My comment about the diets and sleep patterns of children causing behavioral problems… I meant it to say that physicians agree, not that physicians suffer the same problems.

Sorry about that.

“Whole Foods ain’t exactly a tiny hemp-n’-beans farmer’s market by the side of the road and anyone who can afford to shop there is, it’s safe to assume, largely immune to the health care woes of the 47 million uninsured Americans who are currently loading up their carts with orange soda, Coors Light and liquid cheese over at Safeway and FoodCo and Walmart.”

I think the most important part of that sentence is the last part… Hello! If you’re loading up your cart with orange soda, Coors Light, and liquid cheese, that’s a large part of your health problems right there, and I think it’s part of the point that Mackey was trying to make. Eat some freekin’ vegetables, for crying out loud!

This is what I mean… no common sense… no personal responsibility for their own health. And I know people who eat like this and who feed their children like this (hopefully sans the Coors). And I believe that most of the children these days who are diagnosed with ADD/ADHD actually suffer from poor diet and sleep patterns (as do many physicians.) Not to mention the obesity problems the children of this country face.

There are a ton of common ailments (and ADD/ADHD diagnosis are becoming increasingly more common) that can be fixed with proper diet, and it’s cheaper and healthier in the long run than taking all the drugs that would be prescribed for them otherwise.

Trish, I skipped the crazy woman clip… I just couldn’t be bothered. x^p

Also, many of the Whole Foods stores I’ve shopped at (there are a large number of them where I used to live and work, and a couple here, too) had a large number of the Jewish community shopping there… there was one largely Jewish city nearby (where the closest WF to where I lived was located) that even had double carriages for those who keep Kosher (so it was explained to me) to make it easier to keep foods separate.

On the plus side, I have noticed that many other supermarkets (as Mark Morford pointed out) have followed suit and have started selling organic foods, even created their own organic store brands. Some of it is a bit less expensive than it would be at WF, some not so much (I know that soy milk and rice milk, for example, are cheaper at WF than at my local supermarket… you can even get discounts at WF if you buy certain items by the case (but you have to ask a store clerk for help… they’ll get you a case from the stock room.)

They believed that eating healthy was part of keeping the body as a temple to God which I believe is mentioned in the Bible. I’m sure there are all types who shop at Whole Foods, not just people who wear their progressiveness on their T-shirts.

I confess, I used to shop at Whole Foods when I worked in Ann Arbor but couldn’t afford it that often. My husband and I joke about it now. As much as I liked John Mackey’s piece, I just can’t bring myself to shop at the store in Ann Arbor (or A2 as the locals call it – puke) because of the smug in the air. Good for him though (even if he didn’t mean to piss off the left).

And to answer your question, looking for common sense might make you a bad liberal, but it makes you a good citizen with an open mind and that’s more important.

Hell, if I’m having trouble finding a job after my baby is born (I’m in one of the hardest-hit states), I may just go apply for one at Whole Foods (it won’t pay nearly what I was used to making while working, but I bet the hours would be more flexible, the benefits sound great… maybe even better than what we get through my husband’s job, and I’d get a discount… I happen to be a huge fan of their honey teriyaki wings!) I know someone who worked there for a time and he quite enjoyed it.

Does asking “where is the common sense?” make me a bad Liberal? Oh well…

BTW, Rob, the husband and I watched an episode of “Penn & Teller: Bullshit” about “Organic Foods” that I thought you’d get a chuckle out of. (Seriously, the hippie couple in it alone is worth the watch.)