It's no news flash: changes in diet during the past half century have caused marked increases in the consumption of unhealthy fats and a concurrent decrease in the consumption of healthy fats. As the foods we eat and their sources have moved radically away from nature, the incidence of debilitating diseases has skyrocketed. Obesity is epidemic in the United States, with type II Diabetes sharply increasing. We almost take for granted the looming presence of arthritis, cancer, and Alzheimer's. All of these chronic degenerative diseases can be traced to the move away from a balance between omega-3 Fatty Acids and omega-6 fatty acids in our diets.

It's crazy really. Back in the 80's we decided to provide generous subsidies to conglomerate farmers for Corn and soybeans; subsidies we pay for with our tax dollars. To maximize profits for food corporations, corn and soy (much of the bill for these commodities picked up by you and me) found their way into every cow, chicken, pig, lamb, and even salmon, tilapia, catfish, and trout grown on farms to grace our tables. Nothing is inherently wrong with corn and soy; each has a niche where it is a beautiful and perfect food. But cows and chickens, trout and salmon are meant to eat green things like grass and algae, miraculously metabolizing them into a perfect blend of proteins and balanced fatty acids – perfect for them and perfect for those up the food chain who eat them, and that would be: us.

In addition, corn and soybeans have wormed their way into every processed food and drink likely to cross our lips in a day, thanks again to – oh, that's right, us. Obsessed with price, we check the tag on a bottle of soda, a carton of milk or a plastic-wrapped, Styrofoam-nested chunk of chicken, ignoring, forgetting, or never having known we paid already to fill this food with genetically modified, chemically polluted corn and soy. And we will pay again when our health – and the health of our families, friends, neighbors, and coworkers goes down the tubes. Health care is at a crisis point with politicians and pundits fighting bitterly over how to rein in costs and still provide the world class care we are capable of to every citizen.

For me, I can't wait for politicians to make reasoned choices. I can't wait until we, the people, elect to subsidize apples and flaxseeds and organic chickens with our tax dollars instead of GMO corn. The massive imbalance between omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids now ubiquitous in our society causes chronic states of inflammation, increasing the risk for every degenerative disease, especially arthritis, Alzheimer's, cancer, and heart disease. Yes, procuring food grown in accordance with nature currently costs a lot more at the market than purchasing processed food replicas that cause deleterious effects on body and brain. But it could – and mostly likely will – save your life. And your little dog too.

We live in world going (some would say gone) toxic. In my opinion, we simply cannot let our food go there too. And in the salvation of our very own food sources we might mend the planet as well.

Next: Biochemistry 101; The Path to and from Inflammation