Are you interested in how proper food and nutrition supports overall wellness? “National Nutrition Month,” celebrated in March each year, offers many perspectives towards addressing our global crisis with food and nutrition.
Hippocrates said, “Let thy food be thy medicine” and as an ancient Greek physician he taught that all forms of illness had a natural cause. This understanding contributed to the development and the journey in modern medicine. The Hippocratic Oath speaks to how doctors are called to share knowledge, with compassion, and empower patients, to be champions of their own health and well-being.
Many people in America today have not embraced a lifestyle in healthy eating that aligns with other elements such as, free from preservatives, additives or chemicals. The United States food pyramid continues to evolve. If we “are what we eat,” as the saying goes, where are we headed? Globally, a report on “The State of the World’s Children 2019: Children, food and nutrition” finds that at least one in three children under five years old (over 200 million children) is either undernourished or overweight. What can we do?
To address this growing malnutrition crisis in all its forms, UNICEF is issuing an urgent appeal to governments, the private sector, donors, parents, families and businesses to help children grow healthy by:
1. Empowering families, children and young people to demand nutritious food, including by improving nutrition education and using proven legislation – such as sugar taxes – to reduce demand for unhealthy foods.
2. Driving food suppliers to do the right thing for children, by incentivizing the provision of healthy, convenient and affordable foods.
3. Building healthy food environments for children and adolescents by using proven approaches, such as accurate and easy-to-understand labelling and stronger controls on the marketing of unhealthy foods.
4. Mobilizing supportive systems – health, water and sanitation, education and social protection – to scale up nutrition results for all children.
5. Collecting, analyzing and using good-quality data and evidence to guide action and track progress.
There isn’t a state in America that is untouched or without need of work towards addressing nutrition, food deserts, and social issues that matter. Grants are available and a simple search reveals sites and foundations where activities, funds, state associations, and community partnerships within children and family leadership can be located. Join us as we lead the way and offer ideas, share projects we are involved with and help you discover new ways to embrace ancient wisdom! What do your next steps look like? Follow us as we address this issue and give you some ideas!
