Meatless Monday: How We (Americans) Eat

It has been just over 34 years since the US departments of Agriculture (USDA) and Health and Human Services (HHS) released a set of 7 Dietary Guidelines Statements in a 20-page booklet entitled Nutrition and Your Health: Dietary Guidelines for Americans, which became the 1st edition of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. These guidelines represent the findings of a task force appointed in 1978 by the USDA and HHS to advise the public about current knowledge of the relationship of diet to health and disease.

The cover of the 1980 booklet outlines the task force’s call to action:

To commemorate this anniversary, Food Day called for Americans to heed the “Guidelines’ sensible advice,” which has been updated every five years ever since 1980. Here are the 2010 Guidelines, the most recent update. Food Day also shared “The American Diet: A Prescription for Ill Health,” a graphic illustration of how far we as a nation are from meeting these dietary goals.

Food Day is a nationwide celebration of healthy, affordable, and sustainably produced food and a grassroots campaign for better food policies. All year long Food Day advocates work to help people “Eat Real.” Their efforts culminate in the annual observance of Food Day, to be held this year on October 24. That leaves ample time for taking some action steps before the big day.

To see how well (or poorly) Americans are eating compared to the rest of the world, check out this interactive graphic from OxFam. Be sure to highlight the results for the USA so they appear in yellow. 

How are you doing?

Have a great week. Stay warm. Eat well. 

On Mondays I often blog on food, food issues, or gardening in support of Meatless Monday, one of several programs developed in the Healthy Monday project, founded in 2003 in association with Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Communications. Meatless Monday’s goal is “to help reduce meat consumption 15% in order to improve personal health and the health of our planet.”

Meatless Monday (maybe) and Tuesday and Wednesday…

Many who go without meat on Monday have made a conscious decision to do so — perhaps to improve their health or because they are concerned about climate change. Some are vegetarians or vegans and go without meat every day for ethical reasons. Whatever the motivation, it is a privilege when one can make the choice.

For too many others, actively choosing to “go meatless” is not a possibility. In order to feed their family, or to relieve their hunger, they will eat what is served at the soup kitchen or what comes in the donated bag of groceries, whether it is meat or vegetable, syrupy or salty, funny colored or natural, or tastes like it comes from a can. They will do this on Monday, on Tuesday, on Wednesday, and on all the other days. Some days they may not eat at all. As we observe Meatless Monday, let’s think for a moment about those who can’t choose to join us.


The recession is over according to the National Bureau of Economic Research. And I heard from a niece who works for a company which sells shipping supplies that new orders are on the rise. But even if the recession IS over, recovery will take a long while. The statistics for those living in poverty are way up. The August jobless rate in my state was 9.1%, and that figure does not include those who have given up looking for work. 

Connecticut Food Bank (CFB), an organization I know very well, just sent me a solicitation reading: “The severe effects of the economic crisis and high unemployment are still being felt. Many families with children are going hungry, and are desperately seeking emergency food assistance—some for the first time in their lives. Proud seniors in our communities are barely surviving on fixed incomes. They are unable to afford both their medicine and meals… Connecticut Food Bank distributes more than 16 million pounds of food a year to 650 food-assistance programs. These agencies are much-needed lifelines—providing groceries and hot meals to 300,000 hungry men, women and children. A successful Thanksgiving Appeal will go a long way toward fighting the problem of hunger here in Connecticut.” 

CFB is one of 200 food banks which are members of Feeding America, the nation’s largest food bank network. In its August newsletter, CFB references a study released in July by Feeding America that reports 15.9% of Connecticut children under the age of 18 are hungry or at risk of hunger. More than 100,000 children in the state with the highest per capita income!

In less developed nations, scores of people are in dire straits daily, particularly when natural disasters strike. Oxfam is often a first responder to emergencies as the recent floods in Pakistan and the earthquakes in Haiti. There are many other groups working on hunger relief. I merely reference three I happen to know and trust.

Times may be tough. But if you are reading this post on a computer or a mobile device, chances are that you are able to take some action, even if it is a small one, to help alleviate hunger. In this season of harvest and plenty, let’s remember those less fortunate, in our country and around the world.

I often blog on food or food issues on Monday in support of Meatless Monday, one of several programs developed in the Healthy Monday project, founded in 2003 in association with Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Communications. Meatless Monday’s goal is “to help reduce meat consumption 15% in order to improve personal health and the health of our planet.”

Haiti on My Mind

This is not the blog post I had planned for today. I have set that post and the theme of “greenness” aside because I can not get the images of the devastation in Haiti out of my mind.

Survivors are stepping over dead bodies in the streets. I have never seen more than one body at a time, and only then decked out in funeral finery. I can not comprehend the numbers being thrown at me. Tens of thousands dead? One hundred thousand? I live in a city of 110,000; I grew up in a town of 28,000; each summer I visit one of 2,000. I try to imagine everyone in my city gone, or in 4 hometowns gone, or in 50 tiny Illinois towns gone. I simply can not wrap my head around these numbers.

I have always had a tremendous fear of earthquakes. I am not sure why. In our lifetime perceptible ones have been rare in New England. I felt one only once, and didn’t even realize it was a tremor until it was reported on the news. My son felt two last week in California, the greater of the two magnitude 4.1. Later that week there was one to the north with magnitude 6.5 which caused quite a bit of damage, but I believe no loss of life. The one in Haiti was 7.0.

That doesn’t sound so different, so why did it kill so many? In the Richter Scale, by which earthquakes are most commonly measured, each whole number increase in magnitude represents a tenfold increase in amplitude on the the seismograph, and each whole number step in magnitude corresponds to the release of 31 times more energy. Thus, the one in Haiti was 5 times the magnitude as the one in northern California and  15.5 times more powerful. And the Richter scale does not factor in such data as building design and construction, distance from the quake’s epicenter, and geology.

Haiti’s buildings were not built to withstand earthquakes, even the most modern and the finest of them. Hence the trapped tourists in the luxury hotel, and the loss of so many UN officials, as well as the leveling of the shanty towns and neighborhoods of small homes. Haiti, land of so much suffering, was apparently a disaster waiting to happen.

The people have no homes, no food, no water. There is no power. The overcrowded prison collapsed, freeing the prisoners. I realized as I walked home from the gym last night that I had more belongings in my gym bag than many people in Haiti now own. And I was headed to a warm house filled with good food.

I think when I walk. The thought was: “If I were a doctor, I would go there, now. But I’m not, so what can I do?”

This is one of those cases where the best answer is to send money. Consider the two groups I mentioned a few posts ago, Oxfam or Doctors Without Borders. Both groups were already working in Haiti at the time of the quake, and both have sustained severe losses but are doing their best. There are other good choices as well, but you need to be aware of scams. I have added a gadget above my ads. It will direct you to legitimate information if you are so moved.

Today I am thinking back to the first person I ever met from Haiti —  an extremely shy boy named Clarence Poisson, who was in my high school French class. He recited in a voice barely above a whisper and was always being corrected on his Creole pronunciation. He was the most polite and respectful student in the school. I was a senior, he a sophomore, and this was the only time we shared. I do not know how he came to be in my town, nor where his life has taken him since then.

I was mentally composing this post before my mom called last night. Many of the aids who help her with her daily tasks are part of the Haitian diaspora; several had family members in Haiti they could not reach. My mom was distraught about what to do, where could she send money. I am sure she is also praying.

Donations. Prayers. The people of Haiti can use all you can send.