Legislator Jonathan Nez firsthand about the power of healthy eating. Four years ago, he weighed 300 pounds and ate a junk-filled diet. He started eating healthy and lost weight. He also rides his bike and runs, two activities almost unimaginable to him in 2010. "If they put this tax in of me then, I probably would have opposed it," Nez said with a laugh. "I know I would have." He added, "It's a long haul. But we'll get there." To understand how the Navajo Nation itself in a health crisis, it’s important to understand its relationship with food. Navajo society used to depend on farming, a fact reflected in the story of the tribe's beginning: A starving people from another world were met by a turkey, who shook out four corn kernels from beneath its wings, saving the population from hunger. A Turning Point? Navajo society relied on and cattle, as well as corn. Then, in the 1920s and ’30s, the U.S. government began setting limits on livestock, explained at the time as a way to preserve eroding and overgrazed soil. On the reservation, just 7 percent of residents have a college degree, making it significantly harder for them to get a job. Supporters of the junk food tax hope it will mark a turning point for the country’s largest tribe. Money will go into a community health fund to pay for physical improvements on the reservation and educational programming. Livingston said the money could also be spent on farmers markets and vegetable gardens, exercise equipment, community food cooperatives and youth health and sports clubs. Quickwrite: Is the junk food tax fair? Why or why not? Do you think it will work? Why or why not? A C E C E S
Legislator Jonathan Nez firsthand about the power of healthy eating. Four years ago, he weighed 300 pounds and ate a junk-filled diet. He started eating healthy and lost weight. He also rides his bike and runs, two activities almost unimaginable to him in 2010. "If they put this tax in of me then, I probably would have opposed it," Nez said with a laugh. "I know I would have." He added, "It's a long haul. But we'll get there." To understand how the Navajo Nation itself in a health crisis, it’s important to understand its relationship with food. Navajo society used to depend on farming, a fact reflected in the story of the tribe's beginning: A starving people from another world were met by a turkey, who shook out four corn kernels from beneath its wings, saving the population from hunger. A Turning Point? Navajo society relied on and cattle, as well as corn. Then, in the 1920s and ’30s, the U.S. government began setting limits on livestock, explained at the time as a way to preserve eroding and overgrazed soil. On the reservation, just 7 percent of residents have a college degree, making it significantly harder for them to get a job. Supporters of the junk food tax hope it will mark a turning point for the country’s largest tribe. Money will go into a community health fund to pay for physical improvements on the reservation and educational programming. Livingston said the money could also be spent on farmers markets and vegetable gardens, exercise equipment, community food cooperatives and youth health and sports clubs. Quickwrite: Is the junk food tax fair? Why or why not? Do you think it will work? Why or why not? A C E C E S
Omnivores-Dilemma-Supplemental-Packet.docx