I can be a little brutal with the government sometimes. Honest but brutal nonetheless. Still whenever I find a pol or an agency head making sense I try to praise him for it.

Monday, in Washington, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack had two incredibly good points: Americans waste too much food and Americans need to cut their food portions. I agree 100%.

“But the first step, and the one way the USDA can provide help and assistance to meet this need, is to expand on the — on the issue of food waste,” Vilsack said. “A third of the food that we grow, raise and produce in this country is never consumed the way it was intended. It’s wasted.”

“It ends up oftentimes in our landfills as solid waste. In fact, in our landfills today, food waste is the single largest component of solid waste in landfills.”

Vilsack declared that “first and foremost, America can stop wasting food.”

“We can reduce portion sizes, we can have a more informed consuming public,” he said. …

Now, the Secretary and I may have a slight disagreement about the need for these changes. Actually, I bet we each see the others perspective to some degree. Anyway, my primary concern is that 70% of Americans are either overweight, obese, morbidly obese, or so obese that they died while I was typing this sentence.

The amount of food people waste and throw away is staggering – maybe half of what’s produced goes in the garbage. And that’s after Americans gorge on already gluttonous portions. If people ate responsibly we might only need 40-50% of the current national food stock and production.

He’s right about informed choices too. The smaller portions should be of greater nutrient value that the fast food crap people consume today. Consider this picture of Sec. Vilsack himself, preparing to eat on a Navy ship:

Gregory Bull / AP photo.

What’s on that plate? It looks tasty and actually isn’t all that bad. But it could be better: A cheeseburger on an enriched white flour bun, beans, and what appears to be a giant potato wedge (maybe????). The beef paddy and the beans and perhaps that slice of processed (fake) cheese provide protein. Good. The beans add fiber (and music). The beans also add starchy carbs as does the potato(?) thing and the bun. Not good. You’ll note the absence of anything green.

Carbs, carbs, and more carbs. I estimate that plate carries 800-1000 calories which isn’t too bad. But it’s mostly the wrong kind of calories. If the consumer was going to climb a mountain or do heavy labor those carbs would help. However, a radar operator on a destroyer who just sits in a chair all day will convert those carbs (part of them) into stored fat.

There’s the obesity problem – the bigger the portions of fattening foods, the bigger the obese themselves and the more of them.

Vilsack’s main concern was the growing world population which he insinuates we must feed. I don’t see that as our responsibility. However, if it was, freeing up half of our foodstuff for export would help.

At any rate, follow the good Secretary’s advice and you can become healthier. You might even help the greater world.