the report to dive into the data. Let’s look at key points.
First, in terms of food security, there’s been a general downward global trend. This is due in part to Covid-19, though increased food prices and increased hunger due to a number of factors—climate change, economic opportunities, armed conflicts, weakening trade agreements, soil content, political instability, commodity prices, and an inability or willingness to fund social safety nets—play essential roles.
Despite having the world’s largest economy, it’s disturbing to see the United States fail to make the top 10.
Food security isn’t really the focus here, important as it is. I’m concerned with the claim that American food is toxic, as espoused by fear-mongering influencers.
Here’s a graphic of the overall score, with the US in 13th place.
Now here’s the filtered ranking for quality and safety.
Third place. Not bad.
The fact that we underperform when it comes to Affordability (85th), Availability (83rd), and Sustainability and Adaptation (102nd) in the world’s largest economy is highly problematic.
And here we really can blame politics. As Julian Walker and I covered on Conspirituality in April, the American right wants to gut all social safety nets, including food stamps. If implemented, Project 2025’s chapter on the Dept of Agriculture would actually reduce our ranking in the above categories, as the right wants to make it harder for low-income and impoverished citizens to access foods. The right also wants to reduce or eliminate regulations, which might push us to the absolute bottom when it comes to Sustainability and Adaptation.
Deregulation would likely reduce our ranking in terms of the one category we can actually be proud of as well: Quality and Safety.
The irony is that you’ll never hear wellness influencers yell about affordability. They can’t, given the expense of their supplements, diet protocols, and cleanses.
Then again, their target market isn’t people who can’t afford food. So instead of criticizing the American food system for its real failures, they attack the one thing we get right, which further sows distrust and confusion while blinding their followers to the reality of our structural issues.
So the next time you see a shirtless influencer yelling at kale in a produce aisle, know that everything coming from their mouth is a marketing gimmick unmoored from reality.
The problem with American food is not toxicity. Actual reform demands thoughtful legislation and political will, which, for the influencer aren’t monetizable, and therefore not worth the oxygen.
Which, I’m sure, is also toxic in their world.
I just finished a wonderful book called English Pastoral - An Inheritance, by James Rebanks. He's a farmer in northern England. He explains what happened to farming in the modern age (think 1950s to today) and how it has affected the land and the food. Although the book is set in England, he spends time in the USA and learns about our farming practices (good and bad). The book doesn't vilify farmers, but it does lay out the reasons why things got so bad. I highly recommend it to get a glimpse into what farming actually entails, the pressures on farmers to continually produce higher yields, and what it is doing to the land and our food sources. Spoiler alert - there is hope!
Thank you so much for this. I am currently reading a book by an author I normally have a lot of time for about the new weight loss drugs. Sadly in this case, it seems like he's going down the all the usual OUR FOOD IS NOW POISON paths. Although I haven't read the whole thing, so I am hoping he redeems himself in the rest of it.