Tag Archives: nutrition

They Eat the Least, But Spend the Most

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As we in the United States enjoy a season full of holiday traditions of dining with friends and family and giving thanks for what we have, it’s interesting to put our luck in the plenty-to-eat department into even finer perspective.

Check out this infographic by Foodservicewarehouse.com, that shows that the countries that consume the least amount of calories spend the largest percentage of their income on the food they do eat. Click first on the calories consumed tab, then next on percentage of income spent on food.

Click here for more information on sources and development of the graphic.

Share a Sheep: Ewe Will Be Thanked

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Feliciana’s daughter, Flor Isabel. Photo by Jake Lyell.

Domesticated by humans nearly 12,000 years ago, sheep provide a number of benefits to families. Their wool has long been used for clothing, and sheep milk and meat are full of nutrients that are keeping children healthy around the world.

Feliciana Sanchez Calderon and her family live in the Peruvian village of Marayhuaca near the border with Ecuador. This area is characterized by high levels of poverty and malnutrition. But with training, Feliciana’s family is now thriving. Along with the gift of sheep, Feliciana and others in the community were taught organic gardening, semi-grazing and sustainable livestock production. With the animals and training, the family has established food security. “Now we are working together for a better future,” Feliciana said.


Wool
Depending on the breed, a single sheep can produce between two and 30 pounds of wool each year. The waterproof and durable fiber is both a valuable and a renewable resource for small famers from Brazil to the Ukraine, who can use it for clothing or sell it for increased income.

Improved Nutrition
Sheep meat is rich in iron and zinc, two minerals that are key in a child’s mental development (iron deficiency is the most prevalent form of malnutrition worldwide). The milk is also rich in calcium, another vital mineral in a child’s development.

Growing Flock
Given the right conditions, sheep can often give birth to twins or triplets. For struggling families in need of income, a fast growing flock provides even more wool that can be sold. It also provides them with a steady source of dairy and meat products, as well.

This holiday season, give the gift of a sheep in honor of your best friend, who can knit three hats a day. And read more blog posts about sheep here.

Heifers In Flight: Delivery of 70 Heifers from Ireland to Romania a Huge Success

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At approximately 1:45 pm today, 70 purebred cows landed at the airport in Timisoara, Romania. These heifers flew from Ireland to be integrated into a food security project for orphans and poor families in central and western Romania through a partnership between Heifer International and Bothar Ireland. Bothar is part of a network of non-governmental organizations that use livestock in development aid. It is also sensitive to children’s needs and has experience helping children in Central and Eastern European countries.

The cows are Holstein Frisian and were brought to Romania to ensure the necessary milk for institutionalized children and rural families without income. The heifers came from Shelton Abbey Prison in Ireland, raised by prisoners living under an “open prison” concept, which allows them to raise livestock.
Twenty heifers will go to Caminul Felix orphanage in Oradea. Following Heifer’s Pass on the Gift model, each of the children who receives a cow will pass on the first female offspring to another orphan.
According to the Romanian National Authority for Child Protection, 80,000 to 100,000 children between 0-18 years are institutionalized every year. The daily food allocation for orphan children is about $2.80, which is not enough to provide proper nutrition. Through the Milk for Orphans Project, daily nutritional supplements will be provided on a long-term basis for the children, meeting their dietary needs and improving their general health. The project will ultimately serve more than 5,000 children from orphanages in central and western Romania.
Milk processing will be ensured by the Animal Breeders Association in Corusu, which operates a milk collection center, built with the support of Heifer Romania.
The remaining 50 heifers flown in today will reach poor rural families in Rasca commune, 56 miles from Cluj. About 60 percent of the families here do not have consistent incomes. They are trying to establish small-scale private farming in order to earn a living. Through the project, the families will improve their nutrition and increase their income by breeding Holstein Frisian cows, well known for their high milk production and rapid adaptability to various climate conditions. These families will also pass on the first female offspring of their dairy cows to another impoverished family, and they will donate 79 gallons of milk to orphan children.

The arrival of the heifers was a huge success, according to Heifer Romania Communications and Public Relations Coordinator Laura Manciu. The animals landed and were transferred safely and without any problems. The airlift was a big media event, with more than 30 reporters from different media institutions. Mr. Valeriu Tabara, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development attended the event and gave a short speech in support of Heifer and Bothar’s efforts. 

