Do we really want to pay $200 Billion annually in taxes to avoid eating non-starchy vegetables?

At the checkout of grocery store I was behind a metabolically challenged shopper buying bags of cookies and processed food.  It got me thinking about the 30% pre-diabetes and diabetes rate in Canada destined to cost us an additional $200 Billions on healthcare expenditure that is largely preventable through daily consumption of 400 grams of non-starchy vegetables ( & little fruits).

According to Shaun Loney, author of “The beautiful bailout - how a social innovations scale-up will solve government’s priciest problems”:
Annual health care cost per Canadian = $6604
Annual health care cost per Canadian with diabetes = $26416; Difference per year = $19812

I live in a country where we have collectively and implicitly agreed to bear the burden of chronic diseases caused by our own poor dietary habits.  In 2016 Canadians imported 3.7 billion worth of vegetables
http://www.agr.gc.ca/eng/industry-markets-and-trade/canadian-agri-food-sector-intelligence/horticulture/horticulture-sector-reports/statistical-overview-of-the-canadian-vegetable-industry-2016/?id=1501890793620

The value of vegetables produced in Canada  rose 2.0% to $1.2 billion in 2017.
https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/180212/dq180212a-eng.htm

The food and beverage processing industry is the second largest manufacturing industry in Canada in terms of value of production with shipments worth $105.5 billion in 2014

Canada has positive trade balance at $2.6 billion in 2014 for processed food and beverages.
http://www.agr.gc.ca/eng/industry-markets-and-trade/canadian-agri-food-sector-intelligence/processed-food-and-beverages/overview-of-the-food-and-beverage-processing-industry/?id=1174563085690

Assuming CANADA don’t export vegetables; then Canadians paid  $4.9 billion for vegetables in 2016

Assuming food processing and beverage industry did not change between 2014 and 2016, then Canadians spent $102.9 billion for processed food and beverages.

Hence, in 2016, Canadians’ spending on vegetable is <5% compared to spending on processed food and beverages.

So the problem with low vegetable consumption seems to be pandemic - possibly a problem for the rich and the poor.

So are we really willing to pay an unnecessary 200 Billions annually and suffer the burden of illness to perpetuate our habits of non-starchy vegetable deficiency?  If not, what can we do to create a wellness mindset?

As an individual and healthcare provider, I would role model wellness with every meal I eat, discuss the importance of nutrition at every patient and student encounter and run weekly Self-management education groups.

As a taxpayer, I would like to see my tax money go towards wellness promotion through every public institutions: Education, Healthcare and Governments.

As a wellness advocate, I would like to appeal to private corporations to put their marketing ingenuity and capital behind the creation of an economy based on wellness rather than illness.

Let’s create a wellness economy for ourselves, our children and grandchildren…