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.

The Label ReDefined

My latest pet project is designing a "front of package" label for all foods sold in the US. Thanks to a few really smart people and time on the agenda at HeatlhCampDC 2010 last week, I'm here to debut the REAL FOOD FACTS label. Keep in mind this is not meant to replace the current information in the "Nutrition Facts" box on our current food packaging. Changing that label would require a epic battle followed by a miracle so let's just leave that as it is and create something new.


The Real Food Facts label is designed with the following goals:

• Clear, front-of-package information
• Easily and universally understood symbols
• Raise awareness of food processing
• Educate consumers on distance from farm to fork

Now we'll go through the main sections:

• FAT, SUGAR, SALT: Most consumers intuitively understand a green smiley face is good and a red frowning face is bad. Over time, consumers would choose packages with more ☺ and fewer ☺. Dare I say this would revolutionize the way food is made!
• MILES: Fresh food that travels long distances has less nutrients. When fruits and vegetables are picked unripe and shipped hundreds, if not thousands, of miles the nutritional value suffers and the benefit to the consumer is reduced. This part of the label is designed to raise awareness about the origin of food and the environmental impact of food travel. 
• TREE to FACTORY: The amount of natural, real, whole food in much of the food American's eat is growing smaller and smaller. This bar shows the percentage of natural vs. man-made ingredients contained in the package. Those consumers who want to reduce the amount of processed food they eat would select products with a greater percentage of "tree" ingredients. 
• POINTS: The points system is designed to integrate with public health and consumer-based affinity programs. Consumers could collect points and donate the value to their favorite school or charity. Innovative companies could also offer rewards and prizes in exchange for points.
• QR CODE: The QR code would enable consumers to quickly and easily get additional nutrition information at the point of sale. Additional information available through the QR Code could include information on chemical additives and even recipe ideas for the food product. 

Next steps:

• Collect and gather feedback from consumers. Do some market testing. (Hello Steve Case @stevecase! Would you like to fund this?)
• Get the idea on television. (Hello Oprah @oprah and Ellen @theellenshow! I'd be happy to do an interview!)
• Have a major food manufacturer agree to adopt this model as the the front-of-package labels (Hello Trader Joe's!! You would be a great early-adopter!) 
• Enroll a panel of nutrition experts (not beholden to food, big farm or big Ag businesses) to develop the detailed thresholds for each label section (Hello, Mark Hyman @markhymanmd and Andrew Weil @drweil!! You'd be perfect to lead this panel!)
• Recruit an innovative company to create the points administration and rewards system (Hello anyone who is interested!)
• Design and develop the QR codes which could also be used to feed an individual's food diary (Hello smart developer people!)
• Help our elected officials understand how it can be easy to educate consumers on the food choices they make. (Hello First Lady Obama @whitehouse! Help us make this happen!)
• Combat and reverse the obesity trend in the US by helping people eat better (Hello Jamie Oliver @jamie_oliver! Want to help the cause?).

If you are any of the individuals in the "Next Steps" list, please write to me. 

To the real people that will make this happen (that is you!) the way these things happen is by sharing. Share on the web... Facebook, re-blog, Twitter, media (@huffposthealth), etc.  If you're interested in keeping up with updates, follow along on Twitter @Cybercise. 

A big, huge dose of thanks to my fellow attendees at HealthCampDC 2010: 

@ekivemark for organizing the conference

@MJChatter for keeping the day organized and running

@Carefirst_News for hosting us

@MatthewBrowning for his great ideas include "tree" and "factory"

And, the others in our little group for which I don't have a Twitter handle. 

I'm looking forward to the day I walk into my local grocery store and see rows and rows of these labels. For now, answer this question, "What can you do today to make a difference?"

City on a Diet

A little encouragement from friends and family go a long way in helping us make better choices for our health. What if an entire city was focused on losing weight? Amazing things can happen with that kind of support!

The Mayor of Oklahoma City, Mick Cornett, has launched a program called "This City is Going on a Diet." Mr. Cornett is setting a good example with his own weight loss and is now encouraging everyone in the city to do the same. They've developed and launched a web portal to help support all Oklahoma City citizens to join the effort.

Kudos to you, Mr. Mayor!