Links I Like

Happy Weekend! On Monday, I'm starting a weeklong series on healthy, affordable eating. In the meantime, here are some links to tide you over:

• I make it a point to support small farmers when making my food purchasing decisions as often as possible. Last week's New York Times presents even more reasons why that's a good thing to do.
• What does the obesity epidemic mean in terms of health care costs? Apparently, people with obesity are living about as long as anyone else, only they're living with a greater number of costly chronic diseases like diabetes. One researcher says that when it comes to health, "being obese is roughly equivalent to being aged by 20 years." Yikes!
• The government's involvement in advising Americans how to eat reaches back to waaaaay before MyPlate, MyPyramid and even the Basic 4 Food Groups. Read or listen to this fun NPR story.
• Speaking of MyPlate, here's a rebuttal as only Stephen Colbert can do it: Hilariously, and deliciously. (A real pie chart, anyone?)

• Last, but not least, here's a whole slew of reasons to put down that soda and drink a glass of water. Water: The Wonder Beverage! (You can go here to view a larger version of the graphic.)