There's a four-for-four-four Wendy special I saw on Twitter.

You can get four items like a bacon double cheeseburger, four-piece chicken nuggets,

fries, and a Coke for four bucks. And

initially I'm like, damn, bring it. But then I asked myself, how is that possible? How can I get all

this food for four bucks? And starting with that question, I began to pull at the thread of the

American food system, and you'd be surprised how quickly everything started to unravel.

Our food system is broken.

It's literally killing us.

Equally upsetting is learning how taxpayers, you and me, are actually funding this broken system.

Now it starts with food production. About every five years, Congress passes a new farm bill that shapes food and agricultural policy.

It affects every farmer and eater in the United States. Through the farm bill,

American taxpayers subsidize about $20 to $30 billion annually for farmers and agribusiness to grow

cash crops like corn, wheat, rice, soy, grants that provide 80% of the world's caloric needs,

and on their own, aren't that unhealthy for you.

But while farm subsidies were originally introduced after the Great Depression to support small farms,

these days, most of these cash crops end up being used as feed for livestock,

or converted to cheap products and additives like corn sweeteners, industrial

oils, processed meats, and refined carbohydrates, foods that are linked directly to the obesity

and diabetes crisis. This allows food producers like Kraft, Nestle, Conagra, Smithfield,

Coke, and others, to purchase cash crops below the true cost of production.

Processed sugars like corn syrup are so much cheaper than cane sugar. That's why today, when you

walk into your local grocery store, you'll find processed sugars added into 84% of all items.

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