In a world where the drive-thrus
are killing more people than the drive-bys, can promoting organic,
vegetarian-based diets be considered philanthropy? Well, this past week I stumbled
upon an eye-opening documentary that claims a resounding “YES!” Even changing
your own diet to be more organic can be philanthropic. On to the
evidence…
A whole foods plant-based diet can
help keep people healthy and prevent or reverse disease. According to the
documentary Forks Over Knives, 75% of US healthcare is spent on chronic
illnesses such as cancer, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes. One-third of
the adult population is obese. In such a wealthy nation with advanced medical
technology, why do we struggle with these diseases more than any of the less
developed countries? Stated simply, food is the problem and food is the answer. Forks Over
Knives provides medical evidence that eating a diet that consists of 5% animal
protein as opposed to the typical 20% that Americans indulge on has been proven
to actually reverse these diseases in patients that weren’t responding to the
typical prescription or surgical treatments.
Processed and artificial foods pose
the most severe problem to people who have no other options. Low-income
families are poor in more ways than one, from poor food choices to poor
nutrition education, and are faced with the choice of buying a lot of fast food
or a little healthy food. They can choose to pay for their expensive
prescription medication for chronic illness induced by processed foods, or buy
healthy food. Be philanthropic and help make healthy foods more affordable to
low-income households, so that a bag of carrots can be cheaper than a Big Mac.
Not only does reducing meat
consumption help people, but it can reduce your carbon footprint and help
preserve the environment. It takes over ten times the amount of energy to
produce a calorie of animal-based foods than plant-based foods. Maybe this is
why the livestock industry is a much greater contributor to global warming than
the entire transportation industry. And one last stat, the world’s cattle grain
can feed 8.7 billion people, nearly 2 billion more than the world’s population.
Yet, we have over a billion malnourished people in the world. You do the math.
So the choice is yours. Is this
evidence convincing? Would you take the “Meatless Monday” challenge to help
your own health as well as the health of our environment? At a minimum, take a
look at what you’re eating. Do you know what all those ingredients are? Check
out the website and app Fooducate.com and see how your meals measure up. Look
up Forks Over Knives if you found this intriguing, or Food, Inc., which is
another radically educational piece. Help out at a community garden, support
your local farmers while boosting the local economy, and bask in the altruism.
There’s a garden right on Pine Street in downtown Binghamton according to
CommunityGarden.org. And if this really hit home for you, check out the
Binghamton Meat Free Movement -- I just heard about them today so I figured I’d
give them a shout-out. Is anyone already involved?
Dana,
ReplyDeleteWhile I completely agree that decreasing our average intake of meat could do wonders for the environment, I am a little uncertain as to how it directly addresses the problem of health food inaccessibly amongst the poor. I really like the idea of Meatless Monday and being informed about what products are actually in our food, especially from a personal health and environmental standpoint. However, I think there are other ways to help with the issue of poverty related obesity.
I agree that in the long run it would probably be much less expensive to pay for healthy food upfront than medical bills later on. The problem is, when someone with a strict budget is in the store and thinking of all their other expenses, it possibly seems much more practical and manageable to buy the cheap unhealthy food and take the chance. I think the important first step is to lower the price of unhealthy food in order to make it a more manageable and appealing option.
I realize that this is much easier said than done, but some places are already striving to make an impact. Wegmans grocery store has a list of items that are on a fixed price list. This means that regardless of the economy or inflation, basic nutritious choices will remain a constant, affordable price. The list of foods for the Johnson City store can be found at the bottom of this comment. While these prices may still be out of reach for many, at least it is a starting point.
https://www.wegmans.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductListView?catalogId=10002&N=207&langId=-1&Ns=P_Rank%7C1%7C%7CP_Velocity%7C1%7C%7CP_Name%7C0&Nr=IsFamilyItem%3ATRUE&storeId=10052&krypto=u%2Fyz4%2Fmb%2F3tlxkVWU72OLFfnnXkQI1k4lxwwjDzu38Ji24tj8bpIUsvkFKjhSuqyDhZHJjvasfff%0AIjyUqdTIwwVhMhl0wuRP
In my second paragraph, I meant to say "lower the price of healthy food". Thanks to Laura for pointing out my mistake!
