“Approximately 900 million people in the world (1 in 9) do not have enough to eat in order to lead a healthy active life. The vast majority of the world’s hungry live in developing countries, Asia has the highest # of hungry people; Africa has the highest % of hungry people, Poor nutrition causes nearly half (45%) of deaths in children under 5 (7 million / year)” (The Data website- WFP.org) (Bio 399 PowerPoint Notes).
In the United States, hunger looks different than it does in third world countries. In third world countries lack of food is a major contributor to malnutrition and is directly related to half the deaths of children under five years old. In the United States, many children suffer from what is known as food insecurity.
Many families in the United States below the poverty line struggle with being able to provide affordable nutritious meals for their families and are forced to buy cheaper types of foods at the market. For example, Macaroni and Cheese is a cheap filling meal, however, it is not balanced and is full of empty calories. Another contributor to the United States health problems is due to lack of education that leads to poor food choices. With fast food restaurants, burgers, and a large coke off the dollar menu, it seems a cheap and easy answer for today’s the busy parent. The prepackaged fast
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I feel change is best learned at an early age and by coming into the schools and exposing children to local whole foods of high quality nutritional value, encouraging them to grow their own food and buy local. The education and promotion of nutritional foods and how to obtain them at an affordable rate directly address the food insecurities and health related concerns we face in the United States. Lessons were taught in sustainability, gardening, and best farming practices such as crop rotation, combination planting for success, and buying