Tim Walz, food czar?

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Gov. Tim Walz should be the Harris administration’s food czar.

Yes, the man who washes down tater tot hotdish with vast amounts of Diet Mountain Dew is the guy who can get us to eat better. Look at the photos from his teaching days. The man has dropped some serious pounds, and he did it long before anyone had heard of Ozempic.

A disclaimer before I go any further: This is not about Walz’s appearance, nor is it an exercise in body shaming. This is about health — specifically Type 2 diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure and certain cancers, where increased weight means increased risk. More than 40% of American adults are clinically obese, and at this rate we’ll hit 50% by 2030. Obesity-related medical care costs the U.S. about $173 billion annually, and it hits poor people and people of color the hardest.

If that news makes you want to collapse on the couch with a bag of your favorite snack, think again: Ultra-processed foods contribute to increased risk of stroke and cognitive decline as well as obesity.

As a nation, it’s time to eat better to live better. Clearly, Walz decided to. I’d like to know more about how and why he did it — and how a Democratic administration can help to improve food options and access for people who want to follow his lead.

In his first official day as a candidate, Walz proved how willing he is to share a personal story when it advances the campaign agenda. Candidates sprinkle anecdotes into their stump speeches like chefs adding just the right amount of finishing salt, nothing new there, but Walz’s reference to his and his wife’s fertility struggles, to the agony of waiting for the phone to ring, was remarkable in its immediacy. He’s since spoken about his son’s learning disability; he seems willing to offer up his own experience if it resonates with voters.

I bet he has food stories, too — and every vice president needs his or her own issues, so why not food for a guy who both improved his body mass index and spent summers working on the family farm?

The first challenge is to figure out how to put good, fresh food within reach of more people, and then to give it a brand makeover, because too many of us consider a handful of Cheetos to be a more attractive source of calories than a handful of baby carrots.

The next step is a basic skills education campaign, also a good fit for a career teacher who knows his way around a kitchen. Nobody needs to turn out Michelin-level tweezer food, but with a little guidance we can dodge ultra-processed meals and fast food restaurants at dinnertime and save money in the process. We can dismantle the myth that there’s not enough time to make a meal after a long day at work. If you can’t cook every night, just try some nights, to put a new goal within reach. But more often, for starters.

There’s one more step, possibly the trickiest one of all, because it pits reformers against the very large, very successful snack food industry, where scientists devote entire careers to making sure we crave food that isn’t good for us. How large and successful? Mars just agreed to acquire Kellanova for over $36 billion, to expand its snack food empire to include savory snacks.

The Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Michael Moss has written two books on the war for our taste buds, the 2021 “Hooked” and the 2014 “Salt Sugar Fat,” where he introduced readers to the “bliss point,” the Holy Grail of convenience foods, a combination of ingredients that makes people eat past the point of satiation. Even if carrots were supermarket loss leaders, even if everyone knew how to roast them, we might still veer toward the chips and keep eating even after we’re full.

As a nation, we’re lost in the convenience food aisle. We need a guide to escort us out.

No, wait: We need a coach.

Dodging obesity could be Walz’s issue. He has the credibility that comes with experience.

In that spirit, one final thought about the effort he’s clearly made. As I understand it, the appeal of Mountain Dew has to do in part with caffeine, and I assume he drinks the diet version to help keep the pounds off. But artificial sweeteners are hardly innocent bystanders when it comes to good health. Though I risk being a laughingstock in certain circles, I wonder he’d consider trying a flavored seltzer with a coffee chaser, in case that does the trick.

Karen Stabiner, of Santa Monica, Calif., is a journalist and author.