Hunger, Poverty and the Environment

I had the pleasure of attending the 15th Annual State of the World Symposium today to hear the discussion about "Innovations that Nourish the Planet." This fabulous book profiles several innovative food and agriculture projects happening in sub-Saharan Africa and includes ideas on how to spread these to other areas of the world. If you want some inspiration and hope, get this book.

David Beckman of Bread for the World spoke about how poverty, hunger and the environment are related. Hungry people without the resources to acquire food will exploit the environment to feed themselves and their families. And, I don't blame them.

I continue to be struck by the irony of, and curious about the ability to solve, the hunger and obesity problem. I would further Mr. Beckman's idea with the contention that poverty, obesity and the environment are also related. The poor have less access to whole, natural, organic foods which are, generally speaking, more expensive. The poor also spend a larger percentage of their time working so they have less time to prepare meals at home and therefore consume a larger portion of processed and fast foods. And, food stuffs with a larger negative impact on our environment (heavily treated crops and processed foods replete with chemical additives) comprise the majority of the food the overweight and obese consume.

The simplest ideas are always, always best. The Innovations that Nourish the Planet contains many simple ideas working in Africa that I think could also serve both the hungry and overweight in the US. We have a great deal to learn from each other. And, we have the opportunity to thrive if we embrace our global food village.

Healthy Eating Too Costly?

This article in the Wall Street Journal shares some disturbing trends - in tough economic times our healthy eating habits are often sacrificed. The increase in sales for chips is astounding!

I find this all very curious. I wonder if our unhealthy eating habits are directly related to our budget or if it just makes us feel better. Let's face it, when the going gets tough we go for the brownies. Comfort food comes in fatty, sweet and calorie heavy varieties.

I did a quick internet search of easy, cheap meals and there are many options. Yes, doing so requires some advance planning. An hour or so on a Sunday to plan your meals for the week and some time at the grocery store and you'll have a plethora of meals for the week. You'll save the time doing the "what is for dinner" dance each evening, you'll have leftovers to take to work for lunch and you'll be eating way fewer calories.

I did a little experiment last week. I ate all of my meals at home for five days in a row and I ate basically whatever I wanted (granted my version of whatever I want is pretty healthy anyway). I lost two pounds. Two pounds with no effort other than eating in versus eating out.

Perhaps we should have an "Eat In America" week for all of us and see how many collective pounds we could all use. This causes a great deal of angst for our restaurant establishments and their revenue - many are already struggling. Perhaps they could respond with smaller portions and more healthy choices across the board.

Are you beginning to notice how everything is connected?