DeleteLately, I have been really looking into leading a healthier lifestyle and eating more organic so I loved seeing a blog post combining healthy lifestyles and philanthropy! I believe that promoting an organic vegetarian-based lifestyle can be considered philanthropy because promoting knowledge can lead to others having better lives. My medical anthropology class actually has been covering some of the food issues in the world. One main problem that exists in the United States is the concept of food deserts. The term food desert means that the area in question has little to no access to large grocery stores that offer fresh and affordable foods needed to maintain a healthy diet. It would definitely be a form of philanthropy to try and eradicate these food deserts, either by way of opening up farmers markets or bringing in more fruits and vegetables to these areas. Also providing people will knowledge about new ways of cooking and the dangers of certain foods could help.
ReplyDeleteI really think it’s awesome what Wegman’s is doing though, referring to Natalie’s comment. Wegman’s obviously cares about the community and this shows in this program that they are doing. Parts of Binghamton are really hurting right now and this could really make a difference. As for taking the “Meatless Monday” challenge, I will definitely start taking the challenge seriously after Easter. I have already been eating meatless for several weeks because during the season of Lent I usually give up meat. Although I did not start eating meatless for health reasons, I have been seeing the health benefits as well as the environmental benefits to the vegetarian lifestyle. The only issue with eating meatless is that when you are on campus and eating in the dining halls, there are not always many options that are organic and vegetarian... as well as appetizing. It would be really cool if the university became more involved with “Meatless Mondays“ because then there would be more options.
I am vegetarian and I have never considered the idea that my decision could have philanthropic impact!
ReplyDeleteI believe that it is essential for us to make our society a healthier place. Although we will be saving money on medical expenses by living healthier I do not believe that our government would use the money we save on medical costs to fund nonprofit organizations. But I believe that we do need to educate our society so that all people, even those with low incomes, can eat healthy meals.
The Cornell Cooperative Extension (CCE) of Broome County has a program that teaches people the benefits of healthy living and makes it accessible to all. The program, which is free to food stamp participants, teaches people how to make healthy meals on a budget through 6 one hour sessions. The CCE also works with youth in promoting healthy habits. One of the Hs in 4H stands for Health; therefore health is one of the main focuses of this program. Last summer the CCE provided free healthy breakfasts to youths who we willing to participate in healthy living discussions. I believe that these types of programs will be necessary to change the overall health of our society.
This post also reminded me of a news story I heard about that was discussing Google. Google, which is known as an awesome place to work, realized that its employees were gaining weight after they were hired. In response they made subtly changes to their employee cafeteria to promote healthier choices. Although the changes were very small they had a very large impact (remind you of anything?). For example, by moving the M&M's to opaque containers employees ate 3.1 million fewer calories in 7 weeks. So, do you think this is something that could be used in our dining halls to make our campus healthier?
The link to the Google story is:
Deletehttp://abcnews.go.com/Health/google-diet-search-giant-overhauled-eating-options-nudge/story?id=18241908
I've actually been doing Meatless Mondays for a couple months. I started doing it for health reasons, but it really got me thinking about how much food we feed our food and the impact of meat production on the environment. This summer(when I have more time to plan out my meals) I plan to extend the commitment to being a Weekday Vegetarian.
ReplyDeleteI don't know that the decision to cut down on meat, in and of itself, is having any measurable philanthropic impact. However, I think there is potential for some progress if more people decided to cut down on their meat consumption. Having meat as a part of every meal, or at least every dinner, is the norm for many (most?) Americans. I know a lot of people that really don't feel a meatless meal can be filling. From a nutritional standpoint, this is clearly absurd. There is no biological imperative to eat meat; beans, peanut butter, tofu, quinoa, tempeh, and seitan are just a few of the awesome vegetarian sources of protein. I think the value in the Meatless Monday Movement is in changing the way people perceive meat consumption. Perhaps if enough people seriously cut back on the amount of meat they eat, healthier options would be made more widely available. Think about it: if the number of Big Macs sold decreased by half next month, wouldn't McDonalds be pretty likely to do something about that? I'm not making any claims that this is the best or most efficient way to target the food inaccessibility. However, choosing to eat less meat is a nice, easy change you can make for yourself and feel good about making a step in the right direction to boot.
I'm sure you're all very surprised, but I found a TED talk about it(this class is making me realize I may have a TED obsession): http://www.ted.com/talks/graham_hill_weekday_vegetarian.html