Last year, in October, I observed Malnutrition Awareness Week (MAW) with other healthcare professionals in the USA, Canada, and the U.K. You may wonder why that’s important. Simply put, malnutrition can lower our quality of life and life expectancy.
On hearing the word, Malnutrition many of us will conjure up images of starving children in war-stricken countries. However, malnutrition is a global issue that affects more people than you may recognise.
Food provides our bodies with the energy and nutrients important for growth, repair and staying active. However, for many of us, access to affordable, nutrient-rich foods is a challenge. Nutrient-dense foods such as fish, fruit, vegetables, low-fat dairy, nuts and seeds can be unavailable, inconvenient or unsafe. Pockets of food insecurity exist even in the most developed countries, which we have seen throughout the pandemic.
I came across this really interesting study on fast food consumption among adolescents (12-15 years) from 68 countries and its association with food insecurity (Smith et al., 2021). And reminded me that I was due to write about food poverty and food insecurity for a hot minute🤦🏽.
Persons experiencing food insecurity may turn to high-calorie fast foods as a filling meal, but there is often little they can do at the individual level to free themselves from the cycle. Food insecurity is the inability of individuals or households to have reliable access to adequate, affordable, nutritious food.
First of all, I’d like to thank all of the amazing registered (and associate) nutritionists and dietitians that shared my tweet and answered the call in support of this month’s campaign! In the Caribbean and North America, we celebrate Black History Month in February. So imagine my surprise when I moved to the U.K to study and realised BHM was October – one of the best months of the year, in case you didn’t know. Despite the differences, I’m taking February to Nourish Diversity in Nutrition & Dietetics. We’ll be interviewing registered nutrition professionals and a few students from all over the world! How exciting!
I am very blessed to come from a majority black country where healthcare is free (although there could be significant improvements). While I was aware of health inequalities and the social determinants of health, learning about it from an ethnicity-based standpoint was very eye-opening.
You may be wondering what your everyday diet has to do with climate change… and a few years ago I sat within that same position. Until I learnt that our aggressive production of some foods is harming the sustainability of our current environment.
Today, Farihah Choudhury, a recent postgraduate of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, shares the small things we can do to improve our impact on the environment. Farihah’s interests include food policy, systems, sustainability, food justice and culture. This amazing woman is also a Public Health Practitioner in a UK county council, leading on their Healthy Weight Strategy. I first encountered her on Twitter (@NutritionFSC) in a few AfNutr monthly chats and then while remotely volunteering with Food For All UK. I have been enjoying her Instagram posts where she shares lots of insight on sustainability, thrifting and reducing food waste for people like me who are working towards a more sustainable lifestyle.
This post is the first in many on sustainability as it relates to eating habits and food systems. Farihah is also featured on this month’s #NutriChat on sustainability and diet! (details will be on my Instagram @NourishbyCH). I’m excited to have Farihah share her expertise with us!
There was a time many years ago when I thought nutrition and planetary sustainability were two far removed issues, neither having a palpable impact on the other and that environmental issues were more about gas-guzzling cars and single-use straws. Slowly I started to realise that our diets, and by extension, the global food system, were one of the largest contributors to global warming and climate change, as well as habitat destruction, water scarcity and a host of other environmental issues. The sheer volume and demand for food, particularly animal products, has engendered a global appetite for supplying unsustainable amounts of food.
As many local and national authorities in the world are declaring a climate emergency, it is extremely important now more than ever as practising nutritionists, to incorporate sustainable eating into our practice. Indeed, it is possible to have both a sustainable and healthy diet – which is where nutritionists come in.
“Sustainable Healthy Diets are dietary patterns that promote all dimensions of individuals’ health and wellbeing; have low environmental pressure and impact; are accessible, affordable, safe and equitable; and are culturally acceptable”
A few days ago, I decided to head to the supermarket to pick up some groceries, namely some fruit, vegetables and beverages to drink when I wasn’t sipping on cold water because Barbados is hot all year long. I was a bit disturbed by what I continued to notice. I knew things were expensive before, but I was quite frustrated when I started to calculate and reason out how I could get the most healthy selection within my budget.
Keep in mind that all prices mentioned are in Barbados dollars (BD$2= US$1).
When I first got to the produce section, I searched for some of my regular purchases and realized being unemployed, and wanting to eat adequate servings of fruit and vegetables left one with a difficult choice. I picked up a bag of 10 oranges for $10.99, a small bag of 5 tiny Gala apples for $3.50, half of a cantaloupe for $4.39 and a bag of onions ($1.85) out of necessity. To be honest, I hadn’t quite written a list because I had not yet decided what I wanted to cook for the week, as sometimes I’d choose my fruit and veg based on the price and what stood out to me. However, that was a terrible idea, as nothing stood out and there were no specials at that time. I did remember to buy some canned tomatoes ($5.50 for 2) for a sauce I planned to make, given it would have a longer shelf-life than fresh tomatoes, which I don’t remember finding.