Reasons and Tools for Transitioning to Vegetarianism and Veganism

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Today is Blog Action Day 2011. It is also World Food Day. This year’s theme for Blog Action Day is Food. Bloggers all over the world are writing about this one theme, from their own unique perspective. To find out more, visit the Blog Action Day website. Read more of our Blog Action Day posts on Heifer Blog here. 


The following post is by Erin Snow, communications manager at Heifer International. 

The reasons people decideto adopt a vegetarian or vegan lifestyle can be numerous and, even despitesimilarities, very personal. I grew up eating meat at most meals, but it wasnever my favorite part. I always preferred the starches and leafy green vegetables.Looking back, I never really felt good about eating something that lost theirlife so that my meal could be “complete,” but I didn’t make any real changes tomy diet until 1999 when a medical issue caused me to look more closely at thefood I consumed and how it affected my health. As a single mom to aone-year-old daughter, I was determined to be proactive about our future andkeep whatever I could control in check. At that time, vegetarianism seemed thelogical answer. Over the past 12 years, I’ve been a lazy vegetarian, not eatingmeat, but definitely not eating enough vegetables and fruit to be healthy. I’vealso dabbled in pescetarianism, where seafood is okay, but all other flesh isout, a choice made while visiting my now-husband in New Orleans, where shrimp,crab, oysters and other aquatic jewels can be found as far as eye can see. Po’Boys and crawfish and gumbo, oh my! In an effort to be serious about my healthand safeguard against predisposed laziness, I’ve recently taken the next stepand become vegan.


Sticking to a diet that isvoid of animal-derived products has been educational, for sure. Fortunately, Ihave a couple of vegan friends, Rena Wrenand Meredith Simonds, who have happily shared recipes, websites, books andgeneral tips for being vegan in a carnivore world. Meredith’s website, The Vegan Pledge, features a pledge,blog and other resources. Alicia Silverstone’s The Kind Life website and book, The Kind Diet, have been my go-toresources on my vegan journey. Kris Carr, who went vegan for health reasons,also has an extremely helpful website, CrazySexy Life, and books, including CrazySexy Diet. Did you know there’s such a thing as wine that is not vegan?Isinglass, a collagen that comes from dehydrated swim bladders of fish, isoften used in the clarifying process for beer and wine. Barnivore is a great website guide forfinding insinglass-free vegan beer, wine and liquor.


These resources have beenvaluable tools on a lovely and healthy lifestyle journey that I’m having funfiguring out.

Eat Your View

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by WorldLink staff

What foods do you buy locally? In this clip from the Nourish Video Encyclopedia, journalist Michael Pollan encourages buying local food to conserve energy, support farmers, and preserve the natural landscape.

Watch Michael Pollan in the award-winning special Nourish: Food + Community, now airing on PBS stations nationwide. Find a PBS broadcast in your area.

Michael Pollan is the author of In Defense of Food, Food Rules, The Omnivore’s Dilemma, and other best-selling books. Pollan currently serves as the Knight Professor of Science and Environmental Journalism at the University of California, Berkeley.

Nourish is a national educational initiative designed to open a meaningful conversation about food and sustainability. With a distinctly positive vision, Nourish celebrates both food and community. Learn more at www.nourishlife.org.

Stay tuned for more selections from the Nourish Video Encyclopedia, a collection of short films that explore the story of our food.

Be part of the food revolution. Nourish yourself. Nourish the world.

Visit the Nourish website, and follow Nourish on Twitter and Facebook.

Nourish is a program of WorldLink, a non-profit organization dedicated to education for sustainability. Heifer International is a sponsor of the Nourish initiative.

It’s World Egg Day!

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The second Friday of October is World Egg Day, and that’s today. To celebrate, we thought we’d regale you with some incredible facts about eggs, like the fact that China produces 160 billion eggs each year. And egg yolks are one of the few foods that naturally contain vitamin D. Read more at World Ark online or click on the image below for a printable version.
eggs

Wake Up!

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by WorldLink staff

How can we help our kids avoid the temptation of addictive junk food? In this clip from the Nourish Video Encyclopedia, pediatrician Nadine Burke explains how our junk food habit has contributed to an epidemic of obesity and diabetes.

Nourish is a national educational initiative designed to open a meaningful conversation about food and sustainability. With a distinctly positive vision, Nourish celebrates both food and community. Learn more at www.nourishlife.org.

Dr. Nadine Burke: Wake Up! from Nourish Life on Vimeo.

Dr. Nadine Burke is the Medical Director of the Bayview Child Health Center, where she oversees the operations of the health center and provides care to children and youth living in the Bayview-Hunters Point Community of San Francisco. She is also the Medical Director of Pediatric Health Parity Programs at California Pacific Medical Center.

Stay tuned for more selections from the Nourish Video Encyclopedia, a collection of short films that explore the story of our food.

Be part of the food revolution. Nourish yourself. Nourish the world.

Visit the Nourish website and Follow Nourish on Twitter.

Nourish is a program of WorldLink, a non-profit organization dedicated to education for sustainability. Heifer International is a sponsor of the Nourish initiative.

No Free Lunch

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by WorldLink staff


Do you think it’s worth paying more for food if it might mean paying less for health care? In this clip from the Nourish Video Encyclopedia, food journalist Michael Pollan discusses the relationship between cheap food and the rising cost of health care in America.


Nourish is a national educational initiative designed to open a meaningful conversation about food and sustainability. With a distinctly positive vision, Nourish celebrates both food and community. Learn more at www.nourishlife.org.







Michael Pollan is the author of In Defense of Food, Food Rules, The Omnivore’s Dilemma, and other best-selling books. Pollan currently serves as the Knight Professor of Science and Environmental Journalism at the University of California, Berkeley.


Stay tuned for more selections from the Nourish Video Encyclopedia, a collection of short films that explore the story of our food.


Be part of the food revolution. Nourish yourself. Nourish the world.


Visit the Nourish website and Follow Nourish on Twitter.

Nourish is a program of WorldLink, a non-profit organization dedicated to education for sustainability. Heifer International is a sponsor of the Nourish initiative.

Kid Tested, Locavore Approved

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The New York Times and The Heifer Blog both chimed in recently about Plumpy’nut, a sweet, foil-wrapped nutritional supplement given to children in crisis situations who need quick energy and a nutrient boost. Great idea, right?

But food guru Marion Nestle was unimpressed by Plumpy’nut. In an interview with Heifer’s World Ark magazine, she questioned the wisdom of loading kids up on convenience foods packaged in throw-away wrappers and manufactured far, far away.

We think Nestle would be a fan of Nourimanba, a Plumpy’nut alternative produced and distributed in Haiti by the nonprofit Partners in Health. Production of the peanut butter-based food boosts the local economy by employing local farmers to grow the nuts and local women to sort and process them. Instead of single-serving foil wrappers, the Nourimanba is packed into reusable plastic canisters. Learn more about Nourimanba and see photos of the children who have benefited from it here.

Size Isn’t Everything

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Photo from flickr/~Duncan~. Creative Commons.

Eating your veggies may not be the cure-all it once was. That’s because today’s fruits and vegetables appear to have fewer nutrients than produce once had, according to an article from Prevention magazine and MSNBC.
“In 2004, Donald Davis, PhD, a former researcher with the Biochemical Institute at the University of Texas, Austin, led a team that analyzed 43 fruits and vegetables from 1950 to 1999 and reported reductions in vitamins, minerals, and protein. Using USDA data, he found that broccoli, for example, had 130 mg of calcium in 1950. Today, that number is only 48 mg. What’s going on?”

The theory is, modern agricultural techniques–reliance on synthietic fertilizer, breeding for traits like extreme size and early maturation–have left us with large but anemic vegetables.
“A different story is playing out with organic produce. ‘By avoiding synthetic fertilizers, organic farmers put more stress on plants, and when plants experience stress, they protect themselves by producing phytochemicals,’ explains Alyson Mitchell, PhD, a professor of nutrition science at the University of California, Davis.”

The article does include tips on getting the most nutrients from your vegetables, even if you can’t go organic–buy smaller veggies and bright colors, hit the farmers’ market, eat them when they’re fresh, and don’t overcook them.
Is this something you already suspected? If so, how do you ensure you’re eating the right veggies, not the wimpy ones?